Malachi Richardson

[SelfishPlayer]

Is there a health reason for why this guy had such a low shooting percentage in college even from 2 pt range? This guys seems like a poor man's James Young.

[RollingWave]

Is there a precedent for a guy sucking badly in college then become significantly solid NBA player?

I know some guys are better pros than college players, but this seems like a pretty extreme test of that .

I feel that he's a guy that even if he pans out, is not going to be for the team that drafts him.

[GimmeDat]

He has some nice tools, and he could develop in to a good player in time, but I don't know why you would take such a massive risk in the 1st round. Even if he did have a nice ceiling, it would be comparable to similar players in the mid-1st that have much higher floors.

I pity the team that's given him a promise, if that's the case.

[EMG518]

He has some nice tools, and he could develop in to a good player in time, but I don't know why you would take such a massive risk in the 1st round. Even if he did have a nice ceiling, it would be comparable to similar players in the mid-1st that have much higher floors.

I pity the team that's given him a promise, if that's the case.

You would take him in the 1st round because he has one of the highest ceilings in the draft. He has a great nba body, length, athleticism, potential to create his own shot, and have range past the 3pt line. I would 100% take him over most of the 1st rounders in this weak draft whom project as role players.

[GimmeDat]

He has some nice tools, and he could develop in to a good player in time, but I don't know why you would take such a massive risk in the 1st round. Even if he did have a nice ceiling, it would be comparable to similar players in the mid-1st that have much higher floors.

I pity the team that's given him a promise, if that's the case.

You would take him in the 1st round because he has one of the highest ceilings in the draft. He has a great nba body, length, athleticism, potential to create his own shot, and potential to have range past the 3pt line.

What is his ceiling? What type of player do you think he can become?

Because personally, I think that it's a 6th man microwave scorer who can play D on the other end.

Great length, he's pretty mobile but not an explosive athlete, and he can handle the ball. However, he was inefficient, a bit of a chucker, older than your ideal 'project' and has yet to show he can turn his physical attributes in to production on the court.

There's a ceiling there sure, but there's some red flag bust potential as well. This is like the guy who made the thread saying he loved Whitehead.

[EMG518]

He has some nice tools, and he could develop in to a good player in time, but I don't know why you would take such a massive risk in the 1st round. Even if he did have a nice ceiling, it would be comparable to similar players in the mid-1st that have much higher floors.

I pity the team that's given him a promise, if that's the case.

You would take him in the 1st round because he has one of the highest ceilings in the draft. He has a great nba body, length, athleticism, potential to create his own shot, and potential to have range past the 3pt line.

What is his ceiling? What type of player do you think he can become?

Because personally, I think that it's a 6th man microwave scorer who can play D on the other end.

Great length, he's pretty mobile but not an explosive athlete, and he can handle the ball. However, he was inefficient, a bit of a chucker, older than your ideal 'project' and has yet to show he can turn his physical attributes in to production on the court.

There's a ceiling there sure, but there's some red flag bust potential as well. This is like the guy who made the thread saying he loved Whitehead.

What you see as a ceiling I see as an average return for him. I think he has All-Star potential if he has the right work ethic and is surrounded with the right organization. The tools are all there. Inefficient and not having great shot selection is something that can be fixed as he learns the game. I personally don't think 20 and a half on draft night is older than your ideal project either.

I honestly don't see what Richardson has to do with Whitehead. Richardson is the better athlete with the better body, length, he has the better shot, and will have the greater ability to create.

[RollingWave]

What you see as a ceiling I see as an average return for him. I think he has All-Star potential if he has the right work ethic and is surrounded with the right organization. The tools are all there. Inefficient and not having great shot selection is something that can be fixed as he learns the game. I personally don't think 20 and a half on draft night is older than your ideal project either.

I honestly don't see what Richardson has to do with Whitehead. Richardson is the better athlete with the better body, length, he has the better shot, and will have the greater ability to create.

Please give example of even two NBA players who

1. came out after 1 or 2 years
2. were comparably bad in that span especially on a per minute basis
3. guys that would get real time on average or above teams.

It's not just the inefficiency, it's that he just didn't do a lot as a whole (13 PER) turned the ball over more than assisted as a perimeter player too.

The only positive statistically was that he drew fouls at an above average rate.

The closest comp I can think of that fits the above was Austin Rivers, and he
A. sucked horribly for the team that drafted him (literally one of the worst player in the league for the first couple years.)
B. was still somewhat better statistically than Malachi.
C. it's still doubtful he is the backup PG on at least 10 teams in the league.

[machu46]

Is there a health reason for why this guy had such a low shooting percentage in college even from 2 pt range? This guys seems like a poor man's James Young.

No. He just really sucked from mid-range and sucked around the rim.

[JN]

What you see as a ceiling I see as an average return for him. I think he has All-Star potential if he has the right work ethic and is surrounded with the right organization. The tools are all there. Inefficient and not having great shot selection is something that can be fixed as he learns the game. I personally don't think 20 and a half on draft night is older than your ideal project either.

I honestly don't see what Richardson has to do with Whitehead. Richardson is the better athlete with the better body, length, he has the better shot, and will have the greater ability to create.

Please give example of even two NBA players who

1. came out after 1 or 2 years
2. were comparably bad in that span especially on a per minute basis
3. guys that would get real time on average or above teams.

It's not just the inefficiency, it's that he just didn't do a lot as a whole (13 PER) turned the ball over more than assisted as a perimeter player too.

The only positive statistically was that he drew fouls at an above average rate.

The closest comp I can think of that fits the above was Austin Rivers, and he
A. sucked horribly for the team that drafted him (literally one of the worst player in the league for the first couple years.)
B. was still somewhat better statistically than Malachi.

C. it's still doubtful he is the backup PG on at least 10 teams in the league.

I scanned drafts from 2000-2005 and I found 5 frosh that entered that were hardly great as freshman. I scanned 2nd round early entrants that had at least around 5000 career minutes from basketball refence.

Not sure what the PER's were of these players but they could not have been that good. It was probably other factors that turned teams on.

Dermarrr Johnson - 6th
Gerald Wallace - Late First (His PER was probably boosted by rebounds)
Dajian Wagner - 4th (more the Austin Rivers type, high volume, high pts but ridiculously inefficient)
Trever Ariza - Second Round
Von Wafer - Second Round

Wallace and Ariza were two frosh who really struggled who have had really good NBA careers.
Johnson and Wafer were drafted based on measurables - they had careers but not too long.
Wagner was just a college chucker who was overdrafted at the time in my view. That carried forward to the NBA. But he also had tough health issues.

[RollingWave]

Good catch, Ariza is a much more plausible good case , and he's also a solid example of what I said... Aka player like this almost never works out for the team that drafted him. Ariza was on his 3rd team before we're all convinced he's a real player

[MemphisX]

I'm not sure why people say he can create his own shot. He can't shoot. Sure, he can take a terrible step back midrange jumper but it is not like he has hit them. When you look on his DE profile, you see he shot sub 40% in before college.

This dude is not a NBA level player in nothing except he looks the part in the layup line.

[RollingWave]

I'm not sure why people say he can create his own shot. He can't shoot. Sure, he can take a terrible step back midrange jumper but it is not like he has hit them. When you look on his DE profile, you see he shot sub 40% in before college.

This dude is not a NBA level player in nothing except he looks the part in the layup line.

This is the same problem as Austin Rivers, he can create separation but can't actually do anything useful with it.

Now creating the initial separation is an important nba skill that is hard to teach, but as the case of Rivers showed learning to actually make it count is hardly easy.

If he didn't have a daddy coach he could have been out of the league before turning to a passable player.

[Dr Positivity]

You would take him in the 1st round because he has one of the highest ceilings in the draft. He has a great nba body, length, athleticism, potential to create his own shot, and potential to have range past the 3pt line.

What is his ceiling? What type of player do you think he can become?

Because personally, I think that it's a 6th man microwave scorer who can play D on the other end.

Great length, he's pretty mobile but not an explosive athlete, and he can handle the ball. However, he was inefficient, a bit of a chucker, older than your ideal 'project' and has yet to show he can turn his physical attributes in to production on the court.

There's a ceiling there sure, but there's some red flag bust potential as well. This is like the guy who made the thread saying he loved Whitehead.

What you see as a ceiling I see as an average return for him. I think he has All-Star potential if he has the right work ethic and is surrounded with the right organization. The tools are all there. Inefficient and not having great shot selection is something that can be fixed as he learns the game. I personally don't think 20 and a half on draft night is older than your ideal project either.

I honestly don't see what Richardson has to do with Whitehead. Richardson is the better athlete with the better body, length, he has the better shot, and will have the greater ability to create.

Just to point out while Malachi is younger and taller/longer, Whitehead has some things going for him over Malachi:

- Much better passing prospect - 6.1 ast/40 to Malachi's 2.5
- Elite shotblocking guard (1.8 blk/40), slightly higher steals (1.5 to Richardson's 1.4). Bigger frame at 210 pounds making up for 6'9 wingspan vs 7 feet
- A little bit better from 3 (36%) and FT (76%) to Richardson's 35% and 72%, and higher 3PA/40 at 7.9 to Richardson's 7.2
- While Richardson's strength is as a shot creator, when it comes to creating their own chuck he didn't match Whitehead this year. Whitehead had 18.7 FGA/40 which ranks 2nd among DX top 100 prospects, Malachi's 12.9 rates 52nd. Yes, most of those players ahead of him were older which is important for shot creation, but last year's Whitehead (16.2) is still a lot higher than current Malachi and would have ranked about 17th.
- Despite a .51 TS% and high turnover rate there are stats suggesting Whitehead was a good player this year. A 7.7 BPM, 20.5 PER, .152 WS/48 are reasonable seasons for a college prospect. For example Ingram has only 7.5 BPM, .157 WS/48, 22.5 PER. Malachi has 3.0 BPM, 13.8 PER, .104 WS/48 which is more in the zone of prospects it's rare to find end up good.

[EMG518]

What is his ceiling? What type of player do you think he can become?

Because personally, I think that it's a 6th man microwave scorer who can play D on the other end.

Great length, he's pretty mobile but not an explosive athlete, and he can handle the ball. However, he was inefficient, a bit of a chucker, older than your ideal 'project' and has yet to show he can turn his physical attributes in to production on the court.

There's a ceiling there sure, but there's some red flag bust potential as well. This is like the guy who made the thread saying he loved Whitehead.

What you see as a ceiling I see as an average return for him. I think he has All-Star potential if he has the right work ethic and is surrounded with the right organization. The tools are all there. Inefficient and not having great shot selection is something that can be fixed as he learns the game. I personally don't think 20 and a half on draft night is older than your ideal project either.

I honestly don't see what Richardson has to do with Whitehead. Richardson is the better athlete with the better body, length, he has the better shot, and will have the greater ability to create.

Just to point out while Malachi is younger and taller/longer, Whitehead has some things going for him over Malachi:

- Much better passing prospect - 6.1 ast/40 to Malachi's 2.5
- Elite shotblocking guard (1.8 blk/40), slightly higher steals (1.5 to Richardson's 1.4). Bigger frame at 210 pounds making up for 6'9 wingspan vs 7 feet
- A little bit better from 3 (36%) and FT (76%) to Richardson's 35% and 72%, and higher 3PA/40 at 7.9 to Richardson's 7.2
- While Richardson's strength is as a shot creator, when it comes to creating their own chuck he didn't match Whitehead this year. Whitehead had 18.7 FGA/40 which ranks 2nd among DX top 100 prospects, Malachi's 12.9 rates 52nd. Yes, most of those players ahead of him were older which is important for shot creation, but last year's Whitehead (16.2) is still a lot higher than current Malachi and would have ranked about 17th.
- Despite a .51 TS% and high turnover rate there are stats suggesting Whitehead was a good player this year. A 7.7 BPM, 20.5 PER, .152 WS/48 are reasonable seasons for a college prospect. For example Ingram has only 7.5 BPM, .157 WS/48, 22.5 PER. Malachi has 3.0 BPM, 13.8 PER, .104 WS/48 which is more in the zone of prospects it's rare to find end up good.

I don't mean to be rude but I think you seriously need to reevaluate how you are looking at prospects. You literally are just throwing out a bunch of random stats. Whitehead is an elite shot blocker and has a higher steal rate. OK, and what is your point. Is he going to be a better defender than Malachi at the next level because I would definitely say not. For a guy pretty much entirely basing things on stats I would think you would know to at least look at them at the same age. You aren't even doing that, you are looking at a Sophomore Whitehead compared to a Freshman MAlachi.

[skywalker33]

Heard MEM is enamored with him at #17

[HotelVitale]

What you see as a ceiling I see as an average return for him. I think he has All-Star potential if he has the right work ethic and is surrounded with the right organization. The tools are all there. Inefficient and not having great shot selection is something that can be fixed as he learns the game..

I like Richardson, but pretty much no one picked outside the top 5 has an average return of 'very good 6th man.' So many prospects have had a few solid tools and not gone anywhere, and Richardson isn't outstanding enough to think he'll definitely make it (i.e. he's not a John Wall or D Rose who has obvious elite abilities). Plus very few people with his level of inefficiency have ever been 1st rounders, so your confidence seems strange--he'd have to go against an overwhelming amount of history showing that guys who can't be decent offensive threats in the NCAA will do so against much much better NBA players.

He's also played basketball every day of his life since he was 6 years old and been playing top competition probably since he was 12. He went to a basketball school in high school and had very good coaching there, so it's not like he's just learning the game or understanding how to attack a closeout or something.

Again, I like him and would be happy with the Sixers getting him late in the draft but he's more of a cross-your-fingers player than a for-sure rotation guy who could become an all-star with a few lucky breaks.

[GimmeDat]

Heard MEM is enamored with him at #17

Yeah, Mike Schmitz wrote in the latest Vertical mock that he has a promise from them, according to his sources.

[doordoor123]

Heard MEM is enamored with him at #17

Yeah, Mike Schmitz wrote in the latest Vertical mock that he has a promise from them, according to his sources.

Apparently other teams are as well. The Magic, Bulls, Pacers, Bucks like him and the Raptors have recently taken a look at him.

[GimmeDat]

Heard MEM is enamored with him at #17

Yeah, Mike Schmitz wrote in the latest Vertical mock that he has a promise from them, according to his sources.

Apparently other teams are as well. The Magic, Bulls, Pacers, Bucks like him and the Raptors have recently taken a look at him.

Wow, that is high. Do you have a source for that stuff? Because I haven't heard any Bulls/Richardson stuff yet.

[doordoor123]

Yeah, Mike Schmitz wrote in the latest Vertical mock that he has a promise from them, according to his sources.

Apparently other teams are as well. The Magic, Bulls, Pacers, Bucks like him and the Raptors have recently taken a look at him.

Wow, that is high. Do you have a source for that stuff? Because I haven't heard any Bulls/Richardson stuff yet.

It was a Mike Schmitz article that wasn't his mock. Other reporters have also noticed him shooting up boards (Steve Kyler, Chad Ford, etc.). The Raptors didn't have a scheduled workout with him till recently because they felt like they had to take a look at him.

As far as promises or interest goes (other than Richardson and very top prospects), I've heard Kings are interested in Domantas Sabonis becuase Vlade likes him a lot. Doesn't mean the team will actually pick him though. Magic interested in Skal Labissiere. Bulls interested in Wade Baldin. Hornets interested in Malik Beasley. Pistons interested in Thon Maker and Demetrius Jackson. Hawks interested in Jarrod Uthoff, Cheick Diallo and Denzel Valentine. Celtics interested in Brice Johnson and Cheick Diallo. Pacers interested in Valentine, Murray. 76ers interested in Papagiannis and Zimmerman. Ben Bentil has apparently been promised by the Clippers.

In terms of draft spots, I've heard Sabonis has been climbing and could go anywhere from 8-13. Wade Baldwin's floor is 14, with the Bulls. Thon Maker likely going somewhere between top 10 to 18. Valentine will STILL go in the teens despite his knee stuff. Dejounte Murray will go somewhere around 12. Ante Zizic should go somewhere in teens or early 20s. Jamal Murray could drop a bit. And Cheick Diallo could be a surprise riser. Don't be surprised if Kahlil Felder gets picked by the Spurs or Suns at the end of the first round. Tyler Ulis could drop out of the first round. Brice Johnson could be late teens/early 20s.

This is from memory, but originally came from twitter sources, articles, videos and podcasts. I'm literally stalking http://hoopshype.com/social/ all day and I listen to every insider I could possibly find on the draft (podcasts, videos, articles). Also an ESPN insider.