When it comes to J.J. Redick, there seems to be a love/hate relationship between he and Orlando Magic fans. Perhaps that stems from Redick's time with Duke University. Whatever the case may be, the city has been patiently (or impatiently) waiting for Redick to bust out of his shell and become more of an impact player coming off the bench for head coach Stan Van Gundy. Unfortunately for Redick, that hasn't happened yet and people are wondering whether or not he'll break out at all.
Although Redick experienced career-highs in games played and minutes played this past season, he experienced career-lows in field goal percentage (38.8%) and Offensive Rating (107). Ironic, given that Redick is known as a shooter. Now, Redick's advanced shooting percentages were above-average (eFG% of 50.0%, TS% of 55.9%) but certainly the numbers can be higher. Hence the waiting game for fans. Will they be higher in the upcoming season? If so, how much higher will they be?
Tough to say.
But when looking at the numbers, I don't see why Redick can't have statistics similar to Rashard Lewis (eFG% of 54.0%, TS% of 58.0% last year). I'll explain.
What hurt Redick's stats this past season, as Ben mentioned before, was the fact he shot abnormally low inside the arc (40.3% on two-point field goals). Specifically, his mid-range game was average (converted 33% of his shots between 17 feet & inside the three-point line). There's no reason why Redick can't bump up his field goal percentage back up above 40% (not that hard). If Redick can replicate Lewis' field goal percentage of last year (43.9%), improve his three-point shooting a teeny bit (at or around 40%), and maintain or surpass his current free-throw percentage (87.1%), it's entirely possible that Redick can be as efficient of a shooter as Lewis, if not more (due to, presumably, a lower usage percentage). In his career, Redick has achieved those stats in bits and pieces, but he hasn't been able to put it all together in a single season. Perhaps this year can be that year.
| Lewis (2009 regular season) | Redick (previous seasons) | |
| FG% | 43.9% | 44.0% (2008)* |
| 3P% | 39.7% | 39.5% (2008)* |
| FT% | 83.6% | 90.0% (2007)* |
| eFG% | 54.0% | ??? |
| TS% | 58.0% | ??? |
| USG% | 22.0% | ??? |
| ORtg | 113 | ??? |
*sample sizes are small (622 minutes in 2007, 276 minutes in 2008)
If Redick can put it all together, offensively, this season, then the local fans might finally begin to see the prolific shooter that was so touted coming out of college. I like to quickly add that I'm only comparing Redick and Lewis as shooters, not as players.