International Prospect: Ryan Richards

[TimmehC]

If he plays in the adult Eurobasket compe ion, I'll believe he'll have a small chance to play for the Spurs next season.

He's not on the team. At least not yet.

[JonNOKC]

I have family friend who is in operations side of Spurs Sports & Entertainment (mostly involved with Toros) - anyway he offered this buzz on Richards when we saw each other Mother's Day weekend - In practice sessions and 2on2/3on3 pickup play his ceiling offensively looks very high - he said in terms of facing basket and putting ball on floor as a 4 he is NBA ready (stated possibly good enough handles to play the 3 in certain matchups), but there were big question marks? In the same scenarios he lacked fundamentals defensively and some bad habits (specifically showed the ball too much/lack of protecting ball) on offense. The biggest concern is due to compe ion/coaching level he has been exposed to at this point, and the Spurs not having really worked with him in a 5 on 5 organized manner it is hard to gauge basketball IQ and how game translates against bigger/athletic compe ion. Also commented on FO still doesn't have a good feel for his level of work ethic/discipline (not that their is a problem there just a unknown in many ways) Anyway basically said some in FO seem very excited in his long term offensive potential, but also said he thinks would have to make real strides in BB IQ and physical/mental maturity and is long shot to play this year (not breaking news) but mentioned the people "sold" on this kid are hopefully excited he will play next to Duncan for at least one year.

We talked alittle about roster moves/changes - he seem to get the feeling the organization wouldn't be aggressive in terms of trades and of course don't have the cap space to do much FA wise - he said he thinks they are willing to listen to trades for just about anyone but didn't think they would be actively shopping anyone - says probably weigh cheap vets available vs some of the young talent currently in organization (Blair,Anderson, Butler, etc.) in terms of filling starter/bench roles so in many ways sounds like more of the same

Of course he said things can always change and the FO is tight lipped (again not breaking news) so as a mid level operation manager not like privy to much insider info

[ChumpDumper]

I should probably point this out, but my attention span is short and I am a very busy person. If your rebuttal is longer than my original point I will have a hard time finishing. This isn't just you, this also includes Kori Ellis, Timvp, ducks, etc.

tl;dr

[NewJerSpur]

I have family friend who is in operations side of Spurs Sports & Entertainment (mostly involved with Toros) - anyway he offered this buzz on Richards when we saw each other Mother's Day weekend - In practice sessions and 2on2/3on3 pickup play his ceiling offensively looks very high - he said in terms of facing basket and putting ball on floor as a 4 he is NBA ready (stated possibly good enough handles to play the 3 in certain matchups), but there were big question marks? In the same scenarios he lacked fundamentals defensively and some bad habits (specifically showed the ball too much/lack of protecting ball) on offense. The biggest concern is due to compe ion/coaching level he has been exposed to at this point, and the Spurs not having really worked with him in a 5 on 5 organized manner it is hard to gauge basketball IQ and how game translates against bigger/athletic compe ion. Also commented on FO still doesn't have a good feel for his level of work ethic/discipline (not that their is a problem there just a unknown in many ways) Anyway basically said some in FO seem very excited in his long term offensive potential, but also said he thinks would have to make real strides in BB IQ and physical/mental maturity and is long shot to play this year (not breaking news) but mentioned the people "sold" on this kid are hopefully excited he will play next to Duncan for at least one year.

We talked alittle about roster moves/changes - he seem to get the feeling the organization wouldn't be aggressive in terms of trades and of course don't have the cap space to do much FA wise - he said he thinks they are willing to listen to trades for just about anyone but didn't think they would be actively shopping anyone - says probably weigh cheap vets available vs some of the young talent currently in organization (Blair,Anderson, Butler, etc.) in terms of filling starter/bench roles so in many ways sounds like more of the same

Of course he said things can always change and the FO is tight lipped (again not breaking news) so as a mid level operation manager not like privy to much insider info

Looking forward to hearing/seeing more.

[Thomas82]

It looks like the Spurs are trying to negotiate a buyout of Ryan Richards' current contract and either bring him in or assign him to the Toros.

http://www.projectspurs.com/2011-art...-the-team.html

[yavozerb]

Would love to see this kid develop in Austin and SA....He is still young enough that even if he doesn't its not the end of the world.

[SilverSpur]

Bring him onto the team. We need youth and he can learn from Tim before he retires.

[NewJerSpur]

It looks like the Spurs are trying to negotiate a buyout of Ryan Richards' current contract and either bring him in or assign him to the Toros.

http://www.projectspurs.com/2011-art...-the-team.html

GET'EM OVER HERE!!

[DesignatedT]

definitely needs to be done.

[Bruno]

http://mobile.newsday.com/inf/infomo...ed:i=1.2985663

But the rule is that no player who is currently under contract or whose draft rights are owned by an NBA team can participate in the D-League during the lockout.

It sucks for Richards. If there is a lengthy lockout, he won't be able to work on his game with the Toros.

[ChuckD]

Wow. The d-league is going to suck even more than usual.

[ChumpDumper]

Too bad.

[Mel_13]

His agent should be looking for a European team that will play him at least 20 mpg. He doesn't need to sit out another year.

[ChumpDumper]

His agent should be looking for a European team that will play him at least 20 mpg. He doesn't need to sit out another year.

I'm sure he'll be able to latch on to some lower lever club later if it comes to that. Hopefully he makes his senior national team so he can practice and play at a decent level through September.

[Mel_13]

He just needs to play.

[biggysmall]

http://www.hoopsfix.com/2011/06/vide...-with-gb-u20s/
Thought this may interest you all, granted its not the highest level of competiotion but good news at least. I n the past week he has also put up big numbers in 20mpg, 19ppg, 13rpg against the dutch u20s, will be intersting to see how they do in the euros as gb also have another highly rated 17 year old called devon van oostrum, a pg based in spain who may well end up in the draft in years to come. http://www.eurohopes.com/player/1164/devon-van-oostrum/

[Anonymous Cowherd]

van Oostrum made a few waves in the English basketball talk when he posted RIDICULOUS numbers in just THREE MINUTES of playing time in an ACB Under-18s match:

19 points, 4 rebounds, 4 steals, 2 blocks

in 3 minutes. dayum.

[biggysmall]

inappropriate thread i know but more devan van oostrum footage from ydays gb u20 game, get to see ryan richards so maybe it just about fits in with this? i promise you its worth the 30 sec watch!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWcUG54nlGM

[Anonymous Cowherd]

woah mama

[pad300]

I guess we need to start a new draft prospect thread:

Devan Van Oostrum

Kid does appear to have some game...

[jjktkk]

Richards had a great game against Denmark in the FIBA U20 tournament.

http://projectspurs.com/2011-article...back-game.html

[xellos88330]

inappropriate thread i know but more devan van oostrum footage from ydays gb u20 game, get to see ryan richards so maybe it just about fits in with this? i promise you its worth the 30 sec watch!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWcUG54nlGM

Man... that hurt from here. Ouch, what a facial.

[8FOR!3]

12-23, 1-5 from three. He didn't have the world's most efficient game or anything, but 38 points is still something. He should be in Austin.

[mountainballer]

Richards had a great game against Denmark in the FIBA U20 tournament.

http://projectspurs.com/2011-article...back-game.html

don't want to downplay Richards performance, but we need to put things in perspective.
first off, the tournament starts at July 14th, the mentioned game was kind of a preseason or warm up game. and we are talking about the Divison B of the European U20 championship, this means this compe ion is outside the 16 best U20 teams in Europe, they play Division A.
( , even Austria U20 plays Division A. yeah man, Austria. Division B is really really poor compe ion).

[SenorSpur]

Good game for him, but at 7-feet tall, it seems to me that he should be a better rebounder than what he's displayed. Just sayin'.