J.J. Redick defended himself from criticism from Rob Parker, among others, who claimed his recent opinion on the Lakers was “the worst take in sports history”.
During his latest episode of The Old Man & The Three podcast, Redick said the problem wasn’t his opinion on the subject, it was the way it was reported by aggregate media sites.
“The last thing I want to talk about is the worst take ever in sports history, which apparently I had last week,” Redick said. “I’ll vehemently disagree. One of the problems with aggregate media is a quote everybody uses out of context. A quote out of context that people read as a headline and in this case it was our old friends at ClutchPoints, which is the worst website, aggregate sports media — I don’t know what to call them. Are they a site? They’re certainly not creators but they’re the worst sports media aggregators in the world. So they took this clip I had from First Take. (Michael) Wilbon, Stephen A. (Smith) and I started off talking about expectations for the Lakers.”
He then played a clip of his First Take appearance saying the Lakers winning a first round playoff series would be considered a “win” for the team.
“If you took the time to watch the 12 or 13 minutes we talked about the Lakers, it was actually a nuanced, intelligent discussion that we gave. We talked about why this roster’s not good. Obviously, it’s the shooting and the spacing. Not a lot of high-level big wing defenders. Not a lot of depth. We talked about the fact that when Anthony Davis, Russell Westrbook, and LeBron James are all in the lineup together — small sample size — but as of last week, they’re 11-11. It’s worse now, they’re under .500 since this team was formed.
‘Talked about — for five minutes — about whether or not the trade for Myles Turner and Buddy Hield would actually move the needle for the Lakers. So we had this great conversation about it. We provided a bunch of data points and a bunch of analysis, and it was a really thoughtful — I thought — 12 or 13 minutes. “
Redick then said the reason he talked about the positives about the Lakers and LeBron James was because nothing had changed from the previous season.
“As sort of a — not a dig — at the producers at ESPN, but look, we spent all of last year talking about what ills the Lakers. Why are the Lakers so bad? It’s the same f—ing reason! It’s the same f—ing reason this year, and I don’t want to spend the entire season talking about it! So I noted — if you’re a Laker fan or a producer of the show — let’s not spend the entire season talking about the same f—ing thing over and over! Here’s an idea, here’s a silver lining for your Lakers fans out there: Lebron’s going to be in a Lakers uniform when he breaks Kareem (Abdul-Jabaar)’s record. And all the sudden that turned into ‘the worst take in sports history’? How lazy are you?”
