An in-depth look into the week of the 2019 tenth overall pick
The return of Kyrie Irving sucked me into the inevitable blowout of the Trae Young-less Atlanta Hawks, but it was the shocking performance from the 10th overall pick that kept me from changing the channel.
20 points and 5 steals from Reddish peeked my interest enough to watch the Hawks' next game against the Phoenix Suns. Reddish finished with just 4 points on 1-5 shooting, but his defensive intensity and impact on Devin Booker made the rookie look like one of the most important players on the court.
Now, I was ready to dedicate my weekend to the rollercoaster that is Cam Reddish.
Let NBA Twitter tell the story, Cam Reddish is already a bust.
He's 425th out of the 448 qualified players in true shooting percentage, he has the third-worst effective field goal percentage among rookies, he has the third-worst player efficiency rating of any player logging over 20 minutes a night and he has the fourth-worst plus/minus of his draft class.
Statistically, Cam Reddish sucks.
In actuality, Reddish is exactly what Lloyd Pierce and the Hawks need to become contenders out East. Despite the troubling picture his numbers paint, Reddish has the star potential on both ends of the court that the Hawks desperately need.
Defense
Standing at 6'9 with a 7'1 wingspan, Reddish's size and athleticism allow him to effectively defend both shifty guards and strong wings.
This is integral to the future success of the Hawks, a team currently ranked 27th in team defense, as a versatile Reddish can allow Trae Young to hide on lesser matchups, similar to how the Warriors were able to hide an undersized Steph Curry thanks to the defense of Andre Iguodala.
The most simple element of Reddish's defense is his size, as his wingspan allows him to naturally disrupt passing lanes when guarding players smaller than him.
Even larger guards like the 6'6 Caris LeVert have issues getting around the body of Reddish in comparison to the Hawks' other backcourt defensive options of Young and Kevin Huerter.
Hawks Head Coach Lloyd Pierce recognizes what he has in Reddish’s defense, as he had this to say after a November loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, “He’s a good defender, he’s learning how to be an elite defender.”
Along with his natural physical gifts on the defensive end, the 20-year-old wing plays with a level of defensive intensity that only a handful of elite defenders in the league display.
That defensive intensity is most noticeable in situations where his size or athleticism can't automatically win him the matchup, like against the 6'7 height and 7'3 wingspan of Kelly Oubre.
His intensity allows him to negate athletic wings, and even more impressive, it allows him to bother some of the most skilled players in the league.
Reddish combining his physical tools with an aggressive mentality on the defensive end helps him make shots tough for his matchup, despite committing common rookie mistakes like closing out too hard.
The last eye-popping element of Reddish's defense is his knack to pick off passes.
He addressed where that instinct comes from in an interview with Sports Illustrated, saying "It really started when I was a kid. I’ve always kind of had defensive instincts. My dad taught me that when I was really young, and that’s actually how I was when I was young. So defense has always kind of been there, and then offense developed as I got older."
Equally impressive, Reddish is able to capitalize off of those turnovers and turn them into easy buckets either for himself or a running teammate.
Playmaking
For the Hawks to be a legitimate threat in the future, their offense will have to be more than high pick-and-rolls between Trae Young and John Collins with the other three players idly watching.
As great as Trae Young is, he has a tendency to play like a point guard in 2k's rec center--either he's shooting it or his pass has to be a clear assist.
There's no ball movement if it doesn't come with glory.
This leaves other players, like Cam Reddish, essentially acting as P.J. Tucker for long stretches of the game, with the only difference being Tucker actually gets the ball swung to him every few possessions.
Of the four games I watched, Reddish spent well over half the team's possessions invisible in the corner.
Here’s a great summary:
Lloyd Pierce using Reddish more often as a facilitator would eliminate troubling box scores like the one against Phoenix and it would open up an entire new point of attack for Trae Young, who currently ranks third in spot-up percentile and fourth in scoring frequency.
The rookie is given more playmaking duties when with the second unit, but the arrival of Jeff Teague is likely to disrupt those touches.
A point guard in high school, Reddish possesses the athleticism and shot creating ability to act as a serviceable secondary shot creator for Young and the rest of the starting lineup in the half court.
With John Collins as the roll man and Huerter and Young spreading the floor, defenses are forced to pick their poison, and Reddish is more than capable of delivering the blows though kick out passes, pull-up jumpers or drop off passes to the rolling Collins.
It's understandable that Atlanta doesn't want to take pick-and-roll situations out of the hands of one of the best pick-and-roll ball handlers in the league, but it doesn't make sense to ignore a natural scorer like Cam Reddish, especially when Young is begging for help nightly.
According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, "one high-ranking team official was seen telling Young that the team would be getting him some help on the roster soon, according to multiple sources."
The help is already on the roster.
Scoring
Coming out of high school, thanks to his size and offensive ability, Cam Reddish was widely compared to the likes of Paul George and Tracy McGrady. A look at one stat sheet says more Solomon Hill than McGrady, but beyond the numbers, the 20-year-old wing shows flashes of what scouts saw just two years ago.
His 29% conversion rate from beyond-the-arc puts him next to the likes of Julius Randle, but one look at him in shoot around and that can blur into Paul George.
If developed into a more consistent weapon, Reddish's shooting stroke would help give Atlanta an almost unstoppable pick-and-roll offense with him further opening the floor.
However, it's Reddish's flashes of being able to create off the dribble that draw out the George and McGrady comparisons. Despite attempting less than nine shots a night, Reddish has been showing a star-like confidence in his recent dribble pull-ups.
His combination of height, handle and stroke allow him to pull-up on nearly any opponent from wherever he wants on the court.
Even when he comes up short and is borderline doing too much, his offensive potential shines so bright that the miss attempt can be applauded.
A week of Cam Reddish left me with one thought: he's far from a bust.
In fact, as bad as the numbers say he is, watching Cam Reddish would lead anyone to believe he'll one day be as good as everyone once said he was.
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