Here’s why the Heat was encouraged by Josh Richardson’s performance in the opener
When Erik Spoelstra was informed Josh Richardson’s 21 shot attempts in Wednesday’s season-opening loss to the Magic was a career high, Spoelstra was surprised.
“Is that really a career high?” Spoelstra asked a reporter.
Yes, it is.
But the Heat wants Richardson to keep setting career highs in shot attempts this season. The team isn’t requesting for Richardson to take on a bigger offensive role, players and coaches say it’s a necessity.
“He should get comfortable with that and take responsibility and step up to that kind of challenge every single night,” Spoelstra said in advance of Thursday’s game against the Wizards in Washington. “Our team needs him to be assertive and aggressive.”
Richardson, a 25-year-old in his fourth NBA season, didn’t take a bunch of shots because he was in an offensive flow either. It actually wasn’t an efficient shooting night for the wing player, as he finished the opener with 21 points on 8-of-21 shooting and 2-of-10 shooting from three-point range.
Still, Richardson kept shooting, and Spoelstra turned to him on a critical possession late in the game. The Heat had the ball down by just one with 3.5 seconds remaining, but Richardson stepped out of bounds on a drive to the basket to ruin its chances of completing the comeback.
When it was done, Richardson posted a team-high usage rate (an estimate of the percentage of team plays used by a player while on the court) of 26 percent in the opener. It’s only one game, but that’s a big jump from the 17.5 percent usage rate he finished with last season.
“I have no problem with the shots that he took,” Spoelstra said. “He feels that it was his responsibility down at the end. That’s the burden of taking on a bigger role. Dwyane [Wade] has been in so many of those situations down the stretch that he has such quick memory. He doesn’t remember if he shot it, made it, turned it over, missed it, he just wants it and wants that moment.”
Richardson insists he wants it, too. He wants to have the ball in his hands, and he wants to take the important shots late in games.
“It’s a role that I’ve asked for and that I’ve been wanting,” said Richardson, who averaged the fourth-most shot attempts (10.9) on the team last season. “It comes with the good and the bad, so it’s a learning experience.”
It’s a learning experience that will continue throughout the season.
“That’s what he’s got to do. That’s the position he’s in,” Wade said. “I think he’s ready for it. It’s not going to be every night. There’s going to be some nights you’re going to see it go in. Once he understands where his shots are coming and we’re coming to him and he has to not only make the shots, but he has to make the plays and then he’s a great defender. He’s got to guard somebody that can go at him on the other end. That takes a lot. I’m excited to see him develop into that in that role because that’s what All-Stars are made of, guys that can do all those things.”
Captain talk
For the second consecutive season, Udonis Haslem, James Johnson and Goran Dragic will serve as the Heat’s tri-captains.
The only surprising part of this news is the omission of future Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade, who was one of the Heat’s captains from the 2008-09 season until he left to sign with the Chicago Bulls as a free agent in the summer of 2016.
“I don’t think a title needs to be put on him for everybody to know what position he plays and what role he plays on this team,” Johnson said of Wade. “He’s as much as a captain as UD is. For me to still have that captain in my name, it’s more than gratifying, especially with [Wade] on this team.”
This story was originally published October 18, 2018 at 11:35 AM.