JJ Redick announced his retirement from the NBA last week after 15 years in the league.
Redick’s career saw him play for six teams – the Orlando Magic, Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Clippers, Philadelphia 76ers, New Orleans Pelicans, and Dallas Mavericks.
His 1,950 made threes for his career is good for 15th all-time and the 41.5 percent clip he made them at is good for 17th all-time.
The former AP Player of the Year at Duke will go down as one of the greatest shooters the league has ever seen.
JJ REDICK 🔥
One of the greatest 3-Point Shooters Ever pic.twitter.com/WS2ERJBIOJ— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) September 21, 2021
Redick’s quick release and fearlessness to shoot the ball made him a terrific fit for the modern game.
And his non-stop movement without the ball on offense made him a nightmare to guard.
The No. 11 overall pick in the 2006 NBA Draft, Redick made the playoffs 13 consecutive years starting as a rookie.
Mainly a bench player while with the Magic and Bucks, Redick became an integral part of the Clippers’ and Sixers’ playoff rosters.
His ability to spot up off the ball and fire away at full speed off screens helped open the offense for both teams.
In Los Angeles, that spacing gave DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin room for the runway they needed for Lob City.
In Philly, it gave Joel Embiid space to punish teams in the paint.
For this piece, we will look back at three of Redick’s best seasons as an NBA player.
3. 2015-16
The 2015-16 season is one of JJ’s best seasons as a pro because of his insane shooting.
During 28 minutes per game, Redick attempted 5.6 threes and hit a staggering 47.5 percent of them.
Best three point shooting seasons in NBA history (minimum 350 attempts):
Kyle Korver: 49.2% (2015)
Joe Johnson: 47.8% (2005)
Joe Harris: 47.5% (2021)
J.J. Redick: 47.5% (2016)
Joe Harris: 47.4% (2019) pic.twitter.com/u4k6Lt2g2F— Danny Neckel (@DNeckel19) May 19, 2021
This marks the 28th best single-season shooting percentage of all time.
He was one of eight players that season to make 200 threes.
And the only one to make 200 threes while playing fewer than 30 minutes per game.
Redick also had his career-high-scoring performance that season with 40 against the Houston Rockets.
In the overtime win, Redick played 38 minutes and made a career-best nine threes.
For the year, Redick averaged 16.3 points per game on .480/.475/.888 shooting splits.
JJ was automatic during the 2015-16 NBA season.
2. 2018-19
Redick’s second season with the 76ers saw him set a career-best mark in points per game.
Playing alongside a talented starting five, Redick poured in 18.1 points per game.
In addition to PPG, he set career-high marks in six other stat categories:
- FGM – 5.9
- FGA – 13.5
- 3PM – 3.2
- 3PA – 8.0
- FTM – 3.0
- FTA – 3.4
JJ was not the most talented member of that starting five but he may have been the key that unlocked its greatness.
Ben Simmons, Jimmy Butler, Tobias Harris, and Embiid all required space to do what they do best on offense.
Redick provided it to them.
JJ Redick announces his retirement after a 15 year career
Redick averaged 17.6 points, 2.8 assists, and 2.5 rebs while shooting 40.7% from three in his 2 seasons in Philly
Showed a great amount of chemistry with Embiid and was never replaced by Sixerspic.twitter.com/nm0WgFhcnM
— Sean Barnard (@Sean_Barnard1) September 21, 2021
With his ability to shoot while moving full speed off down screens or dribble hand-offs, he was a constant threat to score.
If defenders decided to help off their man it would leave their man free to attack the rim.
That year Philly scored the fourth-most points per game and had the eighth-best offensive rating.
Among all five-man lineups with at least 150 minutes of court time, their starting five had the third-best net rating in the league.
A world-beating +19.4 that was only behind the Golden State Warriors’ “Hamptons Five” and a surprise Indiana Pacers lineup.
If not for a historic buzzer-beater by Kawhi Leonard in Game 7, the Sixers may have won the title that year.
Redick was probably the least talented member of that year’s starting group.
But arguably none of the other four had as significant of an impact.
1. 2008-09
Last up is 2008-09.
Redick was nothing special – six points per game on .391/.374/.871 shooting splits in 17.4 minutes.
But it was arguably the best team he ever played on.
The Magic, led by Dwight Howard, won 59 games and made the NBA Finals.
They would fall to Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers in five games but beat some great teams to get there.
Orlando dispatched the Boston Celtics and their “Big 3” in seven games during the second round.
And followed that up with a 4-2 series victory over the LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers – a 66-win team from the regular season.
Dwight Howard
Hedo Turkoglu
Rashard Lewis
Courtney Lee
Rafer Alston
JJ Redick
Marcin Gortat
Anthony Johnson
Mickael Pietrus!
(and, of course, the recovering, hobbled All-Star Jameer Nelson)The ‘09 Magic overcome LeBron averaging 38 8 and 8 to advance to the NBA Finals! #TeamDay pic.twitter.com/mM4ZFLnJb5
— Beyond the RK (@beyondtheRK) August 13, 2018
Even though Redick did not have a great season stat-wise, he finally cracked the playoff rotation.
He appeared in 16 of the Magic’s 22 playoff games, including eight starts.
JJ canned 40 percent of his triples and only missed one free throw.
For the playoffs, he had a +/- of +23 – not bad for a third-year player with 21 minutes of playoff action leading up to that point.
His one and only Finals appearance deserves to crack the list for top three seasons from his career.
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