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Clippers’ J.J. Redick is hotter than ever already

By Tom West

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J.J. Redick had the best season of his career with the Los Angeles Clippers in 2014-15, and now he’s off to a ridiculously hot start to his 2015-16 campaign. From the way he tirelessly moves off-ball to his stellar shooting stroke, Redick couldn’t be doing much better after three games. More importantly, his performance has helped the Clippers jump out to a 3-0 start.

After averaging career-highs in points per game (16.7), field goal percentage (47.7), three point percentage (43.7), effective field goal percentage (54.6) and made three pointers (200), Redick had the highest scoring output of his career at his most efficient rate yet last season. He was a nightmare as a trailing shooter in transition, out-run defenders through screens and movement around the perimeter, and was a constant threat in catch and shoot situations or in high-screen handoffs.

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This season, he may not be able to top 16.7 points per game with the amount of depth the Clippers added over the summer. However, that depth can also create more distraction from Redick when they’re on the floor together, and with Chris Paul still at his best and Blake Griffin continually improving as facilitator, Redick can definitely recreate the same efficiency.

So, even though it’s been just three games and Redick won’t be able to maintain such accurate shooting, his performance thus far is still worthy of recognition. Besides Griffin dominating with 32 points on 64.4 percent shooting, 9 rebounds and 4 assists per game, Redick’s play is a key factor why the Clippers have been able to start their season strong.

And his ridiculous shooting numbers are the reason why. Let’s take a look.

First off, his catch and shoot accuracy has been exceptional. In an instant, Redick can make opponents suffer for leaving him open when the Clippers’ guards pass him the ball or Griffin sends the ball back out to him from the post. On such shots, Redick is shooting 63.6 percent so far. For some early season context, that places him far above elite shooters like Kevin Durant (55.6) and Bradley Beal (53.3).

Again, it’s incredibly early days. But that still doesn’t take away from the kind of killer shooting that Redick can deliver on any given night.

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Even when creating his shot, he’s still shooting 50 percent on his pull-up attempts. When necessary, Redick is underrated when it comes to creating his own shot on short dribble possessions. If he turns away from a screen and hand-off from Griffin or DeAndre Jordan, Redick can easily take a few steps before pulling-up with excellent efficiency from mid-range. His ability to make 51.1 percent of his shots from 16-24 feet out last season made him a deadly weapon in those kind of situations, and he’s at it again now.

To go back to the simple numbers to put that catch and shoot and pull-up shooting together, Redick has an overall field goal percentage of 58.6 percent with a ridiculous three point mark of 54.5 percent.

Finally, to take all of his shooting into account with one statistic, his effective field goal percentage is a ridiculous 69 percent. He’s simply been killing the opposition from range so far, and has put up 16.7 points per game to prove it. That kind of early impact alongside the dominance of Griffin is a key reason why the Clippers have an offensive rating of 105.7 so far while scoring 109.7 points per game.

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If Redick can maintain or even improve on the same kind of efficiency he had last season, he’ll continue to cause nightmares for opponents. He moves constantly and makes almost every shot count when he lets the ball fly.

Unsurprisingly, Redick’s going to be a vital factor in allowing the Clippers to assert themselves as the league’s best offensive team. And the start of his season couldn’t be going any better for him.

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