JJ Redick spars with Patrick Beverley amid criticism of Doc Rivers

JJ Redick fired back at Patrick Beverley after the latter criticized Redick for his comments regarding Doc Rivers.

Rivers, who took over the head coaching job for the Milwaukee Bucks midseason, has had curious comments about what his team struggled since he took the job. Some of that included taking over a team midseason is hard, blaming the players or whatever else.

Well with that, Redick was ballistic on ESPN’s First Take, calling out Rivers for taking no accountability. That’s where Beverely chimed in on Twitter.

“This Man Doc actually saved your career,” Beverely wrote on Twitter. “Started you when no one else wanted 2. And u retire go on TV and say that. @jj_redick.”

Redick played under Rivers with the Los Angeles Clippers from 2013-17 but did not cross over with the coach when he played with the Philadelphia 76ers. Redick was off the team after 2019 and Rivers came to Philly in 2020.

Once Redick saw Beverely’s tweet, he fired back.

“Pat my guy I had a four year offer with player option for the same money to be a starter for a different team,” Redick wrote. “FOH ‘saved my career.’”

On Tuesday morning, Redick criticized his former coach.

“I’ve seen the trend for years,” Redick said. “The trend is always making excuses. Doc, we get it taking over a team in the middle of the season. It’s hard. It’s hard. We get it. Just like getting traded in the middle of the season is hard for a player. We get it. 

“But it’s always an excuse. It’s always throwing your team under the bus. They lose to Memphis. Oh, it’s his players. Memphis was playing G League guys and two way guys. You look at his quotes over the weekend. Now he wants to take credit for the James Harden trade to the Clippers working out? He wants credit for that? There’s never accountability with that guy. There’s never accountability.”

Since Rivers took over for Adrian Griffin, the Bucks are 3-7. While widely regarded as one of the better coaches in basketball, Rivers’ postseason success seemed to have eluded him for the better part of 15 years.

Rivers led the Boston Celtics to an NBA title in 2008, but only returned to the Finals two years later and never made it past the Conference semifinals with the Clippers or 76ers since.

In total, Rivers has a record of 1,097-763.