July 19, 2017
As someone who does a regular podcast that discusses the Philadelphia 76ers, the team’s addition of shooting guard J.J. Redick in free agency is a tad intimidating. Redick, who will find work in the media once his playing days are over if he wants to, is a very good podcaster. And on Wednesday, after a long hiatus, the newest Sixer relaunched his podcast over at Uninterrupted, LeBron James’ digital video company.
It even has a cool name: The Chronicles of Redick.
For his first podcast, Redick sat down with Maverick Carter and Bryan Colangelo to talk about the very same free agency that brought him to the Sixers (There is also apparently a mini-documentary about his free agency scheduled to be released tomorrow.) Redick was very honest about how stressful the process was for him. Here are a few of the highlights:
• Term was important to him. He wanted longer than a one-year deal to give his family some stability.
• Location was important to him. His wife was rooting for Redick to sign a long-term contract in Brooklyn, where they own an apartment.
• The Houston Rockets and old running mate Chris Paul expressed interest in him, and offered Redick more total guaranteed money than the Sixers (over extra years, I would imagine).
• His family is probably going to stay in Brooklyn, while he gets an apartment in Philly and racks up a decent-sized Amtrak bill.
• At one point, Redick thought about organizing an Atlantic City weekend with the Sixers players and then quickly realized that a few of the team’s important pieces aren’t even 21-years old. It’s really just Fultz and Furkan Korkmaz though, as Ben Simmons’ birthday is tomorrow.
• Colangelo flew all the way to Los Angeles, only to hear that Redick (his first choice) agreed to a one-year deal right before he was scheduled to meet with more agents.
Anyway, the whole thing is worth a listen. Redick did a nice job of explaining that while he’s happy that he signed with the Sixers — $23 million might have something to do with that — getting to the finish line wasn’t exactly smooth sailing. The documentary sounds like it has a chance to be pretty good.
“I didn’t want a one-year deal, but I’m not going to complain about the one-year deal I got,” Redick said.
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