Former NBA player J.J. Redick has garnered a lot of respect for his guest work on “First Take” – but at least one NBA legend in Dominique Wilkins doesn’t seem to agree.

Redick was locked into a debate with Chris “Mad Dog” Russo last week, in which they debated Larry Bird’s possible status as one of the greatest 3-point shooters of all time. Redick claimed Bird was not, and when Russo argued that the physicality of the ’80s era of NBA basketball should boost him up the rankings, the former Duke sharpshooter gave a surprising response.

“When I watch, let’s say Steph Curry for example, when I watch Steph Curry off the ball in a playoff game, getting grabbed and held by Marcus Smart, they’re attached to him at all times,” Redick said. “Then when I watch Larry Bird come off a pin-down, and no one is within five feet of him and they’re shooting the gap, you’re telling me one is more physical than another?”

Wilkins – who played in the NBA from 1984 to 1999 – seemed flabbergasted by the claim, harkening back to the widely-viewed sentiment that the ’80s and ’90s were a much more physical era.

“First of all, Redick don’t know what the hell he’s talking about,” Wilkins said on SiriusXM NBA Radio on Tuesday. “I’m like, what basketball were you watching? To say something as idiotic as that is ridiculous.

“The physicality that was a part of the league … look, when you you can put your hand on a guy’s hip and make him go a certain way and you can put your elbow into a guy to slow him up, there’s not that many guys that can deal with that type of pressure. For J.J. Redick, who played this game, I’m very disappointed that he said something so stupid.”

It’s a bit of a curious argument, as while few would argue that the violence and lack of foul calls in the ’80s would not fly in today’s NBA, that’s not exactly what the debate between Redick and Russo was about. The paint was certainly a much more physical place 40 years ago than it is now, but teams didn’t shoot 3-pointers at nearly the same rate – and defenses didn’t have to defend them as vigorously.

It’s hard to argue that Bird was ever the 3-point shooter that Steph Curry is. At the same time, it’s hard to argue that anything about today’s NBA is anywhere near as physical as it used to be.

And thus, the old head vs. new head debate lives on.