Could Former Tennessee Vol Josh Richardson be Dwyane Wade’s Heir Apparent?

The Miami Heat took Former Tennessee Vol Josh Richardson with the 40th pick in the NBA Draft Thursday night. Could he be the heir apparent to Dwyane Wade?

To many experts, the Miami Heat got the steal of the NBA draft when they used the 10th pick on former Duke Blue Devils Wingman Justise Winslow. At 6’6″ 220 pounds, he will be a reliable wing player for the Heat, either as a starter or a back-up depending on what happens to Luol Deng.

But they might have gotten the steal of the second round as well with Josh Richardson.

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Pat Riley apparently loved Richardson in workouts, and as a 6″6″ athletic guard who is a lockdown defender and has demonstrated an ability to shoot from the outside, the former three-star from Oklahoma has developed into a very good NBA prospect.

Consider, for a second, that Dwyane Wade and Deng both have a player option this year. The Heat already took a wing player in the first round and took a two-guard in the second round. They took players at the two positions where they could lose their starters this year.

And even if they do not lose those players and they opt-in, there are no solid back-ups at those positions. It’s clear Winslow will have a role. But why not Richardson.

He has a couple of inches on Wade and is extremely athletic, and the best thing about him is his work ethic.

When he was coaching at Tennessee, Cuonzo Martin’s best attribute was the improvement individuals made under him each year, and he actually has the best track record of any Tennessee men’s basketball coach in recent history when it comes to players taken in the NBA Draft. Richardson is the best story among those.

Nobody but the fans in Knoxville saw how Richardson developed over a four-year span, and his numbers show it. Coming to Tennessee as a defensive specialist akin to somebody like Tony Allen, Richardson’s scoring, passing, rebounding, and shooting percentage improved every year in Knoxville.

By the end of his career, this athletic defensive specialist who had no offensive game initially developed into a nearly 80 percent free throw shooter, a 36 percent three-point shooter, and the go-to scorer for the Vols offense. He had no trouble adjusting to Donnie Tyndall’s offense either and was the one bright spot on a team with no talent and far too many distractions this past year.

He is now an all-around player with tremendous athleticism , and a legitimate argument can be made that he left Tennessee as a better guard than Jordan McRae or Scotty Hopson.

So when you take that into account along with the possibility that Wade could be gone, and even if he stays could be on the verge of retirement in a few years, Riley took somebody who could be his perfect replacement. He may not be ready right away and may not even make the roster this year.

But the Heat did not just randomly take another two-guard.

Richardson is similar to JaJuan Smith with six more inches. Remember, height was the only thing that kept Smith out of the NBA. That is not holding back Richardson.

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The Miami Heat took Former Tennessee Vol Josh Richardson with the 40th pick in the NBA Draft Thursday night. Could he be the heir apparent to Dwyane Wade?

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