Pelicans’ JJ Redick admits he was pleasantly surprised by first year with Sixers
It’s an interesting time for former Sixers sharpshooter JJ Redick.
When he’s not becoming a meme in the NBA bubble, Redick is expanding his side gig as a podcasting professional, and trying to keep his career-long NBA playoff streak alive.
In an appearance this week on Pardon My Take, Redick was asked about trying to keep that playoff streak alive as the Pelicans claw for a spot in the Western Conference’s loaded postseason field. He knew going to a team like New Orleans, young and very clearly building for the future, might put his annual trip to the postseason in jeopardy, right?
Redick admitted he knew nothing was guaranteed, but he said that gambling with the streak really started when he signed a one-year deal with the Sixers in 2017.
And then… he just kept winning:
The first six or seven years, it’s just normal. Then you get later on in your career, and you’re like, ‘Oh, I kind of want this streak to stay alive for my whole career.’ But the funny thing is, when I went to Philly, I went to Philly to take the one-year bag, we all know that. But when I went to Philly, I … expected us to make the playoffs, because I actually thought that team was built really well, with Joel and Ben, but there was really no guarantee that would happen.
We all think about the Embiid-Simmons era as synonymous with playoff contention, but it’s easy to forget they were a sub-.500 team into the New Year in 2017p! Then they got hot in the spring, sprinted into the playoffs, reached the second round, and it was a whole new world for everyone involved.
Including Redick, who suddenly found himself on a perennial Eastern Conference contender and decided to re-up for the 2018-19 season, where the Sixers nearly beat the eventual champion Toronto Raptors in the second round.
The Pelicans are 2.5 games back of the 8-seed Memphis Grizzlies heading into Wednesday’s slate of games, not an insurmountable mountain but definitely a bit of a stretch.
And Redick probably won’t regret securing another bag down in New Orleans – he’s making $13.4 million this year – but if the Pelicans can’t secure the berth, he might find himself sitting at home one night thinking about what could’ve been if he’d returned to that surprising Sixers squad for one more go ’round.
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