JJ Redick: The Forgotten Free Agent
With NBA Free Agency starting on June 30th at 6 p.m. ET, there is so much going on, it’s easy to forget about some things. Rightfully so, Sixers’ fans have their attention on the decisions of Jimmy Butler and Tobias Harris.
Elton Brand made the bold move to trade fan favorites such as Dario Saric, Robert Covington, and Landry Shamet in order to acquire Butler and Harris. It would be an extremely tough blow to lose one or both of them, because of the players we gave up in order to get them. Let’s not forget that the 76ers have a third key free agent, J.J. Redick.
I am not going to even pretend to argue the Redick is better than or just as good as Butler or Harris. Redick is older and a much worse defender than both players, but let’s not forget how valuable Redick is to our offense.
Redick’s Importance to the Offense
Usage percentage is a statistic from Basketball-Reference that is “An estimate of the percentage of team plays used by a player while he was on the floor.” In simpler terms, how often a player is involved in the offensive possession. The higher the percentage, the more possessions you are involved in on offense. Here are all three players’ usage percentages. (Note: This only includes games they played for the 76ers this season)
Butler: 22.1%
Redick: 21.9%
Harris: 21.3%
All three players are within less than 1% of each other, meaning they were all used almost equally as much as one another. For reference, here is a list of notable players with similar Usage Percentage as Redick.
Notable Players with similar Usage Percentage as J.J. Redick
Eric Bledsoe: 22.9%
Andre Drummond: 22.9%
Chris Paul: 22.5%
Jayson Tatum: 22.1%
Ben Simmons: 22.1%
J.J. Redick: 21.9%
Pascal Siakam: 20.8%
Marc Gasol: 20.7%
Kyle Lowry: 19.6%
Al Horford: 18.9%
Clint Capela: 18.2%
Rudy Gobert: 17.8%
Brook Lopez: 16.7%
As the stats show, Redick is used just as often–or even more often–as a lot of highly regarded players in the league, including the 76ers’ very own Ben Simmons. Not only is he involved a lot in the offense, but he is also very effective. Redick scored 18.1 points per game last season, good enough to be tied for 39th most points a game last season.
Redick and company also broke a few records last season with their offense. He became the oldest player in NBA history (34 years old) to average a career-high in scoring. The 76ers also became the first team in NBA history to have five players (Embiid, Harris, Butler Redick, Simmons) average 17 ppg or more. (Ben Simmons technically scored 16.9 ppg, but 17 ppg flows off the tongue a lot easier than 16.9 ppg)
J.J. also shot 605 3-pointers last year, making 240, good enough to make 39.7% of his 3-pointers. Of all players to shoot at least 600 3-pointers, Redick had the third-highest 3-point percentage in the league, behind only Stephen Curry and Buddy Hield.
Alright, I have shoved enough statistics down your throat proving that Redick is not only involved in a lot of the 76ers offense, but he is also efficient and effective. So why is it so important to keep track of Redick’s free agency?
Redick’s Contract History
Although Redick has been a part of the 76ers for the past two years, it isn’t so certain that he is a guarantee to come back. Let’s take a look at how Redick joined the team in the past two years.
2017 Free Agency
Two years ago in the summer of 2017, J.J. Redick signed a one-year, $23 million contract with the Sixers. The Sixers looked much different back then from what they do today. Philadelphia was coming off its fifth straight year of missing out on the playoffs. The best player on the team was a second-year Joel Embiid, who played just 31 games the season before. Their next two best “established players” was Robert Covington and a second-year Dario Saric. Their 1st overall pick from two years ago Ben Simmons had yet to play a game in the NBA because of injury and they had also just drafted Markelle Fultz 1st overall, and we all how that turned out.
Why do I mention what the 76ers’ situation looked like when Redick signed that contract? Because they were a super young and unproven team. They also highly overpaid Redick for one-year. Redick had just come off a $7 million annual contract.
This is how I imagine the contract talks went down.
“Hey J.J., we will be honest with you. We have so much freaking money that isn’t being used and we have no chance of signing a star player because we have sucked for the past five years. So this is what I’m going to do. I’ll give you way too much money for a long term contract at your value, and make it a one-year deal. If you like it here, great! We can work that out next year. If you don’t like it, then we can go our separate ways.”
J.J. obviously accepted because who in their right mind wouldn’t accept a $16 million pay raise.
2018 Free Agency
After helping lead Philadelphia to the second round of the playoffs, one would think that Redick returning would be a done deal. That was not the case, as the 76ers were chasing after a man by the name of LeBron James. The 76ers came in second place in that chase, obviously losing to the Los Angeles Lakers. Why is that important? Because the Sixers made it clear that Redick was not a top priority for them. Now, that is very understandable considering the 76ers had a chance at one of the greatest athletes of all time in James, but, that led Redick to have to explore other options if he could not find his way back to Philadelphia.
On his podcast last summer, J.J. revealed that he was extremely close to signing with the Indiana Pacers last season.
Redick ended up signing another one-year deal with the 76ers, this time for $12.25 million.
Why Does This Matter?
The Philadelphia 76ers have so far signed J.J. Redick twice. Both times they agreed to one-year deals instead of long-term deals. Whether that was the 76ers choice, Redick’s choice, or both of their choices, it does bring valid speculation about whether or not Redick will be wearing a Sixers’ uniform this upcoming season. Changing teams is nothing new to Redick, as the 76ers are the fourth team he has been on in his thirteen-year NBA career. Not to mention Redick almost signed with Indiana last year.
Jimmy Butler and Tobias Harris will not be the only names to keep track of during free agency for 76ers’ fans. What happens with J.J. Redick should also be on all Philadelphia fans’ minds as free agency inches closer and closer. NBA Free Agency starts this Sunday, June 30th at 6 p.m. ET.
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