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Former Vol Josh Richardson Will Prove the Miami Heat Were Right to Not Pay Dwyane Wade

By Caleb Calhoun

Mar 25, 2016; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Heat guard Josh Richardson (0) celebrates with forward Joe Johnson (2) and guard Dwyane Wade (3) in the second half of a game against the Orlando Magic at American Airlines Arena. The Heat won 108-97. Mandatory Credit: Robert Mayer-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 25, 2016; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Heat guard Josh Richardson (0) celebrates with forward Joe Johnson (2) and guard Dwyane Wade (3) in the second half of a game against the Orlando Magic at American Airlines Arena. The Heat won 108-97. Mandatory Credit: Robert Mayer-USA TODAY Sports /
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Pat Riley and the Miami Heat were right not to pay Dwyane Wade and to let him go to the Chicago Bulls. Former Tennessee Vol Josh Richardson will be better.

A four-year player with the Tennessee Vols just pushed out a Hall-of-Famer in Miami due to his potential. Talk about an underdog story!

After the Miami Heat and Dwyane Wade were $10 million apart in contract negotiations, Wade has now departed to sign with the Chicago Bulls.

Pat Riley gave empty words saying he and the organization screwed up not re-signing Wade, but that’s not accurate.

The truth was, the Heat would have screwed up if they had stuck with their two-year, $40 million offer and Wade rejected it. Wade bailed them out by getting his $47.5 million in Chicago.

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Why?

The Heat have a better shooting guard behind Wade who is only making half a million dollars. And it is former Tennessee Vols player Josh Richardson.

One of the greatest developing players in college basketball history over four years, Richardson burst onto the scene towards the end of last year, being named Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month in March.

Already, Richardson is better than Wade.

In terms of raw numbers, Wade averaged more across the board. But Richardson was far more efficient.

Richardson had a higher true shooting percentage than Wade despite not getting superstar calls. He shot 46 percent from three, 30 points better than Wade’s average, and he was only .4 points worse in field goal percentage overall.

Wade had a much higher turnover percentage than Richardson, and his defensive plus-minus stats were .5 points below Richardson.

Miami went 12-6 in games when Richardson played over 30 minutes.

This is all just this past season, by the way. Now comes the real kicker.

Wade had a rare, almost fully healthy year last year. Can the Heat really trust him to do that again? Of course not.

Richardson is young, has no injury issues, makes less than 10 percent of Wade’s salary, and has two more inches on Wade. Oh, and given what he did last year, he has the potential to be a superstar on Dwyane Wade’s level if he keeps improving the way he has been.

So the Heat were right on the money, no pun intended, in not paying Wade that $50 million.

And before all you sentimental people say you should pay players for what they’ve done for you, that’s not how sports works. You pay them for what you expect them to do. Overpaying is a risk to your franchise.

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Miami made a smart financial decision letting Wade walk. They will have a better player this year in his place who is a heck of a lot cheaper.

And it’s something everybody in Vol Nation should be proud of.

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