<font size="4"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2"><font color="black">Here's what one scout projected him as (from nbadraft.net)</font></font></font></font> <font size="4"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2"><font color="black">NBA Comparison: Vince Carter</font></font></font></font> <font size="4"><font color="black"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2">Positives : Has good vision on the court , can only get better with Coach Izzo?s help. Has a tenacity for rebounding, unbelievable vertical. Has improved his game immensely in his first year. Has developed a nice mid-range , and is becoming very good at hitting the three pointer. Just starting to understand Coach Izzo?s system , already has a few main points down . A major workhorse , always critical of his game always trying to improve it. Loves to play in the transition . Very exciting to watch because when the ball is in his hands, something exciting usually happens. Really loves to play in the big games. Negatives : Is still very lanky. Needs to hit the weight room more often so he can become a more powerful force in the inside. Must work in the system at Michigan state and be able to understand how to use his skills to the max within the system. </font></font></font></font> <font face="Arial">I like that one part where it says A major workhorse, always critical of his game always trying to improve it. I think Jrich is going to be much better at handling the ball and belive it or not he will become a better free throw shooter. His defense will be about the same I bet, a block and a steal every game just about. His outside shooting will be more consistent as there probably will be a coach who can teach him to be more of a set shooter and not jump up so high the way he does when he shoots.</font>
I expect big things from J-Rich next year although I expect his numbers to be down a bit from last season. Dunleavy and Murphy will be in there picking up some of the slack. I think last year was a great confidence builder for J-Rich. He had to carry a big load last season and I think he handled it nicely. This year there will not be as much pressure on him to carry this team and he should be more relaxed. As mentioned before, the guy is a hard worker. He strives to get better at all cost. He is never content with anything. I really believe we will see a different Richardson next year, a defensive minded J-Rich. Call me crazy but I think he is tired of hearing about his weaknesses defensively. The guy will be in the gym working his ass off on D and we will see the improvement next season.
I think his numbers will go up actually because he will have improved his ballhandling and free throw ability, he'll get to the line more and sink his foul shots. That's how guys like Vince Carter and AI score so much. They get all these free points and hit them because they're so quick and they got great ballhandling. Jrich is like a 70% foul shooter. You get up to about 10-15% more accuracy you're points go up a bit and I'd think you'd tend to drive more often because you know they're like free points you can easily get. Excellent free throw shooters love to get fouled.
Paul Pierce also thrives at the free throw line, but he banged so much that his body wore down at the end of the season. Richardson is actually pretty strong now at about 220 lbs, which is an above average weight for a wing player. I'm sure he'll put it together next season, and although he can't yet take over a game at will, he'll have a lot of very nice moments next year.
If Jrich can bring over 20 ppg on a consistent basis he's a superstar. The guy IS the next Vince Carter basically. Fun to watch, he'll block/dunk/drive/shoot, but is he good enough to carry the team and be a franchise player? Probably not. And that's the big questions I have about a lot of certain marquee shooting guards like Ray Allen/VC/Stackhouse/Tmac, etc. It's like although they are awesome scorers (minus Stackhouse who is a high volume/low fg% guy) they'll never be franchise players in my sense (A franchise guy is a guy that can singlehandedly lead a team to victory on any given night i.e. Michael Jordan/Larry Bird/Duncan/Garnett/Rick Barry maybe). Most of the time they end up being forwards/centers with the exception of MJ) Kobe is the only shooting guard in the league probably closest to playing like Michael Jordan, but he can be taken out of the game with the level of defense that guys like Bowen/Prince/Artest/and others play.
I don't know how many times I've read that Richardson scouting report on nbadraft.com, but every time I read it, I'm just mystified at them saying he's lanky and needs to get in the weight room more. He was a power forward in high school for crying out loud! He was plenty strong for a sg/sf when he was at MSU and he was definately strong enough when he came into the league. His weaknesses coming out of MSU were his ball handling (again, because he was a power forward for most of his life) and his defense. Now that NVE is relegated to back up role, Richardson has to know that he's the team's #1 option for the first three quarters and, more importantly, the team's #1 option in crunch time. Richardson averaged 21/7.1/2.5 during the month of February, and I think he's definately capable of putting up similar numbers for the whole year next year. I think the most important thing for Richardson next year is to be consistent. I know he's capable of it because last year he had a huge problem in the second half of back to back games, but by the end of the year, those second half games were some of his best. I don't think, Richardson will be an all star next year, but I do think he'll be in the discussion (kind of like Jamison was two years ago).
He's working out with Tim Grover. He is just what JRich needs. He helped Darius Miles with his game and actually looked good last year. I remember last year right before the draft, there was an awesome article about Grover saying that he is the premier trainer in the league and helped turn around some careers. Dwayne Wade shot up in the draft due to training he did with Grover. Richardson already has all the tools. He will have a huge year.
I think Richardson has a chance to be an allstar if he can demonstrate being able to take over a game like Michael Redd and be a +20 ppg scorer as well as logging a good number of assists/fg%/steals/rebounds, etc. Consistency and gaining popularity is the main thing and I think he can be as popular as Vince Carter. With the kind of market we have in the bay area/Portland/other places Jrich is actually pretty popular and should get a good number of votes. And walker I agree that NBA draft.net didn't assess his weaknesses properly but they rated his strengths well. He does have good vision, but his passing accuracy isn't as consistent. And Here's what I think happened with that "needs to bulk up statement" they made. I think it had to do with the report assuming him going in as a small forward (rather than shooting guard) since I think he played small forward in college right? So therefore 220 is kind of weak compared to where you're supposed to be at as a small forward (230 or 240). I think Jrich didn't have any ballhandling or range before Tom Izzo worked with him. So it just goes to show that Jrich has a pretty decent learning of how to play new positions like power forward, to small forward, to guard. If he had played SG all his life I think he'd be along a lot quicker, but I guess we have to wait until he's as complete as he can be.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting upsidedownside7:</div><div class="quote_post">He's working out with Tim Grover. He is just what JRich needs. He helped Darius Miles with his game and actually looked good last year. I remember last year right before the draft, there was an awesome article about Grover saying that he is the premier trainer in the league and helped turn around some careers. Dwayne Wade shot up in the draft due to training he did with Grover. Richardson already has all the tools. He will have a huge year.</div> Just to add to this, Grover is the legendary trainer who's intimately trusted by Michael Jordan and who worked with Jordan most of his career. Many players flock to him over the summer at Hoops Gym and nearly all of the major draftees try to get some time with him.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting upsidedownside7:</div><div class="quote_post">He's working out with Tim Grover. He is just what JRich needs. He helped Darius Miles with his game and actually looked good last year. I remember last year right before the draft, there was an awesome article about Grover saying that he is the premier trainer in the league and helped turn around some careers. Dwayne Wade shot up in the draft due to training he did with Grover. Richardson already has all the tools. He will have a huge year.</div> I agree I think Jrich will improve a lot. BTW I think we should have picked up D-miles. I'm not sure how he'd fit or if he has improved his basketball IQ, but the guy is the real walking mismatch. Can play 3 positions and at guard he's deadly. His midrange game would be unstoppable for any 6'6 guy because he plays bigger than his actual height of 6'9 and moves like a guard. Plus he can defend and handle the rock.
Hey everybody, This site looks like a great place to talk about our Favorite team. Losing Cardinal is going to be tough, but like all of you, I will keep being optimistic that Foyle will finally play like the #9 pick in the draft (just ahead of T-Mac) and have the same kind of year in 2004-05 that Damp had last year. Wouldn't be great for all Warrior fans if Damp had to sign a one year deal for less than 5 mil?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting custodianrules2:</div><div class="quote_post">I agree I think Jrich will improve a lot. BTW I think we should have picked up D-miles. I'm not sure how he'd fit or if he has improved his basketball IQ, but the guy is the real walking mismatch. Can play 3 positions and at guard he's deadly. His midrange game would be unstoppable for any 6'6 guy because he plays bigger than his actual height of 6'9 and moves like a guard. Plus he can defend and handle the rock.</div> DMiles would be a good pickup but he is gonna chase $$$. I would offer a 3-4 year for 20 mil. That's it. He needs to prove himself more and not pout so much on the court.
Welcome, Salti. Hope you post here often Wasn't Foyle the #8 pick BTW? I think I remember correctly he was #8 not #9. Anyway, I'm a nitpick. upsidedown, I know Dmiles would chase the cash, but I think he could be worth it in the long run. He would need to just improve his understanding of the team game, improve his free throws, and maybe extend his range a bit and improve his consistency (although not a biggy as a small forward since he hits the 20' or '18 footer just fine when he was in Portland). Maybe I'm underrating his knowledge of the game a bit by watching him in Cleveland, but he's also a decent passer and penetrator. I think he just hated playing for Cleveland and being next to guys like Ricky Davis and others.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Saltinuts40:</div><div class="quote_post">Hey everybody, This site looks like a great place to talk about our Favorite team. Losing Cardinal is going to be tough, but like all of you, I will keep being optimistic that Foyle will finally play like the #9 pick in the draft (just ahead of T-Mac) and have the same kind of year in 2004-05 that Damp had last year. Wouldn't be great for all Warrior fans if Damp had to sign a one year deal for less than 5 mil?</div>Welcome, this is a great place for all Warriors fans to talk about our beloved Warriors. Hope you stick around! I think J-Rich will be an all-star obviously based on his performance but also on the teams performance. If the Warriors are at or above .500 and are right in the thich of things in the West, he'll be rewarded IMO. Not only J-Rich but I can see Murphy in the all-star game in a couple of years.
Anything's possible in this league. You know with Gilbert Arenas, Michael Redd, and some other players, people would think you were smoking crack if you said these guys would be any good in the league.
Here is the thing with Richardson...When he plays well, the Warriors win. Richardson WAS inconsistent on back to back games, however, towards the end of the season he got better. If Richardson can become more consistent, even if his numbers are slightly down, the Warriors will become a better team.
