They were hailed as basketball gods during their college hoop days. They have cult followers everywhere. College girls went ga-ga over them. There were great expectations when they entered the NBA. Now, they just have become mere mortals and at best, are fighting for daily survival in the pro league. That’s the saga of J.J. Reddick and Adam Morrison.
Reddick is considered as one of the finest shooters in college basketball history. During his tenure with Duke, he holds the record of being the all-time leading scorer in both school and Atlantic Coast Conference history with 2,769 points. The 6’4, Cookeville, Tennessee native likewise set an NCAA record for most 3-point shots made with 457 as a Blue Devil. He was then selected 11th over-all in the 2006 NBA rookie draft by the Orlando Magic. Sad to say his rookie year was not as fruitful as his college heydays. Injuries hounded Reddick as it limited his appearance to only 42 games. He finished his freshman year in Orlando with sub-par norms of 6.0 ppg, 1.2 rpg, 0.9 apg and a measly 14.48 minutes per outing. From bad to worse defined his second year with the Magic. His per game averages submerged further to 4.1 ppg, 0.7 rpg, 0.5 apg and 8.5 minutes per nightly action in only 34 games. He is currently averaging 6.1 ppg, 1.6 rpg, 1.1 apg and 17.30 minutes in 57 games so far this season.
Reddick must now have realized that a one-dimensional type of player will not prosper in the wild jungles of the NBA. Maybe he could learn a thing or two from NBA legend and now Golden State Warriors GM Chris Mullin. When he joined the NBA out of St. John’s University, Mullin was considered slow and his leaping ability is suspect. But Mullin persevered and added various dimensions to his shooting game. He became one of the shooters with the quickest release in league history and likewise, finished his career with an awesome passing ability.
If Reddick will not improve his over-all game, it will not be too long to find himself languishing at the end of the Magic bench and worse, starting for an NBDL squad.
Morrison is one of the fair-haired boys of Gonzaga University during his illustrious college playing days. Yes, that’s the same school which produced legendary point guard John Stockton. He averaged a whopping 28 points per outing during his last year in college and this made the Charlotte Bobcats select him with the 3rd over-all pick in the 2006 draft. Everything looks rosy for Morrison early in his pro career. He immediately started several games for the Bobcats during his rookie year. But towards the 2006-07 mid-season, Morrison suddenly found himself spending more time on the bench than on-court. He eventually finished his first year with decent numbers of 11.8 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 2.1 apg and 29.48 mpg in 78 games. Like Reddick, his second year was hounded by various ailments which limited him to only 44 games with the Bobcats. His individual stats went down to 4.5 ppg, 1.6 rpg, 0.9 apg and 15.11 mpg. Slowly, his once promising career is slowly turning into a nightmare. This season is no different from the previous one except for the fact that he was traded by the Bobcats to the Los Angeles Lakers before the all-star break. Injuries continue to haunt him at the beginning of the 2008-09 campaign. The 6’8 forward had just seen action in only five games this season, all with the Lakers. His per game norms plummeted down to a mediocre 2.0 ppg, 1.6 rpg, 0.6 apg and 6.30 mpg of garbage time. For sure, he will not be part of the grand plan of coach Phil Jackson come playoff time.
Though both Reddick and Morrison are still relatively young, they must not put into waste their basketball talents and the faster they come to realize that their glamorous years are long gone, the better for them to work doubly hard to save their respective pro careers.
How many more Reddicks and Morrisons are still out there?*****
For the meantime, this will be my last article as I take my annual sabbatical in observance of the Holy Week. As a devoted catholic, it is our duty to reflect on the sacrifices and sufferings our Lord Jesus Christ had done for humanity.
I’ll be back after Easter Sunday. Happy Easter to all!
I agree with you when you state that morrison and redick are victims of hy7pe in the draft...sure, redick was one of the best darn three point shooters in the ncaa and morrison lit it up for the gonzaga bulldogs in the ncaa, but in the nba they are one trick ponies who cannot or wouldn't defend at all. Morrison was touted to be the next larry bird (formerly a tag attributed to keith van horn, see how it turned out) and he disappointed because he couldn't defend a wall. redick was, in my opinion, miscast in the magic lineup which featured the likes of rashard lewis and hedo turkoglu (whose career blossomed when redick came aboard, perhaps it is the reason why redick wouldn't blossom)shooting the lights out. Redick is a bit short and he doesn't collect many rebounds and he's just basically a spot up shooter who cannot seem to create for himself.
ReplyDeletein my humble opinion, jared dudley of the suns is in line to become a big bust as well as, horror of horrors, michael beasley, if he doesn't improve by leaps and bounds in the next two or three seasons. Dudley was supposed to provide toughness for the suns who traded diaw and raja bell away to get jrich and him from the bobcats; instea the only tougnessthat he adds is when he goes to the court and stalls the offense of the suns. michael beasley on the other hand has a very down year; people were expecting him to lord it over in the cat line of 20-10-2-1-1 but he's at 14-5-1 at this point leaving many believers disgusted at his performance.
this is tje2129 signing off for now...