NBA Saturday: Redick Proving His Worth With Clippers

Since Doc Rivers arrived in Los Angeles in 2013, he has professed that the Clippers have a ‘Big Three’ composed of Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan. Most people scoffed at Rivers’ insistence that Jordan (who has never made an All-Star team) was worthy of such status, but Jordan has hit another level in his game this season, leaving little doubt that, at least now, the Clippers do in fact have a Big Three. But while the focus falls largely on these three players, there is another member of the Clippers who is proving to be just as crucial to the team’s chances of making a deep postseason run.

Two seasons ago, the Clippers had a tough choice to make regarding rising point guard Eric Bledsoe. His rookie-contract was set to expire following the 2013-14 season and with Paul already locked into a max-level contract, the idea of paying big money to keep Bledsoe was problematic (though there were many people who thought Bledsoe could pair up with Paul in the starting lineup full-time like he has in Phoenix with Goran Dragic and now with Brandon Knight).

To address the situation, Rivers traded Bledsoe, along with Caron Butler, in a three-team deal with the Phoenix Suns and Milwaukee Bucks, which landed Jared Dudley and J.J. Redick in Los Angeles. The move made a lot of sense for the Clippers. They acquired two sharpshooting wings to start at shooting guard and small forward by giving up a player they realistically couldn’t afford to pay once his contract expired.

Dudley struggled all last season as he dealt with a knee injury, and was eventually traded last offseason to the Milwaukee Bucks, along with a first-round pick, to create financial flexibility. But Redick proved to be a natural fit within Rivers’ offensive system (which is heavily influenced by assistant coach Armond Hill, who ran the Princeton offense as head coach of Columbia), filling the role Ray Allen held for years with the Boston Celtics. However, Redick missed significant time with a broken hand and bulging disk in his back, which he admitted slowed him down during last season’s playoffs.

This season, Redick is having a career-year and is proving to be a catalyst for a Clippers team that relies heavily on its high-powered offense. Redick is averaging 15.8 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game while shooting 42.7 percent from beyond-the-arc and 46.9 percent from the field. Since March 2, when Jamal Crawford injured his calf, Redick is averaging 22.1 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.8 assists, while shooting 42.1 percent from three-point range. At age 30, Redick is tallying a career-high in points per game, three-point percentage, overall field goal percentage, minutes per game and, as of last night, he holds the Clippers’ record for most three-pointers made in a single season. It is clear from his recent play that Redick is playing with extreme confidence.

“Each year, I think I say to myself, ‘I’m playing the best that I’ve played,’ and thankfully this year is no exception,” Redick said yesterday, according to ESPN Los Angeles. “I feel that way … I feel like every shot I take is going to go in. It’s a great feeling as a player.”

Redick’s continued improvement comes from a commitment towards identifying areas in his game that need work and finding out how to best counter how defenses play him.

“I pay attention to advance stats, and I pay attention to shot charts,” Redick said, according to ESPN Los Angeles. “I try to figure out, if I can’t get to my strengths, what are teams forcing me to do and how do I improve on those weakness so each year I kind of work on one or two things that if I can get them better will incrementally add a little bit of [offense] to my game. The other thing is the amount of time I’m in the gym. Once I start my basketball workouts in July, it’s every day except Saturday. I’m in there, and my shooting percentages each year reflected that I’ve put the time in.”

The hard work Redick puts into his game is apparent when he’s been on the court this season. On the season, the Clippers average 109.3 points per 100 possessions while giving up 103.4 points, according to NBA.com. But when Redick is on the court, the Clippers average 112 points, while giving up 102.4 points to opponets. This is good for +9.6 net rating, which is the third-highest mark on the team, behind only Matt Barnes (+10.9) and Paul (+10.3).

Kyle Korver has rightfully received a lot of credit for the Atlanta Hawks’ overall success this season. He is a lethal shooter that is constantly moving off the ball, causing defenses to switch and scramble, which creates space for teammates and opens up lanes to the rim. But if Korver is to receive so much credit for what he adds to his team, Redick should also be recognized. Consider that Korver is shooting 50.3 percent on 5.3 catch and shoot three-point field goals a game, while Redick is shooting 43.9 percent on 4.6 catch and shoot three-pointers. Per game, Korver averages 8.8 points on catch and shoot field goals, whereas Redick averages 7.7. Korver clearly outpaces Redick in these statistics, but that is more about Korver having a historically great season shooting the ball than any shortcoming with Redick. In fact, the only players that shoot a higher percentage in these categories (among players that attempt four or more catch and shoot three-point attempts per game), excluding Korver, are New Orleans’ Eric Gordon and Golden State’s Klay Thompson.

While the percentages show us how well Redick has shot the ball this season, they don’t fully capture how important he is for the Clippers. He is one of the best first quarter players in the league, averaging 6.4 points on 49.6 percent shooting from three-point range. His ability to hit shots from tip-off helps the Clippers generate quick points and loosen up the offense overall. Also, he often wears down opposing wing-players by running them through multiple screens each possession. He is also an underrated passer and is especially good at executing in the pick and roll, often making accurate passes in tight spaces to teammates like Blake Griffin for easy shots at the rim.

In addition, Redick is an underrated defensive player. He is far from a lockdown defender, but he is good at sticking close to his opponent, making crisp rotations and oftentimes sliding over to take charges from opposing players rolling down the lane. And as mentioned before, part of Redick’s defense on opposing guards comes in the form of running them ragged through multiple screens on offense. One opponent who has struggled with this since Redick’s arrival in Los Angeles is James Harden.

In their matchups this season, Redick has averaged 16.3 points per game, whereas Harden has averaged 20. That doesn’t seem like a big deal, but consider that Harden shot 19-of-53 from the field over those four games. Harden’s only real scoring outburst against the Clippers this season came on March 15, when he went 17-of-18 from the free throw line. This isn’t to say that Redick is a better overall player than Harden, but it shows that he is capable of slowing down one of the league’s premier shooting guards.

And that’s why Redick is so important for the Clippers. It doesn’t really matter that he isn’t the best player on the court, or that he is often physically over-matched by more athletic opponents. He does exactly what the Clippers need him to do, which is create movement and flow on offense, spacing the court for Paul and Griffin to make plays towards the rim and making smart, team-oriented plays on defense.

Think of Redick as someone like Draymond Green with the Golden State Warriors. Like Green, Redick doesn’t always fill up the stat sheet, or make the highlight play that will appear on SportsCenter, but he does all of the little things that make the Clippers a much better team on both sides of the ball (although he certainly can’t guard all five positions the way Green can).

All of these things are even more important now that Crawford is sidelined with a calf contusion. Crawford is a former Sixth Man of the Year, one of the best fourth quarter scorers in the league (6.2 points) and the catalyst for the Clippers’ second-unit, which is currently relying on Nate Robinson and Austin Rivers primarily while he recovers. If Crawford is not back in time for the playoffs, Redick will have to continue playing heavy minutes and making up for the loss of one of the best one-on-one scorers in the league, which is no easy task.

Redick may not be part of the Clippers’ Big Three, but he’s arguably just as vital to the team’s chances for a deep postseason run as anyone on the team.