Redick: From Front Page to Afterthought

Remember when you couldn't turn the TV on, open a newspaper, or talk to anyone about sports without hearing all about the Adam Morrison and J.J. Redick battle for leading scorer in NCAA basketball in the spring of 2006?

Remember when J.J. Redick demolished Duke, ACC and NCAA records for free throws, three pointers, and total points?

Remember when he was drafted 11th overall by the Orlando Magic in Spring 2006 and scouts were predicting him to be of the caliber of catch-and-shoot snipers the likes of which we haven't seen since the Mark Price era?

Well, his pro career in Orlando hasn't gone exactly like predicted.

In two years in Orlando, Redick has started zero games (not unheard of, even for some of the best rookie/sophomores), has played in only 73 games (31 this year, 12 less than his freshman year), and averages less than 8 minutes per game (almost half of what he averaged last year).

All this, while he's averaged 38% from three, 42% from the field, and 88% from the charity stripe.

During this same time, Redick has only been able to shoot 130 three pointers (his specialty in college). And all of those were coming off the bench, not playing more than a few minutes at a time, without being able to find a rhythm at all, and he somehow still managed to make 49 of 'em.

To put those numbers in perspective, here's a few numbers from Stephen Jackson of the Golden State Warriors, one of the leaders in three point attempts in the league this year. The past two years, in 145 games, Jackson has attempted 788 three pointers, and made only 275 of 'em. Yep. That's about as bad as it sounds. Just under 35%.

But enough about Stack Jack, J.J. recently asked Orlando for a trade, seeking more playing time just about anywhere else. Otis Smith, Magic general manager, refused to even look around the league before the February 21st trading deadline, despite several meetings Redick and his agent had with coaches, owners, and Smith himself.

During the 2007-2008 season, Orlando has started Maurice Evans, Keith Bogans and Keyon Dooling all at Shooting Guard over Redick. Each shooting 38%, 36%, and 35% from beyond the arc (respectively). Not too bad. However, each of these players has had the opportunity to build up momentum and rhythm by getting both starts and solid minutes to follow.

The answer: ...well, the reason the Magic give is defense and rebounding.

"We know that he can play, but as with a lot of young guys he just has to be patient," said Smith, "If I trade him and he goes somewhere else and plays well, then what?"

Then at least he's playing. At least he'll be working on his game and improving.

If you're not playing him, then you obviously have players better than him, so who cares if he goes somewhere else and plays well against you? You've got the tools that're better, right? Make up your mind, Smith. Is the kid good? Then play him. He's not the all-time leader in three pointers in the history of D-I NCAA Men's Basketball for no reason here.

So, what's next? Well, this summer Redick will surely seek other trade routes and will most likely have several more talks with admin from the team, as well as his agent, likely primarily concerning the topic of getting him more playing time, either in Orlando, or, well, pretty much anywhere else. (Oh yeah, J.J. will also be helping Team USA this summer in avenging their nasty bronze medal in the 2004 Olympic games--now under the command of old Duke coach, Mike Krzyzewski.

For now though, it looks like Redick will be living the high life on the bench of the 3rd ranked (in the Eastern Conference) Orlando Magic through the rest of the Spring on into the playoffs. Who knows, maybe if they make it to the Eastern Conference semi-finals, he could lock in a solid 112 total playoff minutes in 14 games (max). That'll pad the stats.

Well, hey, at least that's 112 more than Adam Morrison will get this year.