Read this and tell me you still want Redick?

Sounds like he's physically just like Novak and he's a headcase on top of it.


http://www.jjredick.net/index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1202668336&archive=&start_from=&ucat=&

J.J. Redick wants more than to survive
The ex-Duke star misses playing the game as he spends most of his NBA time on the Magic's bench.

Brian Schmitz
Sentinel Staff Writer
February 10, 2008

No one really knows J.J. Redick as a pro basketball player for the Orlando Magic. How could we? Punxsutawney Phil, the celebrated groundhog, seemingly makes more appearances to see his shadow.

You might know even less about Jonathan Clay Redick off the court, despite the love-hate fanfare from his Duke days.

"There's part of me, deep down, that wants to, like, give up everything, go live on an island and just survive," Redick says. "Or maybe I'd just want to grow my beard out and go backpacking in South America."

Redick plans to travel abroad to find playing time if the NBA ultimately rejects him -- as long asStan Van Gundy or Brian Hill aren't planning to trek through Peru, too.

Although as revered and reviled as any star in college basketball history, Redick is something of a loner.

He often has had a need to get away from the human race, even during his best days as a Blue Devils icon and certainly now when DNP-CD (Did Not Play -- Coach's Decision) constantly appears next to his name in a box score.

He admits to suffering from separation anxiety. He's coping without having the full force of the game in his life, a feeling that, he says, "fills me with a sense of despair" and recently led him to question whether it was worth coming to practice.

This is the J.J. Redick that even Jonathan Clay Redick doesn't know.

He has tried to turn off the thoughts racing through his head as an outsized, decorated past dwarfs and mocks his present predicament. The embarrassing reminders come in each lopsided game when sympathetic Magic fans chant "We want J.J!," as if he's the NBA's version of "Rudy."

Redick has taken up golf mainly to spend hours in the great outdoors. He'll leap into a book, such as Into The Wild, to escape his burning frustration, which recently boiled over into a trade request.

Redick became obsessed with Into The Wild and inspired bySean Penn's adaptation of it to film. He encouraged his parents and friends to read the book, which details the story of Chris McCandless, a 22-year-old college grad who gives up a life of privilege to traipse through the Alaskan wilderness in a homeless journey of self-discovery.

Redick, 23, can identify with the central character who -- instead of chasing success -- is learning survival.

"I think that's why I got into that book. The idea of being on the road, by yourself, not relying on anyone else . . . . having that challenge," he says.

Bright, likable and as cocksure as Atlantic Coast Conference boo-birds remember him, Redick is more introspective than your average jock looking for professional and personal security in a simple game.

Not that he can't revert to that same kid who played driveway basketball hours on end. Would he still feel like growing out his beard and exploring the wild if he were playing regularly for the Magic? He bolts up from his sub sandwich with a sheepish grin.

"That's what my mom asks me," he says, laughing. "I'm like, 'Uhhhhhhhhhhh . . . ' "

Redick had just finished practice atRDV Sportsplex, which now passes as his big stage. He hit nearly every jumper he launched in a scrimmage made up mostly of reserves. He scored 14 of his team's 16 points, a dazzling display that would have caused Redick disciples to storm Van Gundy's office demanding he play.

His skill has not transferred to game nights for a second season, causing critics to label the Magic's first-round 2006 pick a bust.

He played in 42 games last season and averaged six points, battling injuries. After a stellar summer-league showing and a hopeful preseason, he has gone backward, playing in just 21 of the Magic's 52 games so far and averaging just 3.6 points. The idea was to have Redick -- the ACC's all-time scoring leader -- make teams pay for double-teaming centerDwight Howard, but he has 25 DNP-CDs this season. He missed six games with back spasms.

"I didn't expect to start my rookie year, but I expected to be in the rotation," he says. "This year, I thought I'd play a lot, I really did. Especially talking with Stan all summer and how I played. He told me, 'You did nothing but improve yourself in my eyes.' "

Redick then saw a rerun of last season unfolding. The Magic acquired another shooting guard, Maurice Evans, from theLos Angeles Lakers in late November -- a trade that moved Redick to the bottom of the depth chart.

"It became abundantly clear to me early on that I was not going to be in the rotation. I didn't want to waste another year, and I feel like that's kind of what's happening," he says.

It is here where Redick wants it made abundantly clear that he's "not a whiner or a complainer," adding, "I'm playing on a good team. I feel very fortunate for that. At the same time, this is my livelihood, and I have to be on the court to feel any sense of fulfillment, I guess."

Van Gundy respects Redick's ability but says Evans andKeith Bogans are better defenders and rebounders. And with Howard, Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu providing enough offense, there's no need for another shooter.

"I think J.J.'s future is a good one because there's not much I don't like about him," Van Gundy says. "The questions about his defense will always remain."

One longtime league scout says, "What did they think they were getting with J.J when they drafted him? He can shoot the eyes out of it, but he'll never be a great defender."

Says Redick, "I really wish I could just be like, 'All right, I'm going to work on my defense.' I wish it was that simple, like, 'I'm going to become quicker, longer, more athletic.' But I can work on my defense and all that stuff if that's the reason I'm not playing. I told Stan this, and I completely disagree with him on the defense thing. We've had discussions about that -- not heated discussions, either. Coach-to-player discussions.

"I think he understands my side of it, and I think I understand his side."

Van Gundy says that Redick's runaway success at Duke, where he played all four seasons and became as recognizable as any NBA player, distorts the reality of his life as a pro.

"He's not even like most other lottery picks," Van Gundy says. "I get more questions about J.J. Redick than I do Hedo, Rashard and Dwight. I'm not surprised by it, and I understand where it comes from. It's out of whack. It's like there's this perception that every No. 11 pick should be playing 25 minutes a game on a good team in their second year in the league. But that's not the history of this league. Because of him being who he is, it makes it tougher from a perspective standpoint."

It was around New Year's Day that Redick decided he needed to be traded elsewhere to get a chance. "That's the first time I can remember the trade word coming up," he says.

General ManagerOtis Smith told Redick and his agent, Arn Tellem, that the Magic weren't about to deal him without exploiting his promise, advising J.J. to be patient.

"If Otis was ever like, 'All right, I'm going to trade you,' I know it would be hard to do during the season," Redick says. "I'll just see what happens this offseason. I expect to be here to the end of this season. I've come to that reality. But this offseason, we're going to have to start discussing things. They have the option to pick up my fourth year. Personally, I don't know why they would. The business side of it, my future will have to be discussed between me and Otis and Arn."

He adds, cryptically, "I'm looking at next year, and I see myself in the same situation if I'm in Orlando."

Redick was handling his situation as best he could until a few weeks ago, "where I was, man, saying, 'Why am I busting my butt every day . . . for nothing?'

"I don't feel right unless I do something. I have to play hard. It's a battle to keep a positive attitude. My dad has always preached to me since I was a little kid the power of having a positive mind-set. Besides God and family, basketball's the most important thing in my life, and to kind of not have it . . . it fills me with a sense of despair. That's what I feel right now."

Redick keeps himself going "competing against myself" during shooting drills and in the weight room. And incredibly, the player who has a how-to shooting video on the market says, "I think I've become a better shooter since I left college."

He still clings to that shooter's confidence because "part of it is who I am. I know I've put in the work. I know there's going to be a time when I'm going to have an opportunity, and I know I'm going to need that confidence.

"I think part of it is like a survival thing. I know I have to hold on to that in order to get through this."

Copyright � 2008, Orlando Sentinel

 

LOL Novak for Redick. It'd be a wash. Neither one of them can play defense and both have a killer shot.

 

Wow, what a stellar shooting percentage.

 

LOL and then you have this funny quote from Van Gundy on D'Antoni's use of his bench.

“Who do you want him to play?” Van Gundy said, incredulously. “(Eric) Piatkowski? (Sean) Marks? D.J. Strawberry? Are you kidding me?

“Now if you had said Marcus Banks (before he was traded to Miami) I might have said ‘OK, you paid money and you had a part in the evaluation of getting him as the coach.’ Maybe he should have played. But when (Steve) Nash bloodied his nose last year (in Game 1 against the Spurs), was anybody saying ‘Marcus Banks hasn’t been playing. That’s what got in our way?’ No.

“So who should he develop? Alando Tucker? You’re going to tell me that a late-first rounder’s development is critical to the Suns winning a championship this year?

“I think the Suns do develop their players. Nash went from being a really good point guard to being an MVP. Shawn Marion went from being a pretty good forward to an All-Star. Amaré Stoudemire went from being a pretty good player to being a great player … Who haven’t they developed? A bunch of (expletive) on the end of the bench? Those guys can’t play in the NBA in a playoff series. They do what they’re supposed to do. Be enthusiastic and be great on the bench.”

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/114949

Somethings are just as constant as the Sun rising in the morning and setting in the evening.

 

That's my opinion. I think Reddick and Novak are basically a wash. Shooter for Shooter. Bad Defender for Bad Defender. I think they might have some differences because of the positions they play but I don't think either has that much upside. Who knows..though..anything is possible and maybe they will be late bloomers. I think it more likely that they follow the footsteps of IU guard Steve Alford.