Before their preseason game against the Lakers, the newly recruited Minnesota Timberwolf, Julius Randle, had a few candid words for the LA side’s head coach, JJ Redick. Randle has been ruled out for the game and will have to wait to make his debut for the Wolves.
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Redick, on the other hand, is making his debut as the coach of the Lakers with the game against Minnesota.
During a courtside conversation with reporters, Randle was asked about Redick as the two have been teammates in the past. The three-time All-Star cheekily stated that the 40-year-old is ‘annoying’.
After a brief chuckle, Randle put on his serious face and heaped praise on JJ as a competitor.
Randle started off by saying, “He was annoying…he was freaking annoying [recalling their days with the Pelicans].”
However, Randle had nothing but nice things to say about Redick when he explained what he meant. The two joined the Pels in July 2019 and stayed there briefly.
Randle said, “He [Redick] is a hell of a player and obviously a hell of a shooter. An underrated aspect of him was he was a competitor. He was the guy that, like I said, he was annoying because he was so competitive and driven out there and played with a chip on his shoulder.”
“I’d imagine he’s gonna coach like that as well. Everything I know about JJ is, [that] he is extremely smart, high IQ. So, he’s gonna be a hell of a coach,” the T-Wolves star added.
Julius Randle said this about JJ Redick’s playing days, meant as the highest compliment: “He was freaking annoying” pic.twitter.com/8SnTwkKbyR
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) October 4, 2024
Even though he used the word ‘annoying’, Randle explained that he meant it in the most respectful way, as a compliment. Redick’s competitive drive made him appear that way.
JJ Redick had a rocky exit from New Orleans
In 2019, when the Pelicans signed Redick, he was brought in for his most revered quality, his shooting. However, less than a year after he joined the franchise, the world came to a standstill due to the Covid pandemic. The Pelicans failed to qualify for the playoffs, making it the first time that Redick didn’t make it to the postseason in his career.
But the veteran guard felt at home while he was in NOLA. He said, “This city feeds my soul. There is a warmth to New Orleans. There is a realness to New Orleans. It was one of the last, in my opinion, great, untouched places and what really makes New Orleans special is the people.”
However, all of that was about to change as his family decided to stay in Brooklyn due to the Covid scare.
Redick asked the franchise to trade him to a team close to his home. But he was asked to stay and start the season with the Pels. “I talked to Griff, I talked to Trajan (Langdon) – Griff basically says to me, ‘come down for a month. If you still want to be traded, I give you my word I’ll get you to a situation that you like,'” he recalled on his podcast.
To his surprise, he was traded to Dallas on the trade deadline. He criticized the sneaky behavior of the Pelicans’ executives on his podcast. In the same year, he announced his retirement from the league.
