Josh Richardson of the Miami Heat is cited as the hottest
shooter of the last seven days by PointAfter, as written up in NBA Hang Time
Blog
FYI, PointAfter has a profile page on Richardson, which
includes detailed statistics of his performance this season. An article on
Richardson in his college days at University of Tennessee, which includes
highlight clips of his collegiate dunks and blocks, mentioned his scoring went
from 2.9 PPG to 15.7 PPG as his minutes increased. He also showed a noticeable
improvement in his 3FG% from his freshman to senior year of 23.7% to 36.7%.
Nobody expected a 64% conversion rate for a 7-day span
though. Going from basketball as a part-time activity in college, to a
full-time occupation in the pros, accelerated his development by leaps and
bounds.
His 46.9% shooting on 3-pointers for the year currently
ranks third among players in the NBA with at least 50 attempts, which is
extraordinary considering his playing time was practically non-existent before
the All-Star break. Both Justise Winslow and Richardson are making the choices
of allocating player minutes for the team difficult.
Coach Erik Spoelstra will have a tough decision to make
during the last four weeks of the season on whether to start a player who has a
better 3FG% than Stephen Curry (46.2%) or keep him on the bench. The same
dilemma presents itself with Hassan Whiteside, now that his consecutive double-double
streak off the bench has ended.
NBA stats reveals Richardson has the third best Net Rtg on
the team in March, but with a very low usage rate, probably because he is not a
primary ball-handler. All the players have a Def Rtg over a 100, with, surprisingly,
Gerald Green the lowest of the bunch, followed by Richardson and Whiteside.
That explains why Green can have a positive +/- without scoring a point. He
could get use a lockdown defender, instead of being known as the
"igniter." Since defense leads to offense, Green may gain his
shooting confidence back by not forcing to launch ill-advised shots.
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