J.J. Redick Is the Secret Ingredient to NBA's Most Potent Offense
LOS ANGELES — When Doc Rivers first took over the reins of the Los Angeles Clippers in the summer of 2013, he knew his new team needed another weapon to take its already potent offense to the next level. The Clippers sported the fourth-ranked offense during each of Chris Paul's first two seasons in Lob City (per NBA.com), but against the San Antonio Spurs in 2012 and the Memphis Grizzlies in 2013, their postseason attack crumbled amidst an absence of spacing and ball movement.
"Looking at our team from afar, we were a stagnant team that when you watched us, we were a dribble team," Rivers said. "My first thought was, we need a mover without the ball on this team to make this work better."
His second thought? Get J.J. Redick.
So, despite then-owner Donald Sterling's protestations (per Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski), Rivers consummated a three-team sign-and-trade with the Milwaukee Bucks and Phoenix Suns that brought Redick and Jared Dudley to L.A. at the expense of Eric Bledsoe and Caron Butler.
Hindsight being what it is, the price now seems steep, especially when factoring in the first-round pick Rivers used to dump Dudley's salary on Milwaukee this past offseason.
But Redick has held up his end of the bargain this season—and then some—after suffering through an injury-riddled introductory campaign in 2013-14. So far, he's averaging career-highs in points (15.6), field-goal attempts (11.6), field-goal percentage (.466) and three-point percentage (.424). On Friday, Redick set a Clippers single-season franchise record with his 162nd made three of 2014-15.
Even those numbers only begin to describe how good Redick's been and how critical he's become to the Clippers' operation. Since returning from a lower back injury in mid-February, Redick has poured in 18.9 points, with eight games of at least 20 points—more than he's had in any of his pro seasons save for one.
The exception? The 2012-13 campaign, right before arriving in L.A.
"It definitely is a good stretch for me," Redick said after pouring in 26 points in a 113-99 win over the Washington Wizards on Friday. "I think with the exception of my second year in the league, I’ve improved every year that I’ve been in the league. Each year, I think I say to myself, 'Oh, I’m playing the best that I’ve played.' Thankfully, this year is no exception."
Redick's uptick in scoring has been largely an invention born of necessity. Redick's first game back was L.A.'s second without Blake Griffin, who spent more than a month sidelined by a staph infection in his right elbow. Three weeks later, Jamal Crawford hit the training table with a contusion in his right calf, thereby opening up more shots on the perimeter for Redick.
"Any time there’s guys out, there’s an onus on other people to step up and take on a little bit more responsibility," Redick went on. "We’ve kind of talked a lot about this over the last few weeks. When scorers go out, somebody’s got to use those possessions."
Not that Redick has hunted for those possessions, or had to. By and large, his exploits have come quietly, within the flow of the Clippers' top-ranked offense.
"I never go into a game expecting a certain amount of shots," Redick explained. "I feel like I don’t ever force shots. I take shots that are there. I take shots that are within our offense."
Usually, those shots are there for him early and often. According to NBA.com, Redick ranks 13th in the league in first-quarter scoring (6.2 points, .526/.489/.922 shooting splits), behind 12 All-Stars.
Chris Paul may set the table for L.A.'s attack, but Redick, with his shooting and movement, is the silky cloth beneath the silverware.
"They have their pick-and-roll game and they have their post-up game, and now what he’s given them is a totally different element with the catch-and-shoot game," said Charlotte Hornets head coach Steve Clifford, who worked with Redick in Orlando as an assistant on Stan Van Gundy's staff.
Indeed, Redick ranks fourth in the league with 7.7 points per game off catch-and-shoot opportunities, and his 1.18 points per possession on spot-ups puts him in the 90th percentile among his peers, per NBA.com.
Rivers has long been an admirer of Redick's game. Rivers couldn't recall whether the Boston Celtics seriously considered selecting Redick with the No. 7 pick in the 2006 NBA draft (he wound up going to the Orlando Magic at No. 11), though they did try to acquire him later on.
"We had two or three deals I thought with Orlando when I was in Boston that just never materialized," Rivers revealed.
This, despite Boston picking up Ray Allen, perhaps the greatest player in Redick's mold the NBA has ever seen, on draft day in 2007.
"I like players like that," Rivers said. "You need one or two. If you can get two on your team, it’s phenomenal because you have two movers, but it’s nice to have one.
"There’s not a lot anymore in our league. There’s just not a lot of guys that play that well without the ball."
To be sure, there's much more to Redick's repertoire nowadays than running around the hardwood and shooting. He's not a defensive stopper by any means, but he's become a pesky opponent on that end—particularly when assigned to James Harden. He's a willing facilitator, passing up good shots for great ones. Put the ball in Redick's hands, and he's liable to make a play off the dribble.
"Stan [Van Gundy] talked about his pick-and-roll play," Rivers said of his conversations with the former Magic head coach two summers ago. "He said, 'You’re going to be surprised what he does with the ball besides his shooting', and Stan’s right."
In fact, according to NBA.com, Redick has scored 1.17 points per possession as a ball-handler in the pick-and-roll—placing him in the league's 99th percentile—on 55.6 percent shooting. Those are impressive numbers for any player, even more so for one who's long been known for his world-class shooting ability and little else.
"I just thought he might at the next level be a standstill shooter," said Dahntay Jones, who was a senior at Duke when Redick was a freshman. "I didn’t think that he could play in this capacity. It’s great to see him develop into this."
Redick was pretty good from the get-go in Durham. He averaged 15 points per game during his first year as a Blue Devil—second only to Jones on the team. By the time Redick had exhausted his college eligibility, he was the ACC's all-time scoring leader, a two-time consensus All-American and the national player of the year.
"He was mature, one of the more mature freshmen in the class," said Jones. "And he had a gift. He was a pure shooter. He worked extremely hard, but he would go like days, consecutive days where he wouldn’t miss in practice."
That work ethic has stuck with Redick all these years. During the season, he doesn't speak to the media before games, preferring instead to run through his warm-ups and get in that early zone that's served the Clippers so well this season.
"Even before the tipoff, you’ll see him go through his little routine of shots," Rivers marveled. "He is so game-ready when the game starts. I just keep throwing those out to all the other players, like 'You probably should do what he does more' because it’s really neat to watch."
Added Clifford: "One thing about him when you’re around him, he’ll always keep getting better, which not many guys in this league do."
Then again, not many guys work as hard as Redick does during the offseason. Every July, he's in the gym—"Every day except Saturday"—getting up shots and adding new wrinkles to his game.
"I pay attention to advanced stats and I pay attention to shot charts," said Redick. "I try to figure out if I can’t get to my strengths, what are teams forcing me to do and how can I improve on those weaknesses? Each year, I kind of work on maybe one or two things that just incrementally. If I can get those better, it’ll add a little bit offensively to my game."
That disciplined and targeted approach has put Redick on a path to improvement at a point in his career when most of his peers would be slowing down. Despite his well-established reputation for marksmanship, Redick didn't partake in the three-point contest during All-Star Weekend until this year, his ninth as a pro, at the age of 30. With the way he plays the game and takes care of his body, Redick could still be on the upswing, much as fellow sharpshooter Kyle Korver has been in Atlanta.
For now, the Clippers can be pleased with where Redick is in his transformation, from a "one-trick pony" despised by legions of basketball fans to a favorite of L.A.'s faithful who's learned how to use his shot to set up the rest of his game.
Say what you will about Rivers' work as a general manager, but in Redick he can claim at least one rousing success, with more to come amidst the Clippers' championship chase.
Josh Martin covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter.
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