J.J. Redick Thinks The Road To The Finals Will Be Harder In 2009-10
Even with seven new faces on the roster, the Orlando Magic have been playing like they’ve been together for years. After posting a perfect 8-0 preseason record and dominating Philly 120-106 in the home opener last night, the team is showing why they were the Eastern Conference Champions last year.
One member of the Magic that could have a bigger role in the team’s quest to return to the Finals is fourth-year guard J.J. Redick. With a 5.5 ppg career average, it’s fair to say the former Duke All-American and lottery pick has not lived up to his billing so far. Now that Hedo Turkoglu has gone north of the border and Courtney Lee and Rafer Alston were shipped out to Jersey, the Magic might have more of an opportunity for Redick to get more burn and more shots.
In last night’s game against the Sixers, J.J. came off the bench to give Orlando 10 points on 4-6 shooting, including 2-4 from beyond the arc. We briefly caught up with the former National College Player of the Year a few days ago to talk about this upcoming season.
Dime: What area did you specifically try to improve in over the summer?
J.J. Redick: As weird as it sounds, my shooting and just getting back to the basics of shooting. I wasn’t pleased with my shooting percentages last year and that is a goal of mine to get those up.
Dime: You guys went 8-0 in the preseason. What are you feelings on the team so far?
JR: We have gotten better over the course of the first month. We are very deep, as we have proven in the preseason by winning games without always playing all of our players, so I expect us to win games even without Rashard (Lewis) starting the year.
Dime: With Courtney Lee and Hedo Turkoglu gone, do you feel more responsibility falls on you to provide perimeter help?
JR: No, because it’s not like we didn’t bring anyone else in. We brought in Vince Carter, so there is no more responsibility on me than there was last year.
Dime: Now that the Celtics are healthy, and the Cavs have Shaq, do you think it will be a harder road to get back to the Finals?
JR: It is always a harder road to get back the next year because everyone gets better. The good teams always get better so we know it’s going to be more of a challenge to get back to the Finals.
Dime: You’ve had a lot of up and downs in your NBA career. What is the most important thing you’ve learned along the way?
JR: Patience and the importance of being a professional at all times.
Dime: What was your best memory at Duke?
JR: My best memory at Duke was playing for ACC Championships every year. That is always a fun time of the year.
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October 29th, 2009 at 10:06 am
control says:
Didn’t read, couldn’t bring myself to read an article about another dood’s stroke…
October 29th, 2009 at 10:20 am
Rare Air says:
Lmao @ control
As someone who has never cared for JJ, I have to say dude does seem like he has humbled out a bit. Coming out of college he was certainly the shoe in for the christian lattener (however you spell his last name) lifetime jackass achievement awar. Having said that I think his time on the pine and getting worked by NBA talent has softened that.
Orlando as a whole looks damn good again this year, they and Boston will be in the eastern finals, cleveland sucks out loud.
October 29th, 2009 at 10:27 am
Smithy says:
Is it me or is his answer for the following question strange?:
“Dime: With Courtney Lee and Hedo Turkoglu gone, do you feel more responsibility falls on you to provide perimeter help?”
JR: No because it’s not like we didn’t bring anyone else in. We brought in Vince Carter, so there is no more responsibility on me than there was last year.
Shouldn’t the competitor in him say “yes, i want more responsibility…i want to step my game up!”
Thats the difference between Kobe and loser like JJ. Like him or hate him Kobe actually wants the responsibility, he wants to improve and to be a better player!
I’ve always like JJ becuase of his college career, i actually thought he was good in college but after reading this interview, now i know why his NBA career has been less than average …his attitude stinks!!!
October 29th, 2009 at 10:55 am
sh!tfaced says:
lol@control
reDICK and STROKE in one sentence… hahaha
October 29th, 2009 at 10:55 am
Kermit the Washington says:
I’m a big Kobe fan and everything, but wow. Unnecessary Kobe reference in post 3. Article about JJ Redick only takes 3 posts to get to its first Kobe comment?! How do you get from JJ Redick to Kobe Bryant in only 3 steps?
October 29th, 2009 at 11:20 am
Ed The Sports Fan says:
I’m sorry, but JJ Redick’s ceiling is John Paxon/Steve Kerr.
Ok, I take that back, MAYBE Jeff Hornacek.
On second thought, no he’ll never be Hornacek.
-Ed.
October 29th, 2009 at 11:33 am
randomized says:
rolf @ 1
Redick is really ‘cumming’ into his own (hand) because of his stroke
October 29th, 2009 at 11:59 am
srb says:
Dime that’s an old picture, no? Looks like that failure of a synthetic ball they tried a few seasons ago.
October 29th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
star_bury says:
@ srb
Another clue could be that Dahntay Jones is wearing a Memphis uni.
October 29th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
Diego says:
Nice interview, with good honest, solid answers by Reddick.
Paxson/Kerr comparison @ post 6 is good. If he can hit that ceiling, that wouldn’t be bad. (Just don’t let him manage any teams when he retires!)
Reddick gets bashed but he will get some tick and fill his role with the Magic.
October 29th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
Drew S says:
The Kobe reference is a reach, I think that it comes to recognizing your limits as a player. That being said he will never have the physical tallent/ability to dominate a game on both ends like Kobe can. He recognizes that he does one thing and one thing well, shoot, that is no indicator of his desire to win.
I don’t understand why people had such negative, unrealistic views of this guy coming out of college when he himself was proclaiming that his role was going to dramatically change once he entered the league. People think HE THOUGHT he was gonna come in and score twenty+ a game like in college when he knew that was way unrealistic. I think people just wanted to project their misconceptions on him at the next level.
October 29th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
Bill Walton says:
How the hell would he know? If anything the road to the finals won’t be too difficult for him. HE RIDES PINE ALL DAY. How difficult could that possibly be?
October 29th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
Pet Society Help says:
Great white hope.
October 29th, 2009 at 10:37 pm
Smithy says:
When i mention kobe i meant his work ethic, nothing more …just comparing work ethic.
October 29th, 2009 at 10:39 pm
Smithy says:
and attitude …lol