JJ Redick Torches ‘Mad Dog’ Russo for ‘Shut Up and Play’ Comment in Fiery ESPN Battle: ‘The People On Fox News Talk About Athletes That Way’

Many of the headlines in the sports world Tuesday surrounded Game 2 of the Golden State Warriors vs. Memphis Grizzlies second round NBA playoff series — particularly Draymond Green being struck in the eye during the first quarter and departing the game briefly to receive stitches, and giving the middle finger to some fans in response. Green discussed the situation in the postgame press conference, unapologetic for flipping the bird to the Memphis crowd.

Chris “Mad Dog” Russo, on First Take Wednesday, said he’s had enough of Green’s antics, and thinks the Warriors big man should just “shut up and play.”

“He’s hard to root for,” Russo began. “Just shut up and play will you please? America is tired of Draymond Green. I deal with him constantly. The fans, San Francisco fans are a different story.”

“America?” Stephen A. Smith asked his colleague in disbelief.

“Oh they’re tired of it. Just be quiet and play. We all know he has a great skill set for that team but who in the world is sitting there; he’s so polarizing, I can’t root for him,” Russo said.

That comment from Russo struck a nerve with Smith and former player J.J. Redick, seeming awfully similar to the infamous “shut up and dribble” remark from Fox News host Laura Ingraham, which spawned outrage in the sports world.

“The fact of the matter is Draymond Green is being unfairly crucified by the likes of you,” Smith said, pointing to Russo. “The fact of the matter is it’s not his job to get along with the Memphis Grizzlies fans, they’re the enemy and he’s trying to take them out. He did have a good point. You can sit up there and say he didn’t need to give them the bird, I got that. That may have been a bit excessive. But listen to the point he made. ‘I’m on the ground, I got blood streaming down my face and y’all are cheering about that? You don’t know what kind of condition I would have been in.’ So that was highly offensive to him.”

Redick got a chance to respond next, more irate with Russo than Smith, calling out the way Russo directly for his “shut up and play” comment.

“I want to take a little umbrage with this ‘shut up and play’ because that has the same sort of connotations that the ‘shut up and dribble’ crowd has towards athletes and I have a real problem with that. Specifically with Draymond the idea that America is tired of him,” Redick said to Russo.

The journeyman shooting guard then explained how Green is being asked to do more than just “shut up and play” as Russo indicated — as Green hosts a podcast and has signed a deal with Turner Sports to do analysis.

“You do realize the guy has a very popular podcast where he hosts and he talks, himself, for the majority of the episode and people listen to that. He signed a talent deal with Turner because people want to hear what Draymond has to say. The reason they want to hear what Draymond has to say is because just like in this press conference, he is real, authentic and unfiltered,” Redick said. “You can’t take away what makes a player great so there’s no “shut up and play”.

“He is so polarizing, for all the fans you think that listen to his podcast and watch him, I can give you 50 million fans who would say the same thing, enough already,” Russo retorted. “I will give you a large segment of older fans, who have followed the NBA for 60 years, this is not a political scenario or a race situation…”

Redick jumped in again to call out the way the older generation, like him, talks about athletes.

“I’m not saying it’s a race situation. I’m saying the fans you’re talking about, they talk about athletes that way like you just talked about an athlete,” Redick snapped back. “The people on Fox News talk about athletes that way, that’s my issue. I don’t actually care about the fans that watched Bob Cousy play or watched Wilt [Chamberlain] play. I don’t care. I appreciate they’ve been NBA fans that long but I don’t appreciate the undertone.”

Looking to diffuse the situation instead of instigate it, Smith chimed in, citing that he’s encountered many people that think like “Doggy” over the years.

“Let’s calm down because I’m glad you pointed out J.J. that it’s not a race thing because with ‘Doggy’ it’s not,” Smith said in Russo’s defense. “You know, you do have old school fans that lament the fact that you got a lot of folks out there that are just saying ‘enough already’ like he does. Now people like me and you, we think differently, but there’s a whole bunch, I encounter it all the time, there’s a whole bunch of ‘Mad Dog’ Russos running around, I’m here to tell you right now.”

The light jab was met with laughter across the panel as the conversation continued on for a few minutes after.

Watch the full video above via ESPN

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