Jerry West Responds to JJ Redick’s ‘Plumbers and Firemen’ Comment

The NBA Hall-of-Famer defended Bob Cousy and his NBA era.

In April, JJ Redick played down the competition that NBA Hall-of-Famer Bob Cousy played against in an effort to try and prove this era’s players are better.

“He was being guarded by plumbers and firemen,” Redick said on First Take.

Well, Jerry West didn’t take kindly to Redick’s comments. The NBA Hall-of-Famer criticized Redick, asking what he had done to give this opinion.

“Tell me what his career looked like,” West said. “What did he do that determined games? He averaged 12 points a game in the league.”

"Tell me what his career looked like. What did he do that determined games? He averaged 12 points a game in the league."

–– Jerry West responds to J.J. Redick's (@jj_redick) Bob Cousy playing against “plumbers and firemen” comments

(🎥: @SiriusXMNBA) pic.twitter.com/RCVi4i8yUC

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) July 23, 2022

While the criticism is clear, West still made sure to praise Redick for the career he had. However, West believes Redick had a clear role on good teams.

“JJ certainly wasn’t going to guard the elite players,” he said. “So you can nitpick anyone. The only reason I’m talking about him is because he was not an elite player, but he was a very good player, but he had the place on the team because of the ability to shoot the ball.

West went on to describe how much more difficult it was for NBA players to maintain their skillsets throughout the entire year.

“We didn’t have the facilities to get better,” West said. “We had to work in the summer to support our family.”

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