The Miami Heat are in the NBA Playoffs. It is probably a good thing they have former Tennessee Volunteers guard and VFL Josh Richardson on their side.
After a 44-38 record, the Miami Heat find themselves as the 6th seed in the Eastern Conference of the NBA Playoffs. They draw the stick of the NBA’s “it” team right now in the Philadelphia 76ers.
While everyone is talking about the 76ers and how great their turnaround has been, Miami is just sitting back. All the talk and the pressure is on Philly after their organization preached trust the process while they tanked for many years. One of Miami’s key players in the one former Vol in the NBA Playoffs: Josh Richardson.
It is amazing how teams can grow the attitude and demeanor of their players, isn’t it? In typical Richardson fashion, the Heat are staying quiet and look to fly under the radar against the three seed that everyone is falling in love with.
It is no surprise Richardson is having a pretty solid NBA career thus far. He started and played in 81 games this season and averaged a team-high 33.2 minutes per game.
Richardson showed Tennessee fans why he deserved to be on the court and is doing the same thing on the NBA level. He plays a tenacious style of defense that rarely lets the offensive player move. Night in and night out, the Heat look to Richardson to contain the other team’s best offensive player.
That is no different than what he did at Tennessee. He played in the Cuonzo Martin era, where defense was the key to success. That fit right into Richardson’s style of play as he began to flourish into a great basketball player.
Along with the defense, Richardson poured in 12.9 points per game with 3.5 rebounds and 2.9 assists. His best scoring game this season was against the Houston Rockets. In that outing, he scored 30 points on 7-for-9 scoring from the three-point line.
Each year at Tennessee, Richardson became a tougher defender (I know it does not seem possible) and a better scorer. He averaged 16 points and 4.5 rebounds per game his senior year and was named to the First Team All-SEC. He also made the SEC All-Defensive Team and the Defensive All-American Team.
In addition to having a good pro career, It is also no surprise that Richardson is such a huge part of helping a team reach the NBA Playoffs. He will be a household name before too long and when he does Tennessee fans will be able to sit back and say, ” I told ya, so.”