You won’t find many players in the Orlando Magic’s locker room that are more popular than J.J. Redick. His female fans love his good looks, and many times they can be found arguing over them: is he more Tom Cruise or Luke Perry? His male fans love watching him shoot that dead-eye jumper that made him a legend at Duke. They stand to their feet in anticipation every time he gets the ball; it’s almost like watching Dwight Howard dunk in the open court. Unfortunately this year has been frustrating for both Redick and his fans, as he only appeared in 33 games, but over the Magic’s last two games he gave everyone a glimpse at what’s to come. He’s not there yet but when he gets there you better watch out, this guy can play.
Many people will dismiss Redick’s career-high 18-point performance as a non-factor because it came in a meaningless win. They would argue that he got hot towards the end of the game and made some shots against the Wizards’ bench warmers. That’s a shame because they’re missing a potential stud stroke a sweet jumper, something he does better than 90% of the league.
He doesn’t make shots because he’s hot; he makes them because he’s open.
He makes it rain, not in a “Pacman Jones” fashion, so you won’t see dollar bills falling from the sky. Redick’s rain storms come in the form of elbow jumpers and three-point shots - the type of rain that causes coaches to call timeout, slam down their clipboards, and stay away from the zone.
Something that many of his detractors neglect to mention when they talking about the young guard is how well he plays when he’s given the chance.
This season he’s averaging 12.7 points per game, (52% from the field, and 50% from three-point land) in games where he plays over 15 minutes. But he’s only seen those types of minutes four times this season; the opportunities to shine just haven’t been there. That’s the biggest hurdle for him to clear and everyone that knows him knows that’s going to start on the defensive end of the floor. He will get more time once he can defend on the same level as Keith Bogans, Maurice Evans, and Keyon Dooling.
Redick is a great shooter, but at this point of his career his shooting hasn’t translated into a great ability to score the ball. So if he can’t get defensive stops his shooting won’t help the Magic much – you can’t score 20-points and give up 23-points on the other end.
For that reason it would be surprising to see him get any play time during the playoffs; he hasn’t been in the rotation the entire season. But make no mistake about it; he could help the Magic’s playoff push.
Like Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu, he’ll create space on the floor and the team will need that. The Raptors are going to run all types of double-teams and traps at Howard. Redick’s shooting would serve as an incredible weapon for the team if the Raptors are having success with their defensive schemes. You have to respect his ability from the outside, so guys won’t be able to hover around Howard.
Seeing him in the immediate plans remains to be seen, so we’ll have to continue to wonder how good he could be if he played consistent minutes.
But Redick’s time is coming and it looks like he’ll be ready. He has been written off by many people before having the chance to prove himself. Judging what he’s done when he’s had the chance it’s safe to say the Magic made a good choice in grabbing the sharp-shooter.
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Jarrod Rudolph has covered the NBA for HOOPSWORLD for two years, powering HOOPSWORLD.COM and HOOPSWORLD Magazine.
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