NBA: JJ Redick claps back at Dominique Wilkins for calling his take on Larry Bird 'stupid'

Former NBA player JJ Redick has found himself bogged down in a debate after he put forth his view that Larry Bird was not one of the greatest three-point shooters of all time in NBA history. The comments were made by Redick during a February 15 episode of 'First Take' where he said that Bird's number of total three-pointers made it impossible to put him in the same bracket as Stephen Curry.

The comments raised a lot of eyebrows and Dominique Wilkins, a Basketball Hall of Famer, termed former NBA guard's views as 'stupid.' Redick, however, hit back and termed the notion of of the past players incurring more physical play than current players a 'trope.'

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“The trope that every old talking head uses, Mad Dog, Stephen A., ‘physicality, physicality, physicality,’" Redick said on Thursday. "My entire point about the segment was that outside of hard fouls and fighting, the physicality, the basketball play ... is not that much different than today’s NBA. But it’s become such a talking point that people take it as gospel,” he added.

On this week's episode, @jj_redick responds to Dominique Wilkins's comments and the general thesis that he doesn't respect players from past generations https://t.co/uZKRkk236s pic.twitter.com/OSXtjtzPsI — TheOldMan&TheThree (@OldManAndThree) February 24, 2023

On Friday, Redick responded to Wilkins comments on his podcast and denied disrespecting any past players. He also dismissed the idea that current NBA players couldn't handle the old NBA, and vice-versa.

"The idea that I’m disrespecting older players for questioning media narratives around that era, that’s not disrespect!” Redick said. “What I said then, what I’ve said 15 or 16 times since then, on the podcast, on ESPN ... Players should be celebrated, we should congratulate greatness for that era. The greatest players of every era would be fine in any era," he added.

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Wilkins, earlier, dubbed Redick's Feb 15 comments as ridiculous and had said, "first of all, Redick don’t know what the hell he’s talking about."

"I’m like, what basketball was you watching? To say something as idiotic as that is ridiculous. The physicality that was a part of the league. Hey, look, when you can put your hand on a guy’s hip and make him go a certain way, and you can put your elbow in his chest a guy to slow him up — there’s not that many guys that can deal with that type of pressure. For JJ Redick, who played this game, I’m very disappointed that he said something so stupid," he added.

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