He'll Teach You How To Shoot. But Winning Games ? You're On Your Own
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I have to hand it to whoever was in charge of promoting the heck out of J.J. Reddick, arguably one of the most overrated players in all of college basketball. This guy was like the golden child while he was at Duke. If I Google his name and some other famous white basketball player ( i.e. Larry Bird), I'm sure I will find some 0ff-comparison. Yup, I did (I like The Onion's take on this the most).
Not to take anything away from J.J., as he was certainly one heck of a shooter in college, but his promotions team was working overtime when he played at Duke. The way the commentators spoke about him (including our beloved Dickie V), you'd think he was leading people to the Promised Land between games.
Yet, when it was time for J.J. to leave and head to the NBA, those cheerleaders all but disappeared. For example, you probably didn't know that he plays for the Atlanta Hawks Orlando Magic and hasn't really been heard from since he played his last Duke game, except for that little DWI he got right before the draft.
That is, until today. While watching TV just now, I saw a commercial for Better Shooting 2, an instructional video featuring - you guessed it - J.J. Reddick. I didn't know I missed Better Shooting 1 . It must be because J.J. wasn't in it. According to the website, this video will teach you how to shoot like the " best shooter in college hoops history." (At least the page for this particular video qualifies that with a "perhaps the best shooter . . .").
So it looks like the Reddick marketing machine has wisely figured out a way to extend the J.J. brand further than his NBA career. Because if you can't be a successful NBA player, at least you can teach other people to shoot like you so they can possibly be a successful NBA player. What a great guy.
(Cross published at Pleats 'n Cleats)
