Doc Rivers responds to JJ Redick’s criticism by taking credit for his career

Remember three months ago when JJ Redick yelled at Doc Rivers for never taking accountability? Maybe Redick should have criticized Doc's punctuality or comeback time because the Milwaukee Bucks head coach just replied.

Doc Rivers recently addressed JJ Redick's viral rant on The Stephen A. Smith Show, stating, "JJ's had a problem with me for a while." Rivers elaborated, saying, "If you make decisions that the player doesn't agree with, in JJ's case, we didn't sign him back. With the Clippers, I stopped playing him as much because he wasn't very effective in the playoffs. That's all known." Basically, Doc Rivers sees Redick's criticism as personal resentment and nothing more.

Per @BASKETBALLonX via Twitter/X:

Rivers even took it a step further and suggested Reddick should be thanking him instead of criticizing him. Rivers said, "JJ Redick's best numbers of his career was under one coach and you're looking at him. Right here." He also added, "I'm the one who grabbed him out of Milwaukee and decided to start him. From that point on, his career took off..."

Say what you will about Redick as a talking head in the NBA media, but there's a reason he enjoyed a long, lucrative NBA career, and it's not because Doc Rivers saved him from Milwaukee. Redick averaged 15.1 points per game and shot 45% from the field and 39% from deep his last season in Orlando before joining Milwaukee. On top of that, he was a key member of Orlando's 2009 squad that made it to the NBA Finals. In other words, he was not rescued. He was sought out. But, Redick already exposed this on Twitter months ago.

Not to burst Doc's bubble either, but it's also incorrect to claim that Redick's best numbers came under his coaching. If you're strictly looking at 3-point percentage, Redick did shoot a career-high 47.5 percent with the Los Angeles Clippers during the 2015-16 season. However, in terms of pure scoring, those aren't the best numbers of Redick's career.

Redick averaged 18.1 points per game with the Philadelphia 76ers during the 2018-19 season under head coach Brett Brown. He also averaged eight three-pointers per game, which was a career-high, and converted 39.7 percent of them. In fact, the most points Redick ever averaged with the Clippers was 16.4 points, and he averaged more than that during both seasons in Philadelphia.

To break it down — Redick says Doc takes no blame but wants all the credit. Doc responds, avoiding the whole topic of his lack of accountability, and claims Redick is biased for personal reasons. Then, he takes credit for saving Reddick's career. At this point, Doc, it feels like you are just deliberately trying to piss JJ off? Hopefully, Redick lands a head coaching job this offseason and we can see look forward to these two facing off then.