J.J. Redick has been in an interesting place with ESPN over the past year-plus. He joined the network last October as an NBA analyst, shortly after announcing his retirement from the league, and initially appeared as a studio analyst on broadcasts and then also as an analyst on a variety of studio shows. Beginning this spring, though, Redick started showing up regularly on First Take, often taking on Stephen A. Smith and Chris “Mad Dog” Russo in strong terms. Some of those takes drew criticism, and he defended some of them with “on these shows they give you a ridiculous question,” a comment that didn’t make him seem all that thrilled to be there.
Despite all that, in a media preview call Wednesday for ESPN/ABC’s Christmas Day NBA coverage alongside fellow analyst Richard Jefferson (Redick will call the noon ET Philadelphia 76ers–New York Knicks game alongside Ryan Ruocco and Cassidy Hubbarth, while Jefferson will call the 10:30 p.m. ET Phoenix Suns/Denver Nuggets game alongside Beth Mowins and Jorge Sedano), Redick was asked about First Take. And he had a notable response. He took a question including “What are you enjoying about your ESPN job, and what are you maybe still learning to love about it? Sometimes you’re on these panel shows, and it seems like you’d rather be anywhere but there.” And he said it was a specific priority for him to do First Take as well as games:
“No, I enjoy all of it. Last year on a shorter deal, I kind of wanted to try everything. So, I tried a bunch of studio shows. Tim Corrigan was kind enough to give me a shot at games. I got a couple regular season games in March and then did three playoff games.
So, when I was figuring out what I wanted to do on this next deal, it was really a priority to do games and First Take. So, with the game schedule I have, that to me is the juice right there. You feel very close to the game. You get that sort of performance anxiety that you do as a player, and you’re documenting history. You’re documenting great players.
The game Ryan Ruocco and I did a couple of weeks ago in Dallas with Giannis and Luka going at it, ended up on a Brook Lopez game winner, that is so fun for me. And I love going at Stephen A. That’s been the highlight of my job, really, just building a relationship with him not only onscreen but off-screen.
What do I not like about the job? It’s really getting used to people I have to work with on a daily basis. Not daily basis, but three, four times a month, travel party, that sort of thing – mostly Richard Jefferson (Laughter).”
That’s an interesting response on a number of levels. For one, it helps to emphasize the theatricality of debate programs, something that’s come up a fair bit this year. Redick may go off on Smith on air, but the response here about the relationship “not only onscreen but off-screen” is a further illustration of where those arguments start and stop. For another, it’s somewhat notable that someone who can come off as disdaining the format (including with that “ridiculous question” line, and with his response to Russo trying to teach him basketball fundamentals) seems to actually enjoy the debate show life.
And while Redick has had many notable takes of his own, including on First Take and in response to criticisms of his First Take remarks (see in particular his bashing of “aggregate media,” also a common recent theme), he’s also shown good ability as a game analyst. That’s a very different world, and one where (especially on a national broadcast as compared to a team’s local broadcast) spicy takes don’t often work out that well. It surely helps that Redick had plenty of media experience before heading to ESPN (as he mentions later in that call transcript), including with Yahoo, Uninterrupted, and The Ringer. But it is still impressive that he’s managed to bridge the game analyst and debate show commentator roles. And it’s notable that he’s now on record as particularly wanting both of those roles.
