Did you know that the LA Clippers finished this season as number one in offensive efficiency? After Chris Paul (resume need not be listed) and Blake Griffin (you know, that guy who was third in MVP voting last year), JJ Redick (within Doc Rivers' schemes) is arguably the most important offensive piece for them. His constant movement causes chaos for the defense and creates opportunities everywhere on the floor. A hard curl opens up a drop off down low. A quick flare produces an open triple. Floor spacing generates driving lanes, which allows the Clippers to go into full-on Lob City. Without Redick’s relentlessness, opposing teams could punish Paul, Griffin & Jordan by packing the paint and force them to grind it out. That’s not to say that they can’t still win that way (they’ve been known to grind on occasion), but JJ just jumpstarts the offense.
JJ Redick has improved practically every year he’s been in the league (with the exception of a few down years, which you know, is bound to happen). He’s so incredibly fun to watch and I really enjoy that he’s flourished with Doc in LA. I had originally planned to make separate videos of his passing off the curl, all his flares, a video of him putting the ball on the floor, and quite a few (yes, it was ambitious), but I realized that when those are divided up, the impact of what he does is minimized. Only when all (well, a small portion) of the things he does on the floor are taken together, then we can start to comprehend his significance. You know, that his whole game is greater than the sum of its parts. He's come a long way and he’s definitely not just jumpers anymore.
The pump fakes, the textbook form, the fantastic footwork to get the body squared up and everything turned at just the right time make him a fascinating study. I can’t not like this guy. You should like his game too! He’s hard it hard enough as is. Remember, this was a guy Coach K said had a tougher time than Christian Laettner, and that dude has a 30 for 30 about how much people hate him. Yes, he’s a Blue Devil. Yes, he’s the all-time leading scorer at Duke, but you know, the only people who should dislike him now are the guys who have to run through screens and haul ass trying to catch him.
2 май 2015
