NBA Playoffs 2018: Top 10 role players who'll make a difference

#4 JJ Redick

Redick reacts to a play by the Sixers in transition against the Cleveland Cavaliers

There were a number of people who, understandably, questioned the wisdom of rewarding a contract worth $23 million to a player whose only elite skill is to score 3-pointers at a high rate.

Through the course of this regular season campaign, Redick has slowly won these doubters over to his side with both his play on the court and his mentoring role off the court for a young Sixers squad finding its real place in the dynamically changing NBA.

Redick has season averages of 17.1 points, 2.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game. In addition to scoring at high efficiency (making 46% of all his field goal attempts, 42% from 3-point range and 90.4% from the free throw line), Redick has been a good secondary playmaker in the Sixers' offense that ranks first in the league for passes made per game.

Redick will be having a field day in the playoffs, as teams will have to throw double teams on Embiid and Simmons while blocking the paint and allowing him a freer run from the 3-point line than the usual NBA game. Expect him to keep up the same productivity and be a major part of the reason why the Sixers will make a deep playoff run.