Usually in the NBA, a player starts to see his production and ability decline once he reaches the age of 30. Instead, J.J. Redick gets better. On Friday, the 30-year-old shooting guard set a new Los Angeles Clippers single-season record for three-point shots made with 164 in a 113-99 victory over the Washington Wizards.
"I knew I was getting close [to the Clippers' previous all-time record for 3-pointers made of 161 by Jamal Crawford]," Redick said. "I didn't know I was that close, that I was one away. Jamal had mentioned something to me two or three weeks ago, when I was at 130-something. It's cool to break Jamal's record – a good friend, and a guy I love playing with."
It is safe to say that he is having a career year. On top of this new franchise record, Redick is also among the top 10 in the NBA for 3-pointers made and three-point shooting percentage.
"I feel like every shot I take is going to go in," Redick said while glowing with confidence as he always does. "It's a great feeling as a player."
With the opportunity to play and start every game — which he didn't do for the Orlando Magic or Milwaukee Bucks prior to joining the Clippers — Reddick is able to convert his confidence into high-level production. Drafted by the Orlando Magic with the 11th overall pick in the 2006 NBA Draft, Redick was never utilized as a main player. He didn't start his first game until his third year, when the Magic reached the NBA Finals in 2009. The most games he started in a season was in 2011-12 with only 22.
Clippers head coach and head of basketball operations Doc Rivers saw Redick in the same light as Ray Allen. When he joined the Clippers in 2013, he sought to acquire Redick in a trade with the Bucks and Phoenix Suns so he could be to the Clippers what Allen was to the Boston Celtics.
"Looking at our team from afar, we were a stagnant team that when you watched us, we were a dribble team," Rivers said. "My first thought was, we need a mover without the ball on this team to make this work better.
"He creates offense with his movement," Rivers said about Redick. "He doesn't have to make shots to make offense for us because you have to react to him. When he comes off a pick, it's the guy guarding him and someone else usually stunting at him, and that creates offense for us. That's the way I was looking at him. I was looking at him more as a team fit."
"That's the type of player he is," said DeAndre Jordan of Redick. "He doesn't ever get tired, and I would definitely get tired running off nine different screens and coming out to shoot a jump shot."
With the possibility of the Clippers being without Jamal Crawford for the rest of the season, it becomes imperative that Redick continues his career high stretch into the playoffs.
