Ex-Vol Richardson says versatility led to pick by Heat
When Michael Richardson finally went to bed around 3 a.m. Friday, his son was still partying in the living room.
Well, Josh Richardson’s version of partying.
The former Tennessee guard and PlayStation junkie celebrated becoming the 46th NBA draft pick in University of Tennessee basketball history by playing NBA 2K14 through the night with two lifelong buddies.
His new team is now his go-to favorite in the game.
“Now I’m using the Heat,” Richardson told the Knoxville News Sentinel on Friday afternoon from his family’s home in Edmond, Oklahoma.
Miami picked the 21-year-old Richardson No. 40 during Thursday night’s draft, confirming the notion that the first-team AllSEC member and defensive All-American had boosted his stock significantly as draft night neared.
Heat president Pat Riley and coach Erik Spoelstra see the 6-6, 200-pound guard as a versatile addition who can add depth on the wing, handle the ball when necessary and defend any perimeter player.
Richardson’s voluntary shift from shooting guard to point guard as a senior, a move desperately needed by the Vols, could have hurt him. Instead it paid dividends. Similar to Justise Winslow, the former Duke wing selected by Miami at No. 10, Richardson has shown he is comfortable in multiple roles.
“They said I’m a perfect fit for the team,” Richardson said Friday, recapping the call he received from Riley and Spoelstra after he became the first Vol drafted by the Heat.
“They said positionless basketball is a big thing that’s coming on now. They think they can just throw me out there and I can play a couple of different positions. They said they like to defend. And everybody knows that’s what I like to do. So, I think I fit that mold.”
Richardson will fly to Miami on Sunday to prepare for the Heat’s minicamp and expects to play in the NBA summer league. His goal is to earn a contract. He has no interest in spending time overseas or in the NBA Development League.
“I’m just going to have to be able to make open shots and defend,” he said. “A lot of it hangs on making open shots and being able to play-make within the offense.”
DEVELOPMENTS
Portis apologizes: It’s going to be an interesting first day at training camp for Chicago Bulls draft pick Bobby Portis. Fans and media combed through the Arkansas forward’s Twitter history and found some disparaging tweets about new teammates Derrick Rose and Pau Gasol — but plenty of praise for LeBron James and the Miami Heat.
“(Bleep) D Rose and the bulls! #teamHeat over here,” Portis wrote in a 2011 tweet that has been deleted but had been retweeted by several sources. In another tweet that was removed, Portis wrote, “Pau Gasol not as good as everybody think/say!”
It wasn’t the only time he bashed the Bulls.
Portis tweeted an apology to Bulls fans Thursday night, hours after he was selected with the 22nd overall pick, and offered to buy Rose and Gasol doughnuts.
“I was a boy then,” tweeted Portis. “I’m a man now. And a Bull.”
Embiid decision near: The 76ers are close to making a decision that will dictate center Joel Embiid’s immediate and long-term future, Philadelphia general manager Sam Hinkie said Friday morning.
Hinkie said another surgery has not been ruled out as an option, and that he can’t see Embiid playing on either of the Sixers’ two summer league teams.
Embiid, 21, missed all of what would have been his rookie season after surgery last June to repair the navicular bone in his right foot.
Embiid underwent an MRI exam as a precaution before summer league play.
“And it just looked different,” Hinkie said, dropping his voice. “And so it caused the surgeon to say, ‘Well, that’s different, that’s different. What is that?’ So let’s get to the bottom of this, and that’s the thing we’ve been working on.”
Embiid was the third overall pick in the draft last year after playing one injury-shortened season at Kansas.
Cuban happy with Indian pick: Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was elated after Dallas took 7-2, 290-pound Satnam Singh with its second-round pick, No. 52 overall. Singh is the first player born in India to be drafted by the NBA.
“The legend of Satnam Singh is beginning,” Cuban said, smiling. “We wanted a big guy. We believe in creating legends in Dallas and we certainly created a legend.”
No, Cuban wasn’t proclaiming that Singh, 19, will dominate in the NBA. Singh is a project, probably a long-term one. He will begin his career with the D-League’s Texas Legends, Mavericks general manager and Legends owner Donnie Nelson confirmed.
Cuban and Nelson, though, see plenty of social significance and a potential marketing home run in Singh.
“There’s a billion new Mavs fans out there right now,” Cuban said of the Indian market. “But seriously, the guy is 9-foot-3. He’s huge. No, he’s enormous. And what we really liked about him, believe it or not, was when he came in here he really could shoot the ball. He was one of the better 3-point shooters that we brought through. It was shocking but true.”