The NBA right now is in an indefinite suspension as we all take the necessary precautions to protect ourselves during this global pandemic. So, now is the time for podcasts and more speculation from former members of the Philadelphia 76ers!
One of those former Sixers is JJ Redick who left Philadelphia after two very successful seasons in the City of Brotherly Love and his absence has left the Sixers in need of some sharpshooting. New pieces Al Horford and Josh Richardson have not blended perfectly just yet with Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, and Tobias Harris on offense and that has left the Sixers in the 6 seed at the time of the league suspension on March 11.
Redick joined The Athletic’s Derek Bodner and Rich Hofmann on their podcast, Sixers Beat, to discuss why he left Philadelphia in the offseason despite the success the team had. He cited the exit interview with general manager Elton Brand as he felt like the team was headed in another direction.
Redick said:
Elton was transparent with me. It wasn’t like he said ‘we don’t want you back’, he said ‘we want you back’, and Philly made an offer. You can read between the lines a little bit and I got the sense that they wanted to be bigger across the board. That was just the sense that I got. So much of our league, every league is sort of a copycat league and you look at last season with the Raptors and the Bucks and with the wings and the frontcourt, they’re just big. I got the sense that they wanted to be bigger.
For context, Redick is 6-foot-3 while Richardson is 6-foot-5. When it comes to the current big and clunky Sixers, he did add:
When they made the moves, Joel stayed at the 5 and Ben at the 1, everybody sort of went down a position. Al went 5 to 4, Tobias 4 to 3, and Josh 3 to 2. It was sort of inevitable that they would have, sort of, an uneven regular season, but ultimately, hopefully this gets to play out hopefully we have a playoffs, I think the thinking, and I’m not speaking for Elton here, was, of course, to build a team that could beat the Bucks or beat Toronto in the playoffs.
There is growing optimism around the league that the play can resume for the 2019-20 season and that the playoffs can get going. If it does, it will be the ultimate test for a Sixers team that was really built for the playoffs.
Still, it would have been very nice to have Redick on this team. He shot 40.7% from deep during his time in Philadelphia and he averaged 17.6 points in the two seasons. It was a shock to most when he signed with the New Orleans Pelicans very quickly in free agency.
He added:
It wasn’t like I left the meeting in a huff or I was mad at Elton. It was just I know, having been in the league 14 years, and seeing the evolution of our league is that when you’re close, inevitably, you have the desire to change something, let’s change something. I totally understood the reasoning behind it. I’ve said this before, and this is not a knock on New Orleans, but I would have loved to have been back and finished my career in Philly.
Whenever the season does resume, the Sixers are still in a good position to reach their goals. Hopefully, for their sake, they will be able to get that opportunity. [lawrence-related id=29564,29556,29549]