We are witnessing the return of ROOKIE RICHARDSON. He might have had an underwhelming sophomore season but he’s coming back to life right before our eyes. Remember, Josh Richardson was a second-round pick in the 15-16 season and did some good things for the Heat late in that season. He finished the year shooting 46% from three, a number that seemed unsustainable at the time and has proven to be unsustainable in the present, but his inside/midrange scoring is vastly improved when you compare then to now.
In this game, Richardson manufactured a lot of looks for himself and didn’t rely on others to integrate him into the offense. It was, honestly, very Waiters-esque, and if he hadn’t been hitting every shot he took, I would probably hold the “Richardson needs to play more within himself and not be such a chucker” opinion. I mean, J-Rich doesn’t fill up the box-score in ways other than scoring, so he’s really only useful when he’s both hitting a lot of shots and playing defense. However, I would really rather not have him turn into another Dion Waiters by deciding that the best way to impact the game is to take swaggy midrange jumpers.