Denver Nuggets MLE targets: J.J. Redick
In 13 games with the Dallas Mavericks, J.J. Redick put up 4.4 points in limited minutes while recovering from an injury. At age 36, he might not warrant the full MLE, but nevertheless, he’d be an elite signing for this Denver Nuggets squad.
Everyone knows what Redick does, he’s been doing it ever since he entered the world stage at Duke. He shoots the crap out of the ball.
As he has gotten older and more experienced, his shooting has remained elite, and his off-ball movement would unlock a lot of Denver’s offensive game.
With Jamal Murray sidelined, the Nuggets are without one of the best off-the-dribble scorers in the league. Replacing Murray with such limited cap space is nearly impossible. Brining in Redick gives the Nuggets a different kind of replacement for what Jamal brought.
Redick can sprint off-ball, looking for open 3-pointers as Nikola Jokic dominates the ball. If you shut your eyes, you could imagine Jokic drawing a double team, spinning away from the rim before lobbing a cross-court pass to a running Redick in the opposite corner.
It’s easy to imagine because Jokic already does this, all we’re changing is the level of shooter receiving the ball.
There’s also plenty of reason to believe Redick isn’t in love with his situation in Dallas as he flamed New Orleans Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations, David Griffin, following the trade on J.J.’s Old Man & the Three podcast:
"“Truthfully … I think I was a little naive thinking I was in Year 15 and I attempted to do things right throughout my career. But in terms of this front office, yeah, it’s not something where I would expect certainly the agents who worked on this with me to ever trust that front office again.”"
He told Mavericks owner Mark Cuban that he would be “thrilled” to play in Dallas any other year, but wanted to be closer to his family (East Coast) during the pandemic.
If Redick still wants to move East, Denver’s off the table. If he’s pleased enough with the COVID situation, maybe Denver’s on the table.