Jeremy Richardson

Richardson came up huge today for Atlanta, looking like an NBA caliber scorer. He came out on fire, knocking down a couple of twenty-plus foot jumpers off of screens; showing the ability to move without the ball and get himself open. Throughout the game he showed the ability to hit catch and shoot jumpers and put points on the board from the perimeter. Richardson has tremendous form, and is capable of shooting off balance. The elevation he gets on his release makes him very difficult to defend when closing him out. The young swingman displayed great range, and even did a nice job getting to the line when he put the ball on the floor. He still needs to work on his ball handling and defense, but he’s made strides in both. Richardson did a nice job moving the ball today, and was active on the glass as well. This was one of the most impressive performances we’ve seen in this year’s Summer League. Worth noting is the fact that Richardson wasn’t even 100%, as he’s been hampered lately by a bum ankle.

“A body like Rawle Marshall, and a game like Rip Hamilton” says D-League Senior Coordinator of Basketball Operations Brandon Barnett. “The wing player with the most upside in our league” says Director of Basketball Operations Chris Alpert. You think they like him in the D-League? After watching him play twice and sitting down with him between games, it’s not hard to tell why.

Jeremy Richardson started his college career at Copiah-Lincoln Community College. From there, he went to Division II powerhouse Delta State, where he was only named to the all-region second team by Daktronics. He got a little bit of exposure for himself by working out with John Lucas—who was extremely high on him it must be said—and earned himself NBA workouts with his local Houston Rockets, as well as the Washington Wizards and Milwaukee Bucks, mostly off Lucas’ recommendations. We had him pegged as a player who should be invited to the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament after watching tape on him against Florida State and from his conference tournament, but that wasn’t enough to get him an invite to the PIT or the pre-draft camp.

Without the assistance of an agent-- his father still handled his business for him as late as last week—he found his way onto a D-League team after being shrewdly selected in the 2nd round by Fort Worth. Since then, he’s averaging 18.5 points on 47% shooting from the field and 40% from the 3-point line. He was one of the hottest names amongst NBA scouts during the D-League Showcase in Sioux Falls, and it really wouldn’t shock anyone if he were to be called up this season once non-NBA playoff teams start bringing up players with upside that they want to take a look at.

Upside would be a good place to start his scouting report. Standing 6-7 with an extremely long wingspan, Richardson has great size for the swingman position. He is a very good athlete who can get to where he needs on the court thanks to his quickness, and he elevates off the floor smoothly for mid-range jumpers with nice separation. Richardson has a quick release on his shot, and he made a great living for himself in Sioux Falls by coming off screens and curls endlessly knocking down shots. He didn’t force a thing in either of his two games, which helped him hide his biggest weakness at the moment—his ball-handling skills. Richardson is much improved in this area compared with what we saw in college, but he still has a ways to go. He prefers to pull-up from mid-range rather than taking the ball all the way to the hoop, and therefore is averaging less than 3 free throws a game in the D-League so far. His frame is also on the lanky side, which doesn’t help him much in this area. Defensively, though, he does a good job due to his length and work ethic.

As noted, he should be considered a prime candidate for a call-up this season, and will surely be an interesting player to follow over the summer.