7’0 Shaquille O’Neal dips his toes into the JJ Redick-Jerry West ‘beef’ and sides with ‘The Logo’, sending a message to the sharpshooter.
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JJ Redick found himself in quite a bit of hot water this past week for making a very stern comment about the 1950s and 60s era of basketball. Back in April of this year while discussing the likes of Chris Paul and where they stand all-time, Redick let loose and claimed CP3 needed to be higher than guys like Bob Cousy for one reason.
That reason came out to be the ‘fact’ that Cousy was being guarded by plumbers and firemen, leading to him being a dominant player during his time. In all fairness to JJ, several guys in the league at the time did have jobs on the side because the NBA didn’t pay well enough for it to be a player’s only source of income.
Despite the fact that everybody unanimously believes that the level of play now in the NBA is eons ahead of what it was 60 years ago, JJ Redick caught a lot of flak from ‘The Logo’ himself, Jerry West.
West would go on Sirius XM and demolish Redick, claiming he doesn’t know what he’s talking about because he only averaged 12 ppg on his career.
Shaquille O’Neal chimes in on JJ Redick and his comments.
Shaquille O’Neal has always been someone who’s valued championships above all else. Despite him admitting that he just wanted to win one at the beginning of his career, O’Neal has become the foremost believer in the ‘G-14 Classification’ of NBA stardom.
So, when he heard that Jerry West gave pushback to JJ Redick and his comments, he knew he had to chime in and give more than just his two cents. Under an Instagram post that made fun of the way West played the game, Shaq came to his defense and said:
“Stop it. Jerry West was correct. JJ ain’t got enough G-14 Classifications to speak on the greats. And you can tell him I said that.”
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While West is undoubtedly lightyears ahead of JJ Redick on the all-time ladder, Redick does have a point. He could’ve framed his ‘firemen and plumbers’ comment a bit better but his argument cannot be rendered mute. More than half the league in Cousy’s era had jobs other than basketball to support themselves and their family.
Dropping Redick into what the NBA was 60 years ago would result in him being considered one of the greatest players of his generation without a question.
