Hate to Say I Told You So

Many NBA fans would love J.J. Redick's pro career to be a disastrous, swift collapse after he tormented their favorite college teams for four years. These fans thought their dream had come true last year - when Redick was glued to the Magic's bench. But "Not so fast my friend," as the atrocious Lee Corso says. Redick has dominated the Orlando summer league and people - namely the Worldwide leader - are noticing.

I've never understood the obsession with hating Redick, though I am a Duke fan. Sure, he was the overachieving white guy at Duke for four years. For some reason, people tend to hate that Duke has skillful, but rarely dominant white players. His cocky expressions are glazed on the faces of many elite college and pro basketball players after they finish an astounding play. He's NO different. Needless to say, all those expressions came after he was heckled, had things thrown at him, and received threats directed at himself and his family. Who could hold back a quick smile after all that criticism and after knocking down say....a 23-foter plus the foul? His NBA doubters all probably have something in common - he torched their favorite college team for four years. Here's ESPN's account of the Orlando camp, J.J.'s not through folks.

Hoping for bigger Magic role, Redick comes out shooting

By John Denton
Special to ESPN.com

Updated: July 11, 2007, 3:52 PM ET

ORLANDO -- Not even once while J.J. Redick was hitting those five 3-pointers, 18 free throws and averaging 23.5 points the past two days has he glared over at former Orlando Magic coach Brian Hill.

Then again, nobody would be surprised if he had done exactly that.

Redick is shooting with the confidence of his Durham days.Buried on the bench most of his rookie season with the Magic while Hill was still the coach, Redick has taken the Pepsi Pro Summer League by storm this week by once again resembling the cocky scoring machine who dominated college basketball slightly more than a year ago.

A day after torching New Jersey's summer league team for 30 points, Redick showed more of his all-around skills Tuesday in the Magic's 88-65 whipping of Indiana. He scored another 17 points, but more impressively worked his way to the free-throw line seven times, corralled five rebounds and set up his teammates with six drive-and-kick assists.

It's just the summer league, a forum filled mostly with rookies and vagabond free agents, but to Redick, the event is somewhat of a saving grace. After playing just 42 games and an average of only 14.2 minutes a night, Redick has used this week of games to try to get back the swagger that disappeared at times this past season when he never knew when he might play.

"I struggled a good part of the season. It was really frustrating, really draining to tell you the truth," Redick said. "It was a test in patience. But a lot of rookies have gone through that and really my case isn't that unique. A lot of guys have gone through what I did and turned out to have really good careers. I'm hoping to do the same thing."

Hill played Redick only sparingly even though the Magic clearly needed shooters around Dwight Howard and some punch in their shoddy offense. But in Hill's defense, Redick fell behind early with injuries, missing most of the summer with a herniated disc in his back and most of training camp with torn tissue in his foot.

His season high with the Magic this past season was 16 points, but he had more than that (18) by halftime Monday. Magic GM Otis Smith and new coach Stan Van Gundy are well aware that Redick can score from almost any spot on the floor, but they are watching this week to see whether he can defend well enough to contend for the starting job at shooting guard next season.

Both Hills are gone -- Grant Hill is off to Phoenix to chase a championship, and Brian Hill is expected to join New Jersey's staff as an assistant after being fired by Orlando -- and Redick knows there's a huge opportunity for him to become a key player for the Magic. He's keeping his summer league success in perspective, though, knowing it's what he does in October that really will decide whether he will get some meaningful playing time.

"In the big scheme of things, I'm not sure this week really means a lot," Redick said. "Travis Diener had an incredible summer league last year [including a 34-point game], and it didn't help him much. Coach [Van Gundy] is going to play the guys he feels the most comfortable with. I'm just hoping to be one of those guys."