JJ Redick roster

Joseph Ibarra

jj-on-the-late-late-show-with-james-corden

JJ on the Late Late Show with James Corden

Jay Johnson

DURHAM, N.C. – Five years ago, Austin Rivers went down in Duke lore, sinking a buzzer-beating, game-winning 3-pointer to stun North Carolina, snapping the Tar Heels’ record 31-game home winning streak.

A decade earlier, J.J. Redick began what would become one of the greatest college basketball careers ever, leaving Duke as the school’s all-time leading scorer.

The former Blue Devils, now both Clippers teammates, traveled Thursday night down to Durham to watch Duke beat North Carolina in person, 86-78.

“It’s fun to come back here, especially a day like today – this is one of the biggest rivalries in sports,” Rivers said. “Lot of bad blood. It’s the best of the best in college basketball. Half these kids will be in the NBA one day. Hall of Fame coaches, just to see them compete is fun.”

Much to the chagrin of Clippers rookie and former North Carolina forward Brice Johnson, who was on the other side of the building in the North Carolina section supporting his Tar Heels, it was even more fun for Rivers and Redick to leave with a win.

The number of Clippers’ ties to the game runs deep. There’s Redick, Rivers and Johnson. There’s assistant coach Patrick Sullivan, who played in three NCAA Final Fours at North Carolina and coached at the school as an assistant.

There’s also Raymond Felton, who played against Redick as a member of the Tar Heels. He wasn’t able to make Thursday’s reunion, as the South Carolina native went to see family, showing up at his nephew’s senior night as a surprise.

Redick said as soon as he got to the NBA 11 years ago, he’d cross-reference his pro team’s schedule with the NCAA schedule to see any opportunities to catch a Duke game.

Usually, he’s out of luck. This year was an exception.

The Clippers left a snowstorm in New York and landed in Charlotte in the late afternoon Thursday. Redick and Rivers then immediately booked it for Durham. For Redick, it was the first time in seven years the NBA schedule aligned to where he could go to a Duke game.

“It just so happens it’s Duke-UNC,” Redick said. “So, I’m very lucky this year.”

The video scoreboard is new at Cameron Indoor Stadium. So, too, are two of the national championship banners. Other than that, Redick didn’t notice much of a change in the atmosphere from when he was playing.

“It’s as good as it’s ever been,” Redick said.

Particularly when North Carolina’s in town.

“Literally, it’s all anyone talks about in this state for the entire year,” Redick said. “I can’t go anywhere in this state without hearing something about UNC or Tyler Hansbrough.”

Despite Hansbrough foiling Redick’s Senior Night in a North Carolina win 11 years ago, Redick will always remember the grandeur and buildup of four years of matchups against the Tar Heels. There’s a special sort of intimacy at Cameron Indoor, an arena built for fewer than 10,000 fans, with the sounds of the student section and the deafening cheers reverberating from one side of the court to the other.

Every fan feels within arm distance of the players of the court, so much so that Redick said if he were still playing, the last person in the last row of the arena could’ve seen the black eye he was sporting from an elbow he took two games prior.

“Whether it’s a Duke-UNC game or I come in here and Cameron’s empty, it’s always an emotional experience to come back to a place I have so many memories,” Redick said.

While he wishes he would’ve left with a national title, his jersey hanging above him in the rafters shows how much the former national player of the year will always mean to the program.

Redick will forever be remembered at Duke for the records he set, while Rivers, who only played one season before going pro, will forever have a place in his school’s history for one moment in particular.

“I hit the shot,” Rivers said. “Everybody brings it up. Every time I come here, everybody’s always asking, ‘Are we going to get another game like that tonight?”

Luckily for Duke fans, Thursday night didn’t require stressing until the final second, as Grayson Allen’s 3-pointer put the Blue Devils ahead by a comfortable five points with just over a minute remaining. Redick, whose family also attended the game, and Rivers both stayed until the end, celebrating and taking pictures with the Duke faithful.

“It’s always good to see old faces, people who helped me along the way,” Rivers said.

For Johnson, the result was more somber, but the experience was one he couldn’t miss. After playing in the rivalry game as recently as last year, he said it might’ve been even crazier to see it from the stands for the first time.

When Johnson thinks back to where Duke-North Carolina games rank for him in terms of college sports memories, they’re right at the top, behind only the Final Four.

“Can’t really describe it,” Johnson said. “It’s insane. It’s an entire week, from Monday to the game, it’s crazy…We respect each other as players, but when it’s time to come on the court, we hate each other.”

With two former Duke players now teammates, though, that hate has to dissipate. For his former teammates still at North Carolina, though, it remains as prevalent as ever.

As the Tar Heels went to the locker room following the loss, Johnson left them with a hopeful message.

After all, when March 4 hits, the craziness of Duke-North Carolina begins again, this time back at Johnson’s old stomping grounds.

“I told them, ‘It’s all right, long season,’” Johnson said. “Couple more games, they’ll get them again.”

redick-rivers-johnson-make-trip-to-duke-north-carolina

Redick, Rivers, Johnson Make Trip To Duke-North Carolina

Celeste Mendez

This weekly series from Clippers.com features a Q&amp;A with Clippers players, coaches, alumni or those tied somehow to the Clippers’ organization. The next edition features guard JJ Redick.

LOS ANGELES – J.J. Redick helped the Clippers get off the schneid, snapping the Clippers’ six-game losing streak with a team-high 22 points Monday night.

Afterward, Redick talked to the media about what it meant to get a win, what he believed was the biggest change and how the Clippers can get back to their early-season defensive proficiency.

How important was it for you guys just to get a win?

Redick: “I think it was really important. It’s certainly a different feel in the locker room after the game when you win. There’s certain points in the season – I think players go through it and teams go through it – where you just have stretches and you’re stuck in a rut or you feel like nothing’s going right. You just got to keep grinding, and eventually it’ll turn. We have enough guys, even when we’re a little down, where I believe we can turn it.

“We have a stretch here where we’re home for a while, besides the Sacramento game, and we have a chance to take care of business.”

Doc Rivers said he thought the guards attacking more made a difference tonight. Did you see that opening up the floor?

Redick: “I don’t know that. We had 20 turnovers tonight, I don’t know what we shot from the field, but I don’t think it was great. I don’t think that necessarily opened things up. To me, it was our defense, especially in the second half. They had a lot of transition buckets off our turnovers in the first half; then the second half, we had unbelievable half-court defense. It reminded me of earlier in the season when we were just flying around, covering for each other. Our rotations were phenomenal tonight – they were as good as they’ve been in a couple weeks. What’d they have, 40 (points) in the second half, 18- and 22-point quarters. That, to me, is why we won.”

Is there a sense right now of waiting for that same defensive team you were early in the season to show back up, and what do you think has been the reason it’s taken a while?

Redick: “I don’t know, you try to figure these things out. You talk with each guy, you have group discussions, team meetings. I don’t know what has been wrong. The frustrating part, to me, is we were a top five defense last year and have proven this year with this group we can be a top defense.”

24-seconds-with-jj-redick-01-03-17

24 Seconds With … JJ Redick | 01/03/17

LOS ANGELES – To own the top-ranked defense in the league, as the Clippers do through seven games, it takes trust in the four others on the court. It takes help. It takes a willingness to understand it’s not about any one person.

It takes many of the traits J.J. Redick learned when he first got to the NBA from head coach Stan Van Gundy, whose Pistons fell victim to Redick and the Clippers’ staunch defense Monday night, 114-82.

“Pretty much any sort of team defense concept that’s pertinent to modern NBA basketball, I learned from Stan,” Redick said. “I think I’ve always been this way, but he reinforced it, just in terms of always being a person who looks in the mirror first and self-assessing at any stop.”

That self-assessment’s vital for any head coach in the NBA. For Van Gundy, it extends to a personal level, as well.

“My wife reminds me of this constantly when I get too carried away with nothing but wins and losses – life’s about relationships,” Van Gundy said. “I’ve been very, very lucky throughout my coaching career at the college level and then even into the NBA that I’ve coached some great, great people who I have tremendous respect for. When it’s mutual, that’s obviously a great feeling, especially coming from a guy like J.J, who I have so much respect for.”

Redick’s respect for Van Gundy has been long-lasting, even through the trying times early in his career.

There were two moments in Redick’s life in particular when he said he just assumed something without putting in the necessary work, and they both happened early during stints with a team.

“The first time was after my freshman year at Duke, I assumed that I would be better my sophomore year and that I would be in line for sort of player of the year awards and whatnot,” Redick said. “And then the other time was after my rookie year, I probably assumed I was going to play more.”

Redick played 14.8 minutes per game his rookie season in Orlando in 2006-07, then saw that number drop to 8.1 minutes per game in 2007-08, his first season with Van Gundy. He assumed he’d take the next step, and when he didn’t, it took some looking in the mirror.

Especially when the Magic ended up winning 52 games that season, their most in more than a decade.

“That first year with Stan was tough, but again, it was sort of a self-assessment,” Redick said. “I think halfway through the year, I just said, ‘We’re going to win 50-plus games, we’re going to be a top-three seed in the East, maybe it’s something that I’m doing…maybe it’s not Stan.’”

With that mindset, the two figured it out.

Redick described his third year in the league as a stepping stone in his personal development. It was a year of building confidence, and a year that cemented his belief he could stick in the NBA.

“When you have a great commitment to winning like J.J. does and you play hard and you’re tough and you’re smart as hell, you’re gonna be a pretty good defender, especially as a team guy,” Van Gundy said. “Smart, tough guys who want to win, it usually won’t be too hard for them to pick up the defense.”

Redick’s minutes went up every year in Orlando after his second season, averaging more than 25 minutes and double digits in scoring each of his final two seasons with Van Gundy.

“I think just in terms of intangibles and characteristics I think any NBA player should have, I think he taught me those things, and he reinforced those things in me – professionalism, accountability, playing hard and the same way every game, not taking any nights off, all that stuff,” Redick said.

They’re all part of the mindset Redick takes now to the Clippers, on a team that jumped from a middle-of-the-road defense two years ago, to the No. 5 group last year, to the top overall defense through seven games this year, holding its last four opponents to 92 points or fewer.

And while players such as DeAndre Jordan and Chris Paul and Luc Mbah a Moute shoulder much of that individual defensive responsibility, head coach Doc Rivers said it doesn’t mean everyone on an elite defense needs to be an elite individual defender.

“You have to be a great team defender,” Rivers said. “That’s just following the rules of where you’re supposed to be and understanding where you’re supposed to be…As long as you’re there, it’s tough for Stan or me to complain. I think J.J. has figured that out.”

from-defense-to-professionalism-redick-appreciates-van-gundys-early-teaching

From Defense To Professionalism, Redick Appreciates Van Gundy’s Early Teaching

SACRAMENTO – Head coach Doc Rivers never worries about J.J. Redick’s shooting, nor does Redick, particularly in small sample sizes.

As Redick’s jumper fell through on the Clippers’ first shot attempt in Tuesday’s season finale, and he followed with an assist to DeAndre Jordan for a dunk and an assist to Blake Griffin for a jumper, and he suddenly tallied seven points and three assists in the first seven minutes of a 92-89 win against the Kings that was more of a rout than the final score indicated, it was clear why there was little reason to worry about Redick or the Clippers’ shooting.

“I’ve been in this league a long time,” Rivers said before the game. “J.J. Redick keeps getting wide open shots, I’m sure they’re going to eventually go in.”

Redick was coming off a 2-for-10 night in Utah, and the Clippers as a team entered the final preseason game hitting 41.5 percent of their shots through five preseason games.

Not that Redick was losing any sleep over it.

His 29 percent mark entering Tuesday night came on only 31 shots, and the Clippers’ sharpshooter knew that didn’t mean much.

“I’m kind of indifferent toward it,” Redick said. “It’s just like, what’d I take, 40 shots this preseason? Forty-five? Fifty? It’s a small sample size. I shoot hundreds of shots a day, so it’s not something I ever really worry about.”

In those efficient first seven minutes of the game, Redick already equaled the number of made baskets he had in any previous game this preseason, and he went on to finish with a team-high 18 points on 7-for-11 shooting and a 3-for-6 mark behind the arc.

“I just believe with the way I prepare and the way I work, the ball’s going to eventually go in,” Redick said.

It went in a variety of ways for the Clippers, who had the Chris Paul-DeAndre Jordan pick-and-roll working to perfection and Blake Griffin finding open teammates everywhere, including Jordan on an alley-oop finish.

“When he gets the ball, you should run away from him not toward him,” Rivers said of Griffin, “because he’s going to find you.”

The Clippers moved the ball as well as they had all preseason, recording assists on 17 of their 22 made shots in the first half, at which point they’d already forced 13 Sacramento turnovers and turned them into athletic displays at the other end.

Much of that ball movement came from Griffin, who finished with four assists but could’ve had a few more as a couple open jumpers from teammates didn’t go down. That was rare, though, as the Clippers’ starters combined to shoot 51 percent on the night, while Marreese Speights once again provided an offensive boost off the bench going 4-for-5 with 10 points.

Any offensive struggles from earlier in the preseason vanished, and with their defense holding the Kings to 35 combined points in the second and third quarters, the Clippers found their rhythm on both ends at the right time, with their last tune-up before tipping off the regular season Oct. 27 in Portland.

“I don’t care how many years you’ve been in this league, how many games you’ve played, it’s always good to get a little rhythm going into the first regular season game,” Paul said. “We wanted to try some things, and it worked pretty well.”

redick-clippers-end-preseason-on-high-note

Redick, Clippers End Preseason On High Note

Robyn Dixon

Rowan Kavner  Digital Content Coordinator

LOS ANGELES – J.J. Redick brought his former head coach in Orlando and current Detroit Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy on his podcast for “The Vertical.”

Redick has talked about the kind of influence Van Gundy had on him during their five years together in Orlando, so he made sense as a guest on the podcast. The two discussed the difficulties of measuring defensive production in today’s NBA, the importance of chemistry and discipline when constructing rosters, accountability starting from the top, how much culture matters and the trends of today’s NBA among a variety of topics.

On Defensive Metrics: Much like Clippers head coach Doc Rivers, Van Gundy, who’s now the head coach of the Detroit Pistons, is also his team’s president of basketball operations.

That means in addition to coaching up the players on the roster, he has to also be the final say in assembling the players at his disposal. A major part of that is figuring out the right pieces defensively, but he said he still hasn’t seen anything with all the new defensive metrics out there that he really likes or trusts.

Most of what he’s seen Van Gundy said relies on 1-on-1 data.

“I don’t think that really hits on the essence of defense,” Van Gundy said.

Van Gundy said with a player such as Redick, a team can have great defense because a defender won’t make mistakes, even if the player isn’t the prototypical or ideal individual defender.

 “Those are things I think these defensive metrics miss out on,” said Van Gundy, who added that building a great defense is much more about bringing in highly committed, tough, smart, focused players since actual lockdown defenders are so few in the NBA.

“You need guys that are disciplined, guys that buy into the game plan,” Redick said. “And, you need a defensive guru to structure a great defensive game plan.”

Van Gundy said there are plenty of players in the NBA, some of his young players included, who are solid individual defenders but haven’t learned enough about recognizing situations or NBA defenses to be where they can be as team defenders.

“That learning curve, it takes some time in this league to recognize all those different situations and all the counters that could be coming,” Van Gundy said.

On being coach and president: As Rivers knows, there are extra challenges and benefits to being a team’s president in addition to its head coach.

Van Gundy said the greatest challenge in doing both jobs isn’t the workload, since he trusts the people around him on both the coaching side and the front office side to play their part and do much of that work; it’s time management.

“It’s, ‘Where is the most valuable way to spend my time?’” Van Gundy said. “Am I better off today going in doing coaching work, sitting down and watching these playoff games to see what I can learn in terms of coaching next year, or am I better off watching film of draft guys, or am I better off watching film of free agents?”

Van Gundy said that’s where having people around him he believes in matters so much. He also believes in transparency and accountability, two traits Redick said he recognized when he played for Van Gundy in Orlando.

“It starts at the top,” Van Gundy said. “You have to hold the people at the top accountable to get the people below them to accept that.”

The right guys: Van Gundy said finding players with character isn’t hard, nor is finding players with talent.

It’s finding those with both that can be a challenge.

 “You can be tempted to take shortcuts to get results and take on two or three guys that are low-character guys who are great talent,” Van Gundy said. “For a while, that may work. It takes time for a locker room to come together, and it takes time for a locker room to break down. Those guys might come in and give you an immediate boost, but over time it starts to decay everything you built up. I don’t think it’ll work in the long run.”

Redick agreed that the times in his career where he’s seen a culture breakdown, it’s been “a buildup of small things” that eventually leads to a team’s demise.

New style: A decade ago, Redick’s team in Orlando tried to surround Dwight Howard with shooters.

That’s become a trend in the NBA, getting an athletic big with size surrounded by players who can switch onto guards or forwards and play a variety of positions. Van Gundy said that began as a bit of an accident after acquiring Rashard Lewis.

The Magic had another future Clipper, Hedo Turkoglu, at the same time, and they would have to play together around Howard after Tony Battie got hurt.

“I think Dwight was maybe the first guy in what everybody wants now as the new breed of centers,” Van Gundy said. “Those are the guys everybody wants now, defense, rebounding, pick-and-roll lobs with their centers and they wanted to spread the floor out.”

Van Gundy said today’s NBA also includes a lot more teams playing two point guards together.

“You’re really seeing the way the league’s going, maybe more so in the East than the West, the importance of having quality backup point guards,” Van Gundy said.

redick-hosts-his-former-coach-on-podcast

Redick Hosts His Former Coach On Podcast

Karen Song

LOS ANGELES-J.J. Redick continues to roll out his podcast for “The Vertical,” this time bringing on former teammate Ryan Anderson in one of his most entertaining episodes since starting the podcast.

The two spent years together early in their careers in Orlando, and they discussed a variety of topics, including their days rapping and making beats together as well as more serious topics, such as the personal obstacles Anderson had to get through and his upcoming free agency.

Redick and Anderson talked about the factors to consider when figuring out a destination in free agency, something Anderson will be doing this summer. As for Redick, he has another year under contract for the Clippers and is coming off one of the best seasons of his career, shooting career highs in field goal percentage and 3-point percentage, the latter leading the league at 47.5 percent.

“I’ve got to say that I couldn’t be happier for you in your spot here,” Anderson said. “People around the league know how much this team and this city value you and how much you’ve been a spark to this team and how reliable you’ve been on this team, and I know how hard you’ve worked.”

Anderson told a story about how the two would head to the track when they were in New Orleans, and Redick would already be out there a half hour early. When giving quotes recently to a reporter on a story about Redick, Anderson had to detail the guard’s work ethic.

“One thing about J.J. is that he genuinely is the hardest working player I’ve ever played with,” Anderson said. “He is the hardest working player I’ve ever seen.”

And, that’s turning into the best success of Redick’s career in Los Angeles, where he’s hit 200 3-pointers and averaged more than 16 points per game each of the past two seasons.

“The threat when we played you guys was you,” Anderson said to Redick. “I’ve got to say, that is a great feeling to have teams kind of fear you. You’ve worked your butt off, and I know how hard you’ve worked, and you deserve this position you’re in now.” 

anderson-redick-is-hardest-working-player-ive-seen

Anderson: Redick Is Hardest Working Player I’ve Seen

Angelica Yaghoubi

LOS ANGELES – Not even a day had passed for J.J. Redick between the Game 6 loss and the taping of his podcast the next morning with Jamal Crawford.

All of the feelings and emotions that came along with the loss that ended the Clippers’ season still lingered, and the two players spoke candidly about the game, the season and moving forward on Redick’s “The Vertical Podcast,” which aired Monday.

“It was one of the most emotional locker rooms that I’ve seen,” Crawford said. “People you didn’t expect to cry, it was like all that was coming out. We literally poured our blood, sweat and tears on that court. It was an amazing feeling, because we all felt the same way. It kind of took over the whole room.”

Crawford said he was at a loss for words to see veterans such as Paul Pierce crying and to hear head coach Doc Rivers and owner Steve Ballmer choked up. This all came before the postgame media availability, but even then, long after the game had ended, the emotions were still heavy.

Redick said he felt like the whole season was an emotional rollercoaster.

“It feels like to me, personally, maybe I repressed those emotions,” Redick said. “And I think maybe other guys repressed their emotions for the season.”

After Game 6, it all came out. Crawford said he broke down on the way home from the game just looking out the window. As soon as Redick went back to the postgame locker room, he said he needed to take some time for himself.

“I think it says a lot about the togetherness of the group when there’s that collective emotion,” Redick said.

Check out the podcast to hear everything the two players discussed, but here were some of the highlights.