The Reddish Club: Analyzing Cam Reddish’s reputation as a decision maker

Cam Reddish had a reputation as a bad shot taker follow him from Atlanta after being traded to the Knicks. Is the critique justified, or being overblown?

Dear Strickland Readers,

When Tom Joad returns home on parole after a murder conviction in The Grapes of Wrath, he is greeted with similar reactions from both his mother and father. There is shock followed almost immediately by joy. That happiness blurs into fear as the reality that their son is a convicted murderer sets in. Both ask if he escaped. Both are afraid to touch him.

Steinbeck presents a refined commentary on the power of reputation told through earthy language against a sparse backdrop. It’s brilliant and heavy.

It also kind of reminds me of the Knicks acquiring Cam Reddish this season.

Obviously Reddish is not a depression-era ex-convict, but there are parallels with the feeling. For starters, the deal to send Kevin Knox and the Charlotte pick to Atlanta for Reddish was a surprising move by the front office. There were plenty of mock trades pitched by fans and writers around the deadline, but nary a one predicted that move. 

Once Knicks fans got past the shock of the deal, the reactions were joyous, much like Ma and Pa Joad. Reddish has both a higher floor and ceiling than Knox, and many people hoped his acquisition was a step toward adding Zion Williamson. It didn’t take long after that, though, for Reddish’s reputation from Atlanta to follow him to New York.

The general consensus from Hawks fans via Twitter went thusly: Great player. Lots of potential as a defender and scorer, but his growth is stunted by awful decision-making and shot selection.

So, as if we were trapped in Saturday Detention with Vice Principal Vernon, I decided to push past his reputation and get to know the true Cam Reddish the only way I knew how: I went back and rewatched every shot he took during his brief 15-game stint with the Knicks this year.

Every. Single. Shot. And, like… lots of times.

To put what I found in the simplest terms, Reddish takes far more good shots than bad shots, but the shooting percentage on the bad ones is abysmal. For Reddish to reach his ceiling, the focus has got to be on eliminating those bad looks from his shot diet. Luckily, his bad shots fall into three primary buckets. (Note: While each bucket may only have one or two clips, there are more where each came from.)

The first bucket of poor shot attempts is “rushed or bad technique”:

Reddish deserves a ton of credit for a great cut here to get into open space, a cut he saw coming early in the play, and then again later in the possession. Quickley finds him, but he does not set his feet, which leads to an off-balance shot attempt that misses right. He added an unnecessary difficulty level to the shot. 

Like the last clip, we get some good and bad with Reddish. He put himself in good position and waited for his shot within the flow of the offense. Maybe it was RJ Barrett’s fault on the bounce pass, but the little relocation cost Reddish valuable time and allowed the closeout to get there. However, that relocation also caused him to miss badly in that direction. This is a shot that should not have been attempted. This felt like Reddish decided to shoot before the pass was delivered and forced a difficult shot. Reddish should have swung it back to Barrett or dumped it down to Nerlens Noel.

I’m describing the second bucket as “hero ball.” In this bucket, Reddish has a tendency to decide that certain possessions are his, and he is unfazed by whatever defense is thrown at him. 

I debated about marking this in the “neither” category, because the shot attempt comes with only four seconds left on the shot clock, and there really isn’t a better option available when he shoots because the Kings had things well-covered. On the other hand, this play was easy to defend because Reddish’s posture from near half-court telegraphed he was shooting this ball. He never really gets separation from either Kings defender and then attempts a scoop layup with the hand closest to the bigger man guarding him, which Neemias Queta lazily swats out of bounds. 

The shot clock is definitely not an issue here. There are still 14 seconds left when he attempts this well-defended step-back three. Fans are going to cringe at either of these options, but Reddish should have fed Julius Randle, who had decent post position on Elijah Hughes, or to Alec Burks. Either way, this shot was the worst decision of the available options.  

We’re going to call the third bucket “non-corner threes.” Per Cleaning the Glass, Reddish was 3-18 on non-corner threes during his 15 games as a Knick this season. 

Some were decent looks that he just missed…

…and others were well-defended possessions that ended – often prematurely – in a forced shot. 

Whatever the reason, Reddish’s non-corner 3-ball was not an asset to him in a Knicks uniform as a general rule. What speaks even more to this being his third bad shot bucket is that Reddish shot a decent 33% on corner threes, but he took half as many of those attempts. 

Enough of this grimness. 

Yes, Reddish takes some bad shot attempts, and, yes, he only makes about 17% of those shots. However, as indicated in the graphic above, he took way more good shots than bad shots while wearing orange and blue this season. On top of that, he shoots a strong 55% on his good shot attempts. 

More importantly, Reddish learns at a quick speed, often making adjustments within the same game. Just look at an example from a game vs. the Thunder on Valentine’s Day:

In the first clip, Reddish drives toward the middle of the paint, goes right at the bigger defender, and gets his shot swatted leading to a runout for the Thunder. Barely three minutes of game time later, Reddish finds himself in a similar position. This time, he stops short of a lengthy defender and connects with a running floater. That’s learning in real-time. What more could you ask for from a 22-year-old dude that only cost you Kevin Knox and a heavily protected pick? 

This article would not be doing justice to the conversation around Reddish’s good shot selection if we didn’t discuss what he’s capable of doing in transition.

The best version of Reddish right now is in transition. He is a stone-cold killer when pushing the tempo, and he makes great decisions with the ball.

That’s really what it is all about for Reddish and his future prospects. If he can continue to lean on his success in transition and making plays within the flow of the offense, he has a bright future in this league. A future that Knicks fans should hope comes to fruition here in New York. 

At this point, I have a confession to make. I haven’t finished The Grapes of Wrath. I have no idea what becomes of Tom Joad or if he lives up to his reputation. Cam Reddish in a Knicks uniform, though… well, he seems to be putting his reputation as a poor decision-maker to rest.

Sincerely Yours, 

The Reddish Club