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Can't show much when your not playing.
Ryan Richards hasn't shown much at all the first 3 games. He's got to be running out of chances with spurs.
Can't show much when your not playing.
Still have 2 guys who haven't touched the floor and they probably won/t
He's not getting enough minutes to show anything. Why they're playing Pittman and Mays instead of him is beyond me. It's not a good sign for his future with the club, though.
Richards iq is awful.
Richards needs to work with NBA bigs/coaches to get his game on track.. Has the tools but seems to not play the NBA way
Richards is horrible.
I've actually been more impressed with Dexter Pittman's defense and rebounding than anything I've seen from Ryan Richards.
I've seen a few things I've liked from Richards, but I agree he hasn't looked very good during his minutes. His lack of a basketball IQ is troubling, even if his has all the physical tools he needs to succeed.
Still, what's the point in the team giving players who aren't in their plans burn over a draft pick? I know that people will say he hasn't earned the time, and that's a fair argument. But right now, the Spurs are his only way into the NBA. If they're not going to try to develop him when they can, they should let him go so he can see if he can get on another roster.
Pretty much.
It doesn't make sense to keep telling him to go back to Europe then not give him minutes in summer league after he listens to the advice. I thought they were going to do the same thing with Denmon, but I'm glad they didn't.
Aaron McGuire @docrostov 2m BREAKING: Due to CHI losing Q3 and Q4, GSW has clinched the top seed in the upcoming LVSL tournament. http://bit.ly/14Xyllm
Aaron McGuire @docrostov 1m
DAL/D-League is the biggest game left from a seeding perspective, as DAL can be 6 to 17 and D-League 2 to 12. http://bit.ly/14Xyllm
My sentiments exactly, he either needs time to develop or time for him to go.
If a team wants to, I'm sure they could get him at a bargain rate right now, but you have to figure that the other teams have watched him too -- he doesn't have the right instincts for the game, which means there's really no way he's going to crack an NBA roster right now. Even most of the crappy scrubs hanging on as a 15th man have better basketball instincts -- they may not have the ability to hang with NBA level talent, but when they were in college or junior Euro leagues or the D League or whatever, they had enough feel to play well there. Until Richards shows solid signs of that even in some completely worthless scrub league, there's really no point in signing him and starting the clock ticking on his free agency.
So the Spurs are providing him with support from afar, watching him closely as he tries to learn a feel for the game in Europe, and trying not to force things. Makes sense to me.
That's their perspective. They want a player's first contract to be a productive as possible. That's one of the big reasons why stashing is so popular. However, it is not a really good thing for the players. Sure, there are some perks that come with it, but by in large, staying overseas simply freezes the clock until their own free agency with very little incentive from the team. By agreeing to stay in Europe, the players are essentially forgoing the possibility of some NBA team seeing something in them and giving them the minutes they need to develop.
Richards and Denmon allow the team to keep their rights in hopes that they're still in the team's plans. When the team gets an opportunity to play them, yet passes them over for players who have made no such concession to the team, it seems odd. If I'm Richards, I'm thinking, "All right, so you play this guy who you have no plans of having on your team over me. What does that say about how you view my future?" At that moment, it becomes hard to listen to them when they approach me after the summer and ask me to go back to Europe for my development. I consider forcing the issue and giving myself the chance to either sink or swim on 30 NBA rosters as opposed to one.
For all the talk about how Jack McClinton made a mistake by forcing the issue, players that listened to the Spurs and took their European assignments haven't exactly panned out much better. Richards can always go back and play in the Austrian league.
Aaron McGuire @docrostov
UPDATE: Q4 for D-League/DAL is still pretty high stakes. DAL can be anywhere from 10 to 17 -- D-League 4 to 10. bit.ly/14Xyllm
Honestly Richards really hasn't been given a fair shake this summer.
Richards isn't an NBA caliber player and he should have been jettisoned from the Spurs' prospects list a long time ago. I have never waivered from this opinion. Ryan is just not skilled enough, nor does he have the natural coordination or rhythm to play at the NBA level. He looks very uncomfortable playing this particular sport...like he forgot his basketball shoes, so he is trying to play while wearing wingtips.
The Spurs should encourage Ryan, in a positive but constructive conversation, to use his God-given gifts for the common good in this world, but basketball is not to be considered one of his "gifts". It just isn't.
There are boatloads of at least somewhat talented, but not NBA ready, basketball players playing in leagues all over the world. A small percentage of them of them will get good enough to possibly crack the bottom of an NBA roster, and of those, a small percentage will actually find an NBA team willing to take a chance on them and commit to giving them a contract. Given that that's the baseline situation, having a team that already has a vested interest in seeing you succeed solves one of those two problems -- if you can develop your talents enough that you might be worth a roster spot, there is a team that will notice, care, and give you every shot to make the squad. Not only that, but they'll give you access to world class medical care if you get injured, they'll offer you as much advice as you want, help you with coaching and skill development here and there, probably help you find good situations in European ball, etc.
Compared to not having any NBA team that even cares if you exist, that doesn't seem like a horrible deal to me.
Looks like Spurs get a bye for games tomorrow, finished as 10th seed.
Not that you don't have a right to an opinion, but this is the thing I understand the least about the Richards debate. The problem is not that he's not skilled enough. Literally, the only reason why he's intriguing to those who support him is that he not only has NBA-caliber skills, but he has NBA-caliber skills for a wing. If you put him an a skills compe ion with NBA bigs, he'd probably come out pretty close to the top in dribbling, shooting and running the floor, and at least average in passing and defense on smalls. He has elite size and length if the reports about him growing two inches are correct. That's why he was such a sizzling prospect at the combine a couple of years ago.
His problem is simple but fundamental: He just doesn't have any idea what to do when he's in the game. It's clear as day he has no instincts or awareness, and that leads him to constantly getting out of position on both sides of the floor. He also seems like a selfish player, as he constantly calls for the ball and posts up when it's not even productive for the offense. He takes long shots (which he probably hits pretty regularly in practice as his shooting form is solid) instead of making the extra pass. He sulks when he's on the bench and shows little camaraderie with his teammates. I can see why coaches don't like him.
Spurs will play the Cavs on the 18th at 3 p.m. CST
Short term, no. But long term, it's not that productive. You can't go to try out with any other teams, because the Spurs own your rights. You have years of a team saying they believe in your while also not showing it when they have a chance. For all you know, you could get cut in training camp only to impress enough in the d-league to get a call-up mid season and collect an NBA pay check. You have to hope that what the team is saying to you isn't just a token pla ude, but when you see them bring in new guys and give them burn while you collect only four minutes in two games, you begin to have doubts.
Richards has benefited from being a Spurs draft pick already, as the team has paid for his shoulder surgeries over the years. I'm sure that's a big reason why he agreed to stay overseas last season even after practically begging to be let into the NBA during the 2010 draft. But he's not the 19-year-old kid with loads of time to figure things out anymore. He's a 22-year-old man who's been getting in worse and worse situations each season. Staying overseas has not been helping him so far. I think he'll force himself on the roster either this year or next.
I also think Denmon will follow suit, although I think it really would be beneficial for him to stay over a little longer. His stock is probably pretty good after his successful return from injury and strong summer league.
This is the kind of pseudo-intellectual bull that I have a severe problem with.
There are several talented players who don't get it. But these players who don't get it, generally have good individual stats going for them. Good skills translate into good individual play and good stats - be it a relatively high number of shots taken and a decent percentage of it going in, a high degree of rebounding/ a high number of gambles and steals and so on.
These players who don't get it - are those who don't understand the team concept or refuse to do so and thereby are general negatives to the team and are liabilities.
From what Ryan Richards has shown so far, he hasn't revealed anything that says that he has skills to play basketball at any high level. If he did and didn't get it, he still would have dominated all the lowest of the low leagues he has played in - Britain, Switzerland, Austria etc.
Everywhere he has come up short and unable to translate "potential" into play.
That shows that he lacks skills. And he lacks talent.
What he has going for him is physicality, the appearance of a basketball player and not some random Sun Ming Ming with some height.
But skills? Bah..
Thanks for posting the bracket. Was anyone else hoping the Spurs would get a lower seed so they could play more games?
Spurs will play the Cavs on the 18th at 3 p.m. CST
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