Often the media puts immense pressure on athletes who are ranked ESPN Top 100 in their class, McDonald’s All-Americans, or attend a big-time university which ultimately follows them up until they’re professionals. Exactly what the media did with Reddish, especially because of his early struggles with transitioning from Duke onto the NBA. Although his points per game went down to 10.5 in comparison to the 13.5, he averaged at Duke, his field goal percentage improved from 35.6% to 38.4% and free throw percentage from 77.2% to 80.2%. Despite raising these percentages, the world was still waiting on Cam Reddish to break out of his shell, and that he did.

After the All-Star break, Atlanta saw a different player as he increased his scoring to 16 points while shooting 50% from the field, 40% at the three-point range, and 83% from the free-throw line. Within that 10-game stretch, his breakout games came against the Brooklyn Nets, Washington Wizards, and Charlotte Hornets. Shooting 9 of 14 from the field and 6 of 9 from three-point range Reddish finished with 26 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, and 1 steal versus the Nets. The following week against Washington he scored 28 points on 11 of 17 shooting and going 5 for 7 from three-point range, in these two games alone Cam shot 64.5% from the field and 69.5% from three-point range. To cap off his great momentum he scored 22 points shooting 8 of 14, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 steal in an overtime win against Charlotte.

Granting he did struggle to begin his NBA career, Cam Reddish found momentum during the second half of his rookie year. February to March Reddish shot between 44.1% to 55.1% from the field, 34.9% to 47.6% from three-point range, and 82.8% to 85.7% from free throw. With such great progression and impressive second-half season stats, Cam has shown the critics who thrived off early struggles that he will be essential to the talented young core Atlanta is invested and ready for. Even though the season ended abruptly due to Covid-19, that hasn’t stopped Reddish from sharpening his shooting mechanics as he’s been working with and picking the brain of Stephen Curry, arguably the best shooter our league has ever seen in this lifetime. This should be extremely exciting for fans as he brings in his second year with Atlanta come December 22nd, with great confidence Cam Reddish is ready to showcase why it’s not how you start but everything about what you will do to finish.