After breaking the Duke and ACC all-time scoring records, J.J. Redick now has his sights set on the June 28 NBA Draft in New York. In the second installment of a regular summer series, Redick catches up with The Chronicle before flying to Golden State for his first official workout Friday with the Warriors.
- as told to Gregory Beaton
I didn't get a chance to watch the NBA Draft lottery Tuesday night. I was a little concerned-I kind of wanted it to stay the way it was with no real surprises, which it did for the most part.
I actually missed it because I went over to the Entourage set with Mike Dunleavy [Jr.] to watch them shoot a scene. It was cool. I did that when I was out here for the Wooden Award and I saw a scene with Jeremy Piven. This time it was Adrian Grenier, Kevin Connolly and Jerry Ferrara. I hadn't met them yet, so it was cool. Jerry is a big Knicks fan. They were all good guys. I can't say I know exactly what happens this season, but they get a new house, I know that.
Mike Dunleavy and I didn't keep in touch for a long time while I was in school. But I saw his mom at a Lakers-Clippers game the last time I was out here and his mom gave me his number. We have the same agent so during my decision process, I talked to him about it. And since I've been out here it's been nice.
He's been in and out of town. His dad and family live out here and his little brother James goes to the same school as my agent's kids. We went out to lunch today and rolled over to the Entourage set. He's a real big fan too.
Shelden and Lee are out here right now too. Shelden also hired Arn [Tellem], and there's an agent who works with Arn who's working on getting Lee a gig in Italy, although you'd have to ask him the specifics about that.
We've all been working out together-also with Brandon Roy from Washington and Matt Haryasz from Stanford. We do all the same workouts pretty much every day, twice a day, and there's a lot of familiarity. Sometimes we play some 2-on-2, but usually I'm not on the same team with Shelden.
A lot of the drills we do are stuff a lot of the teams do during the individual workouts-ball-handling to start, shooting on the move, spot shooting, shooting off screens, pick and rolls. Every couple of days we'll do some live stuff but we don't want to beat up on each other too much.
One of the biggest adjustments being out here has been being away from my friends and family. I spend a lot of time with my core group. Three of my friends came out last weekend, which was nice. I've only seen my family once this month. I find myself getting to know new people out here like my agent and all the people that work for him.
It's been cool to have someone be able to pay for your dinner or give you a ride, which can be illegal in some cases in college. It's been nice to not worry about that kind of thing. There's definitely some financial flexibility too, being a professional, although I wouldn't call myself that for another month really.
A lot of people ask about the lacrosse situation. I really don't answer the question because it's not like I have some inside scoop or opinion that hasn't been on something like CNN. I really don't like to think about it. It's an unfortunate thing and whatever the truth is will come out.
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