Best of the Bus: JJ Redick Almost Quit Basketball While At Duke & The Legendary Best Pizzas Tier Talk

Summary

Bussin’ With The Boys: “Best of the Bus: JJ Redick Almost Quit Basketball While At Duke & The Legendary Best Pizzas Tier Talk”

Podcast: Bussin’ With The Boys
Hosts: Will Compton, Taylor Lewan
Guest: JJ Redick
Release Date: March 21, 2026
Note: Timestamps in MM:SS format

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Episode Overview

This episode of Bussin’ With The Boys is part interview, part therapy session, and part comedic hangout. Will Compton and Taylor Lewan welcome former NBA sharpshooter, podcaster, and media personality JJ Redick onto the “Bus.” Discussions range from JJ’s turbulent days at Duke and battles with mental health, to inside-baseball (and football) wisdom on sports media, athlete identity, post-retirement anxiety, and—of course—a fiercely debated pizza tier list. Expect a blend of humor, deep personal stories, sports media insights, and, as always, candid banter.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Mini Basketball Humbling & Competitive Spirit

Timestamps: 04:10–07:00

• The episode kicks off post-advertisements with the aftermath of an intense game of “pig” (mini hoop basketball), which JJ unexpectedly loses.
  • JJ laments his lack of prep:

    “Had I known that, I would have came more prepared. My whole day would have been different.” (04:43 – JJ Redick)

• JJ acknowledges the ego hit but clarifies:

  “If you guys really think you got me in basketball, I actually feel bad for you.” (06:10 – JJ Redick)

2. Identity, Anxiety, and Routine in Sports & Podcasting

Timestamps: 13:59–22:00

• JJ describes the fear and busyness of moving into media and becoming a podcaster post-retirement, despite initially only agreeing to a short ESPN gig.
• Will and Taylor discuss their own anxieties launching their podcast and how experience (and friendship) make it easier.
  • Taylor:

    “What we do in the podcast, we literally do outside” (22:09 – Taylor Lewan)

• JJ on the evolution of podcasting:

  “We are in the first wave of athlete-driven content... The future of sports media is going to be athlete-driven.” (23:56 – JJ Redick)

3. Ownership and Control in Athlete-Led Content

Timestamps: 24:26–26:23

• JJ recounts his insistence on owning the rights to his podcast, leading him to walk away from The Ringer despite more money there.

  • “It wasn’t even a money issue...I just wanted to own the IP.” (25:15 – JJ Redick)

• Insight into building an audience, the value of video, and using social platforms to control one’s own narrative.

4. Navigating Transition & Athlete Identity Loss

Timestamps: 29:42–32:01

• JJ describes the true terror of transitioning out of the NBA, including calling his mom and explaining how scary it was to leave an identity he’d held for 30 years:

  “I told my mom, I just want to get in my car and drive from New Orleans back to New York City. I just want to be home. And she’s like, why don’t you? And I said, because I’m fucking terrified, Mom.” (30:14 – JJ Redick)

5. The Resentment and Sacrifice Hidden Behind Elite Sports

Timestamps: 36:00–39:26

• JJ talks about the fishbowl of Duke, missing out on holidays, and how resentment creeps in even while knowing you’re living the dream.

  • “Letting go of that...it was terrifying.” (31:36 – JJ Redick)

• Will and Taylor open up about the “grass is greener” syndrome, and the fleeting fantasy of life outside the game.

6. Inside Sports Media & Player Empowerment

Timestamps: 40:39–45:11

• A rich discussion contrasting NBA and NFL player empowerment, guaranteed contracts, and the different cultures around media and player personalities.

  “In the NBA, if you’re one of the five best players or ten best players, you fucking run it.” (41:27 – JJ Redick)

• JJ explains NBA free agency, salary cap mechanics, and “Bird rights” in accessible terms.

7. Analytics—The Benefits and Pitfalls

Timestamps: 53:44–55:37

• Debate over analytics in both sports: JJ praises basketball analytics but also describes their limitations (“the analytics lie to us with what we see with our eyes”), while Taylor and Will share why analytics often miss the full story in football (especially for offensive linemen).

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Notable Personal Moments

JJ Redick’s Mental Health & Sophomore Year Spiral at Duke

Timestamps: 61:56–77:04

• JJ details receiving constant hate calls, changing his phone number “10 or 15 times” (61:56), and considering quitting basketball:

  • “I told [my sisters]...‘I’m done. Like, I want to quit. I want to be a normal student...I want to write poetry.’” (63:12 – JJ Redick)

• Describes spiraling—drinking heavily, skipping class, depression—until assistant coaches physically come retrieve him, lead him to Coach K for intervention, and impose a rigid schedule and therapy.

  • “That schedule was life changing...From that point on, I was a psycho...diligent routine, my schedule that takes precedence over everything.” (76:39 – JJ Redick)

The Role of Obsession & Routine in Success

Timestamps: 77:04–81:17

• JJ:

  “Discipline’s the number one thing you need for success...Well, I think obsession is.” (77:11–77:14)

• Describes how being obsessive about craft and routine, while eventually learning to loosen up around superstition, formed the foundation of his success.

Athlete Psychology, Flow State, and Imposter Syndrome

Timestamps: 83:13–94:57

• Will, Taylor, and JJ share candid stories about pre-game routines, chasing “flow state,” and battles with imposter syndrome.

  • “As an athlete, if you’re not in the flow state, you’re okay, maybe you’re shitty...you’re not the best version of yourself.” (83:43 – JJ Redick)

• Taylor confesses dreading being “exposed” (“I hope I don’t get exposed so everyone knows I don’t belong here.”—94:02), with JJ affirming:

  “Most high achievers in anything...think at times, ‘I’m going to be exposed as a fraud.’” (94:26 – JJ Redick)

Therapy: Self-Awareness & Emotional Growth

Timestamps: 95:13–107:51

• JJ credits therapy at Duke and throughout his life with transforming his mindset and sense of self:

  • “I think I became more comfortable with who I was...not the player, but the person.” (95:30 – JJ Redick)

• Taylor and Will share their own experiences with therapy, emphasizing emotional intelligence and self-awareness as critical for life beyond sports.

  • “By building your emotional intelligence, you can fit anywhere. You could do anything. I really believe that.” (106:22 – JJ Redick)

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Pizza “Tier Talk” — The Legendary Debate

Timestamps: 107:56–124:39

• The trio launches a classic Bussin’ debate, ranking pizzas and pizza toppings with characteristic zeal and regional trash talk.
  • JJ’s top choice:

    “Shallots and hot peppers...on a great pizza place like Lucali in Brooklyn” (113:19 – JJ Redick)

  • Will’s favorite: Sweet heat (pepperoni, jalapeños, drizzle of honey).
  • Taylor’s pick: Barbecue chicken pizza, with onions.
• JJ roasts the “coastal elite” debate as Will and Taylor tout barbecue chicken and Hawaiian pizzas:

  • “Brooklyn is the best pizza in the world. The y’all are talking about is disgusting.” (118:00 – JJ Redick)

• Will:

  “I think the spicy ketchup is overrated at Whataburger.” (110:29)

• Plenty of banter over what counts as “fast food,” with nods to Five Guys, In-N-Out, and Mellow Mushroom.

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Basketball Insights & Final Q&A

Timestamps: 125:43–131:05

• JJ names Michael Jordan (1A) and LeBron (1B) as the GOAT (“Jordan is who I, like, grew up watching. But then LeBron is who I played against, it’s hard for me to pick.”)
• On clutch, JJ controversially says he’d take Luka over Steph in 2022, citing size and shot creation:

  “When I think about clutch...it’s guys like Luka...because they’re going to create a shot.” (128:01)

• Explains his on-air clashes with Mad Dog and the drive to challenge tired or dehumanizing narratives about athletes:

  “So much of that is like, hold on a second. The narrative is wrong. The narrative is tired. Let’s start a new narrative that makes sense.” (130:53 – JJ Redick)

Coach K: Calculated, Not Psycho

Timestamps: 131:11–133:58

• JJ is effusive about Coach K’s truth-telling and intensity but denies he’s a “psycho” or “manipulative.”

  • “He’s definitely not a narcissist. He’s definitely not a psycho...He’s so invested and takes such ownership of being a coach.” (132:04)

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Memorable Quotes

• JJ Redick on Therapy:

  “I think I became more comfortable with who I was...I could navigate NBA locker rooms...It gave me a sense of perspective about who I was and my value as a human being.” (95:30–96:22)

• Will on Flow State:

  “If you’re not in the flow state, you’re okay, maybe you’re shitty...you’re not the best version of yourself.” (83:53)

• JJ on Modern Athlete-Led Media:

  “The future of sports media is going to be athlete driven...people are starved for this.” (23:56)

• Taylor on Obsession:

  “Discipline’s the number one thing you need for success, is what you’re saying.”
  “Obsession is.” (77:06–77:14)

• JJ on Losing His Identity:

  “30 years of my life...everything is so ingrained in being a basketball player. Letting go of that thing—fuck, dude. It was terrifying.” (31:36)

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Lighter, Iconic Moments

• JJ describing chugging North Coast Pilsner for podcast nerves (19:52).
• The legendary fried sage pizza controversy and the coastal elite pizza roast (113:16–124:18).
• Taylor describing getting brutally booed on return from injury and the agony of being “exposed” on national TV (88:59–94:18).
• Will reliving two embarrassing missed tackles vs. Dallas on Thanksgiving, followed by social media self-doubt (91:59–94:02).

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Recommended Segments with Timestamps

• JJ’s Duke Spiral, Therapy, and Comeback: 61:56–81:17
• Player Empowerment and Salary Cap Explained: 40:39–47:25
• Imposter Syndrome, Flow State, and Athlete Anxiety: 83:13–94:57
• Pizza Tier Talk: 107:56–124:39
• GOAT Debate and Social Media “Stans”: 125:43–128:30

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Tone & Style

The episode is classic Bussin’—raw, insightful, self-deprecating, and often hilarious, switching naturally from locker-room banter to unexpectedly profound discussions of mental health and life after sports. JJ matches Will and Taylor’s vulnerable honesty, offering candor about insecurity, therapy, and the personal cost of elite athletic obsession, while keeping pace in pizza debates and fast food trash talk.

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For Listeners Who Missed It

If you want to understand what it feels like to live and then leave the bubble of big-time sports, the power and pain of athlete-driven platforms, and the pizza of your dreams (or nightmares, if you’re a pizza purist), this episode is both a master class and a confession. You’ll laugh, maybe tear up, and definitely hear athlete voices you won’t get anywhere else—including why shallots and fried sage might just change your pizza life, and why, sometimes, quitting sports is the bravest shot to take.

Transcript

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[Taylor Lewan]

How'd you feel about that game of pay that just happened there?

[JJ Redick]

I didn't feel great about it.

[Will Compton]

Yeah, before sweaty. Right now we just played an intense game of pig.

[Taylor Lewan]

Intense game of pig.

[Will Compton]

And JJ Redick was the first man out.

[JJ Redick]

Yeah, I think what, I think what upsets me is number one, the L for sure.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah.

[JJ Redick]

But I texted Will yesterday and I said will, what do I need to know? Like what am I walking into tomorrow? And he laid out a show plan, some Duke stuff, some NBA stuff. There was no mention of mini basketball pig.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah.

[JJ Redick]

And had I known that I would have, I would have came more prepared.

[Taylor Lewan]

Right.

[JJ Redick]

I would have. My whole day would have been different. I'll put it that way.

[Will Compton]

So you're blaming me a little bit.

[Taylor Lewan]

Well, here's and let me have Will side for a second mid game.

[JJ Redick]

Yeah, you guys probably got at least, I don't know, 10 to 15 warm up shots.

[Will Compton]

Well, why why?

[Taylor Lewan]

But. But usually when people play pig and someone comes in middle of the game, they usually have to take a letter.

[Will Compton]

And you didn't have to come in mid game.

[JJ Redick]

Well, that's because my driver took me to 12. I'm not gonna say the address.

[Taylor Lewan]

You don't want to say the address.

[JJ Redick]

But he took me to different. A different address that started with a C, not a K. And then on the. We got stuck behind a train, so. Just happens, man.

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lewan]

A lot of adversity when you're coming to. And during the podcast, on the bus. But just to argue with you a little bit more, when you and I were sitting in the corner over there, and we were, like, kind of first meeting each other, you did whisper to me, I play this game with my kids, exact hoop, exact ball, every single day. Did you not say that? Was that. Is that a comment you made?

[JJ Redick]

Said, exact hoop, different ball?

[Taylor Lewan]

Oh, you. Actually. The ball's bigger and harder to make it in. Yes.

[JJ Redick]

You know, the. There's, like, a men's basketball, women's basketball, youth basketball, and then there's, like, the mini basketballs.

[Taylor Lewan]

Right?

[JJ Redick]

They're. They're, like, three times the size of the. The ball you guys used.

[Taylor Lewan]

Do you.

[JJ Redick]

That's what I'm used to.

[Will Compton]

Are you always aware when you walk into, like, a situation like that, like, they all expect me to win this game. And when you do lose in that kind of fashion because you. It was pretty quick. Is it something where you're just like, damn, these boys, like, really think they got me for real?

[JJ Redick]

I mean, if you guys really think you got me in basketball, I actually feel bad for you.

[Taylor Lewan]

Like, whoa, hang on. Let him finish. Let him finish, let him finish. Nobody left. No.

[JJ Redick]

But I'm just saying, if we. If we. If we all of a sudden, like, did a nerf football competition, we probably win that, like, throwing it at a target. Like, I would probably beat you guys. I wouldn't say to myself, like, I got you in football. I would just say, like, I won this specific, random event.

[Taylor Lewan]

Okay.

[Will Compton]

Pretty straightforward.

[Taylor Lewan]

It'd be better. It'd be better and easier. Easier for us to say based on. Because there was no, like, real basketball there. We're just better shooters than you are.

[JJ Redick]

Again, like, at this particular dress.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah.

[JJ Redick]

Outside of this particular bus, on that particular hoop, you guys got me today. And I. Again, the competitive side of me is pissed off, and I wish we could move on past this, because now I'm getting angry.

[Taylor Lewan]

It's gonna be a few minutes.

[Will Compton]

It's gonna be A few minutes before we leave this. Trust me, we do not want to see first take JJ Redick.

[Taylor Lewan]

Really?

[Will Compton]

Yeah. Have you not seen the waves?

[Taylor Lewan]

I've seen you lose your temper, but I don't think it's anything we can't handle.

[JJ Redick]

I don't know if I've lost my temp. Well, I've been animated.

[Will Compton]

You can tell because your vein will start coming out of your neck a little bit. You'll start leaning a little bit more in your seat.

[Taylor Lewan]

And does the seat lean? Is a big giveaway.

[JJ Redick]

The producer said that to me the other day.

[Taylor Lewan]

Really?

[JJ Redick]

Because I know when you're about to get really engaged. Because I lean forward.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah.

[JJ Redick]

And I don't even realize I'm doing it.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah.

[JJ Redick]

I think I've got to be better at.

[Taylor Lewan]

I've realized this exact video is about Luca and Curry.

[JJ Redick]

No, this one was about Stephen A. Calling Jimmy Butler a perimeter shooter.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah. And he's not a premier perimeter shooter at all.

[JJ Redick]

Jimmy Butler's a fantastic player. He's, you know, superstar.

[Will Compton]

Who alls are. Who all are fantastic players.

[JJ Redick]

Well, Pat Beverly. Beverly pressed. Pressed me on that the other day.

[Will Compton]

That's what you got.

[JJ Redick]

Fantastic player. What does that mean? And I'm like, I don't know, 40 or 50 fantastic players. The hierarchy of the NBA is really hard to figure out at any given time. But generally speaking, there's like, five guys that are it. They are him, and you can win a championship with that player. And beyond that, you know, there's probably five more guys that on certain nights look like a top five player outside of, like, the top 10 or 15, then it becomes very circumstantial for the next 20 to 40 guys, you know? And like, Draymond, he's a great example of that, because where do you sort of place him in the hierarchy of the NBA? If we're talking about someone who can go off the dribble and score on his own, like, that's not Draymond. But we're talking about impact on winning. Well, shit, he's top 15, top 20. So it's. It's hard to rank players. I hate doing it. I hate. You know, they make me do it. They make you do it.

[Taylor Lewan]

Have you seen Draymond Green try to play football?

[JJ Redick]

I haven't.

[Taylor Lewan]

Oh, there's a video of him. If you can pull that up. Pull it up. Draymond Green, spring football, Michigan State.

[JJ Redick]

What's like a good like for an average quarterback in the NFL? Average, actually. Let's go. Not NFL average. FBS College quarterback. How far can they throw a football on the flop? 50 yards, 80 yards? Like what's good?

[Taylor Lewan]

I don't see that's a.

[Will Compton]

You think, like, you think.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah. 50 to 60 would probably be.

[JJ Redick]

Basically, I could be an average D1 quarterback. Is which.

[Taylor Lewan]

Well, that's assuming that what you just said means you can throw the ball 50 or 60 yards on the run.

[JJ Redick]

Accurately, accurate on the run. I mean, I can just do it standstill.

[Taylor Lewan]

You can throw a 50 or 60 yard standstill?

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lewan]

How long are you leaving? You have to go somewhere to go. Because we can go right to the field if you want.

[JJ Redick]

I mean, I'm going to. You didn't give me warm up here. We can go out to the field.

[Taylor Lewan]

We'll go out to the field. I'll tell you what, after we finish, I have nothing to do the rest of the day. We'll play pick again, just you and me. I'll get this list and you can warm up as long as you want.

[JJ Redick]

My ongoing joke is basically that if I had not quit baseball, I would have been a big league pitcher.

[Taylor Lewan]

You think so?

[JJ Redick]

I had a heater. Man, were you a beast. I had a heat.

[Taylor Lewan]

How tall are you?

[JJ Redick]

Six, four.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah. What were you high for it?

[JJ Redick]

Well, I quit in seventh grade. That's the thing. My dad made me choose. But here's the thing. I was.

[Taylor Lewan]

That is like the point where you have.

[JJ Redick]

But here's. I was a beast then and I hadn't hit my growth spurt yet. I was five, six. And then all the kids that I played against that were on the same level as me, they all either played, you know, double A, triple A baseball, D1, ACC baseball. I feel like I could have had it. I could have had a chance.

[Will Compton]

I mean, are you in like, low 70s as a seventh grader? Yeah.

[JJ Redick]

Oh, easy.

[Will Compton]

I mean, that's just.

[Taylor Lewan]

I feel like that's just a gangster.

[JJ Redick]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lewan]

Low 70s.

[Will Compton]

Yeah. I feel like that's pretty mid-60s.

[Taylor Lewan]

You're like, holy right? You know what I'm saying? Yeah. It's even 62.

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lewan]

If you mound that close back to

[Will Compton]

the dugout and you're in like middle school and you're, hey, this kid can throw 72 miles an hour. You're like, fuck.

[Taylor Lewan]

I don't think I ever even heard of that, Taylor. Honest with you.

[JJ Redick]

Your listeners know this. This is more us getting to know each other. Where are you from again?

[Taylor Lewan]

I'm from Arizona.

[JJ Redick]

From Arizona.

[Taylor Lewan]

I grew up in. I grew up in Arizona. Born in California. Grew. And I grew up in Arizona. Went to Michigan. And I've been here.

[JJ Redick]

I knew that. Yeah. Okay. And then. So bon terror, Missouri is. That's a real place.

[Taylor Lewan]

Oh, I've been there.

[Will Compton]

That's a real.

[Taylor Lewan]

I've driven past there with Willie and people.

[Will Compton]

It's a real place.

[JJ Redick]

Yeah.

[Will Compton]

Tobacco, lead, cigarettes.

[JJ Redick]

For a long time in my life, I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but for a long time in my life, I was like, man, I'm not sure Missouri and Nebraska actually exist. Like, I didn't know if they were real places or if it was just like, we're gonna put them on a map. Because I didn't know anybody, you know? You never. I'd never. I'm like, Nebraska.

[Taylor Lewan]

Because they don't leave. Nebraska people don't leave. It's weird. I'm pretty sure Missouri people don't leave either.

[Will Compton]

You talking about here I am right now?

[Taylor Lewan]

No, but you, like. You, like a made it out kid.

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lewan]

I mean, you tell me all the time, people from your town, like, don't really leave that town.

[Will Compton]

That's fair. Yeah. That's accurate.

[Taylor Lewan]

And like Nebraska, it's a similar conversation we've had.

[Will Compton]

I feel like most people, if you're in a small town, though, not a lot of people really leave.

[Taylor Lewan]

I think that's a great point.

[Will Compton]

You know what I mean?

[Taylor Lewan]

No, no, I agree with that.

[Will Compton]

Like, cities I can see.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah.

[Will Compton]

I don't know what makes you want to leave. We were an hour away from St. Louis when I was growing up, so there really wasn't no city. There was, like, nothing around us. So you just get used to the community aspect, I guess, of a small town. Like when you're growing up and when you're younger, like in my area, and say you're, like, good at sports. You, like, picture yourself being, like, head coach of that high school team when you grow up, or like a gym teacher. You know what I mean?

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah.

[Will Compton]

I'm gonna coach PE and I'm gonna teach PE and I'm gonna coach football.

[JJ Redick]

What was a big city for you? St. Louis.

[Will Compton]

St. Louis, yeah.

[JJ Redick]

Huge.

[Will Compton]

When I went to Lincoln, Nebraska, I felt like it was big for me and everybody else from, like, Texas and Cali, and they, like, just shit on it.

[JJ Redick]

Like, when I went to Orlando my rookie year, I thought. I thought Orlando was a city. It's clearly not a city. It's not a real city.

[Taylor Lewan]

Orlando's a weird place. Every time I go to Orlando, I'm like. I feel like everything's fake here because it's like the Disney. The Disney World. And it's like, oh, there's a castle right there. Or like this extravagant billboard. Like, it's so insane. But really, it's just like, fake. Nothing's real there. It seems like to me I've only been there like three times in all three of those times.

[JJ Redick]

Seven years. I don't know. I wouldn't call it like, all of it fake, but it's a transient place, so a lot of people in and out, a lot of tourists.

[Taylor Lewan]

Google transient for me.

[Will Compton]

Well, he's. I mean, he can probably define it for you.

[JJ Redick]

I don't mean that'll be the easiest word to translate that I'll use today.

[Taylor Lewan]

Oh, wow.

[Will Compton]

Yeah. What is short lived?

[Taylor Lewan]

Okay. I keep.

[JJ Redick]

Always changes, moves around, you know, people in and out.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah.

[JJ Redick]

Nobody's from, like, who's from Orlando? Who's like, oh, yeah, I grew up in Orlando and I stayed in Orlando.

[Taylor Lewan]

It's the same thing here in Nashville. The first six months I lived in Nashville in 2014, I didn't meet one person from Nashville. I grew up in this area at all. Everyone's transplants.

[JJ Redick]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lewan]

Come from New York, come from Florida, come from all over the place.

[Will Compton]

What? You're just, you're, you know, you're touching the local boys back there.

[Taylor Lewan]

Well, I mean, is that not true? Is there so many people from out of town?

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lewan]

I'm not trying to come at the boys. I'm just trying to say, like, it's a transient place. You know, Read a book, boys. And it's just a transient place.

[Will Compton]

Yo, you stoked to be on busting with the boys?

[JJ Redick]

I. I am stoked. I mean, man, like, I gotta be honest with y'. All, the last eight or nine months has been kind of crazy for me because I always envisioned this year of bliss and quiet when I retired. And I was very hesitant to do ESPN and agree to do, like, a short one year deal. And I was still obligated to do the podcast for another year. So, like, I'll fuck it. I'll do. I'll do espn. But getting into the media space has been way busier than I expected. And so I get asked to do podcasts probably three or four times a week. That's not exaggeration. Like, literally three or four times a week. So for me, when I got like the ask from your crew that was like, hey, could he come down to Nashville to do this? I was like, absolutely. Absolutely. No hesitation. I'm super excited to be here.

[Taylor Lewan]

What about bus went the boys? If there's Three or four a week, coming to you, saying, hey, come on. Our podcast. What about bus? And was like, so was it the bus? Was it Will?

[JJ Redick]

It was mostly Will.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah. It usually is.

[JJ Redick]

Great followers.

[Taylor Lewan]

He's a great follow on Twitter.

[JJ Redick]

He's a great.

[Taylor Lewan]

Phenomenal teeth. Yes. He's hilarious.

[JJ Redick]

He had one of the need to

[Will Compton]

body bag somebody for jj. Somebody was coming at him.

[Taylor Lewan]

Really?

[Will Compton]

This guy named Chip. And then jj. JJ gave, like, a good response to him. And it was one of those things where you kind of like, read through the bullshit. Like, hey, jj, do you need. Do you need me to ask him for a favor?

[JJ Redick]

Yeah. I was so scared to clap back at people on Twitter when I was a player. And then I was off of social media for like two years. It was a. It was an awesome time.

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[JJ Redick]

But then when we started doing the podcast again, I was like, I kind of got to be on. But in retirement, I have zero problem clapping back. And I used to think about Kevin Durant. I'd be like, why is Kevin Durant. Why is Kevin Durant, like, clapping back? He's a top five player. The guy's worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Like, why does he find the time? But the reality is when you have the app on your phone and you check on it, it's human nature. You're gonna look at the mentions and, like, why not? It's very satisfying.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah.

[JJ Redick]

Very sad.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah. And it's a super.

[JJ Redick]

Put that guy in a body bag the other day with the. The. You put him to put him in the swaddle?

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[JJ Redick]

How's your swaddle game right now?

[Will Compton]

My swaddle game? Well, now we're kind of, you know, we kind of. We're kind of cheating now because we got the ollie swaddle. Because it's like Velcro.

[JJ Redick]

That exists.

[Will Compton]

Yes, that exists. And it is a good. It's a very good swaddle. But before we got the ollie, my swaddle is. Was actually getting pretty good. I was like, in mid season form before we got the ollie.

[JJ Redick]

That's good. Yeah. My wife only let me do the swaddle. She couldn't do it, really, for both our kids. Yeah, I was. And I went tight. I went super tight.

[Taylor Lewan]

You got to.

[JJ Redick]

You don't want those arms to move.

[Taylor Lewan]

Well, that hand starts poking out when you first start. Then that hand starts creeping.

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lewan]

They start scratching their face. No nails there'. It's.

[JJ Redick]

It's.

[Taylor Lewan]

It's a wild thing. The swaddle was something I took very

[Will Compton]

seriously as a Young father get competitive.

[JJ Redick]

Yes.

[Will Compton]

Like, when they're kind of tugging, you're like, all right, I'll fucking show you.

[Taylor Lewan]

You want to. You want to play games like that? You know, put them in there. They don't really fight back too much. Makes you feel kind of bad after. But while you're in it, you definitely, like, think, oh, this baby's trying me. You know what I'm saying? I absolutely get it.

[Will Compton]

But, yeah, I was telling Taylor, like, I was stoked that you were coming home, because every. Every white kid in America, when you're playing college basketball, they want to be able to shoot a ball like J.J. redick. And I was more fired up now that you're coming on the bus. Cause I was telling Taylor that you're legitimately one of the first OGs, like, in the. In the active athlete world that was doing a podcast. Like, you did yours for, like, five years now. You did it with, like, Yahoo and Ringer before you had to do your own thing. Um, but just the fact that you're podcasting in those five years, like, when we started busting with the boys, like, low key to give your flowers a little bit, like, you helped give me, like, confidence and, like, courage to, like, do busting with the boys. Kind of like a Pat McAfee and some of those guys who have kind of, like, pioneered the space. And so that's, like. That's actually like a. That's a huge reason, like, why I was fired up, because I would look at old man in the three, and you're obviously in the. In the basketball space. So I never really, like, there's some out there. You look and you're like, oh, they're kind of, like, competition and stuff. But you, like, you were. Since you were in the basketball side of it, I was like, oh, let me see, like, what JJ's doing, like, how he does his stuff. You retired on your own platform. Like, you own. You, like, own your voice. You control your narrative. You give a platform for athletes. And so that's, like, why I. Why I'm so fired up that you're on the bus.

[JJ Redick]

I appreciate that. I never thought about that. When I first started, WOJ was launching a platform called the Vertical at Yahoo, and he asked me to write articles for him. And I got this, like, weird flashback to college being, like, stressed out and then having to stay up all night till 6am to write a term paper. I was like, fuck that. Well, I don't want to do that. And then he came back six months later, he's like, me and Chris Mannix are doing a pod. Do you want your own pod? And I legitimately had never listened to a podcast before. My wife had listened to Serial, the season one, about the love triangle and the murder and stuff.

[Taylor Lewan]

Oh, I never.

[JJ Redick]

I was like. I listened to it and I was like, I don't know what to do. Like, this is not what I'm going for. And, you know, when I started it, it was. I thought at the time it was weird. I thought at the time it was like, I'll just get some reps in case I want to do media. But then I realized that it, like, satisfied this curiosity in me, like, because I go to dinners or I meet people and I'm like, I'm genuinely curious about people. I'm very interested in the human psyche. And it's given me this, like, amazing ability to interact with people. And then on top of that, as you mentioned, there's nothing better as an athlete than, like, having your own platform and being able to control the narrative. And I've used it in some ways, probably positively and probably negatively, to do that. But, like, I. I just. I enjoy having it. If there's anything that happens in my life, you know, it's as a player, and even as a retired player, I can just go on the pod and talk about it.

[Taylor Lewan]

When you were first starting your podcast, was there, like, that. That insecurity that, like, oh, man, once I put the start putting this out there while I'm playing, am I going to be like, oh, yeah, my coach is going to think this way or my. My teammate's gonna think a certain way? Like, how did you deal with that situation?

[JJ Redick]

Yeah, I was fortunate because the clip, The Clippers at the time, I get asked that question a lot. The truthful answer is, anyone who was around me as a professional knew that my number one priority was basketball, even more so than my family. And I hate admitting that, but that's the truth. My entire day was structured around trying to be great at basketball. So no one that I worked with would ever question whether or not I was making the podcast a bigger priority than basketball. I think for me, and it's still this way. I still get a little bit of performance. Performance anxiety when I. When I record a pod, because, like, I just want anything I do. I want it to be good. This is why I'm so mad that I lost you guys in mini basketball. No, I'm serious. Like, I just want it to be good. And so it took 20 to 30 episodes where I, like, legit wouldn't have to chug a beer before I started. Just to calm myself down, really. I would chug. I would chug. It was. I was living in la, so it was the north coast pilsner. I would chug a north coast pilsner. And just to calm myself down, like, okay, all right. You're going to be all right. And I used to fucking keep, I mean, age, like 15 to 20 pages of notes on each person. And I would like have every question. I would have a flowchart. I mean, I overdid it. And now it's like, I record, not do my notes and I research and I work hard on it. But generally speaking, now it's just like, it's natural, it flows. I'm sure you guys have experienced the same thing. 100 some episodes in. It gets easier.

[Taylor Lewan]

It's way easier because you gotta understand, like, the more you do episodes, like, it took us about 20 episodes. Every once in a while too, like, we'll do an episode with somebody, we'll call each other in the car. But that was like our go to in the beginning was do an episode driving away, call each other, like, hey, what'd you think? And then we'd go back and forth on what we thought we both could have done better. Or like, hey, if I do this, maybe you say that, or like, go off it this way. And it was, it was, it was a difficult trying time because you're just kind of in this world that you know nothing about, and then you don't know if people are really gonna enjoy it. And then as you do it more, it kind of just becomes like, you know what your audience likes and wants, you know, like. And it's. It's probably easier for me and Will, cause we're best friends, so it's easy for us to come up here and. Cause what we do in the podcast, we literally do outside.

[JJ Redick]

Right.

[Taylor Lewan]

So if it's just us two, it's never a difficult thing. Having a guest on is not a difficult thing for us. Cause at the end of the day, we can bounce back off each other, you know, and we. But it took us time and reps to learn that.

[JJ Redick]

Yeah, I think with Tommy, I think that was part of the reason that I wanted Tommy as a co host, which our last season of the Ringer, he was trying to get me to do it and I was like, I could. I'll be honest with you, I don't really want to do it anymore. So we did it for a few months together and then Covid hit pandemic, hit world shut down. We both simultaneously discovered zoom. And we were like, oh, we don't have to do these in person. We can do them, you know, over the Internet and put some content out during COVID And then we, you know, Bill wouldn't let us own the podcast, so we were like, all right, we're gonna leave. But I think having like, that was my motivation for, for involving Tommy and just having somebody like as a backup, bounce ideas off to give me a pause during it. It's helpful, it's helpful. By the way, I even this year, working for ESPN and kind of having a real sense of the landscape of sports media, like being in it and getting to understand it a little bit better. Like we are in the first wave of athlete driven content. The first wave. And like you mentioned, you're like, I was a pioneer. Like, I think all of us are. I think all of us in this first inning, first couple innings are pioneers in it. I don't, I don't think this is like a novelty, something that's going to be a short lived thing. I think the future of sports media is going to be athlete driven. That's not to say that traditional journalists won't have their place in it, but honestly, people are starved for this. Like we have been fed, I agree, 100 candy and soda for the last 15 or 20 years and being able to peel back the curtain a little bit and offer someone a three course meal with a leafy green salad, I think people eat it up, man. I really do.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah, I agree. I think not just that, but like the suit and tie, like, gotta be super proper all the time. I think for us is we're kind of learning. Like people want to feel like, oh, these guys are just like me type of vibe. Like we might play sports, but I mean, we're sitting here in shorts and T shirts.

[JJ Redick]

Barstool does it better.

[Taylor Lewan]

One of the best parts about hanging out. Barstool, One of the best parts with

[Will Compton]

you mentioned Bill not letting you own the podcast during that time. You said that was during the COVID That was during the pandemic.

[JJ Redick]

Yeah. So our contract was running up. I think it ended like July 31st or August 1st. So it was basically two weeks into the bubble. And I told Bill in June, I was like, hey, you know, just so, you know, like, we are like going to other companies and being like, do you want to help us sell ads on our podcast? I'm, you know, want to be transparent with you that this is happening. So please make an offer. And, you know, they made an offer, but they were the only company that was like, you can't own it. And this was right around the time of the Ringer sale to Spotify. And so.

[Will Compton]

And not to mention Barstool with Color Daddy. Like, there's a lot of IP conversations.

[JJ Redick]

Exactly. And so that was just. It wasn't even. It wasn't even a money issue because honestly, honestly, the ringer offered us more guaranteed money than anyone else. But it was just like, I just wanted to own the ip, Even, like, simple stuff that you want to do down the line with, you know, conversations or episodes. It's like, well, if I don't have control of that, like, what good is it? You know? And so it really just became bottom line, like, are you gonna let me own it? And he said, no. And I said, okay, no hard feelings. That's fine. We're moving on.

[Will Compton]

Now, what was it called before the JJ Reddick Podcast?

[Taylor Lewan]

And he wouldn't let you.

[JJ Redick]

Yeah, yeah. And they. So we lost.

[Taylor Lewan]

I mean, it's the same thing at Barstool with McAfee. Yeah, the Pat McAfee show now Pat McAfee 2.0.

[Will Compton]

Correct. For sure. But you just almost think like, man, it's.

[JJ Redick]

We lost. Yeah, so we lost.

[Taylor Lewan]

Kind of crazy, right?

[JJ Redick]

We lost our subscriber base. Obviously, our.

[Taylor Lewan]

Gotta be the biggest thing, right?

[JJ Redick]

And I had done it twice already because I lost it when I left the Ringer or Yahoo. I lost mine then. So I've had to restart three times, basically, which is what's huge.

[Will Compton]

What I think speaks so good to your audience. It was, like, very, like, intriguing when, like, learning about you. When we were doing busting with the boys, was that, yeah, you guys amassed 100,000 subscribers on YouTube within six weeks.

[JJ Redick]

On. On our old man.

[Will Compton]

Old man in the three.

[JJ Redick]

Yeah. I mean, that's the thing that we realized early on. It was like an epiphany moment. We had my last year with the ringer. We did Zion in person in la and it was his first long form interview. And we did Jimmy right before the. Literally two weeks before COVID and March 11th and the, you know, the world shut down, basically, we put that on YouTube and those are still the two most watched videos on the Ringer YouTube channel. So is this epiphany moment where like, oh, not only is it audio, like, podcasts should be audio, they should be video. And then we should probably put stuff on social. And so, like, all of those things help just grow the brand and grow the audience and you know, I, I, I talk with people all the time that either want to do business with a podcast or, you know, our contract is up. And so, you know, we're talking about potentially, you know, doing deals with other people. But it's like, I, I don't care about anything else. I just want to grow the audience. I just want people to appreciate the content. When I have a guest on, I want people to walk away and be like, hey, I'm a fan of that guy now. Like, Pat Beverly is a great example of that. Like, he is divisive player because of whatever, however you view his antics on the court. But the greatest compliment I can get is like, I have Pat Beverly on the show, and people like, I used to hate Pat Beverly. I like him now. That to me is like, that's it. That's the juice for me.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah, Pretty impressive. What's up? What's up?

[Will Compton]

You said? Yeah, I was like, oh, damn.

[Taylor Lewan]

For you on this.

[JJ Redick]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lewan]

The juice for me is basically coming on YouTube mostly and, like, seeing, like, subscribers, seeing people commenting and, like, just loving what we're doing. It's, it's still a crazy thought process to me that we're sitting here on mics, on cameras, and you, when you play a sport your whole life and you think, oh, this is all I'll really ever be good at. Like, this is my, this is my one crack at the big whatever I'm supposed to do in this world. And then you go branch off and do something like this, and it's like, you don't know if it's gonna work. And all of a sudden, like, it's kind of blowing up in a way that you're like, I can't believe people like this because it's so natural and easy for us to do. So it's just fun. I do love it when people come on, they say, hey, I thought I didn't like this guy, but I do like this guy. But for me, it's just like, it's given me. I feel safer in my own life after doing a podcast as far as,

[JJ Redick]

like, feel like we're doing a therapy session right now.

[Taylor Lewan]

It's actually something I think about all the time. There used to be a point in my life where I was like, football. That's like, the only main income I have. Like, yeah, I've made a lot of money in football, but, like, what if this and what if that? Like, am I gonna ever be able to, you know, am I gonna have to go work a 9 to 5 job or something like that. And then once we started doing this and started really making money, I was like, oh, like, I'm gonna be okay no matter what. Like, no matter what I do in my life, I'm gonna be fine. Like, this was like that step, that little piece for me to be like, okay, I'm going to be all right. Everything's going to work out.

[JJ Redick]

I knew going into my last year of my contract with the Pelicans that it was going to be my last year.

[Taylor Lewan]

And

[JJ Redick]

the other side of that was so terrifying. It was so scary. And I. And I had had a podcast, but I. Again, it was like it was podcasting my future. I didn't know. And it almost feels weird to say

[Taylor Lewan]

podcasting is my future. You're like, is that even a thing?

[Will Compton]

But I. Oh, yeah, it's a thing.

[Taylor Lewan]

I know, I know. But like, well, when you're like, yeah, but you first kind of start, you're. Is this really a deal in, like the last three, four years?

[JJ Redick]

I called my parents. Actually, my parents called me because they were worried about me. It was New Year's morning. We had played a road game in Oklahoma City, I think the night before. Got in late. I went to bed at like 3am, woke up at 8, had a missed call from my mom. So I called my mom back and she was like, you know, we're really worried about you. My family was in Brooklyn and I was living on my own in New Orleans. And I was like, super emotional because on Christmas morning we were in Miami and my. My wife had sent me a video of my now. Yeah. Five year old running down the stairs to the Christmas tree. And I basically checked out at that moment. Like, I was like, I just want to be home. I don't want to do this. And my mom, I told my mom, I was like, I just want to get in my car and drive from New Orleans back to New York City. I just want to be home. And she's like, why don't you? And I said, because I'm fucking terrified, Mom. Like, I'm so scared of what the rest of my life is like. Think about. You guys play youth sports. I'm guessing. I started at 7 years old. I'm 37 now. I retired at 37. 30 years of my life. I'm not great at math, but I would guarantee that's probably high. 80% of my life, 89% of my life has been wrapped up in sports. My identity, my ego structure, everything is so ingrained in being a basketball player.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah.

[JJ Redick]

And like, letting Go of that. Letting go of that thing. Fuck, dude. It was terrifying. But I can say to your point about, like, feeling safe about it, like, no, I can. I can do other things. And maybe it's. Maybe it's this for a while, maybe it's something else, but I'm. It's a weird place to be, you know, basically a year out of retirement to be like, okay, I'm going to be fine. My life's going to be okay.

[Taylor Lewan]

Everything's going to be all right.

[JJ Redick]

It's going to be all right.

[Will Compton]

Getting to that other side of it, because you're right. Like, it's that example. We spend however many years of our life just doing one thing, and I feel like, like, you're probably the same way. Like, even when you're in it, you have interests. And every kind of player and athlete feels like they have something they're kind of lining themselves up for. They have a curiosity or, I'm going to do this afterwards. Everybody feels confident. But when those. Like, for me, it was, like, three years ago. I thought that could potentially have been my last year. And you're just like, I was getting into real estate. I was. I was journaling up pod, the podcast, what it could look like, but I was just terrified. I'm like, man, I'm not playing a whole lot this year. Like, this could be it. Like, I truly have to. I've always been the guy that felt comfortable and be like, oh, I'll figure something out. Like, I already have a few things going, blah, blah, blah. But, man, I really have to figure out, like, what I enjoy, because this could be coming faster than what I realize. And for me, with the podcast stuff, like, it's. It's like. Like, you were saying it, like, scratches that curiosity, that itch that you have. Like, I love, like, talking to people. I feel like if I get to learn something about somebody, like, we've had on, like, Darren Waller, Max, we've had on a lot of incredible people. But a couple of those stories stand out, where Max is talking about his sobriety, Darren Waller's talking about his sobriety and just going in depth and like. Like giving athletes kind of a platform to talk about stuff. And, like, you said, like, I'll. You'll have people call and be like, yo, I didn't fuck with that guy, but that's really cool. Or it's just like, yo, I like this person, but, man, I did not know he went through that. And it was, like, really cool that you guys are able to, like, peel back Layers. Because they feel comfortable sitting in front of you. Because we're all athletes, right? Because a lot of stuff that you'll give a microphone or to reporters or something, you're either in the locker room, your backup or somebody you're competing with sitting next to you. Like guys are around there. You're not.

[Taylor Lewan]

Walls are up.

[Jim Beam Ad]

Yeah, everything's up.

[Will Compton]

You're not going to, you're not going to actually give reporters and talk about stuff. Not because you won't give it to the reporter, one, you won't give it to the reporter. But also like the environment you're in. You're just not your guards up. Like you said, egos are going. And like when you're on something like this, I just feel like everybody feels more comfortable when they're talking with like athletes or there's more of like an unfiltered approach, like being for the boys. We tell everybody if there's something that you don't like, let us know, we'll take it off. Like we talked about jerk off stories that somebody's wanted theirs off, we kept ours on. But some of us, like, you just be your.

[Taylor Lewan]

That soon. Yeah, yeah.

[Will Compton]

Like, you know, just let it fly and be yourself.

[Taylor Lewan]

And if you're not very much you

[Will Compton]

want to take it off, we'll take it off.

[Taylor Lewan]

People ask me all the time what this podcast is about. I literally go, I think it's just like a bunch of guys in the locker room talking. Yeah, it's like the conversations you would have. But another thing to what you were saying is like we talk about all the time, like how you have like these blinders on how you're so zoomed into the world that you live in. And like not only, let's say besides the podcast, like football, like I go and play football and then I spend time in the offseason watching free agency and then I spend time watching the combine. Then I watch the draft and see who the guys I'm going to go against soon, what they're going to be like and then the, like shortly after that the schedule comes out and then you're in OTAs. Then you have that six weeks break where you're just so focused and in like your fight camp. Going into camp, it's a year round thing and what this has allowed us to do. Or especially myself because I get super caught up in like thinking like everyone is so focused and dialed in on Tennessee Titan football when really if I just like zoom out for a second, it's like there's a bunch of people that are. But for the most part, like, ain't nobody gives a shit what I'm doing. You know, it's like, I'll be in camp and it'll be the middle of August, and it's. I'm right in the middle. The start is too far to see, and the end's not close enough, and you're kind of, like, fucking in it. And you have a day off, and you go drive home and you say, you know what? I'm going to go cruise down Broadway real quick and see what's going on. And you go down Broadway and you see every type of person walking up and down, drinking, having a good time, going, they don't give two shits. The Tennessee Times had practice today, or we were watching film or who were going to play. And it allows you to be like, oh, like, I'm going to be. It's going to be all right. It kind of comes down to is like, oh, this isn't as overwhelming, consuming to everybody as you think it is.

[JJ Redick]

I experienced that at Duke because I felt like.

[Taylor Lewan]

I feel like they all wanted it there.

[JJ Redick]

Like, I was in a fishbowl at Duke, and when I got on the other side of it, I was like, oh, no. Like Duke basketball, it's well known, but it's not actually that important. But at the time, it felt like every single thing I did was live or die. It felt very intense to me. Let me ask you guys a question, because my best friend, he works in television, la, and I had lunch with him yesterday, and I was talking about the other side of the sports, you know, being retired and whatever, and he's like, you know, you used to. Used to say this shit all the time when. When you were a player, like, used to say you wanted to quit, used to say you wanted to retire. And I'm like, I'm curious if you guys, in your career, even if it was a great season, that moment you're talking about when you're driving down Broadway and you're like, people are just having a normal, good time. Like, there's so many things that I felt like I missed out on, like Christmas being an example. I think. I think I played on Christmas Day 12 times in 15 years. And I carried a little bit of resentment about that. I don't know what it was. And there were moments where I was like, I could do something else. Why don't I do something else? I started thinking about that, actually, it was right after I had my first kid, because I could change my perspective about My time, basically. And I don't know, it's like, I was definitely still into it. I was definitely still committed. Even more so at the end of my career. I was psycho. But, like, I. I still carried, like, a little bit of resentment about all the things that went into it that prevented me from doing other things. Did you guys feel. Do you guys feel that at all?

[Will Compton]

If I like me feeling it, it was probably, if anything, the last couple years, like, when I know I'm kind of like, I have a foot out the door. Like, I kind of know what I want to lean into and do when I'm done now with busting with the boys and everything else. And so you think about it a lot more, like when I'm in the season. But I'd say, like, the first large. The first, like, seven years. I more so think, like, I can't wait to do this when football's over with. Like, because it would be the same thing, like, with Thanksgiving. You don't get to do any of the holidays, like, during the season, like Thanksgiving, Halloween, Christmas, all these things. New Year's, it'd be more so, like, I can't wait to do this, like, when I get done playing.

[JJ Redick]

Not complaining. Not complaining, no. But it's because it's a great life. And I'm. I was. I never felt any sense of, like, ingratitude. I was always grateful. I was always, you know, I would still, like, even my 50th year, super frustrated. Like, dude, I'm 36 and I'm in the NBA. Like, how cool is this?

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[JJ Redick]

You know what I mean? Like, I. I loved it every day, but still, there were. There were moments. There were moments.

[Taylor Lewan]

Everyone goes through, the grass is greener. And the thing is, there's so many different lives you can live on this world.

[JJ Redick]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lewan]

And so everyone always daydreams to think about what if. I always. I remember being in college and, like, having to get my weight up because I came into college super underweight. I remember thinking to myself, like, man, when I'm done playing football, I'm going to be so, like, jacked and skinny. And like, I still to this day, I'm like, man, I cannot. I can't wait to Fudgeing lose 60 pounds, you know, and I can't wait to do this and this. And there was. I mean, we. We talked about it. We talk about all the time. Like, during the season, last year, the season I was having, I had him over the house. I was like, I'm a retire. I'm done. Like, and you kind of. But that's when you're, like, so in it. And then you start to realize, like, hey, you're in the NFL. How cool is this? Regardless?

[JJ Redick]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lewan]

Like, it's just dope. You're living. Every kid's dream is to be professional athlete at, like, at some position.

[JJ Redick]

We did it.

[Taylor Lewan]

We made it.

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lewan]

Congratulations.

[JJ Redick]

We fucking made it.

[Taylor Lewan]

Congratulations.

[JJ Redick]

We made it.

[Taylor Lewan]

And it's just cool. It's a cool vibe. But, yeah, there are. There's always something you want to do other than what you're doing at that moment.

[JJ Redick]

Yeah.

[Will Compton]

Yeah. I think I've retired. What, the last three years?

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah. Every year.

[Will Compton]

This is it.

[Taylor Lewan]

Since I've known Will, every single year, he's been like, this is the last one. This is the last one. And now. Now we're Talking about year 10, you know, it's just crazy.

[Will Compton]

Do you think, like, I'm curious, too. Do you think there's a difference in basketball and football, like, doing the media stuff and having personalities? But I think. Because I think it's, like, it's wild that Draymond has a podcast. I think it's awesome. But I'm like, damn. Like, he's got some stones. When I go do a podcast, like, right after a game and talking about the game, like, do you feel like there's a difference there? Because you obviously did the pot for, like, five years. Like, what's the scent? Like, what's the sense, like, when you're around all the guys? Because when I went to Vegas last year, like, everybody kind of knew about the podcast. I know everybody liked it, so it was all good. But when I was in the building and seeing, like, guys work and appreciating kind of like, damn. Like, these dudes, like, fucking. They love, like, I love ball, but I'm like, they love ball way more than the spot that I'm at in my career right now to where you almost. You almost feel bad bringing up any of this stuff because you don't want to seem like you're, like, not in it as much as they are.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah.

[JJ Redick]

Again, I go back to that point. I don't. I go back to, like, any teammate I've ever been around. Like, saw the dedication and work I put in. So I never sort of worried about that on the basketball, football side. I mean, that's probably part of a larger conversation just about the empowerment that NBA players have right now, the player empowerment era that we're in the middle of right now relative to the NFL. And I don't think the NFL has gotten to the level that the NBA has and probably some of that is our guaranteed contracts.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah, run the league more.

[JJ Redick]

You know, again, it's, you get the

[Will Compton]

right guys, you can not predict. Like it's a lot more competitive now,

[Taylor Lewan]

but it's a lot easier to predict

[Will Compton]

these boys on this team. Like these teams are going to see each other in the final.

[JJ Redick]

There's also just inherently because of the way your cap works, there's, there's like more parody in the NFL and because it's a two way sport, like in the NBA, it's like if you're one of the five best players or 10 best players, like you fucking run it, you run it. Now. Some guys don't take advantage of that, some guys do, but there's just more, I just believe inherently there's more power. If you are LeBron James or you're a Kawhi Leonard or a Kevin Durant, there's. You just carry more than even a great all Pro NFL player does. It's just the way the sport works.

[Taylor Lewan]

Less guys. Probably when you say run it, you mean like they run practice at meetings and they say we're fucking, this is what we're doing.

[JJ Redick]

There's input on everything.

[Taylor Lewan]

You have input on everything.

[JJ Redick]

I don't know if you guys like

[Taylor Lewan]

Aaron Rodgers or like Peyton Manning. Yeah, there's very few guys, kind of.

[JJ Redick]

But I think every team in the all 30 teams, probably, you could probably name five guys in the NFL, 10 guys, maybe they could name the best wide receiver in the NFL. And yeah, but then he's not, he's not having input on like who they should draft, they should trade.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yes.

[JJ Redick]

Where in the end in the NBA, the top two guys on pretty much every team. I mean, I had that with the Clippers. I was like the fourth or fifth guy. You know, I had, I would talk to Doc, I would talk to L. Frank, I would talk to Steve Ballmer. Like I had that, you know, I had that with Philly when I went there. Like, like I, I wasn't even one of the best players. And I just, I just think that because of, I don't know if it's less guys or it's just like, you know, we're on the court the whole time. You know, in the NFL you're playing offense or you're playing defense. And to a degree too, it's like the NBA, a great player can impact the game more than a great NFL player. Because I don't want to make broad generalities, but in general, like in the NFL, like on a play you have a specific task. In the NBA, it's, it's a little more organic where a player's talent can sort of shine in a bunch of different ways. Right. If that. Does that make sense?

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah, it does make sense.

[Will Compton]

The Mannings, Aaron Rodgers, the Tom Brady's, like if you play, if you play good offense, like running the ball and you can keep them off the field. Like you can keep those guys off the field. Like those quarterbacks need the defense, the special teams and literally everybody just as much as they feel like they can

[Taylor Lewan]

affect basketball, it seems like, it seems like not knowing basketball, but like it seems like you have two or three dudes you can take over and do whatever the you want. Almost. Yeah. You know what I'm saying?

[JJ Redick]

Pretty much.

[Taylor Lewan]

Like when LeBron, as long as those

[JJ Redick]

dudes were like good in 2022 and not the last time they were good was like 2016, like the Lakers this year.

[Taylor Lewan]

Right.

[JJ Redick]

They built a team around guys that were good six years ago.

[Will Compton]

Is that why it didn't, is that

[Taylor Lewan]

why LeBron still that man, though?

[JJ Redick]

Yeah, yeah, he still is. I mean, where would you rank him

[Will Compton]

in the top 10 today?

[JJ Redick]

I mean, he's in the top 10. I, I don't know.

[Taylor Lewan]

Top five, though.

[JJ Redick]

It's hard to judge based on this year just because of how bad that team was and how bad, badly that roster was constructed. You know, I probably to a degree, the Brooklyn Nets not as bad of a roster, but also equally bad because it's. The NBA has changed and it's very recent. The NBA has changed. Like, I really believe you need homegrown talent. Like you have to draft well. That's, that's the inefficiency in the marketplace. You have to draft well. You have to have homegrown talent. You can't buy championships anymore because you need all the ancillary pieces. You can go get two or three great players that are super max or max players. You need really good players, three through seven, three through eight. And if you're going to have two or three max guys, those guys have to be on rookie contracts or you have to be really good with finding bargain players and free agency.

[Taylor Lewan]

But if you. Okay, so if you're. The LA Rams, they went and they didn't do anything in the draft and there's 53 guys on a roster in the NFL. How come the. You can't do that in the NBA anymore? Like, it seems like it'd be way easier to go pay seven or eight guys and then and then have them be a super team. You say you think that can't happen anymore.

[JJ Redick]

Once you, once you.

[Taylor Lewan]

But the Rams just did that with way more guys. You know what I'm trying to say? Yeah, I don't see what I'm saying.

[JJ Redick]

I'm not. Again, I haven't put my GM hat on to be an NFL gm. Yeah, I have put it on to be an NBA gm.

[Taylor Lewan]

Right.

[JJ Redick]

And it's just the general way our cap works. So there's a, there's a cap and then there's a luxury tax, and there's a, there's a, a hard cap, an apron. There's a, you know, the difference between the luxury tax and the hard cap is like an apron. So once you get into like two max players, then it's like, all right, we have 13 roster spots we need to fill out with. Essentially, the super, super maxes are so high now, essentially like $40 million. So on average, you're going to pay guys $3 million a year, which is what the Lakers did this year. They signed, you know, Avery Bradley, Trevor Reza, DeAndre Jordan, like all these guys on minimum contracts. Well, if you're a free agent and you're trying to get paid and another team has, let's say the mid level, which is $10 million a year, you're probably going to go take that versus 2.5, you know what I mean? So it's just the nature of the salary cap. So unless you have those guys that you drafted and they're still on their rookie contract and you're able to pay those players once they become free agents, because you have their Bird rights. But that's the challenge. Bird rights.

[Taylor Lewan]

Bird rights. What's Bird rights?

[JJ Redick]

Bird rights. Basically, if you're drafted by a team and then you're, you're a free agent and that team is over the, the, the, the. What is it the salary? The.

[Taylor Lewan]

What's the source cap?

[JJ Redick]

Yeah, if you're over the sour cap, you can resign them.

[Taylor Lewan]

Okay.

[JJ Redick]

Came in with Larry Bird. So, like if, when I signed with Philly on the one year deal,

[Taylor Lewan]

they

[JJ Redick]

didn't have my Bird rights the following summer. So when LeBron didn't sign there, they signed me on another one year deal. Had I resigned there, they could have gone over the luxury tax. Because after two years you have early Bird rights, after three you have full Bird rights. And this is all because of Larry Bird. It's all because of Larry Bird.

[Taylor Lewan]

Do you care to explain that situation to me at all?

[JJ Redick]

I, again, I'm not A complete basketball historian, but my general knowledge of the situation is that the salary cap came into place sometime in the 1980s, and Larry Bird's rookie contract was over, and the Celtics wanted to resign him, but they couldn't go over the salary cap to resign him. So there was a rule put in place in the collective bargaining agreement that you could resign your own free agents to go over the salary cap as long as you had Bird rights.

[Will Compton]

All right, yeah, that was a good explanation.

[Taylor Lewan]

That's a great explanation.

[JJ Redick]

Thank you.

[Will Compton]

And for the Rams.

[Taylor Lewan]

Well, I'm not a historian, but here's exactly what you need to know.

[Will Compton]

And for the. For the Rams question. I feel like they've been kind of cooking that team up for a couple years. You know what I mean? Like, each year they've kind of added a different place to. And mind you, they drafted Aaron Donald.

[Taylor Lewan]

They drafted Aaron.

[Will Compton]

Yeah, they've had it. They had Aaron Donald. They realized, like, okay, they missed. They're missing a QB piece. They were able to trade Matt Stafford,

[Taylor Lewan]

and they probably got Stafford. They got obj.

[Will Compton]

They were close enough if they just needed. If they got like, the OBJ and the Von Mil, and they probably sat there and they're like, hey, fuck these draft picks. Like, let's try to win the super bowl this year.

[JJ Redick]

I always find it fascinating with the NFL, like, how you guys can sign a contract and then, like, two years later, like, a new contract happens. We're like, we, you know, we sign a contract, like, we can't renegotiate our contract. If we're going to make. Let's say a guy's going to make $20 million and a team wants to go sign another player, they're not going to go to that player and be like, hey, will you take 10 next year? You know, it's like, yeah, it's just, like, guaranteed. Like, that's what you get.

[Will Compton]

Yeah. And then all of a sudden, it's a real issue.

[JJ Redick]

Harry Beard is like. It's like this guy's cat. He's going to make $37 million, but his cap hits 13.

[Taylor Lewan]

And it all. It really depends on shit. To me, it depends on teams and how much, like, money they have.

[JJ Redick]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lewan]

Like, if you're. If your owner has lots of money, literally, the cap doesn't really matter.

[JJ Redick]

Right.

[Taylor Lewan]

Because Will could be making $10 million and his cap, it's going to be seven.

[JJ Redick]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lewan]

And we can say, all right, hey, well, we're going to give you $9 million in a signing bonus right now. So now your Cap hits one and you're making minimum this year. It's just a crazy concept. Yeah, it really doesn't matter.

[Will Compton]

And we have a lot of tenders. We have a lot of like, the tenders are wild.

[Taylor Lewan]

The fifth year, there's a fifth year option where if you're a first round draft pick, it's a four year contract with an option for the team to pick up. A fifth year option. Mind you, you can get franchise tag twice too, because you can literally play seven years on one deal, basically. And if you're outplaying your contract, your rookie year where you're about to get paid, they can put a fifth year option on you. And the fifth year option is like you make an average of what the top 10 guys are making or something like that, which is usually top three or four guys make a lot of money. And there's a big, There's a big difference in the bottom. So you kind of average out at your position and then you can get, actually get another. I think you can put another option on the guy. Again. No, that's franchise tag. That's franchise tag.

[Will Compton]

It's the average of the top three, right? Yeah, the top three players. But yeah, you could essentially be on these one year, one year deals and they have your rights for like Taylor said, like up to seven years if they actually wanted to. But rookies nowadays, like, if you start outperforming your deal like going into that fifth year, if like they try a fifth year option, you guys are getting a lot. You know, guys are like holding out or saying that they won't play, stuff like that.

[Taylor Lewan]

Guys will hold out. And usually what teams do is they'll pick up your fifth year option and then they'll negotiate as you're going into your fourth year where your fifth year doesn't really, it doesn't really matter anymore, but it just gives them more time just in case. Right. I signed my second contract going into my fourth year, but they already picked up my fifth year option. They have to pick it up by what, your third year?

[Will Compton]

Like by like May or something.

[Taylor Lewan]

May or third year?

[JJ Redick]

Yeah. Rookie.

[Taylor Lewan]

It's a wild deal. It's a wild deal. The. It's. It's crazy when you, when you're an NFL player and you guys are. We're all sitting here talking about money and stuff like that, and then we look at the NBA, it's like, yo, it's fucking wild how these guys kind of just run the show.

[Will Compton]

It really just seemed like motherfuck, like

[Taylor Lewan]

these dudes are Just making like, I think Derek Carr literally. Right, right. $10 million, dude. Derek Carr signed his contract, not this most recent one, but the one before that. And somebody tweeted him, it was like $120 million contract or something like that. And he's like, hey, congratulations. You make as much as a six man in the NBA. Now.

[JJ Redick]

That's not true.

[Taylor Lewan]

Well, that someone said like that and I was like, that's just wild.

[JJ Redick]

That's not true.

[Taylor Lewan]

But the money's crazy.

[Will Compton]

Have you been a non starter and made a nice little baggie?

[JJ Redick]

My, my two year deal with the Pelicans was nice. Yeah. I mean I made like 13 and a half or something a year.

[Will Compton]

And you weren't in the top five

[JJ Redick]

and I wasn't a starter. Yeah.

[Will Compton]

That's crazy.

[Taylor Lewan]

That's wild.

[Will Compton]

It's good for you. I'm thinking that's crazy. Like I didn't play either. Give me that.

[Taylor Lewan]

That's crazy. If you're a starter anyway. Thirteen and a half million dollars.

[JJ Redick]

Different. It's different.

[Taylor Lewan]

I don't know how.

[JJ Redick]

My first year with the PE, 28 minutes a game and scored over 15 points, was second league in three point percentage.

[Will Compton]

Go off King. All right, okay, listen.

[JJ Redick]

A guy, a guy in the NFL who's not a starter May might play 10 snaps a game. Like there's a dip. That's my point. There's a difference. So you're still getting me.

[Will Compton]

I'm right here on the bus. Look at me. Oh, you might not play a snap in the NFL. He's just like, hey, just look at me, man.

[JJ Redick]

Man. I didn't, I didn't say it 10 mil, but I'm saying you're, you're paid, you're paid in the NBA based on production. And so you don't have to be a starter to produce. That's where the difference is.

[Will Compton]

You know that's true. And you guys have like way like less guys.

[JJ Redick]

We have less guys. Yeah. And again, it goes back. If you're. Generally speaking, you have like a max guy or a couple max guys. You have a couple guys that get salary cap, which is what? Every time I was a free agent, I signed with cap space. I signed with it. To a team with cap space, then you have like the exceptions. You have the mid level exception. Then if you're over the tax, you have the taxpayer mid level exception, which is about half of the mid level exception. And then everything else is like minimum.

[Taylor Lewan]

So what's minimum?

[JJ Redick]

It just depends on years of service. So like if you're a 10 year guy, I think minimum is 2.7, something like that.

[Taylor Lewan]

Nice man. That's a nice little baggie.

[Will Compton]

Like 1900 as a 10 year guy, I think it's one.

[JJ Redick]

One for player is minimum.

[Taylor Lewan]

So now you're on her side, you see him change the tune a little bit. Yeah, that's minimum after you've played like eight or nine.

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lewan]

Ten years.

[Will Compton]

Mine this past year is based on like 980 maybe.

[Taylor Lewan]

I think that's what it is.

[JJ Redick]

How many guys, how many guys minimum guys though that are like balling that are starting and producing and I'm not saying they're like necessarily all pro players, but they're, they're good. They're really good. Well, I mean grayed out well in analytics.

[Taylor Lewan]

See I think analytics is a, it's not the, not the move.

[Will Compton]

Yeah, I know you have a bad a taste about like analytics and the pfs.

[Taylor Lewan]

I just don't think it makes a whole lot. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Style. You can do it for quarterbacks, maybe wide receivers.

[Will Compton]

You can do it to an extent. I feel like at every extent.

[Taylor Lewan]

But it doesn't tell the entire story. When people say numbers, I agree with you. People say numbers of the entire story. I disagree with that whole wholeheartedly.

[JJ Redick]

And I love analytics in basketball. There's my. The most beautiful synergy that I've, you know, can witness in synergy, by the way, is a name of advanced stats company. The most beautiful synergy that I can see, like when I analyze this stuff is my eye is telling me something and I'll hit up a couple people I use for advanced stats and some of the stuff I check myself but I'm not great on second spectrum. I don't really know how to operate it. So I'll be like, hey, it feels like this team is running way more isos this series and they don't run a lot of isos in the regular season. Can you look that up? And then it'll be like, oh yeah, they're running 40% more ISOs during this series than they do during the regular season. I'm like, oh, it matches up. Sometimes the eye test and the analytics, they match up. Sometimes the analytics tell us stuff we can't see with our eyes and sometimes the analytics lie to us with what we see with our eyes. Yeah, like I. Devin Books are an example of this. He is I think third on. He was like third on the Suns this year and win shares. Right. He's going to be first Team all NBA. He was top five in MVP voting. Like he was their best player this year. But because of how analytics grade players out, he didn't fare particularly well. Like you're always going to, in the NBA, you're always going to need volume shot creators and he's great at that. And he does it at a fairly efficient level and my eye can tell me that. But the analytics, they lie to me. They lie to me. They don't tell me he's as great as he is.

[Taylor Lewan]

Very well spoken man.

[Will Compton]

He is.

[Taylor Lewan]

Booker, you are sharp.

[JJ Redick]

You're sharp.

[Taylor Lewan]

No. Yeah, I don't know.

[Will Compton]

Devin Booker, answer your question about the minimum things. I feel like it probably happens more for like defensive guys than offensive.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah.

[Will Compton]

Because if you're, if you're, if you're like on offense, I feel like when you're like when you're having a year, like it's, it's, it's easier to see.

[JJ Redick]

Yeah.

[Will Compton]

Like defense could be harder because there's a lot of variables that you sometimes need to go your way, like as far as opportunity and everything else. So if you might see a minimum guy balling on a minimum contract, I feel like it's probably like a, a vet that's on like a one year deal probably defensively.

[JJ Redick]

So here's another question I have for you. I'm glad I have you on guys on my podcast right now, but I have another question for you. I'm curious about this.

[Taylor Lewan]

Seriously.

[JJ Redick]

I think about the NBA and like a guy who's a free agent who needs to put up numbers, like in the NBA, it's a lot of it is like your points, your rebounds, your sis, field goal percentage, all this stuff. Like you need to put up numbers. And so there's a way for a guy to basically have good counting stats, earn a nice contract, but have literally no impact on winning either because he's playing on a bad team or because of his role and he just, you know, he's able to just shoot the ball whenever he wants. And I wonder if the NFL, if you're able to do that. Like if a guy's a free agent, like can you hide behind statistics or is in the NFL, are you just exposed at all time if what you do doesn't impact winning?

[Taylor Lewan]

I think it's another one that goes for defense because you can hide behind statistics in a lot of way ways. If because a guy, let's say a defensive end, he can have a lot of sacks, you can look at him and be like, oh, that you had 12 sacks here. Holy shit. And then you go watch his film, and he's. He might not be beating guys one on one. The quarterback might be holding the ball really long or he gets flushed out pocket the wrong way. It's an effort sack a lot of way. A lot of ways. Which is one of the arguments I would have had with what's his name, who loves J.J. t.J. Watt.

[Will Compton]

Oh, Jersey Jerry.

[Taylor Lewan]

Jerry. Jersey Jerry is T.J. watts, an unbelievable defensive end. He deserves everything he's getting. But a lot of his sacks are effort sacks as well. Like, he beats dudes. Don't get me wrong. He fucking murders cats out there.

[JJ Redick]

Statistics for that. Like, how many times you beat them.

[Taylor Lewan]

I'm sure there are. Yeah. Yeah. That's where PFF comes into play. Pro Football Focus. The. The thing Willow was kind of alluding to with me was with pff, they grade everybody every single day, and they have, like, these numbers come out, and it's very difficult thing to do for my position because you don't. There's a thousand different ways to run one play, and based on how we run ours, it's different than Washington does or San Francisco does or, you know. And so when you go to grade it, you can't grade us all the same. And so you need to have somebody that's literally in the building to know what to do. And that's where I kind of get off, like, a little upset with numbers, right? Because there's times. There's one.

[JJ Redick]

Go back to this, the task part of it. You could do your task, but someone, through their bias, because of how they think the task should be run, right? Grade you a different way. Internally, the Titans could be like, oh, you did that perfectly right.

[Taylor Lewan]

And there was a Point in 2016 where I was the grade of the number one tackle for the first nine weeks of the season. And I said the same thing then, too. It's just like, they don't really know what they're talking about when it comes to offensive lineman. Now with quarterbacks, I think running backs would be another difficult one to do. I think defenses would be very pretty hard.

[Will Compton]

It depends. Like, with. With O lineman, you could see it, like, if you're moving the guy out of the gap, like, you could be doing the task, but are you. Are you moving them to the sideline? Like, for me, as a backer, like, I could take a. I could take an offensive lineman on in the hole, but if we're stagnant or I'm barely getting moved, even though I'm doing the Right thing. Like, I know mom. Leveraging the right side to be, oh, these guys don't know what the fuck they're talking about.

[Taylor Lewan]

You're supposed to have the A gap, so you make sure you keep the gap.

[Will Compton]

Dante Hightower takes on more of a. More of a thud. Or Dante Hightower takes on somebody and puts the offensive lineman in the gap. You'd see why he'd get like, a better grade because he's. He's physically moving the guy more, right? Which could play into it.

[Taylor Lewan]

A lot of times. All you have to do is spill.

[Will Compton]

Yeah, perfect.

[Taylor Lewan]

It's so crazy because defense, like, I

[Will Compton]

feel the same way when you're talking about some of the basketball stuff. Like, I kind of don't know what that means, but he makes that sound crazy.

[Taylor Lewan]

It's crazy, right?

[Will Compton]

And.

[Taylor Lewan]

But yeah, basketball's a crazy world.

[Will Compton]

More so defense, where you could hide behind stats like dbs, who get a lot of picks. You have, like, you got a lot of picks. You made a lot of plays on the ball. You get a lot of sacks. He could be a bad run defender. Like, maybe he's rushing to get a sack every damn play, right?

[Taylor Lewan]

That's a great point.

[JJ Redick]

Dbs, too. It's like, if you get a lot of picks, that means they're throwing the ball on your side, right?

[Taylor Lewan]

Or if you're a safety, too, safety is due. Like Kevin Byard, he. He's on the Titans. He had a lot of interceptions this past year, and he's just in the right place at the right time, right? He can fool quarterbacks, that type of thing. But if you're a corner, one on one, like Jarrell Reavis, at one point when he was on Reavis island, like, he. It was like, you don't even throw to that area. Like, he just locks dudes down the gray ones.

[Will Compton]

Like, they probably won't have a lot of stats because the ball's not thrown to him.

[Taylor Lewan]

Right.

[Will Compton]

You know how it is, though. It all comes down. Who's the.

[Taylor Lewan]

Who's the cornerback for the Dallas Cowboys? Go ahead, we'll keep going. Stefon Diggs. No, the corner.

[Will Compton]

It is Diggs. It's the bro.

[Taylor Lewan]

Trayvon Diggs. Trayvon Diggs. He's a guy. I saw a stat. I don't know if this is true or not. He had the most interceptions in the NFL last year, but he also had the most yards given up by any cornerback, too. But he was all pro.

[Will Compton]

He would play aggressively. You could beat him on a double move because he's like, looking to get a pick.

[Taylor Lewan]

He's trying to get them picked.

[Will Compton]

He is a stud. But, yeah, like. Like the great ones. But you know how it is. Like, all those numbers, all that stuff comes down to, like, trying to gain leverage, like, in a negotiation.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah.

[Will Compton]

So some guys, it does work out, you know, Others, you know, might not. But it all comes down to probably another thing.

[Taylor Lewan]

Another thing is, too. It's like supply and demand. Like, a lot of guys will go in a free agency, and you'll be like, he's not that good, but he gets broke off because this team needs. There's. Let's say there's. The market's down. There's not many tackles.

[JJ Redick]

I missed out on 2016 free agency by a year. I was a free agent 2017. I tried to get a player option for 16. After the 16 year, I didn't get it with my Clippers contract, and I missed out. Like, that summer was bonkers. That was the summer where, you know, Timothy Moss got $64 million from the Lakers.

[Taylor Lewan]

Holy.

[Will Compton]

Yeah, we're going to take a break from old man. And three, we're going to get to busting with the boys right now.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah, let's go with that.

[Will Compton]

Dude. I want to talk about, like, I know you've talked about it openly, but, like, your Duke days, like, you were one of the most hated players in college basketball, like, history. Like, obviously, Duke as well, but, like, it just in college basketball in general. And there were times where you talked about quitting, and I've seen that you did. Is it true that you changed your number at times? Like your cell phone number?

[JJ Redick]

Oh, my God. So, yeah, I mean, my. My sophomore year, I probably changed it 10 or 15 times. There were so many nights that year where I don't know who was the culprit. Who from. It was somebody from Duke that had a friend at another school that would pass along my number. And, you know, it was UNC fans mostly and Maryland fans mostly. And back then, I had the Nokia, you know, and so, like, I don't know if you could do this maybe in, like, the upgraded model my junior and senior year. But early on, like, you couldn't, like, the snake set an alarm and simultaneously have it on silent. So I would just get calls all night long, like, 30, 40 calls. You know, as soon as, like, the number shows up at a Maryland party or at a Maryland bar, like, my shit's blowing up over and over and over again. So I. Yeah, I had to deal with that. There were, you know, there were Times that Maryland fans would call me, they would call me the Antichrist, which just like, what? Again, this.

[Taylor Lewan]

Is it true?

[JJ Redick]

No, it's not.

[Taylor Lewan]

Okay, I was wondering. No, but watch out, jp. You know what I'm saying?

[JJ Redick]

It goes back to why, sort of. I felt like, in a way, we're all the main character in our own story, right? We're all a little bit narcissistic, I think, inherently a lot of ways.

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[JJ Redick]

But, you know, it. Duke felt like this, this, this fishbowl and, and I was like the main character, and everybody, everybody really hated me. And it was, it was tough to deal with. So, yeah, my sophomore year, and I may have told this story with, with Dan and Eric on their pod, but my sophomore year, I called my sisters to campus. It was during the Christmas break. I told them to come over from Raleigh. And they came over. There was this chicken place, and we grabbed a chicken sandwich. And I was like, I'm done. Like, I want to quit. And they're like, what do you mean? I was like, I just, I was like, I want to be a normal student. I want to go to class, I want to be a frat kid. I think I probably said I wanted to write poetry. I think that probably came.

[Taylor Lewan]

Poetry when you're depressed. That is the move.

[JJ Redick]

It is the move.

[Taylor Lewan]

That is the move, for sure.

[JJ Redick]

And. And then I didn't quit. Second semester, I went into what I would describe as a spiral. I mean, I was out every night. Nights before games, I would drink 25, 30 beers.

[Will Compton]

Nights before games?

[JJ Redick]

Yeah. Show up the next day.

[Taylor Lewan]

Many beers.

[JJ Redick]

Oh, I counted.

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lewan]

Really crushing. Like the marker on the wrist.

[JJ Redick]

I move after the season. I, I There. Do you guys remember the oc? Please tell me you watched the oc.

[Will Compton]

Yeah, I remembered it, but I did not watch it.

[JJ Redick]

Yes, that was the show when I was in college. That was like. We would record it on vhs. We record it and, like, watch it later. So it was a Thursday, and I was like, oc's on tonight. And I was like, I'm gonna see how many beers I can drink tonight. And I started at 8 o' clock when the OC came on, and I got to like, 39 by the next morning. And. And it was just like, that was my second semester at Duke. I was just, I was out of control. And a little bit of it was immaturity and selfishness. A little bit of it was rebellion because I had my, my whole sporting life since I was 7 years old and watched Christian Leitner hit the shot to be Kentucky. I was like, I want to go to Duke. I want to go to Duke. And it was like a dream come true. And then I get to Duke and I'm like, oh, everyone hates my guts. Like, this is not what I signed up for.

[Taylor Lewan]

Why did everyone, why did everyone hate you so much?

[JJ Redick]

Because I was a Duke. I mean, if I'd gone to Florida or uva, like, it would have been fine. I just would have been a normal kid.

[Will Compton]

I would have.

[Taylor Lewan]

Does have that hate vibe, huh?

[JJ Redick]

They do, they do. And it's like the, the, the white villain at Duke, like that was, that was definitely part of it. I was next in line for that because we, I mean we had, we had like 11 or 12 games my freshman year that we played at the beginning of the season. It was like home games. And then we played like UCLA and Indianapolis. We played Ohio State and Greensboro for the Big Ten ACC challenge. We never road game till after the new year. And we go to Clemson, we come out for warm ups and the entire student section is chanting. Two weeks later we go to uva, my home state. There's all these students. I had really bad back knee in college and I had, there's all these kids wearing like makeshift white Duke 4 Duke number 4 jerseys and they had painted like red dots on their shoulders.

[Taylor Lewan]

Hilarious, by the way.

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[JJ Redick]

I was. You know, I was very.

[Will Compton]

At the time.

[Taylor Lewan]

Did you think it was funny? I did.

[JJ Redick]

Even though I was really sensitive about, you know, my. My shoulder acting, I was like, man, that's. That's creative.

[Taylor Lewan]

Why didn't you go, T shirt under the jersey then? If you're. So. If you're insecure about it.

[JJ Redick]

It was a rule. We couldn't do it. I convinced him. My sophomore year, I went into his office. I may have cried. And I was just like, you gotta let me. No shirt under my jersey.

[Taylor Lewan]

When you say may have cried, you 100 cried.

[JJ Redick]

I cried. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Taylor Lewan]

That's. That's a real deal.

[JJ Redick]

Yeah. So the end of my sophomore year, we lost in the Final Four. It was a. It was a low point for me. We. We lost to UConn. We were up eight with, like, three and a half minutes to go. And they came back, and I had a chance twice, actually, once to take the lead with, like, 10 seconds left. I got stripped. And then I had a chance with, like. Like, five seconds left to. To hit a three to Tyus, and I missed them both. And I just. It, like, that spiral that I was on went even deeper. And Coach would, like, make me come in on Saturday mornings to his office, and he would meet with me, and he told me during one of those meetings, he said, we didn't win a national championship because you weren't worthy to be a champion. It was, like, the meanest thing everyone's ever said to me. And it was true. It was true, but it was, like, so soul cutting, right? That sent me further down. So I. Then my parents, because they knew I was having a tough time for Christmas, had given me a toy airplane. I'm like, what the. It was a ticket. Basically. They were like, wherever you want to go after the school year's out, you can go. So I'm like, all right. I was like, I want to go see my buddy. Duke soccer player. I want to go see my buddy in. In California. So I planned this trip. We went to Davis, California. We went to the Bay. We went to Santa Barbara. We went to la, drove back up. Well, by the time I got to the trip, my parents knew that I was in a really bad place. I had $7 in my checking account. They're like, we're not going to give you any money for this trip. We'll let you still go on the trip, we're not going to give you any money. I basically like bummed off people for those, like, 10 days I was out there. And I got back from the trip and I was supposed to finish an incomplete because I had not gone to class all semester either, so I was supposed to finish it incomplete. So I'm hanging out at my buddy's apartment for like two weeks, and I would wake up at like 2pm in the afternoon. I'd start chugging beers. I'd have a burrito party through the night, wake up at 2pm I did that for two straight weeks. No one knew where I was. I told my parents I was in summer school. I told Duke I was back home finishing my incomplete. One day I get a rap, rap, rap, noon on the door of the apartment, and it's Coach Collins and Coach Wojo. So I walk downstairs. I've literally got. By the way, I have one outfit I've got. It's an Aber. It's a blue Abercrombie shirt and Abercrombie cargo.

[Taylor Lewan]

Oh, it was the time.

[JJ Redick]

It was the times.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah.

[JJ Redick]

And I've. And I've got these. These flip flops that I had bought at the Gap in San Francisco with my last $5. They were on sale and they're like. They're like, come outside. So I'm like, all right, so I'm too probably 195. I'm 225, bro. I'm fatty. I'm fat as I hadn't shaved in like three weeks. My hair's like SAE frat boy hair. You know what I mean? A little wavy, a little girly, right? Over the years, they're like, you know, come outside. We get in the car, we drive all the way back to campus real quick.

[Taylor Lewan]

Where's your anxiety at when these dudes knock on the door?

[JJ Redick]

10 out of 10, 10 out of 10.

[Taylor Lewan]

Which is debilitating.

[JJ Redick]

Debilitating. There was bongs everywhere as well. Like, it was bad. It was a bad scene. Beer, beer cans everywhere. In a way, though. And I'll. In a way, I was like, finally.

[Taylor Lewan]

Really?

[JJ Redick]

Yeah, someone came to get me. I was like, finally. And so they. We go to campus. We're getting ready to. This is a random part of the story, but we get. We get ready to turn on campus and Wojo looks in the rearview mirrors like, nobody said a word by the way, since come outside. Like, I just followed them into the car. We get to campus and he's like, so what have you been doing? And I was like, I don't know why I said this, but I was like watching movies. I was like, all right. So they took me up to Coach K's office. They dragged me through the, through the fifth floor. He's on the sixth floor. They dragged me to the fifth floor to embarrass me and shame me, which I love that they did that because Wojo and Collins are complete and I love them to death. So they dragged me through. I'm like looking like. And then we go up to coach's office. We had a lot, like a long hour and a half meeting. And you know, they, they basically. It was basically an ultimatum. It was like, dude, we're not going to kick you off the team. We're not going to kick you off camp, you know, out of school. But you need to get your together and like, we're going to get you, you know, the help you need. So, like, I started seeing a therapist. Saw a therapist the rest of my time at Duke that summer. I saw a psychiatrist as well. They put me on a hourly schedule that summer and it was, dude, I swear to God. I still have the sheet is. 8:00am wake up, 9:00am check in, 10:00am class, you know, 1:00pm study hall, 2:00pm court, 3:00pm waits, 4:00pm run, 5:00pm pickup, 6:00pm dinner. 8:00pm you know, you're in your apartment, 10:00pm lights out. I did that all summer.

[Taylor Lewan]

Were they checking your apartment to make sure the lights were out?

[JJ Redick]

It was funny because I, it was two weeks into summer school, so I didn't have. I'd have petitioned the dean to get back into summer school. They let me back in. I took a class on the Civil War and it was the start of my transformation as a student as well. That summer. Yeah, I got basically straight A's after that. But because it was so late in the summer, they were like, we don't. Like all your teammates, all the managers, everybody, you know, they already have roommates. So there was this random dude, I don't know his name. There's this random dude on Central Campus. They were like, there's a person that has an extra bedroom in the two bedroom apartment on Central Campus. You're going to live with this person. And he had no affiliation to anyone I knew, any affiliation to the team. And I walked into the apartment, I was like, hey man, I'm going through some. I would appreciate it. I'm going to be friendly to you, but I appreciate it if you just like, let me, let me be for the next like six weeks.

[Taylor Lewan]

And he's like, what a first impression.

[JJ Redick]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Taylor Lewan]

So what did he say to you?

[JJ Redick]

He's like, okay, all good, no worries. And I would, like, see him like, later on, like in my junior and senior year. And it was like. It was like a passing, you know, sort of like.

[Taylor Lewan]

Didn't know his name.

[JJ Redick]

No.

[Taylor Lewan]

He probably talks about you all the time. All the time, dude.

[Will Compton]

He's probably talking about how he was instrumental in JJ Reddick getting something.

[Taylor Lewan]

About JJ Redick.

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lewan]

When I met him, he was going through it.

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lewan]

See what he's done.

[JJ Redick]

That schedule, that was life changing.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah.

[JJ Redick]

Because that became the rest of my life. And I. I wouldn't have done what I did in the NBA or even done what I did at Duke, had the length of career I had. I was. I mean, from that point on, I was a psycho. I was absolute psycho. It was like, diligent routine. My schedule, that takes precedence over everything. I need to get my work done, I need to get my sleep, I need to eat right. I'm going to go after it like that over and over and over again. And I did that for the rest of my career. Oh, shit, dude.

[Taylor Lewan]

That's a. That's an incredible deal.

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[JJ Redick]

What do you think?

[Taylor Lewan]

Discipline. Discipline's the number one thing you need for success, is what you're saying.

[JJ Redick]

Well, I think obsession is.

[Taylor Lewan]

I agree with that.

[JJ Redick]

I think because even. Even with like a creative, you don't necessarily need discipline if you're super talented. I know guys in the NBA that aren't as disciplined as I was. I know guys that probably are more disciplined than I was. Like, it's obsession. It's like the true love. The stuff we were talking about earlier about, like, fuck, man, I want to go have a beer on Broadway. Or, fuck, I want to go, you know, have Thanksgiving dinner with my family. All those things. Like, we have to be more obsessed with the other thing. We have to be more obsessed with what we're doing. And I always was. I was always more obsessed with it. It. And it's, you know, so it was like the obsession on one hand, but then it was like learning how to be diligent, learning how to have a routine. You know, I. I developed this routine as a pro player. It was like, it was sick because my routines had routines, and it was like, to the minute on a game day, to the minute starting at 8am Whenever I woke up, it was like, to the minute, all right, it's 12, 13. I've got 17 minutes till I need to eat lunch. It's 1:15. I've got 15 minutes till I need to take my nap. I'm waking up at 4pm I'm calling the room service at 4:30. Like, it was just. Everything was to the minute.

[Taylor Lewan]

When you do stuff like that, though, does it ever feel like if something messes with that schedule, like your kids are doing something, your wife does something, you get an argument with somebody and it fucks up your schedule where you're not. You're now off the minute?

[JJ Redick]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lewan]

Does it. Did it fuck up your game? Did it fuck up your situation? Because being that obsessive, it would fuck

[JJ Redick]

me up in the moment. I don't know. There was one example I can think of where it really me up in the game, but it would fuck me in the moment. I'll give you an example of that. That my first game with the Pelicans were in Toronto, and again, they don't know that I'm like this, right? And so Jamel McMillan, Nate McMillan's son, comes in the training room, and I've started my routine. 90 minutes on the clock, I'm in the training room. 65 minutes on the clock, I'm in the weight room. 52 minutes on the clock, I'm on the court. 38 minutes, I'm finishing up my workout. I'm back in the locker room at 36 minutes. Like, I'm starting that first game, and he comes to the locker room, and he's like, hey, man, you're shooting it. He made. He said some time. That was not my shooting time. And I lost it on him. And I really. Jamel and I are cool, but, like. But it was our first interaction that we had had, and I was like, what the fuck?

[Taylor Lewan]

What. What kind of operation is this? That's not my shooting time.

[JJ Redick]

I agreed to this shooting time this morning.

[Taylor Lewan]

I told you motherfuckers.

[JJ Redick]

Like. Then I'm like, okay, I got to go apologize. Like seven people right now. Yeah, but that was after the game. After the game, you apologize like, all that stuff. The one time was I was in Indianapolis when I was with the Bucks, and we were. It was a different hotel than we normally stayed at that. And I ordered my room service, and it never came. And I went. You know, I'm like, I'm running out of time now. I've got to go down. I've got to take my bags onto the bus. So I went down, I go to the restaurant. I'm like, hey, room service never came. They're like, whatever. They go get it. They gave it to me a minute before my bus time. So I'm eating, like, on the bus as I'm walking in the arena. And I was like, 2 for 13 that night and just couldn't. I couldn't focus on the game.

[Taylor Lewan]

Was it because of the. Because of the food?

[JJ Redick]

Because the food was bad?

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah. What do you think about the routine there? Like I said, my dad messed up your day. Here's it.

[JJ Redick]

So it was all about control for me.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah, No, I get that.

[JJ Redick]

Here's what I can control. I'm gonna control this. And, like, you're now. You're now with my control. The one thing I can control is my routine. And now you're with it, and I'm pissed.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah. And it up. Yep, two for 13.

[JJ Redick]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lewan]

See, I've tried to be like that before during games, especially on game day. But one thing I've realized for myself, when I do best, when I have, like. I don't try to have control over anything as long as, like, in my head, I'm like, oh, I just need to feel good before this game starts. I could show up four hours before the game starts. I show up two hours before the game starts. It does not matter to me anymore. But at one point I was like that, where I have to, like, wake up at this specific time, go get in the cold tubs, go from there, go get a coffee at that Starbucks. Then you go get the coffee, you go right to the stadium. I used to be like that. But then one thing would happen. It would fuck me up. And then I would tell myself after the game, like, oh, that's because you messed up your. Your deal.

[JJ Redick]

Yeah, I. I got over that at Duke. Like, by the end of my Duke time, I was like, I'm. My performance on the court is not because I made three out of four on the last spot of my routine and didn't make four out of four. Like, I just got over that part of it. I think it was more about just like. It was like, here's what I need to do to peak at 7:07 or 7:37pm when that ball goes up and it's tipped like, here's what I need to do to peak at that time. So that was what it was about, too. Besides the control. It was like there was a reason that I did everything. It wasn't like, well, I did tie my shoes a certain way and put on my clothes, my jersey, in a certain order.

[Taylor Lewan]

But it wasn't about superstitious.

[JJ Redick]

It was whatever, but it was like

[Will Compton]

everybody's Got a few.

[Taylor Lewan]

Everybody's got a few.

[JJ Redick]

Everybody's got a few.

[Taylor Lewan]

You have a thing.

[JJ Redick]

Do you have a decision?

[Will Compton]

Yeah, not that I'm, like, thinking of, like, you know, I love a pregame latte.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah.

[Will Compton]

I wouldn't say it's like a superstition. Like, if I miss it, I wouldn't, like, think a certain way.

[JJ Redick]

I mean, what if somebody said, we don't have lattes? We're just gonna give you an espresso shot.

[Will Compton]

I'd be like, oh, I'm good.

[JJ Redick]

You're not gonna.

[Will Compton]

I just wouldn't take it, really?

[JJ Redick]

So it's not about the caffeine?

[Will Compton]

No, no, no. It's not about the caffeine. It's just, like, the vibes going into the stadium. It's, like, about getting a latte. It's putting in the cup holder, it's turning up. ZZ Top, Sharp Dress man, lagrange, all this easy top. Cinderella man by Eminem. A lot of, like, old school bangers and, like, feeling good walking in with a latte. What?

[Taylor Lewan]

No, Cinderella man, that's a banger, right? You said ZZ Top three times and all of a sudden said Cinderella Man, Eminem.

[Will Compton]

Yeah. Sharp Dress man, lagrange. Yeah. Yeah. Like, Cinderella Man's another one. Like, if. If I'm feeling like I gotta have like a.

[Taylor Lewan]

A.

[Will Compton]

A comeback game or a get back on track game in my head, I'm going to Cinderella man when I'm walking inside. Because to me, it's like, I'm Cinderella Man. I'm the underdog. All that kind of stuff.

[Taylor Lewan]

You know, we all telling ourselves our story.

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lewan]

You're always telling yourself what you need to do.

[Will Compton]

Yeah, that's kind of like.

[JJ Redick]

I guess is that because you listen to it one time before a game and you played well, and then you're like, okay, that's my song.

[Will Compton]

Yeah, Some of that stuff.

[JJ Redick]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Will Compton]

Like, visualization, like, running through the same reel in your head about, like. Like, old plays that you've made just to, like, see yourself do it and feel this and feel that. Yeah, it's like a kind of like a routine like that. And then if you have a baller game, you're like, yeah, I gotta go back to that kind of routine. Yeah, but if it throws off, I'm

[JJ Redick]

not like, flow state. It's. It's like. That's the Superman. I talk about peak getting to the peak. Like hitting the peak at 7, 37. Yeah.

[Taylor Lewan]

What do.

[JJ Redick]

What are the things I need to do to get into a Flow state. Because as an athlete, like, if you're not in the flow state, you're okay. Maybe you're shitty, but you're not like the best version of yourself.

[Will Compton]

Right. You're in your own head a lot.

[JJ Redick]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lewan]

It's also one of the most difficult things to achieve is the flow state 100. Just be like, nothing else matters. You're so present right now. You're not thinking about anything else.

[Will Compton]

Yeah. Yeah. For sure. One time in Tampa, it was like before. The fourth preseason game was the first time I made the team outright. So I was in my second year. Went through preseason. My anxiety's at a 10 because I'm like, this is it. Like, I gotta make the fucking team.

[Jim Beam Ad]

Yeah.

[Will Compton]

And I had. I had a. I had ice cream before the game, the night before the game.

[Taylor Lewan]

Why?

[Will Compton]

Made myself up. Ice cream. M M's, had some caramel, some fudge on that thing. And the boy ball, like, the boy played well.

[Taylor Lewan]

I got.

[Will Compton]

Led the team in tackles that game.

[Taylor Lewan]

The boy had him, huh?

[JJ Redick]

Yeah.

[Will Compton]

And so sometimes, like, that would be my reason for having, like, ice. I literally think back to myself, I'm like, it puts me in like a. I don't know. It puts me in a good mood. Obviously, some ice cream puts anybody in a good mood. But I'm thinking, like, if everybody's like, why are you eating that the night before a game? You just worry about yourself.

[Taylor Lewan]

You just worry about yourself. There are dudes there.

[Will Compton]

Everyone.

[Taylor Lewan]

I don't know every team you've been on, but tie ins. Have a Sunday station every night before a game. You're like, why the fuck is this out there?

[JJ Redick]

It didn't make sense to me.

[Taylor Lewan]

It's like, what are we doing here with this. This thing?

[Will Compton]

100. I feel you guys, and I agree. But when you.

[Taylor Lewan]

When you go back to the flow state thing, when you're in a flow state, it's like the game goes by so fast and it's over. But there's other games where you're not. Like, you're the opposite of flow state. Don't know what that is. Unflow state. And you remember everything. Like we played Michigan, was playing Notre Dame. It was the night game. When we came back, it was like 100aminute 42 left in the game. There's like five scores or whatever. That's the one where Denard threw it in the back of the end zone.

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lewan]

And we won it. Anti Flo. Thank you. And me and my girlfriend, who I was dating at the time, me and the girl was Dating at the time. Like, I cheated on her or she cheated on. Something happened, like, two days before.

[Will Compton]

What happened?

[Taylor Lewan]

I cheated on her. There was. There was, like, a discrepancy. There's something was going on. But it was like. It was during that game, and all I could think about was trying to get her back. And I played the entire game, and I played all right. Played pretty good, decent, but, like, the whole game. I was not ever invested in that game. I was just thinking, like, how do I make it up to this girl?

[Will Compton]

Was she at the game?

[Taylor Lewan]

Probably. It's 115,000. How can I tell? I know.

[Will Compton]

Sometimes you know where your girl sits,

[Taylor Lewan]

and you feel like, no, see, I never knew anything like that.

[Will Compton]

At where they're sitting.

[Taylor Lewan]

No, see, I never. I never had that. Not till I got. Not to, like, the NFL, where I knew, like, people where people were sitting.

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lewan]

And my dad would always sit in a certain spot. I always kind of look up at him every once in a while. But my girl, every.

[JJ Redick]

Every game my dad ever came to, even youth basketball.

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[JJ Redick]

I'd always, like, find him.

[Taylor Lewan]

Find them.

[JJ Redick]

You're. The flow state part is, like, when you're not in that state, you're thinking about what just happened. So it's like that you're carrying something to the next play. Yeah, and I always be like, oh, I had a turnover. Okay, that's like, a tally. And then, like, I'd be like, all right, I made a shot. Okay, now we're even. Oh, I missed a shot.

[Taylor Lewan]

You are preaching right now.

[Will Compton]

Yes.

[JJ Redick]

I just had a good pass. That's a. Like. Then all of a sudden, like, what are you playing? You're not actually in the game. You're, like, doing this tally in your head. Yeah, it's. It was very detrimental to the. The overall product that I was trying to put out on the court.

[Taylor Lewan]

There would be times where I'd be, like, so stressed out about games that I would do that on purpose. Right. But. Okay, all you have to do is just play well in the series and you play this. Okay, that was a good play. Hey, I could have done better on that play. But, like, that won't be, like, a minus. That'll be like, I made that good play on that. Yeah.

[Will Compton]

Earlier.

[Taylor Lewan]

Well, no, it's like, you. You start playing the. Like, a lot of times, the way they grade is like, minus zero, plus zero. You did your job. Minus, you didn't do your job, plus, you did something extra. Something extra there. And so I, like, go. And I have, like, a Couple of. I have, like, zeros across the board. One minus. And a plus would be like, oh, I'm up. And even, like, a plus to me would be double what a minus was, you know, in your head. But you're, like, playing this game, so you can tell yourself I played good. Any way to tell yourself I did well.

[JJ Redick]

What about the feeling of being in the arena, being on the field, on the court, whatever, and just knowing that you're shit, like, knowing that you are having September.

[Taylor Lewan]

What was it working in this year

[JJ Redick]

game of your life?

[Will Compton]

Oh, yeah, we. Unfortunately, we were all at.

[JJ Redick]

And you're like, you can't escape it. And you feel like everybody knows that you're shit. Everybody knows you're terrible. What game was that worst fucking feeling as an athlete?

[Taylor Lewan]

September 12, 2021. I saw I tore my ACL in October of 2020.

[Will Compton]

Insurance policy.

[Taylor Lewan]

I'll have the four, right? So. And in my head, I'm like, comeback season. I'm with the. All these. All these guys, a whole year saying, like, hey, this should be a comeback here. I feel great. I feel amazing. And I wasn't feeling the best. I go into camp and I'm like, no matter what is this. This better not be the film I want to see right now. Roll the tape. I'm like. I'm like, I have to start. I have to start. I have to start. I go out to play. They announced the offense. I'm fucking waving crowds, going wild. I gave up two sacks in that game. Got dusted. Well, that's Chandler Jones getting five sacks. This dude, Chandler Jones, 55, he had five sacks in this game. I gave up two to him. This is me right here getting beat.

[Will Compton]

It was like, within the first three series, there's a. There's some. There's.

[Taylor Lewan]

This is the next series. This is the next series.

[JJ Redick]

No chance.

[Taylor Lewan]

So.

[Will Compton]

No.

[Taylor Lewan]

Stop it, stop it, stop it, stop it, stop it. So at this point, I've given up two sacks. It's the first fucking quarter still. And I'm like, I've never done that in my life. That's never happened to me ever, in my entire life or in 1Q4. I'm having a horrible game. Like, there's no way to come back from it. It's got. And it just. The rest of the game just got worse and worse and worse. I'd be sitting on the sideline and, like, you just feel like everyone's looking at you. I went and got an IV because I was cramping. Thank God. That's What? This sack is go. You can go back. This sack is. This is Kendall getting beat for a sack. I go back into the game. I play the Tennessee Titans my whole entire career. I go back into the game and what do they say? The announcer loved the guy. His name is Matt. Matt did a real up movie, goes, Terra Lawan is back in the game. The whole stadium. Not the whole stadium, but the stadium, starts booing, and I'm just like, will. Yeah, Will. I saw Will up there.

[Will Compton]

Me and his wife were in the suite just booing him.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah, it was tough, dude. It was the worst. The worst feeling in the entire world.

[JJ Redick]

As a offensive lineman, would you get a penalty? What's going through your brain?

[Taylor Lewan]

Don't care.

[JJ Redick]

Same thing. No, no. Hey, no.

[Will Compton]

Old man in the three. We're at. We're in the Old man in the Three podcast right now. He's podding you up.

[Reynolds Kitchens Ad]

Up.

[Will Compton]

Well, yeah.

[Taylor Lewan]

Okay, go ahead.

[JJ Redick]

You know what? You guys have the floor.

[Taylor Lewan]

You guys have the floor.

[Will Compton]

I was gonna say, what's the worst moment? What's the worst. What's that situation for you?

[JJ Redick]

Game 1, 2019, playoffs against the Nets. I was some shit, and they kept targeting me and isoing me, and I fouled out with, like, four minutes to go.

[Taylor Lewan]

What a blessing.

[Will Compton]

Did you foul out? You're like, yeah, I'm gonna try and foul out.

[Taylor Lewan]

No, I was able to foul out of the Cardinals game. I would have done it.

[JJ Redick]

You know what I mean?

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah.

[JJ Redick]

This is the great thing about basketball. You have other players that can produce. So, like, if you're having a game, sometimes they'll just be like, all right, we're gonna relieve him of his duties, and we're gonna go with the other guy.

[Taylor Lewan]

You say getting benched?

[JJ Redick]

Yeah, getting benched.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah.

[JJ Redick]

Thank God. But, yeah. And then d' Angelo Russell waved me off, off the floor. He drew the 6 file. He waved me off the floor. And as I'm walking off the floor, I was playing in Philly. The whole Philly, you know, crowd is booing me.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah. Which. They're insane.

[JJ Redick]

And, like, that was a. That was a low point for me. That was a low point. You know, the other part was, like, playing with Chris, and I love Chris, but, like, he demands so much of his teammates. And there were games where, like, I would not play well, and I would feel, like, this overwhelming sense that I let him down, you know, that I didn't. I didn't reach his level that night. And that. That probably hurts more than, like, getting booed by a crowd right because it's. To me, it was always about, like, am I accountable to my teammates? If I'm accountable, my teammates like everybody else. You know what I mean? So that probably those. Those moments probably were worse.

[Will Compton]

Yeah, they're the worst. It's the whole 2000, I'd say. 2016 Thanksgiving game versus the Dallas Cowboys. Like, I've talked about before on here, but when I missed two tackles in a row on Ezekiel Elliott, not only that stud, but Dak would check at the line of scrimmage, and I knew, like, what the run plays were. He'd be like. He'd, like, step back and be like. Whether it be, like, Pope or Giant, Like, I would know what plays were coming and what they were.

[Taylor Lewan]

TV copy.

[Will Compton]

Because he copies. Yeah. And I would know what the play is and tell people. And he broke a tackle from me. I, like, leave my feet diving off the diving board.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yep.

[Will Compton]

And the second missed tackle, the first one was in my head, and I'm thinking, don't miss this tackle. And you know that. That usually never works out for you.

[Taylor Lewan]

Universe doesn't hear negatives.

[Will Compton]

Yeah. And then they come. There it is right there. Right there, dude. And it was a big one.

[Taylor Lewan]

Go back.

[Will Compton]

They drive. They drive all the way down.

[Taylor Lewan]

Play it again. I want him to hurt like I did earlier.

[Will Compton]

They. They drive all the way down and score. And we get to the sideline, and I'm sitting on the bench, and those are. That's a time for me when I.

[JJ Redick]

You really missed it.

[Will Compton]

Yeah, I really missed it for you. Yeah. I mean, he had a hand on me, too. And then he does the.

[Taylor Lewan]

Which, by the way, Ezekiel Elliott stole that from Robinson.

[Will Compton]

And then they score, and I go to the side.

[Taylor Lewan]

Your effort did not look great. Right there.

[JJ Redick]

That's a minus. That's a minus.

[Taylor Lewan]

That looked like a minus right there.

[Will Compton]

Yeah. Yeah, we can go ahead and say that. And I'm sitting on the sideline, and I'm wondering. I'm like, man, everybody, like, it's a Thanksgiving game. Everybody's watching the Cowboys play on Thanksgiving.

[JJ Redick]

Yep.

[Will Compton]

And I saw an article. It was, like, the most televised, like, football game that year and shit. And it's just. I'm sitting there thinking, like, well, I wonder what people are saying about me on Twitter. That's. To me, that was a moment when I knew social media and other stuff was consuming my mind more than, you know, forget the last play, move to the next one. It was more like, I can't miss this tackle because I'm on the big stage and Everybody's gonna fucking think I'm trash or know that I'm trash. And that game is one of those games. You're like, man, just get me fucking home and off the field.

[Taylor Lewan]

It's a weird thing as terrible. It's a weird thing. As an athlete, I don't know if you've ever felt this way of feeling, like you've made it. Like you're a starter in the NFL or you're a start in the NBA. And you think to yourself, man, I hope I don't get exposed so everyone knows I don't belong here. There's a feeling syndrome. Yes.

[JJ Redick]

That's normal.

[Taylor Lewan]

That is. Do you felt that?

[JJ Redick]

Oh, yeah, that's normal.

[Will Compton]

Normal.

[Taylor Lewan]

Okay.

[JJ Redick]

Most. I think most. Well, it's years of therapy.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah, I love that.

[JJ Redick]

No, but it's. It's. I think most high achievers in anything. If you asked, I don't know what the percentage is, but be a large percentage of actors, actresses, musicians, professors. Like, like, unless you're a narcissist, like, that has like, delusions of grandeur. Like, you. You really do think at times, like, I'm gonna be exposed. I'm gonna be exposed as a fraud. That sucks.

[Taylor Lewan]

It'd almost be better to be a narcissist, honestly. It sounds like. It sounds like a nice deal. Like, you just don't know. I agree with you that way.

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[JJ Redick]

Like, ignorance, ignorance. I wish I was super.

[Taylor Lewan]

I'm that. I'm that dude. Everyone's like, no, you're not. You're like, you guys are haters, but it's just your narcissist. I gotta become a narcissist. 2022 narcissist.

[Will Compton]

Taylor.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah. Let's go.

[Will Compton]

Hey, I do want to ask about your therapy. Do you feel like the therapy stuff is where that started to help you make your shift mentally in basketball? Like, what did you learn from therapy about yourself that was holding you back?

[JJ Redick]

It's a great question. I think I learned. I learned who I was. I think I became more comfortable with who I was. And. You guys ever take personality tests?

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah, with the Enneagram or something like that?

[Will Compton]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[JJ Redick]

So, you know, I've done. I did a bunch of college. I did them in the NBA. I took one recently. My wife made me take one recently. And like 15, 20 years ago, if I'd taken one, like on the Introverted Extroverted scale, scale, I would be like 95 introverted. And if I took one now, like, I'd be like 55, 60 introverted. So I'm still introverted, but I, like, have gotten comfortable enough with who I am and myself and enough confidence in the person. Not the player, but the person. Because I was confident as a person. I could navigate NBA locker rooms. I could be a great teammate. I could be liaison between the coach and the player. It helped me on the court. I think it gave me a sense of perspective about who I was and my value as a human being. Again, it's like I'm 19 and everybody's like, fuck you. You know, you drink your own pee. The best T shirt I ever saw. I was at Maryland my sophomore year and these guys had these white T shirts done and my picture was on the front. So I went a little closer to see what it said. And on the front it said, when I grow up, I want to name my kid JJ Redick. And so when I got close enough, they turned around so that I could see what was written on the back and it said, and beat him every day.

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Day.

[JJ Redick]

Which is just,

[Will Compton]

you know, that's savage.

[JJ Redick]

Savage, right? So like you're. Again, I'm 19. I'm like, dude, you know, so I, I think it was, drink your own piss. No, I never have.

[Taylor Lewan]

I never have.

[JJ Redick]

But it was a very close.

[Taylor Lewan]

You gotta try it.

[JJ Redick]

So it was, I think it was like becoming like just, just confident. Like it's not, it's. I don't think it's egotistical to be like, sure of yourself.

[Taylor Lewan]

You know what I mean?

[JJ Redick]

You can still be sure of yourself and be self aware enough to know when you're wrong, know when you up to know that it's not all about you. Like my dad, that was the greatest piece of advice I've ever got in my life. He'd tell me that every day. As a kid, I'd complain about something like jj, not always about you, not always about you. That helped me, you know, as a, as a basketball player in a team sport. It helped me, help me navigate everything. I think, I think that's what it came down. That's, that's, that's the real benefit. But later on in life, you know, as I became confident in who I was, I still see. I've seen a therapist that lives on the west coast and comes into New York like once a month. And I talk to him on the phone, but that more is like almost performance coaching, you know what I mean by that? And he was the guy along with my wife, really, but he kind of helped me get that last 1% to retire there. It was like 99 of the way there for like a year. It was such a hard thing to let go of and so him and I like met a couple times. We did a bunch of these like time value proposition exercises and we worked through some things. Why I Want to play why I Don't want to play and by the

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[JJ Redick]

End of the second meeting, it was like, oh dude, it's crystal clear. Like, it's not even a. Not even a question about whether or not I should retire. I should retire. Retire.

[Will Compton]

Like, it's.

[JJ Redick]

It's time and I was very comfortable with doing it, so.

[Taylor Lewan]

Damn.

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[JJ Redick]

Have you guys. You guys don't. You guys aren't in therapy? See therapists?

[Taylor Lewan]

Oh yeah, I see therapists every week. Yeah, absolutely.

[Will Compton]

I first started doing couples therapy before we got married. And then we like fell in love with the whole therapy aspect.

[JJ Redick]

Yeah.

[Will Compton]

Like emotional intelligence, all that stuff. Like, I'm like, yeah, I like love, like looking into that stuff because I feel like your psyche, it's like everything, right? Like losing control of yourself in a moment. Like figuring out, like, why am I reacting to this or why am I getting upset or losing control or what am I scared of? Like, being in therapy and actually talking about, like, it's like, it's like you get the dead ends. Like when you're in conversations with friends or buddies or something else and you. You don't nearly you don't nearly go as far as what you would in therapy. Like, there's nowhere to go, and you're in a safe place. And then they ask those extra questions that actually get you talking about, like, the underlying thing that, like, breaks you. And then you're in tears for whatever reason. And then you come out of it, and you're like, you know, you start learning about yourself a lot more.

[JJ Redick]

So I'm glad that. I'm glad that this is a safe space for us.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah, this is a safe space. There's definitely a safe space.

[Will Compton]

You work with. What's the dude's name you work with?

[Taylor Lewan]

Armando.

[Will Compton]

Armando.

[Taylor Lewan]

He's part of cheat code, and he's, like, supposed to do a bunch of things. He does, like, sound waves and different songs and stuff like that. And you put those on. He talks you through stuff, and it's pretty cool because you talk about what's bothering you in this moment. It's like a present feeling. What's the thing that's bothering me the most? And it'll be like, all right, look forward. How do you feel when you look forward and think about it? You're like, well, I feel this way. And then you look right and look left. And if you're really present, you can notice when you look, whether it's right or left or middle, some areas feel worse or better than others. So whatever's worse. He'll be like, all right, let's start there. Or sometimes we'll start. What's better? And then you just work through. He's like, all right, now fixate on a spot a lot. And then every 60 seconds, like, what are you thinking about right now? And then you. You start talking to him. And then at one point while you're talking, you'll be rambling. I'll be like, stop right there and go with that. And then you just kind of keep working through it. And I'd say majority of the times ends in tears. Because you're just trying. Yeah, you're just trying to figure out. You're trying to figure out, you know, why do I. You do certain things so that other people approve of you when you can't just approve of yourself. Like, what is that from. From being a child or whatever. And how do you get to a point where you're the only one trying to prove something to yourself? And it's just like you said, the whole growth thing is the most important thing. It's the most important thing as a human to do. And we talk about reading. We're Both trying to read more. And when I go to read, I'm like to look at a fiction book, a book that's not real or it's not a self help book. It's so hard for me to go and read that because I could go find something that's going to help me be a better person. And so that's something definitely. And it's like you say it all the time. It's the most important thing, like whether it's sports, being a father, being a husband, all that stuff.

[JJ Redick]

On the emotional intelligence.

[Taylor Lewan]

He's doing it again.

[JJ Redick]

No, it was not a question, it was a comment to Will's comment. Is that okay, that's all right. Okay.

[Taylor Lewan]

All right, carry on.

[Will Compton]

Immediately when he starts talking, he's doing it again.

[JJ Redick]

No, I would say this is a little bit of a callback to what we were talking about earlier about will I ever be good at anything else. And I think what I realized is at the end of my career and what I've realized over the last nine months is like when you develop that side of your personality and develop that side of your brain, you can fit anywhere. Like being able to like what we do, what you guys have done for a long time, what I did for 15 years and prior to that at Duke and high school, aau, all that stuff like what you do in a locker room and being able to navigate that year in, year out, like that is building a skill set. And, and by building your emotional intelligence, like you can fit anywhere. You could do anything. I really believe that.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah.

[JJ Redick]

I'm not going to develop a rocket. It's going to take us to Mars.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah.

[JJ Redick]

I'm not saying we have Elon for that, but there's other like that that's like almost like a, like a skill set that is overlooked, I think.

[Will Compton]

Yeah, I'd agree with you. Have you read Emotional Intelligence 2.0?

[JJ Redick]

No, I haven't.

[Will Compton]

Where do you get the emotional intelligence thing from?

[JJ Redick]

The first time I heard it was actually is now become a good friend of mine, David Solomon, who now runs Goldman Sachs. I met him. He was not running Goldman Sachs. He was not the CEO.

[Will Compton]

Okay, Flex.

[JJ Redick]

Yeah, it's a little flex. But no, but it was, it was like first time. It was the first time I'd ever heard the phrase. I spoke at this, this was like in 2016, I spoke on this panel at this retreat that Goldman Sachs was having for like tech and media CEOs. I have no idea why I was invited. I really, truly don't know know. But I spoke on this panel with Maverick Carter and Casey Wasserman, and David and I spent some time together at the dinner that night, and it was the first time that he, like, brought it up. He's like, hey, you. You have. You've got emotional intelligence. You could, you know, you could work on Wall street if you wanted. Like, oh. So then I, like, started reading about it, and I started thinking about, like, how it relates to my own life. And, like, it's. It goes back to, like, anything we do as an athlete. Like, our routine, visualization, all that stuff. It's like. It's like that constant flow state. And so, like, being able to check in with yourself. What am I projecting on other people? What is that person projecting onto someone else? Like, I'm constantly thinking about that. You know what I mean? That's why it's been so enjoyable for me to have you guys in my chair and ask you these questions.

[Taylor Lewan]

It's been very special. It's been a very special time. Are we doing tear talk?

[Will Compton]

Oh, we got some tear talk.

[Taylor Lewan]

You want to have some tear talk?

[Will Compton]

We can have some tear talk.

[Taylor Lewan]

Let's do some tear talk talk.

[Will Compton]

Now, my question. So tear talk. You guys are getting familiar with tear talk. Everybody out there in the audience, it's something newer that we've done, but it's. We have a tier system. We have our. Our audience. There's tier ones out there, tier twos and tier threes. Now we bring it into a segment where we rate things. Most notably recently, has been the burger thing. That's went out there a couple times where we rated in and out.

[Taylor Lewan]

Which, by the way, what's your favorite fast food burger?

[JJ Redick]

I saw all that. My favorite fast food burger, man. It's definitely not in and out.

[Will Compton]

Okay, well, then that's all we needed.

[Taylor Lewan]

Then the question's over. Then the question is now over.

[JJ Redick]

Like, it's fine. It's not like.

[Will Compton]

But you watch my thing and you're like, yeah, you see? No, I.

[JJ Redick]

Like, I totally co. Signed with you. I'm like, yeah, it's like, it's fine. It's fine.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah, dude, this is great. I'm having a blast. Okay, good. We'll talk about.

[Will Compton]

Let's see what his favorite fast food burger is.

[JJ Redick]

I'm actually gonna go. I would probably say whataburger, because I. I lived in Austin, and that's probably like. I think it's. I think it's good.

[Will Compton]

Good.

[JJ Redick]

I don't.

[Will Compton]

What about. Are we, like, solid burger?

[JJ Redick]

Are we doing, like. Is five guys fast? Food. Is that not fast food?

[Taylor Lewan]

That's a. That's a big question people are saying right now. Yeah, because there's no drive through.

[Will Compton]

Drive through. Which I do. I like. I understand.

[JJ Redick]

Five guys is more on the fast casual side. Like Chipotle, basically.

[Taylor Lewan]

Oh, I didn't even think of fast casual.

[Will Compton]

It's the second time I've heard that. Charles said it about Shake Shack. She's like, shake Shack. Like Shake Shack, I think is awesome. She's like. But it's a little more fast casual because.

[JJ Redick]

Yeah, it's not.

[Will Compton]

There's no drive through. And I'm like.

[JJ Redick]

Like the.

[Taylor Lewan]

You fancy.

[Will Compton]

Yeah, yeah.

[Taylor Lewan]

You fancy. You fancy.

[JJ Redick]

You think the number one burger is. Because I'm sure you've talked about guys. But that's not. That's not fast food.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah, yeah, take. Okay, so just drive throughs. I bet you. I bet you Mid and out burger makes it up there, doesn't it?

[Will Compton]

I was gonna say Shake Shack, but Shake Shack. I mean, Hardee's.

[JJ Redick]

Wow.

[Taylor Lewan]

Okay. Yeah. Carl's junior Hardee, too.

[JJ Redick]

Yeah.

[Will Compton]

Hardee's is fire. Whataburger is good. In and out is good. I've said in and out, but you

[Taylor Lewan]

think In N Out burger is better than Whataburger Burger.

[Jim Beam Ad]

No, you.

[Taylor Lewan]

Now you just say.

[Will Compton]

I'm lying. In and out burger is better than.

[Taylor Lewan]

So you're in and out would be your number. Because your best fast burger, it'll go Carl's Jr. One, in and out, two.

[Will Compton]

I don't know, man.

[Taylor Lewan]

Once five guys is taken out for you, you kind of fall apart.

[Will Compton]

Because I think Shake Shack's good.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah, you kind of fall apart. You're just a classy dude. You know what I'm saying?

[Will Compton]

That's funny as fuck.

[Taylor Lewan]

All right, so basically, so tear talk. Go ahead, Will.

[Will Compton]

Sorry. You rattled me. You rattled me. I'm not even thinking about that anymore. I'm trying to think of other fast foods.

[Taylor Lewan]

We just found out that everything Will's built himself on the last two weeks is not real anymore.

[Will Compton]

I think the spicy ketchup is overrated at Whataburger.

[JJ Redick]

Okay.

[Will Compton]

Cause Texans are big on that. The whole thing for me was coming from Missouri. Like, you'd be in the locker rooms and when you travel, like a Texas game or we go on the west coast to play Arizona, and the guys who are on your team are west coast. Like, oh, we gotta go to N out and dudes from Texas. This immediate argument in the locker room about Whataburger and in and out. So I always look forward to going to these spots to try these both. All these different burgers. And now that I've had them a few different times each, I do think I wanted to like Whataburger more because again, I. I more so like, love to just argue against the west coast people because they're so prideful about In n out burger. But I would say in N out burger is probably a better burger than Whataburger.

[Taylor Lewan]

You got to try fat burger, too. Well, that's not really a drive through either.

[Will Compton]

Yeah. That's casual, man. We learned something.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah.

[Will Compton]

But on this tear talk we're going to be doing, should we do pizza toppings or pizzas

[Taylor Lewan]

to where you can combine certain toppings, but some people like just a pepperoni pizza or a cheese pizza or like, whatever.

[JJ Redick]

We're not. We're not.

[Will Compton]

That's the thing.

[JJ Redick]

You can ranking toppings themselves.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah. Yeah. That'd be difficult to do. I don't know where I'd stand on that.

[JJ Redick]

No, but I don't know where you stand.

[Taylor Lewan]

If I had to rank the number one topping.

[Will Compton]

That's what I'm saying. Like, are we gonna say if.

[JJ Redick]

If Taylor says, I don't know how the tear talk works.

[Taylor Lewan]

I think it's best pizza.

[JJ Redick]

I think best pizza.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah, whatever. Is your best. Your number one favorite pizza tiered? You know what? We'll do our three fair pizzas and then you guys will tear it for us.

[Will Compton]

No. What do you mean here? For us?

[Taylor Lewan]

Because if we're doing tier Talk, there's Tier 1, 2, and 3.

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lewan]

So if JJ says my favorite pizza is X and you say my favorite pizza is Y and I say my favorite pizza is Z, how are we going to tier that? We can't, because we'd all say that our pizza is number one. Right.

[Will Compton]

But that's what we did with Bert with the fast food burger. We go 1, 2, 3. Like, we quietly let JJ have the floor and he does this tier one through three.

[Taylor Lewan]

But if you're just making a pizza, there's no. He's gonna make three pizzas for us right now.

[JJ Redick]

I can make three off the top of my head. I can go. Let's go.

[Taylor Lewan]

I feel like everyone could.

[Will Compton]

Yeah, I can say three pizzas.

[Taylor Lewan]

Okay. I'll figure out a way to say three pizzas. You can go last, Taylor. Yeah.

[Will Compton]

You can go.

[Taylor Lewan]

I'm always going last from now on.

[Will Compton]

Jj, you have the floor.

[JJ Redick]

All right, I'm actually gonna go. I'm gonna go in order of how I want to eat these Pizzas that make sense?

[Will Compton]

Well, I don't know.

[Taylor Lewan]

Explain a little bit more.

[JJ Redick]

So I like, if you go to a great pizza place like Lucali in Brooklyn, okay, I would. I would want to eat them in this order. Not the entire pizza. I'm not that gluttonous, but maybe a slice or two of each is what I'm saying thing.

[Taylor Lewan]

Gluttonous is one of the seven deadly

[Will Compton]

sins, I've been glad to say, so recently.

[JJ Redick]

I. I would start with two toppings that you guys don't actually have on this graphic here, which is your number one.

[Will Compton]

This is your number one.

[JJ Redick]

This is. I would say this is my number one pizza.

[Taylor Lewan]

Okay.

[Will Compton]

Number one.

[JJ Redick]

Like, I just want, like, shallots and hot peppers.

[Taylor Lewan]

Shallots and hot peppers.

[Will Compton]

Hey, let it. Let's just let them have the floor.

[JJ Redick]

Because second pizza would be a what I call a twin special. My wife's favorite pizza, along with her twin. I'll go pepperoni, white onion, green pepper. And then for kind of like a dessert, I would go with ricotta sausage, and maybe some. Some sage. I you guys up, didn't I? Yeah.

[Taylor Lewan]

I'll tell you why you did go chef special on us just now know. So my man knows his pizzas. Will you have the floor?

[Will Compton]

My tier one? Why you already laughing?

[Taylor Lewan]

Because I just feel like he just said some, like, artistic, and you're going to go sausage.

[Will Compton]

I mean, this is hard. My tier one is very hard because there's a couple pieces I'm thinking about start tier three.

[Jim Beam Ad]

Know.

[Will Compton]

Well, either way, I got to decide out of this tier one. That's what the hard part is.

[JJ Redick]

Yeah.

[Will Compton]

But I think if I had to order a pizza, I think I'm gonna go.

[JJ Redick]

He texted me this last night, so He's. He's had 24 hours.

[Will Compton]

I thought about the entire.

[Taylor Lewan]

Only thought about my one. I know exactly what my tier one is. I have it.

[Will Compton]

I think I'm gonna go like a sweet he. Oh, where you got pepperoni, jalapenos. I love onions, so you can just throw onions on there. That's not really part of it, but I do love onions. But you throw like a. You get the red pepper flakes, but you also drizzle honey over top.

[JJ Redick]

You drizzle honey, honey.

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[JJ Redick]

Some Mike's hot honey. Yeah, I like that.

[Will Compton]

My number two is Hawaiian. That's what battle for my number one. I'm a big Hawaiian pizza guy. I believe in pineapples on pizza. I am pro pineapple on pizza. And my number three,

[JJ Redick]

big CPK guy.

[Will Compton]

I Love Supremes. I love meat lovers, but I think if I had to order, I would go pepperoni and bacon for my tier three. Taylor. Take it from here, brother.

[Taylor Lewan]

Okay. My tier three is going to be very basic, extremely basic. It's going to be your Neapolitan cheese pizza. I think you can't beat it. You got a little bit of garnish on there. You got your cheese, your sauce. I think it's fantastic. With the fluffy crust, it's outstanding. That's my tier three. My tier two is also the Hawaiian pizza, but with a spice. You gotta throw banana peppers on there. Or jalapenos. I like a little spice.

[Will Compton]

Hey, I agree with you.

[Taylor Lewan]

I have the four, and number one is going to be. I almost said yes when you said cpk, because I'm a barbecue chicken pizza guy. That's my number one barbecue sauce chicken every time. What? Really?

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lewan]

A little onion on there. I think it's out. It's my favorite possible pizza I can make for myself.

[Will Compton]

Barbecue chicken.

[Taylor Lewan]

Barbecue chicken.

[Will Compton]

Now that we're done. What the was that, dude? Yeah.

[Taylor Lewan]

What did you say?

[Will Compton]

What was your number one?

[Taylor Lewan]

Shallots.

[Will Compton]

And what?

[Taylor Lewan]

Shallots and pepperonis.

[JJ Redick]

Shallots. Shallots on pizza. It's a cheat code.

[Taylor Lewan]

What's a shallot?

[JJ Redick]

A shallot is like, like a little onion right in between, like, a red onion and garlic.

[Taylor Lewan]

Okay. Yeah, I like garlic. Yeah, I like onions.

[Will Compton]

I mean, I like both those.

[Taylor Lewan]

You're telling me. I like shallots.

[Will Compton]

Cook a little bit. Shell it in. What?

[Klarna Ad]

What?

[JJ Redick]

Hot peppers. Hot peppers.

[Will Compton]

Those aren't. Those aren't, like, terrible ingredients. I'm just thinking you're tier one. You're like, hey, jj, what do you want to eat? Like, hey, they got some with shallots and hot peppers on it.

[JJ Redick]

Here's.

[Will Compton]

Man.

[JJ Redick]

Yeah, I am not. Not a CPK hater. I think. I think restaurants like CPK Chili's, TGI Fridays, like, they have their place in America, and I respect them, and I've ate a lot of meals at places like that, but.

[Taylor Lewan]

But you're better than them.

[JJ Redick]

Now, question where you guys are eating pizza, based on you. You guys saying Hawaiian pizza for both of you was number two, Fire and a barbecue chicken pizza number one. I think question that.

[Taylor Lewan]

I think you can't touch barbecue chicken pizza if you have the right barbecue sauce on it, brother.

[Will Compton]

I, I. That's the one thing. Like, I mean cheese to me, I was like, it's. But everybody. Some people, like, like their cheese pizza.

[JJ Redick]

I don't want to sound like a coastal elite Here. Yeah, but I'm gonna sound like a coastal elite.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah, no, I get it.

[JJ Redick]

Like, I live in New York. I live in Brooklyn. Brooklyn is the best pizza in the world. Like, the y' all are talking about is disgusting.

[Public Investing Ad]

What do you mean?

[Taylor Lewan]

The.

[Will Compton]

That we're talking about? So you would need a sweet heat. I think you reacted like, oh, that sounds pretty good.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah, you said that. You actually did. I think you said, that sounds nice.

[JJ Redick]

Sweet heat sounded nice. That was my tier one Hawaiian pizza.

[Will Compton]

Pizza is fire, bro.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah, a coastal elite. You guys should just sit on the traditional ingredients, and you guys just make the best pizza, and that's it. That's how I think a coastal elite works. So I think by you doing. By you doing some special, like shallots and hot peppers, does that make you a. Coastal leaders make you use your. You're just a little fluff, dude. You're a TGI Friday with some fluff. That's what it sounds like to me. It's just what it sounds like.

[Will Compton]

But I will agree on the barbecue chicken part. The barbecue chicken throws me off, bro.

[Taylor Lewan]

Okay, I'm not here to argue that part. I've gone downhill with In N Out Burger. I've seen what the people have done. I've seen what Will started to do to me. I think it's ridiculous, Honestly. Shameful of you guys to handle yourself the way you have have. I think it's ridiculous. I think barbecue chicken pizza is the best pizza.

[Will Compton]

Barbecue chicken pizza?

[JJ Redick]

No, they wouldn't eat barbecue chicken pizza. We wouldn't feed that to them.

[Taylor Lewan]

Y' all up.

[JJ Redick]

We wouldn't feed that.

[Taylor Lewan]

Y' all up.

[Will Compton]

You like barbecue?

[Taylor Lewan]

My daughter. I took my daughter to Mellow Mushroom last Sunday. She wants to go back this. She wants to go back tonight. I'll probably go get one tonight. You know, I'm gonna order the barbecue chicken pizza. Nope.

[Will Compton]

Hang on now.

[Taylor Lewan]

I might go half and half. Now, look here.

[Will Compton]

Hawaiian is good.

[Taylor Lewan]

A little.

[JJ Redick]

Little heat on it, right?

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah, I'll put a little sweet heat on it. Yeah, absolutely. I Sweet heat vibe.

[Will Compton]

You want to know where you get that pizza at?

[JJ Redick]

Go ahead.

[Will Compton]

Midnight oil. It's off of 51st. No free shout. It's to midnight oil. But you go to midnight oil and you order a sweet heat pizza from midnight oil.

[Taylor Lewan]

Like that.

[Will Compton]

Let them know the boy sent you.

[JJ Redick]

Okay.

[Will Compton]

A little something in there.

[Taylor Lewan]

Hey, I want you to know I sent me and I wanted the. The sweet heat pizza, please.

[Will Compton]

It's. It's phenomenal, really. Are you here until tomorrow?

[JJ Redick]

No, I leave Tonight I leave what time ship in a little bit? Yeah, something like that. Yeah.

[Will Compton]

Okay.

[Taylor Lewan]

Is this one of those show up at 7:30 things? Are we getting there a couple hours

[JJ Redick]

early to my flight?

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah.

[JJ Redick]

No, I don't get. I don't go to the airport early. Who does that? I'm not a.

[Will Compton]

But here's what we're trying to ask. Driving there to fly out at 7:30, are you getting there at an hour, hour and a half before?

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah. Are we going through TSA or are we not going through tsa?

[JJ Redick]

Oh, I see what you're asking. I see what you're asking. You guys flew me down. Like, I'm like, this. This trip was not on me.

[Taylor Lewan]

We didn't fight him.

[Will Compton]

Oh, he's right now. You know what? He is, right.

[JJ Redick]

Barcelona fleet.

[Will Compton]

You're our first guest that we've flown down to be on us. Yeah, we've just started kind of doing that.

[Taylor Lewan]

You should ask for some money. We probably would have gave it to you.

[JJ Redick]

Nah, it's just my pleasure to be on the show, man.

[Taylor Lewan]

I love that.

[JJ Redick]

Your show. No, I don't. I don't. I'm not a. I'm not. I'm not that level, dude.

[Taylor Lewan]

You guys really don't like barbecue chicken pizza?

[JJ Redick]

I don't like. We're talking about DJs.

[Taylor Lewan]

Are we not talking about. We're not talking about private jets? Yes. Prices are too. Too extreme right now to be doing, like.

[Will Compton]

I don't think barbecue pizza is trash. I just don't order it or I don't like it. To me, it's like, what are we doing?

[Taylor Lewan]

See, I felt that way about Supreme. It's such a staple. But for me, I'm like, all the extra on it.

[Will Compton]

I had a bite of yours. I said it was solid.

[Taylor Lewan]

You like barbecue chicken? What are you. Barbecue. Cheeky chicks in the back there.

[Will Compton]

Chicken Bacon Ranch. They had.

[Taylor Lewan]

It's number one by far. Like, it's not even close.

[Will Compton]

That habanero cream pie. Holy, dude. Yes.

[Taylor Lewan]

See, that's where it kind of throws me off when he starts talking about pizzas because there's like. Like, that's like a gourmet pizza. Like, Five Points is like Jack Browns in a lot of ways with the burgers. Like, you can't like, just go. Like, if I were to say to you guys, oh, I like jalapenos, but the seeds carved out with cream cheese on the. On it also. It just doesn't make any sense to be able to explain that pizza. You know what I'm saying.

[Will Compton]

I thought J.J. was going to explain something like that though.

[Taylor Lewan]

He did. I think he did. I'm. I, I still. We need an interpreter to figure out what the he said.

[Will Compton]

Yeah. What was this? Yeah, you said a little bit of sage. And that's where I was.

[JJ Redick]

Like, you guys have had like fried sage leaf before? Like a little bit little fried sage leaf on the sausage and ricotta pizza. Does it sound like white sauce? Like a white.

[Taylor Lewan]

Do I look like a guy that had fried sage on my pizza?

[JJ Redick]

In your life, you've never had fried sage?

[Will Compton]

Like to me, that's more amazing.

[Taylor Lewan]

How much money did you have when you grew up? Fried sage get seven bucks in his checking account. So expensive. It sounds expensive. It just sounds expensive to me.

[Will Compton]

Well, he lives in New York. Like he's.

[Taylor Lewan]

It's a very expensive place.

[JJ Redick]

Nice. It is, it is. It sucks.

[Taylor Lewan]

Must be nice.

[Will Compton]

But what was that?

[Taylor Lewan]

Why don't you move down to Nashville?

[JJ Redick]

What's up?

[Taylor Lewan]

Sorry. Go do what's question first.

[Will Compton]

Well, again, what was the dry thing that you explained?

[JJ Redick]

What was it? What about it?

[Will Compton]

What was. What were the toppings? What else?

[JJ Redick]

Ricotta cheese, sausage and fried sage. See, I think a combo.

[Will Compton]

It sounds like it like a tasty pizza for sure. But if we're just like ranking our pizzas, dude. And, and you're saying sage and ricotta and sausage.

[Taylor Lewan]

I mean, I, I actually you say you should use.

[JJ Redick]

The best thing I heard from both of you was just a classic Neapolitan cheese pizza. Honestly, I think that's.

[Taylor Lewan]

Well, that's why, because I said garnish too. Did you hear? I started to sound fancy like you. I said garnish. So basically what you just said with all those fancy words is a sausage

[Will Compton]

pizza with a little bit of sage

[Taylor Lewan]

KE a sausage pizza. Throw some of that green on there. That's what you said to the person in the counter. But no, you like mellow mushroom though.

[JJ Redick]

I do.

[Taylor Lewan]

I fuck with mellow mushroom pizza. I mean underrated pizza. I went with my daughter the the to a birthday party last week. Chuck E. Cheese. Don't at me, dude. That Chuck E. Cheese is low key. Fire Peter Piper pizza. For those of you in the west.

[Will Compton]

I haven't had Chuck E. Cheese in a long time, so I'll take when.

[Taylor Lewan]

And I went that when and I went there. It was delicious.

[JJ Redick]

Any money growing up. So we couldn't go to Chuck E. Cheese.

[Taylor Lewan]

That's crazy. That's crazy. We got the fried sage though, huh?

[JJ Redick]

The fried sage.

[Taylor Lewan]

Now that's wild.

[Will Compton]

Sausage and Fried sage.

[Taylor Lewan]

He just said sausage and cheese pizza.

[Will Compton]

I know he did, but he's also. He's also like. The only thing you guys said good was the cheese pizza. And I'm thinking like, bro, stop acting like you didn't react when I said sweet heat.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah, you did say, oh, I like that. Because I almost. Because when you said that to Will, I almost said, hey, we don't react here. We don't react in the tear talk. Do you know?

[Will Compton]

I know, right? Trying to keep it. That's why I was holding it in while he was going.

[JJ Redick]

Well, picture when he said the sweet heat. I'm pictured. There's a. There's a place called Emily in Brooklyn that makes a great burger as well as this guy. No, it's. It's.

[Will Compton]

I'm just kidding.

[JJ Redick]

The water's better up there, man. Like, what do you want me to say? The water's better for people.

[Taylor Lewan]

Sure, sure, sure.

[JJ Redick]

Why the bagels are so good and bagels. Emily has like a. Like a sweet heat pizza. That basically is the description of what you described. And they do a little Mike's hot honey on the top.

[Jim Beam Ad]

And you've had it.

[JJ Redick]

Yeah, and I've had it.

[Will Compton]

Fire.

[JJ Redick]

It's fire. It's a good pizza pizza.

[Will Compton]

You just don't. I think you don't agree with pineapple on pizza.

[JJ Redick]

No, it's not. I don't wake up, you know, any morning and be like, things, I can't wait. I want pizza tonight. I want to put pineapple on it. Like, that's just a weird thing to me. It's that mush. Mushrooms. Like, I eat everything but mushrooms. I can't. I can't touch. I can't touch mushrooms. Not for me. Now, Italian truffles. I.

[Taylor Lewan]

Could you see my face? My whiplash? I'm turning, looking at you so fast, dude. What was the second pizza you said? Because you were kind of. Did it run like a run on sentence special? Huh?

[JJ Redick]

Twin special.

[Taylor Lewan]

It's just simple.

[JJ Redick]

Pepperoni, white onion, green pepper.

[Taylor Lewan]

Oh, we just gotta start naming our cool so it sounds better.

[Will Compton]

Yeah, he said white onion when he

[Taylor Lewan]

said the way when you. I'm talking. When he was talking like that, I legit thought to myself, like, we picked the wrong category because we're about to say sausage and you know, we're about to say basic.

[Will Compton]

I believed in what I was about to say. I say I stand 10 toe downs on it.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah, but he said twins pizza. He said ricotta. He used the word ricotta.

[Will Compton]

Oh, he did just say cheese. And what's crazy is he's been thinking about that since last night. Oh, yeah, these are.

[Taylor Lewan]

He's a homework guy. He's got 15 pages on both of us. Actually forgot exactly where I was from when I was doing it.

[JJ Redick]

I, I, the only reason I thought of all those pizzas because when I saw the toppings, I was like, oh, shall. It's not on there.

[Taylor Lewan]

Can I ask you a hard hit?

[JJ Redick]

Went back to the, the catalog in my brain.

[Taylor Lewan]

Can I ask you a hard hitting basketball question, please? Who's the greatest of all time, man? Who's a goat?

[Will Compton]

I like that question.

[Taylor Lewan]

A second part Question. Was Michael Jordan a narcissist?

[JJ Redick]

I think it's like, it's 1A. 1B to me.

[Taylor Lewan]

I don't, I don't, I don't like that answer. I want you to take a strong stance.

[Will Compton]

Who's 1A? Who's A?

[JJ Redick]

It's weird because Jordan is who I like, grew up watching. But then LeBron is who I played against, and it's hard for me to, like, pick either one. Kyle Korver once said to me, he's like, you know, like MJ, I know the accomplishments are great, but like, MJ had to take two years off. So, like, the discredit LeBron gets for making eight straight finals, I think is kind of insane. So I'm, I had to say it. I'm just going to say Jordan 1A.

[Taylor Lewan]

That was your safe answer because if you would have said LeBron, you'd have got torched.

[JJ Redick]

Jordan. It's Jordan.

[Taylor Lewan]

Okay. LeBron's your 2.

[JJ Redick]

Oh, yeah.

[Taylor Lewan]

What about Kobe?

[JJ Redick]

Great player. Great player. Oh, you know, here's the, here's the other thing we, I've learned especially in the last year is the. You guys know what a Stan is, right? Yes, yes. Okay. Little Eminem callback.

[Taylor Lewan]

That was an Eminem thing. By the way, the song's incredible too.

[JJ Redick]

Incredible song. What I've realized is that, that certain players stands are fucking insane on social media. And I said a bunch of nice things about Steph Curry the other day. But the question was, who do you want in the clutch more, Luka or Steph? I saw that video and I said, In 2022, I said Luka. And the amount of hate that I got from the Steph stands.

[Taylor Lewan]

Do you think he deserved it a little bit. Greatest shooter of all time.

[JJ Redick]

Again, that wasn't the question, though.

[Taylor Lewan]

Game on the line. Who do you want the ball in their hands?

[JJ Redick]

The question. Yeah, exactly. And I said, luca, who do you

[Will Compton]

want with the ball. Who.

[Taylor Lewan]

But why?

[JJ Redick]

Size.

[Taylor Lewan]

But if he. If my man can just pull up at the logo and splash that thing in, no problem, then we don't need size. Oh, I sound like a basketball player right now. Luka is big. He's dominant player. He can't shoot like Steph. Everyone knows that.

[JJ Redick]

No one can shoot like Steph.

[Taylor Lewan]

So why wouldn't you put. Do you need a basket? Right. The whole concept of basketball is to put the ball in the hoop.

[JJ Redick]

The issue more is, like, how you go get the basket. You know what I mean? Like, so when I think about, like, clutch, I think I look at statistics because they track those.

[Taylor Lewan]

What about Giannis?

[JJ Redick]

The best player in the world right now.

[Taylor Lewan]

So you'd rather have Luca over him, too?

[JJ Redick]

No, the question was. The question that I got asked was Luke or Steph?

[Taylor Lewan]

Well, I'm busting with the boys. We like to throw in wrenches.

[JJ Redick]

You know What? There's like 10 guys I'd like to have in the clutch with the ball in their hand.

[Taylor Lewan]

All right, but go ahead, talk to me about Luka. Sorry, I didn't mean to throw you all this in there.

[JJ Redick]

What I was. When I think about, like, who do I want to have the ball in their hands in the clutch? It's guys like Luka. It's guys like LeBron who have size because they're going to create a shot. Whether that's against a double team, whether that's one on one, they're going to create a shot. There's nothing wrong with saying Steph in that answer, by the way. And he's made a ton of clutch shots. I was basing some of it on just this past season. Steph was 10 for 51 from three in the clutch this season. So some of that is recency bias, which is another thing I've learned in the media. We all have losers of the moment. I like to describe Stephen A. As that. It's another phrase that I seems that way. Yeah, it sucks. It sucks. I can't imagine. I can't imagine getting the point where, like, you have a show every day and you're like, man, I gotta fill two hours with the same take, but in a different way. That's tough. I like to pop in and pop out, you know?

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah.

[Will Compton]

I loved what you loved the clapping back you were doing on Mad Dog. I think every young generation athlete, young generation person was fairly hype about that. I.

[JJ Redick]

The one thing I'll say, and this is not in. In sort of any direction towards Mad Dog. The one Thing I say is like, I. And I'm sure you guys have seen this too. I have witnessed and lived both in my own personal experience and my peers experience a lot of tired narratives around athletes. And, you know, I remember going through the lockout and seeing articles written about athletes, and I'm like, why. Why is everybody siding with the billionaire owners and not the athletes? It's. There's something about athletes that people think we're entitled, that people think we're. Our only value is to entertain you on a basketball court or a football field. That we're not allowed to be intelligent and speak our mind or speak an opinion or to protest or whatever it is. And it's so dehumanizing and so demeaning. And a lot of some. A lot of the stuff that has gone viral on first take has been in a direct response to some of those narratives. And that's one example of it. But, you know, the other part of it, I don't really want to talk about.

[Taylor Lewan]

Sure.

[JJ Redick]

The undertone. I don't want to talk about. But. But, you know, so. So much of that is like. Hold on a second. Like, the. The narrative is wrong. The narrative is tired. Let's. Let's start a new narrative that makes sense.

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

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Yeah, man.

[Will Compton]

I do want to ask before. I know we've been. We've had a long pause and we

[Taylor Lewan]

got to play another game of pig.

[Will Compton]

Is Coach Be Ready? Is Coach K a psycho from the outside, when you watch a lot of situations unfold, it seems like a lot of things that he does seems very calculated.

[JJ Redick]

Huh.

[Will Compton]

And. And yeah. So I'm wondering. It's like, is Coach K. Well, I guess.

[JJ Redick]

I guess. When. Because my version of a psych. My definition of a psycho. I. I also use the word sicko interchangeably about. When I talk about people.

[Will Compton]

Gotcha.

[JJ Redick]

And like, what's your sort of definition?

[Will Compton]

Psycho is pretty hardcore.

[Taylor Lewan]

Over the top.

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lewan]

Very much. Really demonstrative on players. Hardcore makes you feel less than a

[Will Compton]

lot of the time narcissistic. Narcissistic understands he's better than manipulative game that he can do with players. I mean, you played for him. There's been a lot of.

[JJ Redick]

I wouldn't. I don't. I think. I think manipulative is the wrong word. I think the word you used about calculus, I think that's probably more appropriate. I don't. He's definitely not. Definitely not a narcissist. He's definitely not a psycho in sort of the traditional sense. He is very intense and he's very demanding, but he's a truth teller. He is always a truth teller. And, you know, my four years with him, I say this sincerely, my four years with him, I never saw him have a bad day. Not at what he's on. He's on every day. We get back from Virginia Tech on the bus at 3:00am, you know, we lose meeting, you know, we're in there for an hour, we got practice the next day, he's on the bike at 6am he comes to practice energized, ready to go, ready to coach. He's like that with every team he's ever been on. He's so invested and takes such ownership, you know, or did take such ownership of being a coach, being a Duke basketball coach, that program, him, he's phenomenal. And I get to a degree when someone sees him, a ref or motherfucking a 19 year old. Like, I get why people are like, oh, he's. He's a psycho. He's a psycho. But like, I actually would say all the good that's said about him is true. And then some. Like, he's. My dad is the greatest man that I've ever known. I didn't have to look far for a role model. Coach is the second. Like, coach is phenomenal. And I, I became friends with him my junior year and, and we've been friends now for whatever that is, 17 years. He's, he's like such an important part of my life. And it has been for, you know, since 2000 when I committed. Like, he's just, he's the man. I love that dude.

[Taylor Lewan]

After your little stint, your sophomore year, when you were brought back and put on a big schedule, did you and him ever talk about it, like, reminisce maybe a couple years ago about it? Like, hey, you were, I was worried about you there for a second. He ever gave you the hey, didn't know if you were gonna make it.

[JJ Redick]

We talked a little bit about it when he came on the podcast in the fall of 2020, but actually, the moment we became friends and the moment that I felt like he wasn't just my coach was that following spring we lost in the Sweet 16 to Michigan State in Austin and Worst school. Yeah, terrible. And, you know, I had, I, I'd gone through all that my sophomore year, and then I, you know, got ACC Player of the Year, ACC tournament, tournament mvp, first team All American. I got one of the National Player of the Year awards. I got the RUP Award. And we, yeah, let's give it my

[Taylor Lewan]

man is going off right now.

[JJ Redick]

Context. Context matters.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah, no doubt.

[JJ Redick]

Yeah, High point.

[Taylor Lewan]

No, no doubt. I'm with it.

[JJ Redick]

So he caught. He called me into where we we lose at the arena. We're all emotional, I'm crying and we're getting on the bus. He's like, hey, come to my hotel room when we get back to the hotel. And we went in there and we basically talked about that. We talked about that day in May of 2004 when he dragged me, when they dragged me into the office, talked about that summer, everything I had done. We talked about the season. He talked about how proud he was of me.

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Me

[JJ Redick]

like I was a lifer at that point. Like I was a coach. K Lifer.

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[JJ Redick]

He was. He was a friend from that point on. Yeah.

[Will Compton]

That is awesome.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah.

[Will Compton]

And then one last thing. Another one last thing. The gambling story of you almost coming to blows with one of your teammates. You. I heard you said it was one of the closest times. Yeah, I mean I ever came to fighting a teammate.

[JJ Redick]

Yeah, I mean I've got. I've gotten hit by teammates before. Like I.

[Will Compton]

You've gotten punched by a teammate?

[Taylor Lewan]

Yeah, he do.

[JJ Redick]

Turkaloo used to hit me. He hit me a couple times a couple times when I was like a rookie and then once again my like my third year he just like to with me but like like why does it. I got into a little scrap with Carlos Arroyo. Me and Brian Cook got into it one time. Like I never like came to blows with a guy in practice but like I was trying to fight find a place in the league like in the league. So I was just, just scrappy and practice and if you're a vet like in his shoot around like that's one of the times Turkloo elbowed me in the, in the eye and gave me a black eye. He's just like I was playing too hard a post defense when we were. We weren't walking through plays, we were running through plays and he just turns and he like noticed it was me and he caught me in the elbow. Got me with the elbow. The Justin Anderson story Basically everybody in the NBA plays Blu Ray. Do you guys play Blue Ray in the NFL?

[Will Compton]

Okay.

[JJ Redick]

Everybody plays blue. So there's a. There's in the player's cabin we use Delta charter flight. So on the players cabin there's always a table and then there's a bunch of other seats. So The. The table is four card games. And so playing Boo Ray, and there had been some tension building between Justin Anderson and another teammate of mine. They were going back and forth. They sat next to each other, so their actions directly affected the other players. Actions. Right. Whether or not the guy stayed in the game, whether or not a guy went for a boo or didn't go for boo, like, it all affected. Affected each other. So they were kind of mouthing off, and Justin wanted a pretty big hand to not count because he felt like there was a discrepancy in how that particular hand had been played. And we had been drinking as well. There had been some wine on the flight. And so there was Amir Johnson, me, Jared Bayless, Justin Anderson, diagonal to me. And then there wasn't a fifth seat. So Joelle would sit on the armrest in the aisle. Joel and B would sit on the armrest in the aisle. And the. It basically got to the point where their bullshit was sabotaging the general flow and enjoyment of the card.

[Taylor Lewan]

It was ruining the night.

[JJ Redick]

It was ruining the night.

[Taylor Lewan]

Yes.

[JJ Redick]

Thank you. Yeah. So I got a little vocal, and then he got vocal back with me. And then I said, you're a little. And he said. Said, what did you say? And I said, you're a little.

[Taylor Lewan]

You double down.

[JJ Redick]

I doubled down. And again, I'm not proud of this. Like, I just said. I said, you're a. And he said, what you say? I said, you're. I said, you heard me. I said, you're a. And then he, like, stood up on the table and, like, you know, almost swung on me. Joelle luckily, like, grabbed him, and then all these flight attendants that were on the plane, like, came. I don't know why they broke up this shuffle, but they broke it up. Had he swung on me, like, I'm sitting down. He's standing up on a table.

[Taylor Lewan]

I think you would have won that fight.

[JJ Redick]

Six, two, 30. Would I won that?

[Taylor Lewan]

No, I would grab him by the ankles. Dude, give him a toss.

[JJ Redick]

I would have lost, dude. Those.

[Taylor Lewan]

The.

[JJ Redick]

The tables are, like, here. Like, there's no leverage. I was stuck. I was stuck. I would have lost that fight.

[Will Compton]

Yeah, you're a little bitch, dude.

[Taylor Lewan]

You gotta think if you're really gonna fight somebody while he's taking the time to get up on that table, you gotta make a move.

[JJ Redick]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lewan]

You know, if you're gonna win that fight.

[JJ Redick]

The flight attendant, they obviously fly with all the other teams. That word got around that that had happened. So I had a bunch of texts from buddies around the league that like, you. I heard you guys got into a fight, you know, whatever. I was like, no, it was nothing. It was nothing.

[Taylor Lewan]

That's like what happened after. You guys cool?

[JJ Redick]

Yeah, yeah, it's fine.

[Taylor Lewan]

Allegedly. I have to ask him.

[JJ Redick]

Jay is my guy.

[Will Compton]

We appreciate you for going on, man. Thanks for an awesome podcast. Real been unreal to your flight. Hey, Jack, Is he doing the green screen? All right, cool. Did. I appreciate it, man. Hey, anything else? Anybody got anything?

[Taylor Lewan]

You trying to hit that pig one on one?

[JJ Redick]

What pig? No, I don't think so.

[Taylor Lewan]

I didn't think so. He's scared.

[Will Compton]

Is anybody better than you at the collegiate level of all time? Shooter?

[JJ Redick]

Steph?

[Taylor Lewan]

Really?

[JJ Redick]

Yeah. Steph would have. I mean, there's other guys that have surpassed, like, the three point thing, but Steph would have shattered it. Had he played one more year, he would have shattered it. I think I was, I don't know who I was having this conversation with. It was somebody the other day. Like, I think why, I think why? It's like, oh, oh, it's Omar. Omar from me. My house highlights.

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Omar.

[JJ Redick]

Omar Raja. Yeah, he's now a sports center. We were talking about this two days ago and, and I was telling him it's like part of the reason, like, the, the Duke version of me is, you know, there's a legacy to that, I think, a little bit. Even though I didn't win a championship and.

[Taylor Lewan]

Oh, there definitely is.

[JJ Redick]

Yeah, there's a, there's a little bit of, like, if you were growing up in that area, you watch college basketball. But I think the reason is, number one, because I played for Duke and, like, people hated Duke and there was divisiveness there. The second reason, though, is like, my draft class was the last draft class before the one and done era. So I feel like my time in college basketball was like the time in college basketball that we all knew and we all grew up knowing. Now with the one and done, it's just different. Like, you don't have that attachment.

[Taylor Lewan]

You don't make the legacy. Yeah, you're in and out.

[JJ Redick]

Most people don't even pay attention till March Madness anyways. So now it's like, back then, it

[Will Compton]

was like you and Adam Morrison.

[JJ Redick]

Yes. Yeah. And it, you know, and then UNC was awesome. When I was there, they won in O5. You know, we had some great games with them. So I, I, I don't. And they were all upperclassmen. Like, all those guys left. They were all my high school class, and they all left after their junior year. I decided to stay one more year. So I just think it was like part of part. It was like just the era we were in. It wasn't necessarily that like I did anything that was that much special relative to other great college basketball players.

[Will Compton]

I mean, you're pretty good.

[JJ Redick]

So I was, I mean I was whatever, you know.

[Taylor Lewan]

You weren't decent 11th overall pick. You're pretty solid. I was.

[JJ Redick]

I was good.

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