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By
Shawn Siegel
12/15/05
College
Basketball: JJ Redick or Adam Morrison?
In our first ever
CHN Question of the Week, we asked "Which
player would you rather have on your team, Duke's JJ Redick or
Gonzaga's Adam Morrison?" We got dozens of great answers,
not to mention more not so great answers, and have compiled the 10
best below.
So was there a consensus
on who is better between JJ or Adam? Of course not, but the
answers below give you a pretty good idea of the best arguments
for each.
This Week's Question
Which player would you rather have on your team, Duke's JJ Redick
or Gonzaga's Adam Morrison?
After posting each
response, I'll have some commentary before moving to the next.
"I'll
take Adam Morrison every day over J.J. Redick. Just by
looking at statistics only, Morrison is a more "complete" player
than Redick. Morrison outscores Redick by 3.6 points per game
(28.5-24.9 Morrison), outrebounds Redick by 4 rebounds per game
(6.0-2.0 Morrison), has similar assists per game (2.1-1.4 Redick)
and forces more steals per game (1.8-1.2 Morrison). Both are great
shooters and leaders. J.J. needs help to create his shots the
majority of the time while Adam is great at creating his own shot
off the dribble. In the end, it comes down to raw numbers and
Morrison is obviously the more complete player. Morrison over
Redick all day, every day.
Mike,
Las Vegas"
According to
Mike, this was an easy question. Fortunately, most fans
disagree. His fellow fan from Vegas would go with JJ.
"Redick for sure.
He's Redick-ulous!!! Unlimited range, dribble drive, pump fake,
step back trey, ability to get to the line, freshman motivator,
the list goes on and on. Not to mention: He runs constant for
37-40 min. per game. These are just the beginning!!!
Dave,
Las Vegas"
No Dave, you are
ridiculous. I sense a bit of Cameron Crazy in this answer.
No worries though, the point is well taken, Redick can shoot from
places Morrison only dreams of.
"Wow. Two nearly
unstoppable forces of nature with hearts of steel. I'll put my
money on Morrison, only because he's more likely to grab a big
board and hurt you from anywhere on the court. Plus, I dig his
politics and musical taste. Rock on, Aammo!
Josh,
Seattle"
But Josh, do you
dig his mustache? I didn't think so. Plus, JJ writes
poetry, you have to respect that.
"I'd take Adam
Morrison over JJ Redick any day. Redick can shoot lights out no
doubt, but if you want him to drive to the hoop and create his own
shot with the shot clock running out, well he wouldn't be your
guy. He's too one dimensional.
Morrison is a nice mixture of Pistol Pete and Larry Bird. He
drives to the hoop, shoots the trey, and hits his crazy little
pull up shot constantly. He gets shut down one way he'll find
another way to beat you.
It's basically like this. Do you want a Reggie Miller (Redick) or
do you want a Larry Bird with athleticism? I'll take the Birdman!
Billy
Ada, OK"
I'd take Bird
over Reggie all day too. But, can everyone calm down with
the Morrison-Bird comparisons. If you want to dog Redick for
being a one-dimensional shooter, lets dog Morrison for being a
one-dimensional scorer. Do y'all realize Bird averaged 10
board per game in the NBA, not to mention 6 assists. Where
is Morrison's passing ability? His ability to play all positions?
His ability to rebound well? Haven't seen it. He's not Larry
Bird.
"I would rather
have JJ Redick. I know Adam Morrison is taller and has made many
more clutch plays, but i'd rather have a 93% career FT shooter,
who is also probably the most in-shape player in the nation. He
can run around screens all day and get dogged by the opposing
team's best defender, but still drop 25 pts a game. And he's also
no chump on the defensive end.
Asem
Cary, OK"
Unfortunately,
you brought up a great point in favor of Morrison in your Redick
answer. Clutch play. Look no further than last year's NCAA
Tournament. Redick averaged a paltry 12 ppg. Morrison
on the other hand, 26 ppg.
"I'll reluctantly
take Morrison. Its about as close as it gets and maybe my putrid
hatred of Duke has something to do with it. Redick has really
shown me a lot this year with his ability to create his own shot
and get to the rim. Of course, the three point shooting doesn't
hurt either. But Morrison can literally take a game completely
over. The Washington game was amazing. Knight, Raivio, and
Heytvelt all out and Batista and Mallon saddled with foul
trouble....that was just incredible, even though they ended up
losing. He's also got length so he can be a factor on the glass
and in the post. It'd be great to see these two go at it in
March.
Mike
Bloomington, IN"
The Oklahoma
State game was amazing. I'd like to see JJ take over when
Shelden, Dockery, and McRoberts were out. Don't think it
could happen. Here's another for Morrison:
"This seems like a
question without a wrong answer. Having either of these guys on
your team this year gives you a chance of beating anyone on any
given night. But, if I had to pick between the two I would take
Adam Morrison because he has the more complete game. His mid range
game right now could be the best in NCAA, he has good range on his
shot, and always seems to find a way of getting shots off in
traffic inside. He's also a better rebounder and passer than J.J.,
and has more size.
Nick,
NJ"
It's true Nick,
this isn't a quiz, there's no wrong answer here. But your
points are well taken, Morrison is more versatile, but how bout
JJ's ability to shoot from 40 feet:
"Nobody streches a
defense like JJ. He is responsible for half of the easy looks
Shelden Williams gets down low. That in itself is good for 8-10
points per game in addition to everything he puts on the board.
Ben
La Crosse, WI"
Ben make's a
great point. Adam certainly scores, but does he make players
better around him? According to the next guy, JJ doesn't
really make his teammates better, they make him look good:
"I would take
Morrison, right now he is a player that you can take and move to
another team and he would still be productive. Watching JJ play he
needs a lot from his teammates,in the terms of needing screens to
get open ( Carney did a great job of denying him the ball in the
second half against memphis) he's a great shooter and his game has
off the dribble/midrange/drawing contact game developed a lot
since his freshman year, but the system and the way duke play is
basically built around him. Right now I think Morrison is the best
offensive player in the country, and right up there in terms of
smarts. Also he's less of a defensive liability that JJ is. There
are a lot of similarities in their games, both move well without
the ball, fierce competors, know how to draw contact and step up
when there teams need them to. But right now woth his overall
game and his ability to do other thins beside score I would take
Morrison.
Aaron
Toronto, CA"
Always nice to
add a little Canadian flare, but where did this myth come from
that JJ doesn't play good D?
"I would rather
have Morrison on my NBA team, but I would rather have Redick on my
College team.
Both are great shooters, however Redick is a better much more
reliable three-point shooter.
Morrison has a 4 inch advantage in height over Redick which helps
him get more rebounds then Redick. Redick might also have a
slightly tougher time getting off shots in the NBA due to his
height.
While both players are great competitors and leaders, I believe
Redick is a better defender than Morrison. Redick is much more
athletic than people give him credit for and hasn't been exposed
on defense yet.
Morrison will be a better NBA player, but I believe Redick should
be the National player of the year because of his all around play,
not just for his offense. Everyone talks about how textbook J.J.'s
shot is, but he plays textbook defense as well.
Jeff
Columbus"
JJ might play
textbook defense. But Jeff's answer is a text book example of
taking the east way out. So you'd rather have both,
depending on the situation. Not cool, we need some
conviction around here. Still, I agree with his points on
JJ's defense. It's better than you think.
Thanks for
everyone's responses. There were some great one's as well
which didn't go up like Matt's from Vancouver, Rob's from SC, and
Chris's from Tampa. We'll have many more
Questions of the Week coming up, so keep the responses coming
in!
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