Clippers: J.J. Redick is the Key to a Deep Playoff Run
J.J. Redick has been a one-man wrecking crew from behind the 3-point line this season, proving that this year’s Clippers shouldn’t be taken lightly come playoff time.
Redick’s primary skill in the league has always been his incredible touch from long-range. He’s a career 40% three-point shooter, which of course is exactly why the Clippers decided to sign him.
Throughout his time with the the team, Redick has proven himself as the perfect compliment to the Clippers “big-three” — Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, and DeAndre Jordan.
This season, however, J.J. has treated Clippers fans to an entirely new side of Redick.
Already a great three-point shooter, J.J. has been able to ratchet his best skill up to a higher level than ever before. He’s currently shooting a clean 50% from behind the line for the season — a full 10% increase over his career average of 40%.
Redick has been able to use that increase in efficiency to have one of his most productive seasons ever. He’s averaging 16.6 points per game, which is a full 5.4 points better than his career average of 11.2 points per game.
For a role player to improve over the course of one off-season as much as he has is simply astonishing.
Redick’s improvements haven’t just been self-serving either.
They’ve served as a catalyst to help this Clippers team have one of the most dangerous squads we’ve seen from them yet.
And when the team begins its playoff match-ups a few months from now, J.J.’s recent improvements might just be the key to unlocking their furthest playoff run ever.
When team’s square off against one another in the playoffs they tend to do more thorough opposition scouting for both individual players and teams.
Additionally, having the opportunity to play a single team up to 7 times in a row means that good coaches can and will make strategic adjustments more frequently.
That means all playoff teams need to be ready to go to second, third, and even fourth options on offensive sets where primary actions have been scouted well enough to be routinely shut-down.
That’s where J.J. Redick will find his role.
Sure, the Clippers already run some plays (mostly off-ball screens) that are designed to get Redick an open look at the basket from behind the 3-point line.
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However, the team’s offense is still primarily going to be an engine powered by Chris Paul and Blake Griffin.
That doesn’t mean that Redick should just stand in the corner and watch, though.
Instead, it will be up the Clippers coaching staff, and the team’s primary ball-handlers — including Paul — to make it more of a priority throughout the playoffs to search for Redick.
If the Clippers can get J.J. to have a few more nights like his 40-point explosion against the Rockets last Monday, then the entire floor should open up for Chris Paul and Blake Griffin to do what they do best — score.
What I mean by that is that instead of doing what’s normal and starting games off by running plays for their stars, the Clips could look to reverse that — starting games with sets designed to get Redick going.
It will almost definitely catch opponents off guard. If J.J. continues to play with his current level of efficiency, opposing defenses will eventually be forced to adjust their schemes to contain his incredible shooting ability.
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Once that happens, the Clippers have almost already won, as a defensive scheme designed to contain Redick will leave much more room for both CP3 and Blake Griffin to operate in.