In April, JJ Redick made headlines with a comment about the older generation of basketball players.
He downplayed the competition NBA Hall-of-Famer Bob Cousy faced during his illustrious career, suggesting today’s era of players are better. “He was being guarded by plumbers and firemen,” Redick said on First Take.
NBA legend and logo Jerry West thought Redick’s comments were disrespectful.
“Obviously the game is completely different. The athletes are completely different. I know J.J. a little bit, a very smart kid and everything — but tell me what his career looked like,” West answered. “What did he do that determined games? He averaged, what, 12 points a game in the league?”
Fans loved that West didn’t hold back with his comments.
“Jerry wanted to flip that table lmao,” one fan said.
“Jerry West told JJ Redick ‘young man, YOU are the plumbers for this era,'” another fan said.
“Michael and Kobe absolutely adore Jerry and respect the f*** out of him and his abilities,” a third fan said. “Whenever Michael was asked about being GOAT he always said I didn’t play against the past greats such as Jerry West. Elgin Baylor is another player that Kobe and Mike always brought up.”
Is Jerry right?