JJ Redick appeared on Dan Le Batard's show and opened up on why he and LeBron James started the 'Mind the Game' podcast to refocus basketball conversations on the game instead of narratives.
"It's an incredible opportunity, not just for me, but for any basketball fan to listen to one of the greatest players of all time talk about the game of basketball. We saw that for a few years with Kobe. God rest his soul. I think him being gone, there's a void there. How many of the all-time greats are talking about the game? I don’t know if there’s anybody. I just don't know. It's an opportunity for fans to see how the game works."
Redick opened up on wanting to explain the 'why' in basketball behind the things fans see happen on the court.
"I wanna help explain the why. Why are you putting two on the ball against Stephen Curry? Why is Draymond catching the ball with no one in the middle of the court and he's got a four-and-three...? That's essentially what the show is. There's a level of why things happen the way they do.”
The podcast has been a massive success through its first few episodes. Through three episodes so far, they have already received a combined 14.5 million views on YouTube alone.
There are times when the podcast delves into the narrative aspect of basketball, especially with some of the takes LeBron has made about his career recently, but the overall focus of the show is clearly on the Xs-and-O's of the game.
It's a fascinating watch, as James and Redick use their experience as NBA players to eloquently break the game down instead of farming out irresponsible hot takes which are considered credible because of their experience.
LeBron James Revealed How Coaching Enabled Him To Finally Win His First NBA Title
Even if James has been accused of using the show to spin narratives about his career, primarily the 2011 NBA Finals, he's also been giving other credit. He openly said that Erik Spoelstra was the reason the 2012 Heat won an NBA title, breaking down how Spoelstra implemented a new spread offense by encouraging Chris Bosh to move to the five.
“[Erik Spoelstra] is the reason we were a better team after my first year. After we lost to Dallas that summer, he went to Oregon and learned the spread offense from Chip Kelly. And tried to figure out how to translate that to basketball. I don’t know the super conversations he and Chip had, but I know when he came back to us, he knew in order for us to reach our potential, one, I had to be 10x better than I was in the previous June. But Chris Bosh had to go to the five. He had to start working on his corner three, faithfully — every day after practice. In order to bring the Tyson Chandler’s out of the paint, you got to at least be a threat.”
Breaking historic moments from his career with this candor is incredible. James is in a position where he could have tooted his own horn given how dominant he was in the 2011-12 NBA season and the ensuing playoffs, but he gave the rightful credit to Spoelstra for reinvigorating the Heat's offense.
More sensational basketball talk awaits fans on the 'Mind the Game' podcast, which is truly a fantastic learning ground for fans who want to fall in love with the game and not the drama of it.
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