Nakamori
06-29-2007, 03:54 AM
Ok... here's the deal. I'm not a huge fan of this trade from the GS standpoint, but the deal is done and I'm compelled to give you guys an up-close look at the player you guys are getting.
Richardson is a polished scorer, which is probably why your FO made the deal anyway. Contrary to the perception he may have made for himself as a two-time dunk champion, his halfcourt game revolves mainly around three pointers, elbow jumpers off of screens, and backdoor cuts that result in the alley-oops you see him do so often on sportscenter. His jumper is reliable, and of course hes as good at finishing a fast break as any guard in the league.
What he doesn't do particularly well handle the ball and take people off the dribble, which is probably what keeps him from joining the upper echelon of NBA swingmen. He's not horrible, and due to his strength he'll be matched up with SF's that he can occasionally blow by with raw quickness on a single move baseline (youtube his drive on the mavs in the playoffs for a good example)
His lack of ball handling had two implications, one good and one bad. the good is that he works well in any system: his offense revolves around moving without the ball and the three, which are things any offensive scheme could use. The bad, of course, is that he doesn't create for himself well. He'll stretch a D with his shooting, and command the attention of the other team's best 6-5 to 6-8 defender (good news for morrison I think), but he's not a "give the ball to him at the end of a period and clear out" kind of guy.
His main weakness is his free throw shooting. He just looks a little awkward at the line, looking far more comfortably in rhythm coming off of a screen or something. At lot of it might have to do with the fact that he likes to elevate a lot on his jumper- something he obviously doesn't do at the line. It's not to the extent of a hack-a-jrich kind of thing, but its not good.
Defensively, he's average on the wing and is pretty good at weak side help. Not much more to say about that, A good scorer will get his against j-rich but its not like Darius Miles will drop 30. More often than not when a shot goes up on the defensive end hes in the paint, right with the big bangers. He's a good rebounder.
As for intangibles, there's a reason he was a fan favorite. After the 2005-06 season he bought a full-page ad in every bay area newspaper apologizing for the 12th consecutive non-playoff season and promising a better showing next year. H won a national championship at Michigan State. He played hard, even when GS sucked REALLY bad. He's a leader.
Bottom Line, you have a front-line scorer who doesn't create a vacuum on defense. He might not be the ball handler you guys are hoping for but you dont average 23 a game in the nba without a fairly dynamic offensive game.
Richardson is a polished scorer, which is probably why your FO made the deal anyway. Contrary to the perception he may have made for himself as a two-time dunk champion, his halfcourt game revolves mainly around three pointers, elbow jumpers off of screens, and backdoor cuts that result in the alley-oops you see him do so often on sportscenter. His jumper is reliable, and of course hes as good at finishing a fast break as any guard in the league.
What he doesn't do particularly well handle the ball and take people off the dribble, which is probably what keeps him from joining the upper echelon of NBA swingmen. He's not horrible, and due to his strength he'll be matched up with SF's that he can occasionally blow by with raw quickness on a single move baseline (youtube his drive on the mavs in the playoffs for a good example)
His lack of ball handling had two implications, one good and one bad. the good is that he works well in any system: his offense revolves around moving without the ball and the three, which are things any offensive scheme could use. The bad, of course, is that he doesn't create for himself well. He'll stretch a D with his shooting, and command the attention of the other team's best 6-5 to 6-8 defender (good news for morrison I think), but he's not a "give the ball to him at the end of a period and clear out" kind of guy.
His main weakness is his free throw shooting. He just looks a little awkward at the line, looking far more comfortably in rhythm coming off of a screen or something. At lot of it might have to do with the fact that he likes to elevate a lot on his jumper- something he obviously doesn't do at the line. It's not to the extent of a hack-a-jrich kind of thing, but its not good.
Defensively, he's average on the wing and is pretty good at weak side help. Not much more to say about that, A good scorer will get his against j-rich but its not like Darius Miles will drop 30. More often than not when a shot goes up on the defensive end hes in the paint, right with the big bangers. He's a good rebounder.
As for intangibles, there's a reason he was a fan favorite. After the 2005-06 season he bought a full-page ad in every bay area newspaper apologizing for the 12th consecutive non-playoff season and promising a better showing next year. H won a national championship at Michigan State. He played hard, even when GS sucked REALLY bad. He's a leader.
Bottom Line, you have a front-line scorer who doesn't create a vacuum on defense. He might not be the ball handler you guys are hoping for but you dont average 23 a game in the nba without a fairly dynamic offensive game.