RealGM

1. Who is better?

2. Who do you want on your team as the starting SG?

For Toronto, we'd rather have Richardson, hes the perfect solution to our team right now

Rip Hamilton. Jason Richardson is a liability at the free throw line.

Give me the winner, I will take Rip.

Rip is the better all around player. I think most people view JRich as the better scorer, but if he does have an edge it's actually pretty damn small.

JRich
'05: 21.7 ppg
'06: 23.2 ppg
'07: 16 ppg (injured, only played 51 games)
'08: 21.8 ppg

So excluding his one injury plagued year he's averaged around 22 ppg, maxing out at 23 in his career year.

Rip
'05: 18.7 ppg
'06: 20.1 ppg
'07: 19.8 ppg
'08: 17.1 ppg

Rip averaged around 19-20 ppg and was actually on that same pace in '08 except he played fewer minutes.

However, it's important to note that Rips numbers always go up in the post-season where he has career averages of nearly 21 ppg, 4 rebs and 4 assists in 116 career post-season games. He also shoots a higher percentage from the floor & the FT line, and gets his numbers while playing on a significantly slower paced team. IMO if Rip played on a wide open up and down team like GS or Denv he'd easily average 22-23 ppg. And he's a better defender. The most notable advantage JRich has is on the glass where he'll get you an extra board or two a game, but that isn't enough to really offset everything else Rip has in his favor including proven clutch play.

Who knows, maybe IF JRich got into a playoff situation we'd see him similarly improve his stats across the board, step up his defense and knock down some clutch shots. I'm not saying it's impossible. I'm saying I'm far more comfortable with the proven commodity, and Rip has proven it. Year after year. He's not a sexy name...but Rip gets the job done.