Tag: J.J Redick

Lakers HOFer Jerry West on J.J. Redick’s ‘plumbers and firemen’ quip

After J.J. Redick seemed to disrespect Boston Celtics Hall of Famer Bob Cousy, Lakers great Jerry West put things in perspective.

Recently, former NBA sharpshooter J.J. Redick caused a minor stir when, on an ESPN show, he seemed to disrespect Hall of Fame point guard Bob Cousy.

Cousy was one of the great stars of the NBA’s embryonic period, averaging 18.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and 7.5 assists per game while helping to put the Boston Celtics on the map as a dominant team.

Although shooting percentages were much lower in the 1950s and early 1960s, the knock against Cousy is he shot only 37.5% from the field for his career.

When comparing Cousy’s career to that of Chris Paul, Redick seemed to think there was no comparison, and he said that Cousy was being guarded by “plumbers and firemen.”

The truly great ones would excel in any era, as Redick was careful enough to say, but there does seem to be a feeling among some fans that the players from the 1950s and 1960s couldn’t hang with the players of the past few decades.

Alex Caruso reflected on first time he felt LeBron James really trusted him

Alex Caruso was recently a guest on the J.J. Redick podcast “The Old Man and The 3” where he talked about his journey with the Lakers.

The Los Angeles Lakers were obviously led to the championship by their two stars playing better than any duo has played since the days of Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant, championships are always won with the contributions of several role players doing their job at a high level. Among the many players who the Lakers could count on to consistently do their job was reserve guard Alex Caruso, who eventually got the start in Game 6 of the NBA Finals, which eventually clinched the franchise’s 17th NBA title.

Caruso was already a cult hero with Lakers fans but being a major part of a title team has elevated his stature even more. But it all started with him understanding what was being asked of him, particularly when it comes to playing next to LeBron James. During an appearance on J.J. Redick’s podcast “The Old Man and The Three,” Caruso described the first time he felt LeBron’s trust, during an early-season comeback against the Chicago Bulls, as transcribed by SB Nation’s Christian Rivas.

“I don’t even know if it was a certain game or a certain stretch of games, but I think he just realized that I was going to do my job, whatever it needed to be. If it was to be the one, bring the ball up and initiate the offense and do that, if it was to guard somebody on the other team, whether it was for 15 minutes or it was for five minutes, I think he just understood that I was gonna do what I needed to do. Maybe (it was) the Chicago game this year for us.

“There was a road game where we played in Chicago, we came out a little flat, Chicago hadn’t won many games yet … So we came out, we’re playing bad, we’re doing everything that we’re supposed to do a certain way, we’re doing it the wrong way. We’re giving Zach LaVine open shots, Markkanen open shots, we’re letting Coby White shoot too, it was just bad.

“So we’re down like 15 or 16 going into the fourth, and it was basically the bench unit, me, Kuz, Quinn Cook, Dwight (Howard) for a little while, and we just made this huge comeback. We were playing defense, getting stops, sharing the ball. I think that was probably when LeBron, it clicked for him, we finished the game with him … I think that was probably the first instance for him where he was like yeah, these guys, but especially me, they can get it done when they’re focused and locked in and they need to.”

It took a few games to get Caruso on to the court this season with several more accomplished NBA guards ahead of him in the rotation, but it became clear early what type of an asset Caruso was on the defensive end and how great he was next to LeBron James, making it easy for coach Frank Vogel to eventually trust him with the championship on the line.

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