Like in baseball, players will return to the mean eventually. Same will happen with Jameer. But the good thing is that this team is so deep with talent that we don’t need everyone to play out of their minds.

Training camp, where are you?

I imagine with Vince Carter on board, there won’t be as much of a need for an offensive boost. Still he still has the ability to be a mini- Vinnie Johnson player ( a miniwave?) off the bench

could be one of the best things that happens to this team this year.

Its clear we are talking about his offense, but l want to make a point that his overall usefulness will be predicated on his defense first off. And when its playoffs time, or anytime MP is focused, he is an elite defensive talent. Perhaps the only elite perimeter defender. Lee wasnt there yet, he was just really, really consistent at least, and Barnes is just above average I think too.
Second off, I’m sort of going to keep going with the line of, can he repeat in the playoffs, not the regular season, and MP was one of the clutchest (Top 2?) Magic players and accurate shooters in the playoffs. Just because the dang superstars like Kobe and LeBron instantly take it to another level in the playoffs doesn’t mean some of the simpler role and rotation players can’t either. There are just some players that step it up in the playoffs, there is history everywhere to prove that; look at Fisher and Ariza against the Magic, key defensive stoppers like Bowen in the playoffs, etc.
Lastly, I agree if we are to see it in the regular season, he will have to be consistently healthy (Where’s the Magic trainer staff?, crash-course in falling down the right way?), maintain good %‘s, and attack the rim better/more. I would be interested to see his layup % in the playoffs, it should be much, much better. He shows the athleticism to do some crafty driving at times a la Carter, and he can cut in and make something happen off of Dwight or a missed shot in the offense (as he did in a critical moment of a Cavs game), but doesn’t do either enough in the regular season. Overall though, he plays high level defense, shoots 3’s above average, and is quite athletic. His defense alone is very, very important to the Magic playing elite team defense. Staying in the Magic system will do wonders for him as he keeps playing a specific role, getting more and more comfortable with what he can do; defense, rebounding, 3pnt shooting, and attacking.

2009 Playoffs: 25MPG: 48FG%, 38.5 3P%. 10.5 PPG, 2.6RPG.

I’m gonna take an educated guess and project his next regular season stats at 46FG%, 38.0 3P%, 12.0 PPG, 3.8RPG at about 28MPG and then another very solid showing at the next playoffs, especially defensively.

Also some interesting info. from stats splits that leads me to change my mind on whether MP should start or not:

I’m not good at quantifying what 9 minutes more should show up as in the stats, as in MP had 29MPG in his 24 starts and 20MPG in his 29 off the bench showings, but off the eye, it seems his FG%‘s, 3P%’s, and rebounding #’s jumped dramatically high for just 9 more minutes of burn. As in 39FG% to 43FG%, 32 3P% to 38 3P%, and 2.7 RPG to 4 RPG.

MP’s ’s and PPG were incredibly indicative of a Magic win or loss, 33 FG and 28 3P% in 16 losses, 44 FG% and 38 3P% in 38 wins.

MP’s biggest months of playtime were,
November, beginning of season, 13.2 PPG in 13 games with 49.5 FG% and 38 3P%, 3.8 RPG.
February, near All Star break, bad month for him still coming off injury, 37 FG% and 32 3P%.
March, near end of season, 40 FG% and 40 3P%, 3.4 RPG.

Completely, utterly small sample to be truly indicative of anything, but..
According to ESPN stats splits, MP played 4 games as a positional Forward, SF, and averaged 6.5 rebounds in them. I don’t know if they properly identified MP as a SF in those particular games, or simply did so because they were 4 uncharacteristically high rebounding games, but if MP really does rebound that good at the SF spot..

Which leads me to say, if he has good health and consistent, ample playtime (near 29 MPG), he should be starting, not Matt Barnes. His efficiency in the stats say so, not necessarily the increased numbers of stats, but also the %’s and rebounding that greatly increases with smaller increases in consistent play time.

So this pretty much officialiy benches Redick unless injury sets in.