5 NBA players who should be playing a different position

3. J.J. Redick

J.J. Redick is having a great season. He is averaging 15.7 points per game and shooting 43.5 percent from beyond the arc. This has been par for the course for Redick since joining the LA Clippers.

At this point, everyone around the league knows what Redick is. He is the cutting, 3-point shooting solid shooting guard. His role is very clearly defined no matter where the Clippers put him on the floor. As Stan Van Gundy learned and developed in his Orlando days, Redick is good at help side defensive principles, just not necessarily strong one on one.

Redick will provide the statistics he usually provides.

But the Clippers team this year is oddly shaped. Very oddly shaped. And that was especially when Blake Griffin was out.

The Clippers’ usual starting lineup featured Luc Mbah A Moute at small forward. But with Griffin’s injury, Mbah A Moute slid to power forward. And Redick, the usual shooting guard, had to start with Chris Paul and Austin Rivers. The Clippers had a hard time figuring out how to balance their lineup.

This season, Redick has played slightly out of position for much of the season. The Clippers have had to shuffle their lineups and put Redick in positions for him to succeed, often hiding him. Sometimes that has not worked — see the offensively challenged Aaron Gordon’s two 30-point games against the Clippers.

Maybe Redick was technically playing shooting guard. But the Clippers’ odd lineups have put Redick in a somewhat uncomfortable position.

Fortunately for them, things seem to be ironing themselves out.