Big Nick Energy: The Nick Richards Thread

[KembaWalker]

Valanciunas is probably better than Mark, let alone Nick. Mark had some nice games but even when he was healthy he wasn’t a star or anything. We just hoped he’d stay on an improving trajectory

[Snidely FC]

another G League candidate for those looking at short term fixes at C:

Former UNC basketball star Armando Bacot made his NBA G-League debut on Saturday for the Memphis Hustle.

Bacot certainly made the most of his 37 minutes of action, carrying on his legacy as a double-doubles machine to the professional ranks. The former Tar Heel finished with 17 points, 18 rebounds, five assists and two steals.

Oh, and did we mention that Bacot knocked down three (yes, three!) three-pointers in the game?!

How about the fact that Bacot took 9 (yes, 9!) three-point field goal attempts in the game (remember: Bacot only took 10 total three-point shots during his final season with the UNC basketball program).

[Bassman]

another G League candidate for those like me looking at short term fixes at C:

Former UNC basketball star Armando Bacot made his NBA G-League debut on Saturday for the Memphis Hustle.

Bacot certainly made the most of his 37 minutes of action, carrying on his legacy as a double-doubles machine to the professional ranks. The former Tar Heel finished with 17 points, 18 rebounds, five assists and two steals.

Oh, and did we mention that Bacot knocked down three (yes, three!) three-pointers in the game?!

How about the fact that Bacot took 9 (yes, 9!) three-point field goal attempts in the game (remember: Bacot only took 10 total three-point shots during his final season with the UNC basketball program).

I always liked Bacot and knew he wouldn’t be seen as a premier NBA prospect but was shocked he slipped so far. I’d second your suggestion to bring him here and give it a go. Diabate is a nice player here but he’s too small to defend 5’s. Dump some of these carry alongs we don’t use and bring in the BACON!

[wilson115]

Got a nice highlight against the Bulls, but in a 2-point, 2-rebound performance the trend is still disappointing. How does Nick get back on track?

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[MasterIchiro]

Is this guy going to be on the roster next season? What are the chances?

[HornetJail]

i really really hope not. hope we ride Moussa for the rest of this tank season and then upgrade backup center and keep Moose as our longterm C3. I'm beyond sick of Richards and have been for quite a while

[Diop]

i doubt he lasts this season, he's the only name ive heard linked to other teams.

[MasterIchiro]

He's driving me crazy.

Did anyone notice Taj cut into his minutes.

Taj.

Coach must be watching the same game as me when it comes to Nick. He will put together sequences where he botches consecutive plays every trip down the floor on both ends. He seems to always be able to carve space to make some kind of blunder directly or indirectly that cost the team.

I can't take it.

I thought the only reason Lee reinserted Richards at the end was to remove Mark from garbage time and to go easy on Taj who probably has a new grandchild.

[MasterIchiro]

8 minutes feels like a season low.

Moussa is raw, but he's smarter, has better feel, more intuitive, quicker reactions to the ball, better reads.

And Moussa is someone I prefer as C3. Nick Richards as C2 is hurting us badly. We need a big who can space not be redundant with Mark and Moussa.

I hope Nick is good and gone soon, man. I'm gonna die like I would've had we not moved Plumlee in the final year of his deal.

There were a few Hornets fans toying with the idea of Mason not only surviving that deadline, but earning a new deal with the Hornets.

So I know there must be at least a few Hornets fans in Nick's corner.

I don't understand it. I will die.

[JMAC3]

Lee has done a great job of killing any trade value for Richards, who knew trying to play 3 centers every night would be bad for center 2 and center 3. We legit can't do anything right at this point lol

[MasterIchiro]

Lee has done a great job of killing any trade value for Richards, who knew trying to play 3 centers every night would be bad for center 2 and center 3. We legit can't do anything right at this point lol

How else, other than giving Moussa run in the NBA, would we know if we have a hedge in place for whenever we cut ties with Nick?

It was necessary to play Moussa. Nick crapping his pants was a theme before Lee ever arrived.

Blame the player, here.

Nick Richards is dumb.

[JMAC3]

Lee has done a great job of killing any trade value for Richards, who knew trying to play 3 centers every night would be bad for center 2 and center 3. We legit can't do anything right at this point lol

How else, other than giving Moussa run in the NBA, would we know if we have a hedge in place for whenever we cut ties with Nick?

It was necessary to play Moussa. Nick crapping his pants was a theme before Lee ever arrived.

Blame the player, here.

Nick Richards is dumb.

Be prepared to trade him for 1 2nd round pick and him play awesome on his next team in the playoffs.

Lee is so bad at managing rotations, he will play Richards 7 mins and then play him 2 mins and then 3 mins and wonder why he played a bad game in 12 mins. Dude allows nobody to get any rhythm

Just look at how many times he has played Seth Curry 5-9 mins this year and no it isn't in garbage time. He will just insert him for a few mins and the 2nd quarter and then never play him again all game.

[HornetJail]

Lee has done a great job of killing any trade value for Richards, who knew trying to play 3 centers every night would be bad for center 2 and center 3. We legit can't do anything right at this point lol

How else, other than giving Moussa run in the NBA, would we know if we have a hedge in place for whenever we cut ties with Nick?

It was necessary to play Moussa. Nick crapping his pants was a theme before Lee ever arrived.

Blame the player, here.

Nick Richards is dumb.

Be prepared to trade him for 1 2nd round pick and him play awesome on his next team in the playoffs.

Lee is so bad at managing rotations, he will play Richards 7 mins and then play him 2 mins and then 3 mins and wonder why he played a bad game in 12 mins. Dude allows nobody to get any rhythm

Just look at how many times he has played Seth Curry 5-9 mins this year and no it isn't in garbage time. He will just insert him for a few mins and the 2nd quarter and then never play him again all game.

yeah that's not it. Richards plays badly whether you give him 2 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes, or 30 minutes. He doesn't get less stupid on the court when he's there for longer.

If another team finds a use for Richards, more power to them. He'll comfortably be the worst rotation C in any playoff series he's in though.

[JMAC3]

How else, other than giving Moussa run in the NBA, would we know if we have a hedge in place for whenever we cut ties with Nick?

It was necessary to play Moussa. Nick crapping his pants was a theme before Lee ever arrived.

Blame the player, here.

Nick Richards is dumb.

Be prepared to trade him for 1 2nd round pick and him play awesome on his next team in the playoffs.

Lee is so bad at managing rotations, he will play Richards 7 mins and then play him 2 mins and then 3 mins and wonder why he played a bad game in 12 mins. Dude allows nobody to get any rhythm

Just look at how many times he has played Seth Curry 5-9 mins this year and no it isn't in garbage time. He will just insert him for a few mins and the 2nd quarter and then never play him again all game.

yeah that's not it. Richards plays badly whether you give him 2 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes, or 30 minutes. He doesn't get less stupid on the court when he's there for longer.

If another team finds a use for Richards, more power to them. He'll comfortably be the worst rotation C in any playoff series he's in though.

Here we go again... "Just get rid of Richards and we will improve, I promise."

Same thing was said about PJ, Rozier and Oubre. All three playing for better teams averaging 28 mins, 32 mins and 32 mins nightly.

[Rich4114]

Be prepared to trade him for 1 2nd round pick and him play awesome on his next team in the playoffs.

Lee is so bad at managing rotations, he will play Richards 7 mins and then play him 2 mins and then 3 mins and wonder why he played a bad game in 12 mins. Dude allows nobody to get any rhythm

Just look at how many times he has played Seth Curry 5-9 mins this year and no it isn't in garbage time. He will just insert him for a few mins and the 2nd quarter and then never play him again all game.

yeah that's not it. Richards plays badly whether you give him 2 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes, or 30 minutes. He doesn't get less stupid on the court when he's there for longer.

If another team finds a use for Richards, more power to them. He'll comfortably be the worst rotation C in any playoff series he's in though.

Here we go again... "Just get rid of Richards and we will improve, I promise."

Same thing was said about PJ, Rozier and Oubre. All three playing for better teams averaging 28 mins, 32 mins and 32 mins nightly.

Only one playing better is PJ. Rozier is having his worst season basically ever. Oubre is alright but he's on a team with actual talent too.

Nick will go to some other team and they'll have buyers remorse worse than the Heat do with Rozier. I don't care if we only get a 2nd for him, getting him off the roster so we can have a real C rotation next season makes us better. I'd die on the hill right now that we would be in better position to win games with a rotation of Mark+Moussa than Mark+Nick.

[JMAC3]

yeah that's not it. Richards plays badly whether you give him 2 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes, or 30 minutes. He doesn't get less stupid on the court when he's there for longer.

If another team finds a use for Richards, more power to them. He'll comfortably be the worst rotation C in any playoff series he's in though.

Here we go again... "Just get rid of Richards and we will improve, I promise."

Same thing was said about PJ, Rozier and Oubre. All three playing for better teams averaging 28 mins, 32 mins and 32 mins nightly.

Only one playing better is PJ. Rozier is having his worst season basically ever. Oubre is alright but he's on a team with actual talent too.

Nick will go to some other team and they'll have buyers remorse worse than the Heat do with Rozier. I don't care if we only get a 2nd for him, getting him off the roster so we can have a real C rotation next season makes us better. I'd die on the hill right now that we would be in better position to win games with a rotation of Mark+Moussa than Mark+Nick.

Rozier is still playing 28 mpg, he would be helping us this year more than Vasa, Josh Green, Wong and KJ Simpson.

[Rich4114]

Here we go again... "Just get rid of Richards and we will improve, I promise."

Same thing was said about PJ, Rozier and Oubre. All three playing for better teams averaging 28 mins, 32 mins and 32 mins nightly.

Only one playing better is PJ. Rozier is having his worst season basically ever. Oubre is alright but he's on a team with actual talent too.

Nick will go to some other team and they'll have buyers remorse worse than the Heat do with Rozier. I don't care if we only get a 2nd for him, getting him off the roster so we can have a real C rotation next season makes us better. I'd die on the hill right now that we would be in better position to win games with a rotation of Mark+Moussa than Mark+Nick.

Rozier is still playing 28 mpg, he would be helping us this year more than Vasa, Josh Green, Wong and KJ Simpson.

Yes he's playing meaningful mins and would help us more than those players easily. But we'd still be losing a lot and he obviously isn't a plus player. His best season when he was absolutely clutch was the only season I'd say he was truly valuable. He's a ball stopper though.

Still, not a great comparison. Nick Richards does a lot of damage on the floor and if you calculate the positives (basically put back dunks, dunks where he's open under the rim, some offensive rebounding) they don't come close to outweighing all of the fumbled possessions, illegal screens, goaltends, missed defensive rebounds due to not boxing out or being too slow to react, etc.

[JMAC3]

Only one playing better is PJ. Rozier is having his worst season basically ever. Oubre is alright but he's on a team with actual talent too.

Nick will go to some other team and they'll have buyers remorse worse than the Heat do with Rozier. I don't care if we only get a 2nd for him, getting him off the roster so we can have a real C rotation next season makes us better. I'd die on the hill right now that we would be in better position to win games with a rotation of Mark+Moussa than Mark+Nick.

Rozier is still playing 28 mpg, he would be helping us this year more than Vasa, Josh Green, Wong and KJ Simpson.

Yes he's playing meaningful mins and would help us more than those players easily. But we'd still be losing a lot and he obviously isn't a plus player. His best season when he was absolutely clutch was the only season I'd say he was truly valuable. He's a ball stopper though.

Still, not a great comparison. Nick Richards does a lot of damage on the floor and if you calculate the positives (basically put back dunks, dunks where he's open under the rim, some offensive rebounding) they don't come close to outweighing all of the fumbled possessions, illegal screens, goaltends, missed defensive rebounds due to not boxing out or being too slow to react, etc.

So again it is the same issue, player x is bad and we will be better once he is off our team....

We have done this 3x already with rozier, pj, oubre and we have been worse everytime after removing them....

but hey maybe Richards is different, once we get rid of him things will magically be better.

[fatlever]

Nick is not going to be a part of the future of this team. Based on the structure of his contract we can only offer him I think a maximum of 9 million on his next deal. I imagine he's going to want to get paid and have a chance at being a starter. I don't think he's gonna resign very similar contract to be marks back up again.
Add that to the fact that despite his stats he's almost always a net negative when he plays, and only seems to play well in a starting role rather than in a reserve role. You take what you can get for him and you move on.
I think the move to send moose to Greensboro removing moose from the lineup takes that option away from coach Lee and force lee to play Nick to keep his trade value up. but that backfired last night when Nick was a complete no show and got benched for Taj. No I'm not saying that Lee made the correct decision there and the playing the three centers I agree is not really doing any of them any favors. But Nick has had every chance in the world. He's capable of putting up empty stats as a starter on a bad team. But he doesn't impact winning. Take which you can get for him now whether that's 1 second or 2 seconds and you move on. There is zero chance Nick is on this roster next year.

You gotta get some new blood on this roster for better or worse. Some different voices around the young guys. Sometimes you just got to shake things up. And I think that means that Nick, Cody, and Miles probably all get traded in the next 6 months.

[fatlever]

And how are we still talking about Kelly oubre?
The man is shooting 28% from three this year nothing he does impacts winning. When the Sixers lost their starters it's not like Kelly dragged a crappy team to some wins. If the Sixers are good it has nothing to do with kelly. Everything to do with the other stars on that team.