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Great player. Career derailed by cocaine addiction that he eventually overcame. Apparently prostate cancer was the cause

Condolences to the family.

RIP Sugar.
As a french guy I witnessed how great he was during his time in Antibes in the 90's

Damn Sugar

We, french people, was lucky to see him play

Let's celebrate his career.

4-26-1984 Nets knock champion 76ers out of the 1983-84 playoffs. Sugar 47 min, 24 pts, 6 reb, 6 ast, 6 st:



12-25-1980 Knicks/Celtics. Sugar 41 min, 23 pts, 7 reb, 5 ast, 2 st:



Highlights:

"Whatever Happened To Michael Ray" 2000 documentary is on Youtube and worth a watch if you haven't seen it.
RIP Sugar Ray.

He struck me as the kind of athlete who could have starred in any era. Wish we had seen his whole career play out and glad he got clean later in life.

RIP

For those that may not know who Sugar was, Magic Johnson's first 3 years in the league, 1979-80 to 1981-82, it was Richardson that:

- lead all PGs in the league in scoring (4016 pts), passing (2031 assists), steals (710), and was 2nd in rebounds (1649), playing for the Knicks

in an era of really good PGs like Magic, Gus Williams, Mo Cheeks, Phil Ford, Quinn Buckner, a rejuvenated Tiny Archibald, John Lucas, Jonny Moore, Rickey Green, Foots Walker, Don Buse, Brian Taylor, and a few others.

Very talented player.

RIP

Wow, how many posters here are actually my fellow old farts who actually saw this guy play?
I got introduced to a really outstanding New York team coached by Red Holzman back in 1979 with so many good players like Sugar, Ray Williams, a reallly good shooter like Toby Knight and a young buck 22 year young Bill Cartwright.

tamaraw08 wrote:Wow, how many posters here are actually my fellow old farts who actually saw this guy play?
I got introduced to a really outstanding New York team coached by Red Holzman back in 1979 with so many good players like Sugar, Ray Williams, a reallly good shooter like Toby Knight and a young buck 22 year young Bill Cartwright.

I remember Michael Ray very well- that was when I first started following basketball. He was so talented- tall, athletic and high basketball IQ. He was quite similar to Magic. Isiah said sugar was his toughest match up

I know Micheal Ray Richardson for one thing only and that's saying possibly one of the greatest sports quotes(and not just sports) of all time and that has stayed in my vocabulary to this day.

Reporter: What do you think is happening to the team?

Richardson: The ship be sinking.

Reporter: How far can it sink?

Richardson: Sky's the limit..

RIP.

I’m an old fart and he along with Magic (watched him play my high school) were my favorite players to watch in my teens. Super quotable too. I wish it had been different.

Roscoe Sheed wrote:

tamaraw08 wrote:Wow, how many posters here are actually my fellow old farts who actually saw this guy play?
I got introduced to a really outstanding New York team coached by Red Holzman back in 1979 with so many good players like Sugar, Ray Williams, a reallly good shooter like Toby Knight and a young buck 22 year young Bill Cartwright.

I remember Michael Ray very well- that was when I first started following basketball. He was so talented- tall, athletic and high basketball IQ. He was quite similar to Magic. Isiah said sugar was his toughest match up

Yup, a 6-5 relatively tall PG who has averaging 15/10/7 with 3.2 steals his sophomore year. Guy was so special until Magic came out of nowhere playing for the Lakers kind off stole the thunder from Sugar imo

JinKaz69 wrote:RIP Sugar.
As a french guy I witnessed how great he was during his time in Antibes in the 90's

He was one of the best American players ever in Europe. He actually was a really good player in Europe, unlike 99% of the American players in Europe, that these forums think were really good and were not.

Rest in peace.