Like Nash, Redick looking to get better after 30
Two summers ago, J.J. Redick was turning 30 and coming off another back injury that cost him 47 games in his first season with the Los Angeles Clippers. He figured it was a good time to talk to somebody who'd been there before, so he set up a meeting with Steve Nash.
Nash had coffee, Redick beer.
"The emphasis for me was just kind of picking his brain about how he maintained (his) level of play well into his 30s," Redick told theScore during All-Star weekend in Toronto. "(Nash is) actually someone you could argue got better after the age of 30, which is very rare for anyone, much less a point guard, that's generally when they start declining."
In his first four years as a starter with the Dallas Mavericks, Nash had a true shooting percentage of 59.2 and a 20.9 player efficiency rating. In the six seasons that followed, from ages 30-36, he had a 62.8 true shooting percentage and 21.9 PER, and won two MVP awards with the Phoenix Suns.
While Redick is clearly not the player Nash was, the sharpshooting he brings to the game is as important as it's ever been. Entering Monday, no player - including Stephen Curry - has a higher 3-point success rate since the beginning of last season than Redick.
Not unlike Nash, Redick's main weapon appears to be improving with age.
| Age | GP | 3PA/game | 3P% | TS% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 | 78 | 5.8 | 36.6 | 57.1 |
| 29 | 35 | 5.3 | 39.5 | 59.8 |
| 30 | 78 | 5.9 | 43.7 | 62.2 |
| 31 | 54* | 5.6 | 48 | 63.4 |
(* - through Feb. 26)
This isn't bad for a player who averaged only 5.5 points per game in limited action during his first three seasons in the NBA. Like Nash, he spent his early years buried on the bench.
"I just didn't have the right mindset," Redick said on his podcast for The Vertical in January. "You've never arrived, you're always becoming. And part of me, when I was drafted, thought I had arrived."
When he entered the league in 2006, Redick also had to fight the perception at the time that Duke products made lousy pros. Three years ago, Complex ranked him No. 2 behind the bulletproof Christian Laettner as the most hated Blue Devils player of all time, and on Monday he addressed the subject of Duke villainy on his podcast, as it currently relates to Grayson Allen.
"The media has perpetuated this white Duke villain myth as much as anyone," Redick said. "I probably in a way brought on some of the animosity towards me with antics, the smiling, head-bobbing, the trash talking, but to be honest with you it was more in reaction to the hate that was coming my way before I ever did anything to warrant it."
In addition to carrying a reputation of being a spoiled and aloof player, Redick's early NBA days with the Orlando Magic were hampered by injuries, including what became a recurring back issue. The repeated image of Nash attempting to soothe his aching back by laying on the floor when he was subbed out made him an ideal person for Redick to talk to.
"The core work, the emphasis on that and nutrition is stuff I've always kind of focused on anyways," Redick said during All-Star weekend. "I think the big takeaway (from Nash) I've used the last two summers is, I'm in the gym the same amount of time, but the volume is a little different. In that, instead of maybe a drill where I make 10 shots, I go really hard and make five or seven shots."
Redick has only missed eight games since his injury-riddled 2013-14 campaign.
"I'm a firm believer and admirer of people who can sustain success over long periods of time, people who have essentially reached the mountaintop and continue to get better and stay hungry," Redick added. "To last in this league, you have to work. (It) doesn't matter how much innate talent you have."