“He is a detached teammate…What the heck is going on in New Orleans” JJ Redick pissed off at Zion Williamson for not reaching out to CJ McCollum, says he lacks “basic human courtesy”
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CJ McCollum, JJ Redick and Zion Williamson
JJ Redick didn’t hold back his words in bashing ex-teammate Zion Williamson for a multitude of reasons out of which the most important one was Zion not speaking to CJ McCollum even once after his trade to the New Orleans Pelicans from the Portland Trailblazers. CJ McCollum in a statement said that he hadn’t been able to contact or be contacted by Zion even once but was looking forward to speaking to him as they would be teammates who would have to work together against other teams in order to get results which they seek.
This information that was put out by McCollum didn’t sit very well with Redick and he slammed Zion on air and reminded him about the “basic human courtesy” and spoke about how he should’ve spoken to McCollum after his trade to the team and in fact should speak to anyone who is freshly traded to his team as that is the very basic thing any human can do. JJ Redick who has also played with Zion for some time felt the necessity to highlight the fact that Zion wasn’t a good teammate and he wasn’t fulfilling the basic duties that any player from a team should do.
Let us take a deeper dive into this conversation between JJ Redick and Stephen A Smith where they discuss the problems in the New Orleans Pelicans team and specifically the issue with Zion Williamson who currently is injured but isn’t fulfilling any duties in order to be called a member of the team.
JJ Redick grills Zion Williamson for being a bad teammate
JJ Redick didn’t find anything positive in Zion’s behaviour to not reach out to CJ McCollum after the latter was traded to the New Orleans Pelicans from the Portland Trailblazers as a part of the 7-player trade that took place, which resulted in the veteran becoming a part of the team also being accompanied by Larry Nance Jr. and Tony Snell.
The 30-year-old CJ McCollum who is averaging 20.5 points, 4.5 assists and 4.3 rebounds this season on his trade to the Pelicans faced a peculiar issue as he wasn’t contacted by nor was he able to reach out to the Pelicans’ Zion Williamson who is someone he would have to work with hand in hand in order to get the required dubs for the team and take them ahead in the league.
When asked the question if there was something going on in the Pelicans, Redick replied and confirmed that there definitely has to be something as there is at least a general decorum one should follow if someone is traded to their team, and that is something that everyone does.
Redick gave his own example and stated that whenever a buyout possibility came in or someone was traded, he would always talk to the player but Zion wasn’t doing that and was showing a lack of investment in the organisation. Redick felt that CJ McCollum was one of the 50 best players in the league and Zion should reach out to him and at least say hello as they both would be paired together.
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JJ Redick highlighted that Zion had the behaviour of a detached teammate and it was a pattern that was always observed in him even when they both played together. Redick said the bar is set at the minimum lowest level and Zion isn’t even able to do that which is a part of basic human courtesy. He also pointed out that Pelicans sent out season tickets in an email and Zion wasn’t even a part of it, and therefore he concluded that there was definitely something wrong with him and the team as a whole.
The whole fiasco between Zion Willamson, CJ McCollum and the New Orleans Pelicans displayed the lack of connect the management has with its players. The team currently stands at the 12th position in the Western Conference therefore qualifying for the playoffs doesn’t seem possible at this point, but if the team wants to get up from this situation and not continue to be in the mud, they’ll have to solve these internal issues and get them out of the trap they’ve put themselves in.
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Yakshpat Bhargava
(3989 Articles Published)