Speaking to the likes of Tim Legler and Richard Jefferson during a recent episode of his The Old Man and the Three podcast, JJ Redick talked about the idea of players being ‘scary to face’ in the NBA. Redick mentioned Stephen A. Smith, who had recently differentiated between LeBron James and Michael Jordan by talking about their respective ‘fear factors.’ Smith had said that while Jordan was feared by his opponents, LeBron was simply respected but not feared.
Redick claimed to have a problem with the entire concept of players and teams being scary to face. He claimed that while fans and the media loved to associate a fear factor with certain players, NBA stars themselves are almost never scared to face anyone.
“You hear it all the time though, I think you hear it in the media, and you hear it from the fans that this team is going to be scary. I just think it’s the wrong word. I think ‘fear’ is the wrong word. Stephen A. talks all the time like Jordan was feared and LeBron is not feared. I tend to disagree with that,” JJ said.
The former Orlando Magic star then banked on his own experience, claiming that while he might have feared injury or pain during specific moments going against prime LeBron James, but he was never scared of facing the player. “I think the physical part…There was a time on a fast break, I knew LeBron was going to do that left to right spin move, and I timed it perfectly and there was a split second there where I was like, this is going to f**king hurt,” he added.
Redick then talked about the Golden State Warriors team that he faced during his time with the Clippers. The stacked Warriors boasted of Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, and Klay Thompson, alongside the likes of Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala. Redick accepted that while the Warriors needed to be at their worst and they needed to be at their best in order to have a chance, neither he, nor his teammates, were scared of facing the team.
He also name-dropped Stephen A. Smith, claiming that he had a problem with the media preaching players being scared of facing their opponents. He got supported by Richard Jefferson, who claimed that even he was never scared of facing players like Michael Jordan. However, Jefferson confessed that Shaquille O’Neal was still a concern, as he was worried Shaq could do things that would turn the direction of his career.
Tim Legler agreed with JJ Redick, claiming he wasn’t fearful of Michael Jordan
Tim Legler, who also faced Michael Jordan during his NBA career, agreed with Redick. Going against Stephen A. Smith’s opinion, Legler said that he saw facing Michael Jordan as a ‘no-lose’ situation.
“There was no fear for me, you know, defending even Michael Jordan. Like it wasn’t a situation where you are afraid of it. I always looked at those situations as this is a no lose situation. Nothing he can do to me that has not been done to much better players,” he said.
“So I am going to compete, and if you go through a 4 or 5 minute stretch where you guard him well, you know, contest a couple shots, and he misses, you did your job,” Legler added, before explaining why he was more fearful while facing random role players.
The reason was that he was certain he would be heavily criticized if he ended up being dominated by a role player, rather than arguably the greatest of all time.