New Orleans Pelicans: Can Pels find offensive mesh with J.J. Redick?

Not contributing much through three preseason games, it’s worth considering how Alvin Gentry will use Redick in his first year with the New Orleans Pelicans.

When the New Orleans Pelicans’ front office rebuilt this roster over the summer, they knew all the pieces wouldn’t mesh completely on day one. Through four games of preseason action, J.J. Redick hasn’t found his stride quite yet with his new team.

Known for his tenacity to hustle off of screens and run to create spacing on the perimeter, Redick can make himself one of the most devastating offensive players for a defense to contain.

Redick did miss Sunday afternoon’s road win over the San Antonio Spurs, reported by the Pelicans to be for rest. However, he’s so far not looking in sync in the New Orleans Pelicans’ offense.

Brought in on a 2-yr., $25.6 million deal over the offseason, David Griffin and his front office put a pretty healthy contract on the table to bring Redick to New Orleans. Reddick is the third-highest paid player on the Pelicans’ 2019-2020 roster.

During the preseason, players are supposed to be finding ways to integrate into a new year’s offensive system upgrades. Redick has only played 12.9 minutes and averaging 3.3 points per game so far this preseason, giving him little time to get comfortable in Alvin Gentry’s push-the-pace scheme.

Keeping him on the floor this season will be imperative, especially when the team moves Zion Williamson to their small-ball center. Gentry has shown the look in preseason and Zion has proven capable in the position.

With Redick creating space on the arc, it would allow the look to be even more effective come time for the regular season. Zion can crash the rim with the rock on pick-and-roll looks, allowing Redick to sprint behind the line for an open three while defenders chase Williamson.

Redick has played for four different teams and a slew of head coaches during his NBA career, so adjusting to a new offense shouldn’t be an indomitable task for the fourteenth-year player.

Last season playing for the Philadelphia 76ers, Redick averaged 18.1 points, 2.7 assists, and 2.4 rebounds per game, shooting 39.7% from three-point range.

In Philadelphia, Redick also had the opportunity to run around with non-shooting factors in Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons. Both being capable facilitators, Simmons being an excellent one,  Redick found great success running off of screens with these two players feeding him as he opened up space.

Now, for the New Orleans Pelicans, Redick needs to find a way to work with the new offense. Not running too much in transition throughout his career, Redick is meant to help an offense score buckets in the half-court.

When he starts to develop better interplay with his teammates, it could change a lot for the team’s 2019-2020 regular season outlook, especially if they want to make a leap into the playoffs.

Finding chemistry with Zion, Ingram, and other scoring bigs will boost Redick’s offensive ability within the New Orleans Pelicans offense.

While some players rely on a good point guard to feed them quality looks, Redick’s game is oftentimes self-fulfilling, truly depending on whether or not he can get to his spots.

Redick has been at his best in this league when he has the ability to run off of screens from his larger teammates, which gives a distributor two interesting options if he gets both players in separation.

Before a trade sent Tobias Harris to Redick’s Philadelphia 76ers last season, the veteran shooting guard averaged 18.3 points and shot 38.4 from three. After the trade, Redick averaged 17.5 points but shot an even more impressive 42.7% from three-point range.

This is where Brandon Ingram can make a splash. Working well with the ball in his hands, Ingram’s ability to find Redick on open looks from deep could really open up the New Orleans Pelicans on offense.

Plus if he can hit Redick at the rim on the run, Ingram will really show this team a boost in options the offensive passing game.

While he scored a slightly higher amount of points, Redick proved a better shooter, thus ultimately more effective when the 76ers added a talented scoring threat in Harris to the fold.

Seemingly, David Griffin won’t be making any big changes to the New Orleans Pelicans during the regular season, so Redick likely won’t be getting any surge from a new roster addition.

Alvin Gentry will instead have to find ways to create room for Redick, using Ingram to find interplay for JJ with a bigger scorer. Ingram can help Redick move around the perimeter and create mismatches, as both can score from all over the court.

Eventually, Redick will average more attempts for this team. So far, he’s attempted just 4 shots per game, with only 1.3 attempts per game coming from three-point range.

Finding a rhythm with Zion is imperative for Redick. With his dominant run to start the preseason, Zion will be a huge factor in creating shots for his teammates and the sharp-shooting Redick is no different.

If the two can play off of each other, it’ll not only create clean looks for them, but for their teammates whose defenders will be crashing to stop Zion.

Last season, Embiid could feast when Redick pulled away his defender in a screen and Zion might already be more explosive at the rim than the 76ers’ star.

Having bigger players that can help him create space is crucial to what Redick does on the court. Finding ways to create mismatches and leaving slow-footed defenders in limbo is what makes him such a deadly offensive threat.

Stated before the season at the team’s media day, Redick has hopes to get back to the playoffs, which he’s done in all 14 years of his NBA career. While he said it somewhat jokingly, it’s an impressive streak and his own offensive impact will have a big stake in that proposition.

With just over a week until their tip-off of the 2019-2020 NBA season, the New Orleans Pelicans would love to have Redick as a go-to option early and often. The team plays four of their first five games against teams who finished in the top-four of their respective conferences last season.