SB Nation - J.J. Redick

Orlando Magic News for December 10th: Dwight Howard and Vince Carter Could Start in the All-Star Game

Ben Q Rock — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 21:00:25 -0000

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NBA.com: Kobe in West, D-Wade in East take lead in All-Star voting
The NBA released the first returns in its All-Star balloting and the Orlando Magic have done well so far. Center Dwight Howard, who set a record for total votes received last year, is again in line to start this year; he leads Shaquille O'Neal, his next closest competitor, by more than 400,000 votes. Meanwhile, Vince Carter is in line to start at guard, second at the position only to the Heat's Dwyane Wade, who leads all vote-getters in the Eastern Conference. Carter leads Gilbert Arenas is big, but not insurmountable, at just under 80,000 votes.

Rashard Lewis ranks 10th among Eastern forwards. Jameer Nelson, the other Magic player on the ballot, did not appear in the early results. Naturally, none of this damages their chances of actually playing in the game...
Chat: John Hollinger
...because as John Hollinger explains, the coaches--who select the reserves--tend to reward good teams by allotting more roster spots to their players.

Likely East All-Star team is Wade, [Chris] Bosh, LeBron [James] and nine players from the Celtics, Magic and Hawks.
MAGIC: Denton: Lack of Respect Motivates Magic
I enjoyed J.J. Redick's perspective on the Magic's lack of respect, which has become a fairly tired subject.
"Around the league I think we’re well respected, especially among players and coaches who know the game of basketball," Magic reserve guard J.J. Redick said. "We have three legitimate superstars and four really when Jameer (Nelson) is healthy. But we’re a small market and we’re not L.A., we’re not New York and we don’t have LeBron James.

"We’re starting to get some attention, but we don’t set out for that. We just want to win," Redick continued. "I think we’d rather be called the best team in June than the best team on Dec. 9th."
#13 Orlando Magic
Forbes.com rates the Magic as the NBA's 13th-most-valuable franchise. I found this fact particularly interesting:

This [sic] Magic's run to the finals last season, where they were defeated by the Lakers, boosted their bottom line by $5 million. The extra loot from the postseason will come in handy as the team awaits its new building, the Amway Center, scheduled to open in the fall of 2010.

It's also nice to see that the franchise has increased in value each year since 2002, and in revenue since 2004.
Stephen Jackson fits in with Bobcats, Larry Brown
Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated writes about Magic backup point guard Jason Williams, pushed into starting duty due to Nelson's knee injury. Williams came out of a year-long retirement to sign with Orlando in August.

"Sometimes when you have a long career you like it and you appreciate it, but I think it goes to another level when you have a year off," said Magic coach Stan Van Gundy. "He really wanted to come back. The thing we liked with him, which is a lot like what we liked with Rafer [Alston] last year, is that we had a pretty good confidence level that if needed, he could play big minutes. He just always had one of those motors that he could go a long time."
Rafer Alston rips New Jersey Nets, winning streak halted at one as Golden State Warriors romp
Alston is not happy with his teammates in New Jersey, to which Orlando dealt him in a package to obtain Carter and Ryan Anderson. In short order, Alston went from starting for an NBA Finalist to backing up the worst team in the league.

After the Nets took a 105-89 pounding from the Warriors last night at the Meadowlands, Nets reserve Rafer Alston blasted his teammates for not sticking together through the tough times.

[....] But what especially rankled Alston last night was seeing teammates fail to pull for each other before an announced crowd of 10,005 at the Meadowlands.

Alston would not have been happy here backing up Nelson, but clearly he's unhappy in New Jersey as well. The middle ground would be for the Nets to trade him to a team that needs a point guard, most obviously Alston's hometown New York Knicks. But because Devin Harris and Keyon Dooling, the Nets' other point guards, have nagging injuries, the Nets will likely hang on to Alston's expiring deal.
Fun With Numbers and Venn Diagrams - Hornets247.com
UPDATE: Ryan Schwan of Hornets 247 attempts to categorize point guards using a series of Venn Diagrams. It's interesting to see where Nelson (the scorer) and Williams (the distributor) land here.

Orlando Magic 97, Los Angeles Clippers 86

Ben Q Rock — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 07:32:59 -0000

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Dwight Howard's stellar all-around play keyed the Orlando Magic's 8th consecutive road win tonight as they defeated the host Los Angeles Clippers, 97-88. On his 24th birthday, Howard tallied 25 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, and a season-high 7 blocked shots, leading Orlando in all 5 of those categories. He also shot 7-of-10 from the field and 11-of-15 at the foul line. His brilliance took the spotlight away from Vince Carter, Rashard Lewis, and Jason Williams, the other Magic players to score in double-figures. Lewis and Williams hit 4 three-pointers apiece and Orlando drilled 14 as a team. Second-year shooting guard Eric Gordon led L.A. with 21 points on 12 shots, while point guard Baron Davis traded poor shooting (7-of-19, 18 points) for solid playmaking (11 assists, 0 turnovers) which helped keep the Clippers in the game.

Team	Pace	Efficiency	eFG%	FT Rate	OReb%	TO Rate
Magic	88	109.8	54.9%	26.8	19.4	19.2
Clippers	93	92.0	43.5%	14.1	19.6	13.9
Green denotes a stat better than the team's season average; red denotes a stat worse than the team's season average.

Tonight's contest followed a pattern that we've seen from this Magic team in recent years: it jumps out to an early lead, the opponent grinds back into contention in the two middle periods, only for the Magic to shut its offense down in the fourth period. The Magic's frequent turnovers, especially in the second quarter, led to easy transition baskets for the Clippers. In a halfcourt setting, though, their offense didn't muster much against Orlando. The Magic assigned small forward Mickael Pietrus to cover Davis, which took away his driving lanes. The crossmatch forced either Williams or Anthony Johnson to cover Gordon, who looked to post up in order to exploit the mismatch. This strategy worked for a bit, but the biggest factor in limiting the Clippers' offense was Howard's defense on Chris Kaman, an unheralded player in his seventh year posting All-Star-caliber numbers here in the early going. Kaman took 22 shots, the most of any Clipper, but Howard limited him to 8 makes, for 16 points. Excellent work by Howard, who was not whistled for a defensive foul at all, in 43 minutes of work.

Kaman did have his moments defensively, ending the Magic's first 3 possessions of the second quarter with a block and consecutive steals, including an impressive deflection of a Matt Barnes alley-oop intended for Howard. This came after Howard scored 12 points in the first period. From the second quarter on the Clippers' defense adjusted, sending quick double-teams at Howard and daring the Magic's outside shooters to beat them. This strategy worked, to a certain extent. Howard didn't make another field goal until the fourth quarter, and the Magic shot 8-of-26 on three-pointers after a blazing, 6-of-8 start in the first quarter. Orlando won this game with its defense, without question.

To be fair, an extraordinary number of the Magic's shots bounced out after going halfway down; the unkind rim victimized J.J. Redick twice in the first half alone.

Credit the Clippers' defense for holding the Magic to 39 points in the second and third quarters after surrendering 34 in the first quarter alone. Orlando's turnovers and L.A.'s own deft passing on the perimeter helped them surmount what had been a 13-point Magic lead midway through the second quarter. With Kaman's post game neutralized, the Clippers had to rely on Gordon, Davis, and Al Thornton to score with a jumper or a drive to the hoop. Howard's help defense down low challenged numerous shots--and he blocked 7 others, remember--so the game would ultimately come down to whether or not the Clippers could get hot from midrange and beyond.

No such luck. DeAndre Jordan gave the Clippers their last lead at 69-68 with a dunk at the 2:55 mark of the third. The Clippers didn't mak another field goal until the 7:24 mark of the fourth, on a Thornton dunk after he rebounded his own miss. Prior to that dunk, Orlando had gone on a 14-2 to wrest momentum away from L.A.

I'm not sure what the big takeaway from tonight's game is; these sorts of wins (not to be confused with "wins" in general) have become sort-of routine. Enjoy Howard's growth, Lewis' sharpshooting, and Williams' efficient play (16 points on 11 shots, 3 assists, no turnovers), and the knowledge that you're watching a Magic team that just improved to 17-4 for the best start in franchise history.

Poll: Which Member of the Orlando Magic Had the Best Day Off Yesterday?

Ben Q Rock — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 07:08:39 -0000

This morning's edition of the Orlando Sentinel includes this great story--the first in a series, evidently--by Brian Schmitz about how the Orlando Magic spent their downtime in Los Angeles yesterday in anticipation of tonight's matchup with the Clippers. A fun, fun, fun read.

Please vote for your favorite revelation in the poll below.

Poll

Which Member of the Orlando Magic Had the Best Day Off Yesterday?

Orlando Magic News for December 7th: Big-Time Recognition, Big-Time Upsets, and More

Ben Q Rock — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 22:00:37 -0000

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Orlando Magic just keeps winning
The Orlando Magic relish their underdog status--whether or not any team coming off an NBA Finals appearance can possibly consider itself an underdog is up for debate--and tend to not get as much respect as Boston, Cleveland, or the L.A. Lakers; I refer you to the third bullet in this post for Eddy's refresher. So when Mark Heisler of the Los Angeles Times headlines his weekly NBA column with a positive spin on the Magic, it's news.

Little noted among their "controversies," they have something special beneath [Stan] Van Gundy's lapses in nurturing: the best inside-outside game since Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant.

[Dwight] Howard is the game's hardest matchup, so quick at 6-11, 260 that he often puts the other center on the bench with two fouls in three possessions.

There's no Kobe, but the Lakers never had seven players making 34% of their threes, with four over 40% ([Jameer] Nelson, Jason Williams, Mickael Pietrus, J.J. Redick).

There's plenty more to enjoy at the link.
The 25 Biggest Playoff Series Upsets, 1991-2009
Neil Paine of Basketball-Reference attempts to calculate the most surprising playoff upsets since 1991, using a combination of Statistical Plus-Minus and Simple Rating. The data show that the Magic should have been heavily favored--the stats gave 'em a 77.5% chance of winning!--in the 2008 Eastern Conference Semifinals against Detroit, yet the Pistons took the series in five games. Happier news to Magic fans is where their upset of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2009 Eastern Conference Finals ranks.
Throwing cash into the stands
Matt Barnes' recent $20,000 fine for throwing the game ball into the Amway Arena seats after the Magic's 99-98 loss to the Miami Heat two weeks ago prompted Van Gundy to wonder if Barnes would have been better off tossing money instead. Ian Ayres of The New York Times examines the possibility in greater detail.

Actually throwing money into the stands might cause a riot. But you could imagine a team keeping some cash on hand at courtside to let players, who were about to commit a finable offense, bypass the NBA middleman and give the fine directly to some designated recipient. Instead of throwing a ball into the stands, Barnes could have ceremonially and publicly deposited cash into a courtside forfeiture drawer — with the money going to charity or to rebate part of the ticket prices.

Hat tip: TrueHoop
Most Improved NBA Player by Division
Jack Jensen of Dime Magazine names Williams the most improved player in the entire Southeast Division; Miami's Michael Beasley is the runner-up.

Jason Williams, Orlando Magic.

The Southeast division was the toughest for me to decide on—post below if you have a case for a guy—and Williams popped into my mind. Not because he has made the most improvement from his last season in the League, but because he has been just as surprising a find as anyone in the NBA this year. If only the NBA still had a Comeback POY award, White Chocolate would have to be near the top of the list. Williams is the Birdman of last year (Minus the two-year drug ban), after choosing to sit and utilize his League Pass subscription instead of playing during the 2008-09 season.

I don't believe any serious Most Improved Player discussion can omit Atlanta forward Josh Smith, who's a virtual lock for the All-Star game if he continues to play this well. Nonetheless, it's nice to see Williams get recognized for what's been a pleasantly surprising season.
Denton: Nelson Still the Starter
UPDATE: In news that should surprise no one, Van Gundy said Monday that Nelson will start at point guard once he's able to return from the knee injury that's sidelined him for the last three weeks. Williams will re-assume his backup role, and Anthony Johnson will play mop-up minutes.

Notes on two former Magic players after the jump.

Man in the Middle: A Look at Defending the Basket

Tom Haberstroh of HoopData looks at O'Neal's effect on the Cavaliers' defense.

Shaq spends more time on the bench in Cleveland so his effect on the team’s numbers should be muffled somewhat. Nevertheless, the Cavaliers have allowed about two fewer shots around the basket per game this season and their opponent field goal percentage in this zone has dipped from .577 to a league-low .550. Shaq may not offer much on the offensive end anymore but he still does a great impression of a wall.

Behind the Box Score, where the glasses aren't helping, Kiki

Kelly Dwyer says Courtney Lee might not be as great as some people make him out to be.

Also, I don't want to pick on the guy, but games like these are why people have to slow down regarding Courtney Lee. He played almost 40 minutes, and had his chances, but scored just four points while taking only five shots. Four turnovers, three assists, and five rebounds. The guy had a 10.7 PER last year at age 23, and was 24 entering this season. He's old, for a second year player, and hardly setting the world on fire (yes, I'm aware of the injuries).

This isn't to say he won't be a good rotation player and sometimes starter provided the situation is right, but this isn't the future borderline All-Star some TV guys would have you believe.

In the interest of equal time, here's Sebastian Pruiti's argument from last week that Lee has improved since last season, despite poor shooting percentages at the start of this season.

Breaking Down the Orlando Magic with Synergy Sports

erivera7 — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 13:00:42 -0000

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Ed. note: Fixed an error in the 'Isolation' table, as of 1:03 p.m. EST.

A little less than a month ago, I looked at the statistics for the Orlando Magic after the first 10 games in the regular season. The purpose of the write-up was to take a quick look at how some of the players on the Magic had performed at that point. I figured, now, it would be a good moment to examine the numbers for Orlando with 20 games elapsed this year. This time, I'll be looking at stats from Synergy Sports Technology. Specifically, data that is used by NBA teams.

For instance, sifting through Synergy will give you a nugget like this: the Magic rate "Excellent" in offense from the category of 'After Time Outs' (1.02 points per possession) with a percentile-based rank of 91% - statistics compared to the rest of the league, to be specific. So in this case, the numbers support the notion that head coach Stan Van Gundy does an excellent job of drawing up plays that convert into scores after timeouts.

Other nuggets of information are that Ryan Anderson does an excellent job of scoring off of offensive rebounds or that Brandon Bass is the only player on the roster, so far, who does better than average at defending post-ups.

Spot-Ups, Pick & Rolls, and Post-Ups

Excluding 'Transition' offense, the majority of the offensive plays for the Magic come from the categories of 'Spot-Up' (25%), 'Pick & Roll Ball Handler' (16%), and 'Post-Up' (15%). Orlando rates "Excellent" in 'Spot-Up' (1.06 points per possession) with a rank of 86%, "Very Good" in 'Pick & Roll Ball Handler (0.90 points per possession) with a rank of 78%, and "Average" in 'Post-Up' (0.85) points per possession) with a rank of 46% - granted, those are a ton of numbers to try to digest so let's break things down to try to make sense of all that information.

The Magic's offense is mostly known for its 4-out/1-in offensive sets and its pick & rolls, with both play-types having a number of variations to it. As such, it makes sense that Orlando would excel with its spot-up shooting because when Dwight Howard is in the post, he's the focus of the 4-out/1-in offensive set. Howard can go to himself on the offensive side of the ball or he can kick it out to one of the four shooters standing around the perimeter. One of them, then, can either attempt a shot or swing it around the perimeter. Because defenses are scrambling to cover everyone, if the ball movement is good, a player is bound to be open and have a good chance at making a bucket. Here's a list of Magic players and how each of them rates in the 'Spot-Up' category:

	Percentage of Time	Points Per Possession	Rank	Rating
Mickael Pietrus	17%	0.98	59%	Good
Matt Barnes	13%	0.54	5%	Poor
Rashard Lewis	13%	1.27	92%	Excellent
J.J. Redick	13%	1.12	79%	Very Good
Ryan Anderson	12%	0.95	54%	Good
Vince Carter	10%	1.16	83%	Excellent

Vince Carter, Jameer Nelson, or Jason Williams are the primary pick & roll ballhandlers. Usually the pick & roll is used so that one of the aforementioned players engages on offense and looks to score. Fairly self-explanatory. Even though J.J. Redick isn't listed, he excels in the pick & roll, with statistics comparable to Williams (1.07 points per possession, "Excellent", 90%). Here's a list of Magic players and how each of them rates in the 'Pick & Roll' category:

	Percentage of Time	Points Per Possession	Rank	Rating
Vince Carter	29%	1.04	84%	Excellent
Jameer Nelson	26%	0.97	67%	Very Good
Jason Williams	22%	1.06	88%	Excellent

Lastly, the post-up. More often than not, Howard will be posting up and it will be occurring, the majority of the time, within 4-out/1-in offensive sets. As has been mentioned before, Howard can go to himself on the offensive side of the ball and if he does, good things usually happen. Here's a list of Magic players and how each of them rates in the 'Post-Up' category:

	Percentage of Time	Points Per Possession	Rank	Rating
Dwight Howard	69%	0.97	64%	Good
Brandon Bass	10%	0.92	57%	Good

More after the jump.

Say No to Isos

For the Magic, the only play-types the team is "Average" in is 'Post-Up' (15%) and 'Isolation' (7%). That's it. In every other category, Orlando rates "Good" or higher. Isolations aren't not a strength (0.87 points per possession) for the Magic, given that the squad rates in the middle-of-the-pack in that category with a rank of 50% - thanks, mostly, to Nelson (see numbers below).

Even though Orlando can score in isolation if need be, it's not the prescribed manner by which Van Gundy wants the players to execute on offense. Inside-out, not one-on-one, is the mantra for the Magic on the offensive side of the ball (thus, working the basketball through the post can't be ignored). But if push comes to shove, again, there are individuals on the team who can create shots on their own. Van Gundy has said a number of times that the best teams in the NBA have at least one player who can get shots at will and to have someone like that on the Magic, particularly Carter, is good. Here's a list of Magic players and how each of them rates in the 'Isolation' category:

	Percentage of Time	Points Per Possession	Rank	Rating
Vince Carter	30%	1.00	81%	Very Good
Jameer Nelson	20%	0.74	25%	Below Average
Brandon Bass	10%	0.88	57%	Good

Pick & Rolls an Achilles' Heel on Defense, As Expected

Although the defense for the Magic has steadily improved since the start of the regular season, the defensive effort against the pick & roll could certainly improve. Last year, Orlando was one of the best squads in the Association at defending the pick & roll but this year, the Magic aren't doing as good of a job - giving up too many points (0.88 points per possession) and sporting a rank of 22%, which is "Below Average." The Los Angeles Lakers, by comparison, allow 0.78 points per possession, 61%, which falls in the "Good" strata.

The main issue, as Van Gundy told me at practice last week, has largely been the rotations. Three or four players will make the right rotation but one player will be a little bit late and the team is in trouble, as a result. When a squad like Orlando is incorporating a number of new faces to Van Gundy's defensive schemes, breakdowns like these will occur. It's inevitable. The key is looking for signs of improvement and look no further than the Magic's victory against the New York Knicks a few days ago, in which the team's pick & roll defense was excellent. Like Orlando's defensive efficiency, the pick & roll defense should improve as the regular season progresses. Here's a list of Magic players and how each of them rates in the 'Defending the Screener in a Pick & Roll' category:

	Percentage of Time	Points Per Possession	Rank	Rating
Jason Williams	29%	0.83	62%	Good
Jameer Nelson	20%	0.93	38%	Average
J.J. Redick	13%	1.10	14%	Poor
Mickael Pietrus	11%	1.00	25%	Below Average
Matt Barnes	10%	1.34	3%	Poor
Vince Carter	10%	0.77	75%	Very Good

As one can see, the issue hasn't been Howard or Marcin Gortat in defending the pick & roll, but rather the wing players for the Magic. In terms of individuals who were with Orlando last year, Pietrus and Redick aren't playing to their capabilities on the defensive side of the ball so their dip is a bit of a surprise.

Again, that aspect of the defense should improve as the regular season progresses.

Duke: Uniting College Sports Fans in Hate

aramnath — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:54:49 -0000

J.J. Redick loved the shocker when he was at Duke.

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After watching Wisconsin beat Duke and clinch the Big Ten-ACC Challenge for the Big Ten for the first time in the eleven year history of the challenge I got a warm, fuzzy feeling inside. Not because the Big Ten won, though that was part of it, but because Duke's loss sealed the victory.

Is there a more unifying experience in college sports than rooting against Duke's basketball team?? As a Michigan fan I have a steadfast dislike for everything from Ohio State, but there's no denying the amount of quality NFL players they have produced. Duke on the other hand is quite a different story.

I don't think any other team has produced the amount of gritty, emotional players, that just have those "intangibles" quite like Duke does. What's amazing is how well all their players have translated to the NBA. Oh wait, no they haven't.

For such a "powerhouse" college basketball program they have produced a grand total of zero greats and only two pretty good NBA players - Grant Hill and Elton Brand. On the other hand they produced some amazing poets (fast forward to 4:59)

While the Cameron Crazies are wild and do deserve love for camping out and going nuts at every game, we recently took a trip to Durham to see the biggest football game in the last 40 years for the Dukies, as they took on top 10 Ga Tech in what could have been a game where they actually put themselves in control of their own destiny for a BCS win.The video below was shot from the top of the stands and yet you can basically hear the calls on the field - keep in mind that at this point in the game Duke actually had a shocking 10-0 lead.

Of course they went on to get blown out 49-10, en route to losing their last 4 games in a row and yet another season without a bowl game - so maybe those Duke football fans just knew better than to show up.

The real question here is who the most hated Duke player of all time is? In recent history it was definitely J.J. Redick. Anybody that throws up the shocker (fast forward to 7:20) after making a big shot at UNC cements their place as one of the all-time hated Blue Devils. By the way he's going to make a rap album - cant wait for that gem to hit iTunes. More than Redick the Blue Devil I hated most was Greg Paulus.

Here is a guy that started three seasons at point guard for the Blue Devils, during which time we always heard about how much of a leader he was, how much he meant to the team and how he was also the No.1 quarterback recruit in the country. Well after three years of starting Coach K finally realized he sucked and benched him senior year. Then we had to hear about how much of a team player he was for not complaining when he got benched. And, yet somehow as he was the QB of the 'Cuse this year we sort of rooted for him - proving its not the man, its the college.

It gets tricky though as you look back through the years. They've just had so many d-bags grace their program. Christian Laettner was one and then Cherokee Parks came after him. Then there was Dunleavy who became a No. 3 overall pick in the 2002 NBA Draft and Josh McRoberts who at one time was being called a less, athletic version of Chris Webber, which makes all that "Baby Jordan" talk for Harold Minor sound legit - I mean at least he won a dunk contest.

There's so many players to choose from. Which Blue Devil do you hate more than any other?

Poll

Which Duke player do you hate the most?

Off-Day Open Thread: Where Dedication Happens

Ben Q Rock — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:00:37 -0000

Last night, Eddy Rivera covered the Orlando Magic's game against the New York Knicks for us. The word "cover" doesn't really do it justice; I mean, he was all over that game, mostly because he loves doing it, but partly because it was his last chance to cover a game or practice live for a while. Going out with a bang, as the saying goes.

And bang he did. A ton of quotes from six players after the game, a recap, coach Stan Van Gundy's pre-game media session, and a report from the previous day's practice. That practice also afforded him the opportunity to chat with J.J. Redick for a while, which produced an interview worthy of publication in any legitimate hoops media outlet you care to name.

This is what Eddy does, because he wants to make a living of it. The reason he's leaving Orlando is so he can get his graduate degree in journalism from Northwestern. He has to leave now, a few weeks before the term starts, to get settled. In his last few months of relative freedom, he wrote countless stories and comments; conducted several interviews; made some nifty graphics (like this one) in Photoshop; and pored over scads of data; all for free, while scheduling his late-night, part-time job around the Magic's calendar. And while having to pay $10 a night to park his car at the games he covered. Totally and utterly selfless, and all so we might better appreciate Marcin Gortat's production relative to his contract, or understand how Magic history might have been different if Grant Hill's left ankle weren't made of duct tape and balsa sticks.

In the practice report linked above, Eddy mentioned that he would in fact be taking a lesser role with the site as he moves forward with his post-graduate education. He received an outpouring of thanks from the community, so perhaps this post is redundant. I just wanted to reiterate that Eddy's absolutely killed it for us since last December, for no money at all. This site could not have grown as it has over the last year (traffic is up more than 500% since last November) without his help, and I wish him the best as he moves on.

J.J. Redick: Seven Questions for Number Seven on the Orlando Magic

erivera7 — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 12:00:50 -0000

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A hard worker, a professional, a rapper.

Okay, maybe the last designation is a bit much (funny, nonetheless), but the first two labels are accurate descriptions of J.J. Redick, an individual for the Orlando Magic that has worked his tail off to be in the position that he is today.

Whether it's been on the practice court or in the weight room, Redick has paid his dues after the past couple of years. Although one looks at his fellow peers from the 2006 NBA Draft, players like Adam Morrison, Shelden Williams, Patrick O'Bryant, and a bevy of others who have struggled to receive playing time or remain in the league, J.J. has remained relevant in the NBA and has become an integral role player on a championship-caliber team. It took a while, and general manager Otis Smith prescribed patience with Redick - who was frustrated with a lack of playing time in the past - as he attempted to break into the Magic's rotation, but here he is. Helping Orlando win.

Not bad.

When looking at the statistics, one has to be impressed with how efficient J.J. has performed on offense so far this season - TS% (60.5%), eFG% (56.6%), and an Offensive Rating of 123. All career-highs and excellent numbers. Granted, it's early but it's encouraging for Redick to see the stats one figured he would be producing when he left Duke University (likewise, it seemed possible he had the potential to do so this year).

Because he is contributing on defense, diversifying his game on offense, passing the ball without turning it over, and more, J.J. has turned into an asset for the Magic. More importantly, he's gained head coach Stan Van Gundy's trust over a period of time (see the 2009 NBA Playoffs).

The following transcript is a one-on-one conversation I had with J.J. Redick after practice was over yesterday, in which I asked him seven questions on a number of topics.

Click after the jump.

You're averaging career-highs across the board, how much does that mean to you to know that the hard work you've been putting in these past few years is paying off?

It feels good to be in the rotation. I think that's the most important thing for me is playing every night, doing my job contributing, whether I play 10 minutes or 30 minutes and I think I've done that just about every game. It's been a positive. I can't get too caught up in numbers, I mean, we're 18 games into the year so I'm not really worried about that but if anything, I look at shooting percentages. I don't care about points or anything. That's going to fluctuate throughout the season, that's just depends on minutes so if I'm shooting the ball well and contributing defensively and with passing and stuff, then I feel good about my game.

Have you seen a difference in terms of how defenders are guarding you? I know that you're taking it off the dribble more this year and trying to attack the basket, have you see a change in terms of how they're trying to approach you?

It's different every night. A lot of it has to do with just other team's schemes. I mean, a lot of stuff that I'm getting now is with pick and rolls and stuff and so every team is different, some teams show, some teams zone, some teams push the ball down the baseline. We generally talk about it before the game, what that team is going to do and then I know how to attack. If I'm in the game with Vince [Carter], obviously I'm not afforded as many opportunities, but when he's out of the game, lately I've been getting a lot of pick and rolls and even some plays called for me so I just look to be really aggressive. Going in, I have a good idea, a good sense of how I'm going to play.

When you go into the game, is there a role that you're trying to fulfill? Are you trying to score, trying to defend, trying to move the ball?

I'm trying to win. *laughs*

That's the most important thing to me. I really do think that ... actually, me and my dad were having a conversation last night, he's in town, and we were talking about different guys in the league, guys I've played with in the past, guys I've played with in college. I turned to him and said, 'Dad, do you know what's the hardest thing to do in the NBA is?' and he said, 'What?' and I said, 'Win.'

You can play for a bad team, you can score and put up numbers. It's hard to be on a good team because there's not many of them that win consistently. I think that's what I'm most proud of, that's what I try to do. I look at my plus/minus every night and I want it to be in the positives. I know that Stan [Van Gundy] looks at that, too. It's not the tell-all obviously because it depends on who you're playing against and who you're out there with, but I want my unit, whether I'm playing with [Marcin Gortat] and [Jason Williams] and Ryan Anderson or whether I'm playing with Rashard [Lewis] and Vince, I want that unit to win when I'm out there.

You talk about the numbers and I know that Stan is big with that. Does he try to give, whether it's Dwight [Howard], or you, or anybody else the numbers and tell you what you've been doing, what you can improve on, and such?

Yeah, in the past, yeah, we've discussed it. Two of our biggest focuses are always rebounding and turnovers. He kind of sets goals for everybody based on turnovers per minute, rebounds per minute, a lot of it depends on how much you have the ball in your hands, how much you play, and throughout the year he brings up those numbers in team meetings and yeah, we want to reach those goals.

You talk about winning, you've dealt with injuries, illnesses, suspensions, fines, pretty much everything you can think of. How much does it say to you about the team that you're 14-4, despite all that?

Well, I like our group. I think good teams become an extension of their coach and I think we've become a resilient group. I think Stan is still pleading with us to have more focus and more energy, which I think on a nightly basis we can improve on, regardless of who's in the lineup.

You got the rap group going, you won the Iron Magic belt, how much fun are you having this year?

Yeah, it's been good. I think this is my fourth year with the team and I'm a little bit older now, I've settled down a bit, I'm more comfortable with myself, so all the other stuff is just fun but I think with the conversations I've had with Otis [Smith], Stan, and even with a lot of my Duke coaches the past couple summers, it's just about being a professional, and being a pro, and coming to work every day. It's something I've learned to do.

On the road, is there anything that you guys do aside from basketball, that you try to do as a team?

Well, I think everybody is different and I think everybody has a routine. You got to respect guys' routine. I think if anybody said 'we're having a team dinner,' there would be a mutiny. You got to respect guys' routine. I know for me, I'm a pretty low-key guy, so I order room service, sometimes I go to dinner alone. This year, I usually go to dinner with Ryan [Anderson] and J-Will, last year I went to dinner with Adonal [Foyle] if I did go with somebody.

Personally me, I wouldn't like it if we all 13 of us went out to dinner, it'd be a scene. I don't want a scene. *laughs*

I just want to go have a low-key [dinner], focus in on what I go to do the next day.

Practice Report: Stan Van Gundy Comments on a Variety of Topics, Including Jason Williams' Defense; Dwight Howard Chats About Depth

erivera7 — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 22:33:15 -0000

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The Orlando Magic are 14-4 with the best record in the Eastern Conference, at this point, but head coach Stan Van Gundy (and the players) are not content because they understand the season is lengthy. Things change. As such, it's no surprise that Van Gundy was bemoaning the pick and roll defense after practice was over earlier this afternoon because he's looking for improvement in that area - not only against the New York Knicks tomorrow, but for the remainder of the year. Stan wasn't shy to praise Jason Williams' effort on the defensive side of the ball, though (validating what the numbers have said, so far).

I was able to speak with Stan amongst the media, as well as Dwight Howard.

Here's what they had to say:

Stan Van Gundy:

How's the pick and roll defense looking?

*laughs*

It didn't look much better today than it did on Sunday so we'll keep going, we'll keep working on it.

What's the biggest thing you're working on to improve with that?

Well, I mean, we just got to ... it really requires five guys and we'll get three or four, maybe, making the right rotations and stuff on a play. One guy is a little bit late and you're in trouble. We just got to keep working and getting better on it and we will continue to. We still got tomorrow to work on it, really the whole year. I mean, we got to get better.

Do you think you're getting better balance lately on offense, with Dwight Howard and the inside-out game?

Well, I thought we did a good job on the road trip of getting him the basketball and playing from the inside-out a little bit more so some nights it's harder than others, to get him shots, based on how people play but we should be able to get him the ball more. We worked on some things today to try to improve that and we will continue to but I thought we did a much, much better job on the road trip.

How much is it a luxury to have not just one stretch four, but two, on your roster?

I think it helps us in that we can play more minutes at the same style. What we had the first two years here is basically when Rashard [Lewis] came out of the game, we did a little bit of it with Brian Cook, but he wasn't playing a lot so we weren't really able to stay with that style of play so you really had to learn two different styles, play two different styles. It makes it a little easier, I think with our guys, with Ryan [Anderson].

You've talked about J-Will's assist-to-turnover ratio, what's impressed you the most about him so far this season?

Well, that's been good, the fact that he's turning the ball over once every 30 minutes, which is really impressive for a point guard, but I think more than that, just his energy and I think the surprising thing a little bit has been how hard he's been competing defensively. I think he's a guy that's never been known for his defense, and I'm not ready to nominate him for the All-Defensive team, but he's competed hard defensively. I think he's out there working his butt off on every possession.

More after the jump (including a J.J. Redick teaser).

Dwight Howard:

Could you talk a little bit about the team's depth? I know you guys have been dealing with injuries, illnesses, and some other stuff.

Well, we understand that during the season, there's going to be guys out with injuries and sicknesses or whatever but as a team, we got to remains strong when those guys do go out. It's tough when you have some good players, our key players miss games because of injury or illness, but coach [Stan Van Gundy] does a great job of just firing up our team when others are down.

Stan talks about the importance of playing inside-out. Do you think you guys have been playing with better balance lately?

Well, we understand as a team what we got to do to win. We have to play inside-out to be successful. We can't really rely just on our three-point shooting because there's going to be nights where we don't shoot the ball well so one thing that we can do, besides defense, is get the ball in the paint. Whether that's driving in the paint and kicking out for open shots or post-ups.

Do you expect a different gameplan from the New York Knicks tomorrow, in terms of looks and what they're going to throw at you?

Both teams are going to have different game-plans, I know we are. We didn't do a great job on the pick and roll and we're going to come back with a better plan than that so we're going to have a different gameplan. I'm pretty sure they are too but we can't make any excuses but we didn't have a lot of time to get ready for New York the way we wanted to because of the back-to-back so we got a day off, we got another day just to get ourselves ready and focused on what we're going to do so you'll probably see much better defensive effort out of us.

Odds and Ends:

Unfortunately, this will be my last practice report and tomorrow will be my last game I cover for a while. I'm going to be flying back up to Chicago this weekend to start preparing for grad school at Northwestern University so I won't be able to continue to post practice reports, post-game media availabilities, or recaps for the foreseeable future. Duty calls - namely, my journalism education (don't worry, I'll still be posting for the site). Luckily, Ben will start picking things up where I left off relatively soon.

The good news is that I will be able to cover the Magic when the team plays the Bulls and maybe the Bucks (I don't know about the latter). After that, who knows. I'll make sure to keep my options open, nevertheless.

So, as a special treat, I was also able to speak with J.J. Redick one-on-one earlier today. Normally, I'd my post my quotes with whatever else I gather at practice, but I'll reserve the transcript for tomorrow morning since I was able to speak with him for about 5-10 minutes on a number of subjects. Be on the lookout for that.

Early Statistical Ratings for Orlando Magic Players

jonnichols — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:00:13 -0000

Ed. note: This post has been updated, as of 4:22 p.m. EST.

(Note: These stats are updated through November 27. Games from this past weekend aren’t included. )

For those who are unaware, every year I calculate a statistic called Composite Score (numbers are here and here) for each player. Composite Score is a rating system that combines six different advanced statistics, with three measuring offense and three measuring defense. The offensive statistics are Offensive Rating, Offensive Plus-Minus, and PER. The defensive statistics are Defensive Rating, Defensive Plus-Minus, and Counterpart PER (the estimated PER allowed on defense by a player). These numbers can be obtained from Basketball-Reference.com and 82games.com.

Although I can’t compute Composite Score for Magic players just yet (because of the way its calculated, I need the stats for every player in the league before I can calculate Composite Score), I can still present how every Magic player has fared in the individual components. I will break things down into offense and defense. Below is a table presenting every Magic player’s offensive performance so far, as measured by the three offensive statistics I mentioned earlier:

Dwight Howard has been excellent as usual. Jason Williams has been a pleasant surprise and has been particularly efficient, posting an Offensive Rating of 123. His Offensive Rating is second on the team to J.J. Redick. Believe it or not, the best newcomer offensively this year for the Magic has been Ryan Anderson. Of course, don’t go crazy about his offensive plus-minus just yet. That number can be flammable, and it is particularly unreliable this early in the year. I included it for the sake of completeness, but I rarely use it for reference this early in the season.

By his standards, Vince Carter has struggled offensively. His PER is still relatively good, but his Offensive Rating is below the league average. Before his injury, Jameer Nelson was also failing to meet expectations, but again, he wasn’t bad either. With the exception of Brandon Bass, many of the reserves have struggled somewhat on the offensive end, posting PER’s and Offensive Ratings below league average. Following his return from suspension, Rashard Lewis has struggled perhaps as much as anyone else on the team. His efficiency has been well below his usual rates.

Next, let’s take a look at defense:

Again, I wouldn’t draw too many conclusions from the plus-minus numbers. As you can see from the table, if we were to take them at full value, we’d think the Magic is a team that is half defensive superstars and half defensive liabilities.

To start, Dwight Howard has been just as good on the defensive end as he’s been offensively. A Counterpart PER of 13.2 for a center is particularly impressive. Perhaps riding the coattails of players like Howard, Williams has posted good defensive numbers as well. He’s never had the reputation of being a lockdown defender, but his effort has been solid.

Looking down the list of defensive stats, we see nothing out of the ordinary except for a few things. Nelson’s CPER is very high, especially for a point guard. Carter’s, on the other hand, is very low (more on this later). Anthony Johnson’s plus-minus is comically bad, although that’s almost certainly the result of a small sample size. Finally, Matt Barnes looks great defensively according to Defensive Rating, but below average according to CPER. We’ll see how those numbers progress as the season goes on.

Back to Vince Carter’s defense. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote an article comparing his defense to Hedo Turkoglu’s. In the article, I said:

Here, Turkoglu strikes back. Carter looks below average in just about every category, and this supports his reputation. Turk, on the other hand, recorded numbers well above average in every category. The trickiest part about these comparisons is team context. It is something I’ve mentioned constantly when talking about my Composite Score numbers. Because of the way stats are tracked (at least publicly), it’s very difficult to separate a player’s individual contribution to his defense. How much of this is Hedo’s own doing, and how much of it is due to the fact that Orlando featured a very strong all-around defense? It’s hard to say, but I do think Turkoglu was probably a better defender than Carter.

Looking at Carter’s numbers in the early going, we can see that the team you’re on sure has a huge impact on your defensive numbers. He is better in every defensive category. How does he compare to Turkoglu now?

Turkoglu’s Defensive Rating has skyrocketed to 116, but his other defensive stats are still very impressive. This year, it’s hard to tell which player is better on defense. Carter has a low Defensive Rating and his plus-minus is very, very negative, but we don’t know how much that means yet. I think the lesson to take from this is that defensive statistics are pretty unreliable, especially this early in the season.

We’ll have to return to these numbers in about a month or so. The longer we wait, the clearer the picture becomes.

UPDATE (from Eddy): Ryan J. Parker of Basketball Geek has posted Statistical Scouting Reports for the 2009-2010 NBA season on his site. In case you'd like to know what is entailed in the SSR's, click here.

The reason why I bring this up is because the Offensive Ratings in his data sets differ from what Jon Nichols gathered at Basketball-Reference. Here's why, according to Parker:

The main difference is that I calculate them from the play-by-play, where as B-R uses the box score.

With Jameer, for example, I know exactly which shots he assisted on and can derive a fair estimate on the expected effective FG% of those shots. This is probably why point guards that give out a lot of quality assists are undervalued by the box score ratings. A similar story holds true for Vince. It could come from assists, or perhaps his offensive rebounds that are leading to made shots.

If you take a look, Carter's and Nelson's numbers look much better because of an adjustment for those factors.