NBA players Redick, Curry tee off rivalry on Roanoke County golf course

On Saturday, J.J. Redick and Stephen Curry played in Redick’s charity golf tournament.

On Christmas night, they will be playing against each other on national television.

Last season, Redick played on two NBA teams that were under the radar — the woeful Orlando Magic and a Milwaukee Bucks squad that made the playoffs despite a losing record.

But after landing with the Los Angeles Clippers last month, the former Cave Spring and Duke star is now on a team with so much buzz that it will be on national TV 29 times.

“It’s what you want as a player,” Redick said at Ballyhack Golf Club in Roanoke County. “You want to be in big games.

“That’s one of the things when Doc [Rivers, the Clippers’ new coach] and I met in free agency that I told him, that I wanted to be back on the stage, I wanted to be back in relevant games and playing for a relevant team.”

The defending Pacific Division champion Clippers will be on TNT the maximum 10 times, including an Oct. 29 duel with the Los Angeles Lakers on the first night of the regular season. They will be on ESPN nine times, including a Christmas night game against Curry and the Golden State Warriors. They will play the Lakers and Oklahoma City on ABC and will also appear eight times on NBA TV.

“It’s just fortunate how everything worked out,” said Redick, who had been a free agent before being acquired by the Clippers in a sign-and-trade deal with the Bucks.

Eighteen foursomes played in Redick’s third annual tournament, which raised money for the Child Health Investment Partnership of Roanoke Valley and the Carilion Clinic Children’s Hospital. The weekend’s activities included a concert Friday night at the Patrick Henry building.

“It’s incredible how much this event has grown in just three years,” Redick said.

Curry was one of the celebrities in the tournament, along with Curry’s brother, former Duke star Seth Curry; ex-Baltimore Orioles star Al Bumbry; former Giles, Virginia Tech and major league pitcher Mike Williams; and former Patrick Henry, Duke and NFL player Chris Combs.

Mike Dunleavy of the Chicago Bulls did not play, but he was on hand for the post-tournament dinner and auction.

Stephen Curry and Redick said they don’t mind playing on Christmas, when the NBA likes to showcase its most attractive teams. There will be five Christmas games this season, including a 10:30 p.m. clash between the Clippers and the host Warriors.

“That’s marquee. That’s a great opportunity,” Stephen Curry said.

Redick is moving over to the Western Conference, which is loaded with quality teams such as the Warriors.

“He knows the West is tough,” Stephen Curry said. “His team is right up there. I think they got better and so did we and so did a lot of the Western Conference teams, so it’s going to be fun.”

Golden State will be on ESPN nine times and on TNT eight times.

The Warriors knocked out Denver in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs before losing to San Antonio in the conference semifinals. Curry generated a lot of attention in the postseason, when he averaged 23.4 points. He had 44 points and 11 assists in Game 1 at San Antonio.

Curry, entering his fifth NBA season, has erased the doubts that some observers had about his NBA potential.

“I had … confidence all along,” the former Davidson star said. “You’re going to go through a couple ups and downs in hopefully a long career, so you have plenty of time to prove yourself and this year in the playoffs was definitely a big part of that.”

He averaged a career-high 22.9 points for coach Mark Jackson’s team in the regular season, when he sank an NBA-record 272 3-pointers.

“It comes with a coach instilling a lot of confidence in you that whatever shot you take in rhythm is a good shot,” Curry said.

Seth Curry wants to join his older brother in the NBA, but he was bypassed in the NBA draft two months ago.

He played with a stress fracture in his right shin during his senior season at Duke. He has been sidelined since undergoing surgery three months ago, so he was unable to work out for NBA teams before the draft or play in last month’s NBA summer leagues.

Seth Curry said he now feels about 85 percent healthy and expects to compete in an NBA training camp in the fall. He said he has received camp invitations from the Warriors, San Antonio Spurs, Minnesota Timberwolves and Charlotte Bobcats but has yet to pick one of those teams.

“I’m just trying to get healthy right now and do some workouts for a few teams,” he said. “I did pretty well [while] injured, so once I get back 100 percent and show teams I can handle the ball full time, then I have a lot of confidence in myself.”

Bumbry helped the Orioles win the 1983 World Series. Is he the best center fielder in Orioles history, or is it current star Adam Jones?

“Maybe in some people’s minds I may still be, I don’t know,” Bumbry said with a laugh. “But Adam Jones has played well. He’s turned into quite a player.”

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