JJ Redick is the most successful retired NBA athlete to join sports media in recent years. But the Duke legend misses the intense basketball conversation he had in the league.
As a color commentator with the No. 2 NBA booth at ESPN and host of The Old Man & the Three podcast on YouTube, Redick is seen as a pioneer bringing intense hoops talk to major platforms. You could look at his media career as an attempt to get back to the “basketball intellect” he had in locker rooms.
“When you are in a locker room, a coaches meeting, you’re talking to front-office people, the basketball intellect is different,” Redick said on Pablo Torre Finds Out. “This is not a knock on the intelligence of anyone in sports media. The basketball intellect is different.”
.@jj_redick on sports media:
"When you are in a locker room, a coaches meeting, you're talking to front-office people — the basketball intellect is different. This is not a knock on the intelligence of anyone in sports media. The basketball intellect is different."
More:… pic.twitter.com/u1QYjuogtY
— Pablo Torre Finds Out (@pablofindsout) January 11, 2024
Redick pointed to former Golden State Warriors president of basketball operations Bob Myers as a positive addition to ESPN’s NBA team. But he wants to see more.
The former Magic, Clipper and 76er is calling more NBA games for the worldwide leader this season. And he has learned to cherish pregame coach interviews as his one entry point into that level of “basketball intellect.”
“The thing that I have found that I maybe love the most is the 15 minutes before a game that I call when we get to meet with each coach,” Redick said.
Recently, Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla went into deep detail breaking down how he deploys All-Defensive guard Jrue Holiday as a pseudo-big man on the defensive end. And Redick found heaven.
Redick has made it clear that he’s no fan of debate television despite being a part-time star of First Take. Last year, he interviewed for the Toronto Raptors head coaching job and was offered a job as an assistant in Boston. Some day he may take the plunge and return to the intellect he yearns for, but for now he will have to settle for being a media star.
[Pablo Torre Finds Out on YouTube]
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.