ORLANDO -- After three seasons of banging his head against a wall, J.J. Redick finally has proven he belongs in the NBA.He never thought it would take this long.
Redick may have come into the league as one of the most celebrated college basketball players in recent history, but it has taken a complete remaking of his game and his attitude to finally carve his niche.
"I've been thinking about it recently, and maybe I wasn't ready to do this last year, or my second year, and certainly not as a rookie,'' Redick said Friday night after helping the Orlando Magic hold off the Detroit Pistons 110-103. "I could not have stepped in and played well like this, but I've learned how to be a pro. And that wasn't easy.''
Redick, now in his fourth season with the Magic after playing four years at Duke University, has used the start of this 2009-10 season and an injury to starter Vince Carter to solidify his role on a legitimate championship contender.
And around the league, they have noticed.
In six games – four as a starter – Redick has played consistently well, averaging 14.7 points, three rebounds and three assists in 32.5 minutes per game. Instead of being the hot-shooting bomber that most remember from his college days, he has become a heady, steady player, something he struggled to learn in his first few years in the NBA.
He doesn't do turnovers. He plays good team defense. And he helps the offense work better by moving the ball and finding the open man instead of finding his shot.
"For most guys in this league, it's about being in the right situation at the right time. You hate to have a teammate go down to give you a chance, but you have to be ready, and that's something I've learned,'' he said. "I think I've taken advantage of this opportunity. I've played well. I've put myself in a position where I can succeed now.''
Carter will return soon from his sprained ankle. Rashard Lewis will come back next week from that 10-game suspension. And when they do, the playing time for Redick will shrink considerably, putting him back into a reserve role with inconsistent minutes because the Magic are so deep.
Yet Redick now knows what he can do, and where he can fit. In the first few years, when he got brief opportunities, he failed to sustain them. He never averaged more than six points or 1.1 assists, in part because his playing time was so sporadic.
The Magic's off-season trade for Vince Carter actually helped him because it sent promising Courtney Lee to New Jersey, giving him a much clearer role. He also has gotten stronger physically, enabling him to withstand the physical punishment that comes from driving the lane. He was hammered Friday by a frustrated Kwame Brown, but he bounced up quickly.
"He's played well for us,'' Magic Coach Stan Van Gundy said. "He's learned what works for him.''
Redick scored a career high 27 points in his first start this season against Toronto. He has scored in double figures in five of the six games. He has hit 16-of-31 shots (51 percent) from 3-point range. He doesn't take bad shots anymore.
"Obviously, I'm not Vince Carter, and I'm not trying to be like Vince Carter,'' he said. "I don't feel like I have to show people anything. Just be who I am out there, a ball mover who can help this team succeed. And I can do it now in the flow of what we're trying to do.''
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Good to see him developing like this He has the talent and now he has the confidence.
The magic, has a weak team this year, the names of the players mean nothing if they are willing to hussle and play hard. This team don't have what it take to get to the semi finals. Their defense is very undesirable. They are relying too much on their shooting accuracy and not on playing hard on their offensive rebounding, which gives you second shots, they look weak, orlando magic, they onlyt have one man superman, the rest they just want to watch. The tema they had last year wanted it more. This team has no heart, they are paying mediocre. They need to wake up, and stop dreaming championship, they need to work harder, they need to stop thinking how good they were last year, that is the past.. and they need to do more, work harder, forget last season. and focus on this one, in front of them.