JJ Redick has no time for Chris Russo. In what is quickly developing into one of the great rivalries in sports media, the popular ESPN personalities got into it again on First Take Wednesday morning, escalating a feud that began weeks earlier when Redick shamed “Mad Dog” for dismissively telling outspoken Warriors forward Draymond Green to “shut up and play.”
This time, they tangled over “fundamentals,” with Russo, as he’s argued repeatedly, lamenting the current state of the NBA for being all sizzle and no steak, with far too much emphasis placed on perimeter shooting. That assessment didn’t go over too well with Redick, who clapped back at Mad Dog for refusing to give the younger generation its due.
“What game are you watching today, Chris? Honestly,” asked the former Naismith College Player of the Year, flabbergasted by Russo’s assertion that today’s stars, while more athletic than their predecessors, aren’t as fundamentally sound as players from past eras. “Maybe it’s 24/7 news programming, maybe it’s social media. I don’t know. But all of a sudden, in every sport, players continue to get better but for some reason in the NBA, players in the last 15 years, we’re just not good enough. We’re a substandard product.”
At this point, it doesn’t seem like either is changing the other’s mind. Mad Dog—an “old head,” as Redick labeled him—stands firm in his belief the NBA he grew up on was a better, more competitive brand of basketball than the version played today. Redick, meanwhile, holds the opposite opinion, unable to comprehend why it’s so hard for Russo to accept that basketball has evolved beyond the antiquated, low-scoring style prevalent in the 80s and 90s.
The fact that Stephen A. Smith, who has made a career out of being the loudest voice in the room, couldn’t get a word in edgewise suggests Russo and Redick believe wholeheartedly in their positions, which, in today’s hot-take culture of debate television, isn’t always the case. Mad Dog joined the show to be a foil for Stephen A., but instead, his strongest challenges have come from Redick, creating a fascinating new versus old dynamic between an industry leader and a rising star coming for the other's throne.
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