PLAYA VISTA, Calif. – J.J. Redick debuted his first podcast for “The Vertical Podcast with J.J. Redick” on Monday after recording it Sunday night following the Clippers’ win against the Bulls.
Redick’s the first active NBA player to create his own weekly show during the regular season, and the podcast is part of Yahoo Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski’s new podcast. For his first show, Redick had on former teammate Jared Dudley, who’s now with the Wizards.
The two players addressed both on and off court topics, something he plans to do regularly with the show. Some of the topics included the differences from team to team in practices and shootarounds, how fit matters in the NBA, Dudley’s time with the Clippers and his stops since then, his “four most overrated things” and much more in nearly an hour of time.
One of the best discussions came when Redick and Dudley described the biggest All-Star snub. Redick didn’t want to be a homer, so he named Damian Lillard and said he thinks the All-Star Game should expand, with each conference getting 15 All-Stars.
“He’s sixth in the league in scoring,” Redick explained for his choice, “and they’re right there for the eighth seed.”
Dudley decided to stick with the Clippers for his answer.
“Winning should matter, and I’m not just saying this because you’re on the phone, but what about DeAndre Jordan?” Dudley asked. “When we played against him, just how he can dominate the paint. If you guys don’t have DeAndre Jordan on your team… I mean, the way he rebounds the basketball, the way he defends where you guys can pressure pick-and-roll and be aggressive…what does he have to do to become an All-Star?”
Redick said he thinks if the Clippers had a record like the Spurs or Warriors at the midway point in the year, “there’s no question” Jordan would’ve been in, and he believes Jordan will be an All-Star at some point in his career.
Quick Hits:
Head coach Doc Rivers said before practice Tuesday he trusts Redick to have a weekly show but joked that wouldn’t be the case for every player on the team.
“You don’t worry about it,” Rivers said. “I do think this is something he wants to do post-career. I’m a big believer if this is something he wants to do, he should get the practice and do it.”
Afterward, Redick then talked about the debut of his podcast.
How did you feel it went?
JJ: “It was a lot of fun. Jared was a very easy guest to have on as my first podcast guest because he’s a great talker. I wanted to record a mock episode last week and use it for later if it would be good, but we never got the chance to do it. It was kind of a first-time thing that I did with Jared on Sunday night. I was happy with it. I see some room for improvement in certain areas, but I think the flow was pretty good.”
Did you get notes from anybody?
JJ: “I have a friend in the Detroit front office who’s my harshest critic in everything in life. So, he sent me like 20 things, pros and cons. I think the thing I was disappointed about that he pointed out – I missed a golden opportunity to talk about one of my favorite characters in the NBA, and that’s (Marcin) Gortat. Gortat is…he’s something. Jared and I should’ve traded stories on that. I’m sure I’ll have a guest on at some point that’s also played with Marcin.”
Why made you decide to do it in-season?
JJ: “That was the only option. They wanted it to be a weekly thing, so I signed up for 52 weeks. It wasn’t just going to be an offseason thing for three or four months. The original idea was to write some things for The Vertical website. I wasn’t necessarily against that, but I think the podcast idea was something new and something that hadn’t really been done for a current NBA player.”
Do you see yourself doing this after playing days?
JJ: “The way I see it is that I have nothing to lose. If people like it, great. If people don’t like it, OK. My priorities are to be a basketball player. That’s my only concern.
Any more questions you can direct to @jjredick. You can also go on iTunes and write a review with any comments or questions.”
