JJ Redick was not going to let Chris Russo get away telling Draymond Green he needs to shut up. On Wednesday's edition of First Take, Russo took the Warriors' forward to task after Green gave fans the finger as he exited the court in Memphis to receive stitches.
"He's hard to root for," Russo began. "Just shut up and play will you please? America is tired of Draymond Green. I deal with him constantly. The fans, San Francisco fans are a different story."
Stephen A. Smith questioned how true that was. JJ Redick took a different tact. He told Mad Dog that the SiriusXM host had no idea just how few people actually want Green to shut up.
"You do realize the guy has a very popular podcast where he hosts and he talks, himself, for the majority of the episode and people listen to that," Redick said. "He signed a talent deal with Turner because people want to hear what Draymond has to say. The reason they want to hear what Draymond has to say is because just like in this press conference, he is real, authentic and unfiltered. You can't take away what makes a player great so there's no "shut up and play".
Mad Dog countered by saying that fans like him, that had followed the league for 60 years, didn't like Green. It wasn't a racial or political issue. It was about being tired of Green constantly talking.
"I'm not saying it's a race situation," Redick said. "I'm saying the fans you're talking about, they talk about athletes that way like you just talked about an athlete snapped back. The people on Fox News talk about athletes that way, that's my issue. I don't actually care about the fans that watched Bob Cousy play or watched Wilt play. I don't care. I appreciate they've been NBA fans that long but I don't appreciate the undertone."
That exchange caught the attention of a lot of Redick's sports media colleagues.
Robert Littal of Black Sports Online pointed out that reactions from third parties are the only way to see JJ Redick make his point. ESPN is not promoting the video on any of its channels.
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