JJ Redick Page 2 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Christopher ‘Mad Dog’ Russo, philosopher
I did not wake up on a slow news Wednesday expecting a peal of life wisdom to fall from the tongue of Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo. He comes in out of the bullpen on ESPN’s First Take, bringing heat, as the bluster from the AM radio past going up against the cable television present top gas bagger, S...

After the ESPN shakeup, we still have Hubie Brown to keep teaching us basketball
Following its highest-rated NBA Playoff in two decades, ESPN decided to take a hatchet to its game coverage of the league. Gone from the network entirely are Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy. Replacing them on the No. 1 commentator team alongside Mike Breen are Doris Burke and Doc Rivers. Ryan Ruocco...

Doris Burke, Mike Breen, and Doc Rivers are a match made in…something
Weeks after ESPN split up the NBA’s quirkiest broadcast TRIO by inexplicably laying off Jeff Van Gundy, the suits in Bristol had a high bar to reach for the new three-man-weave in its NEXT lead broadcast team. Mike Breen was a certified starter as the voice of the Worldwide Leader’s play-by-play NBA...

Cooper Flagg was playing in the wrong summer league
Victor Wembanyama’s NBA summer league debut was a mixed bag that had quick-take artists calling him Raef “LaFrench” after a 3-for-14 shooting performance. Nevermind that he rejected several shots and affected a slew of others. On Sunday night, Wembanyama had to respond to the best player in a summer...

Victor Wembanyama passes first test
If it wasn’t obvious from Victor Wembanyama’s interview on J.J. Redick’s podcast, this young man is ready for NBA life. Las Vegas, the slow July sports news cycle, Britney Spears, all of it crashed down on him in less than 24 hours. However, when it came time to address the scenario, Wembanyama was ...

ESPN breaks up its broadcast superteam-in-slacks as Jeff Van Gundy enters NBA free agency
As ESPN reaches the end of its fiscal year today, the Worldwide Leader has commenced its semi-annual purge of top talent. On Wednesday, the pink slip Russian Roulette landed on Jeff Van Gundy, after 16 years with the network....

We still can’t have normal conversations about Nikola Jokić
SBNation writer Mat Issa tweeted out an observation following Game 1 of the NBA Finals. He noticed that the Denver Nuggets were able to get a defensive stop because of something that Nikola Jokić did at the free-throw line....

Good effort JJ, but invoking America’s gun problem is not the way to defend Ja Morant
JJ Redick is correct that there is a macro issue in this country with politicians using firearms as campaign posters. A majority of Americans would agree with him on that. In one space of that mass of plutocracy, policy, and posturing is Ja Morant posing with one of this country’s most polarizing an...

JJ Redick and the Raptors would be more <i>90 Day Fiancé</i> than ‘happily ever after’
I want to believe that these two parties are smart enough to know that they are better off without each other. They have achieved great success separately, and a union at this time can only cause harm to both. A business relationship should exist between JJ Redick and the Toronto Raptors. That busin...

Denver Post columnist pens love letter to Nikola Jokić's undies
The low point of the NBA season has been the interminable debate over the MVP. From Kendrick Perkins and JJ Redick stirring an empty pot about prejudice giving the leg up to Nikola Jokić in the MVP race to Doug Gottlieb bashing his own skull in, blithering on about how race helped Joel Embiid win MV...

Overanalyzing Jordan Poole’s shot is NBA voyeurism at its finest
After nearly 48 minutes, the Los Angeles Lakers were spent as the Golden State Warriors were hitting their stride and discovering their second wind. Following a late flurry of points, the Warriors trailed by three in the final seconds when Jordan Poole launched a three-pointer from the parking lot. ...

Roger Goodell and the Top 10 sports figures we’d like to...'celebrate' 4/20 with
There’s something communal about smoking weed. Whether at a bar or house party, one of my favorite parts of any evening of imbibing is sneaking off to an inconspicuous alley and passing around a joint while cracking jokes, coughing, and getting that perfect head rush before re-entering the foray daz...

The Sports Emmys are lacking, so Deadspin is here to pick up the slack
A problem with the Sports Emmys is there simply aren’t enough categories for individuals. Most awards are for shows, segments, reports, documentaries, etc. Only a handful acknowledge the on-air personalities, so those who care about bringing home some hardware are in for an uphill battle....

Joel Embiid has overtaken Nikola Jokić for MVP
Don’t count MVPs before they hatch. Nikola Jokić’s third consecutive MVP has seemed like an inevitability during the first three-quarters of the season. Jokić’s triple-double averages, improved offensive efficiency, advanced statistics, and Denver’s No. 1 seed in the Western Conference all appeared ...

Damian Lillard sounds like he’s threatening to Barry Sanders his career
Damian Lillard was in the news Wednesday for sounding like an old head during an appearance on J.J. Redick’s The Old Man and the Three podcast. From saying young players were entitled, to worrying about the direction of the league, and all the championship tropes that have followed him in between, i...

George Karl tried to stick up for JJ Redick and should have sat this one out
George Karl picked the wrong day to go after Kendrick Perkins. On the Tuesday episode of First Take, JJ Redick and Perkins had a discussion about the NBA MVP that was loud, animated, and eventually went viral on social media. Perkins is not one to back off of his opinions so after the episode, he pa...

JJ Redick and Kendrick Perkins are becoming ESPN’s new debate-show circus
JJ Redick looks like he’d rather be receiving a colonoscopy than embracing the debate on First Take. Redick joined ESPN after retirement, riding the success of his podcast The Old Man and the Three, and initially seemed like an odd fit for First Take. However, the more he strikes a nerve with his co...

Michael Jordan, the best shooting guard in college basketball history? This can’t become canon, it's David Thompson
What do Michael Jordan, JJ Redick, Jerry West, David Thompson, and Ray Allen have in common? College basketball analyst and Lord of Listicles John Whitaker released his top shooting guards in men’s college basketball history last week, and whittled his top five to that group. Unfortunately, his top ...

Gather the kids for this teachable moment from Paul George
Being the go-to option sounds fun. It looks great. Michael Jordan making last-second shots; Patrick Mahomes spinning out of trouble and throwing a laser for a touchdown; Quinta Brunson delivering on another great episode of Abbott Elementary as the show’s creator and lead actor. Paul George has held...

The NBA old heads have spoken — and they think LeBron is currently the Association's best player
It’s official, the old heads of the NBA heads have welcomed LeBron James as one of their own. The Athletic recently polled 101 former NBA players, asking which current player is the best player in the Association. In a league that has an abundance of under-30-year-old talent that it is bursting out ...