Nick Richards looked like the big man the Suns have been missing during his debut with the team Saturday afternoon at Detroit, writes Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. Richards, who was acquired from Charlotte earlier this week, came off the bench to post 21 points and 11 rebounds in nearly 30 minutes.
Beyond that, Rankin notes that Richards brought energy and “edginess” to the game by competing for rebounds at both ends and driving hard to the basket, which created open three-point attempts for his teammates. He was a plus-22 in a game Phoenix won by four points.
“Everything was flowing,” Richards said. “I was out there being me, playing my style of basketball.”
Jusuf Nurkic, who was recently removed from the starting lineup, remains sidelined with the flu. However, coach Mike Budenholzer said Nurkic has “turned the corner” and his condition will be monitored to see if he’ll join the team before its road trip ends Wednesday in Brooklyn.
Rankin expects Richards to replace Mason Plumlee as the starter soon, and rookie Oso Ighodaro gives the team four capable big men, meaning one or two of them won’t see regular minutes if they’re all still on the roster after the trade deadline.
There’s more from the Pacific Division:
- The Wizards‘ visit to Golden State Saturday night prompted questions to coach Steve Kerr about Jordan Poole, according to Sam Gordon of The San Francisco Chronicle. Poole played an important role on the 2022 championship team and once appeared to be a future star for the Warriors, but he was traded to Washington in the summer of 2023 following an infamous incident with Draymond Green. “It’s just really fun to see all of his work pay off and just his growth as a professional, to see it in pretty dramatic fashion over those few years, it was wonderful to see,” Kerr said.
- Green will undergo an MRI on Sunday after leaving Saturday’s game with a left calf injury, tweets Anthony Slater of The Athletic. Warriors guard Stephen Curry twisted his ankle, but he doesn’t believe it’s serious.
- After missing most of last season due to injury, Gabe Vincent is enjoying the chance to finally be able to contribute to the Lakers, per Khobi Price of The Orange County Register. He had a season-high 14 points in Wednesday’s win over Miami, his former team, then followed that with 10 points Friday against Brooklyn. “My role … is just win games, help us win games,” Vincent said. “Some nights it might be purely defensive, some nights I might be on the ball some more, some nights I might be spotting up. But whatever the task is, I’m out there to help this ballclub win games.”
- When the teams meet Sunday, the Clippers will finally be able to host the Lakers in their own arena after years of sharing a facility, notes Janis Carr of The Orange County Register. The Clippers moved into the new $2 billion high-tech Inuit Dome this season. “I heard that place is sick,” Lakers guard Austin Reaves said. “I heard it’s really cool.”
Why would Kerr have anything to say about an eastern conference player on an irrelevant team that hasn’t played for him in years? Lol. Focus on your football team washington.
If you read, it says he was asked
I know he was asked. My point is that it’s stupid to ask him. I don’t ask you about what it’s like to have a pretty face.
Come on lil D you know that these reporters ask the stupidest questions. What do you think of your star player scoring 20 points?
Typically when a team has to play another team the coach is asked about players on their opponent
Thanks google
indeed. because sports journos now are all TMZ tabloidists only interested in drama and sowing discord.
Wow…Everyone was ripping on Phoenix for acquiring Nick Richards. In his 1st game, he plays 30 minutes, scores 21 points and grabs 11 rebounds. Humm…Maybe he isn’t as bad as everyone says. He is setting a nice start to his Sun’s career.
Who was ripping them?
Easily, half the comments criticized it.
Me.
But yeah, it’s great to see Richards come out and be aggressive and do everything he can to make this happen.
He probably sees this as his chance to shine because the suns need his athleticism. I love it.
I love the coaches and/or his agent, friends.., or whoever is in his ear, maybe himself, by getting after it. Be great for him and the Suns of it continues, and it just might.
1 game? quite the sample size.
Yep, 1 game. But, a good start. And maybe playing in Charlotte was his problem. Phoenix might be a better fit.
Jordan Poole had a good start too why don’t they give him a massive contract…oh wait. Kerr what do you think?
Huh? Poole had a terrible start to his Warriors career. They were on the verge of cutting him.
If it wasn’t for the new CBA Poole would still be on the team. You can thank the NBA for being afraid a owner can buy a championship like how the MLB lets the dodgers buy one.
Is the CBA entirely responsible for Poole playing for the Wizards. He is kinda up and down. His first season in DC was atrocious. Kevin Garnet said he didn’t deserve to be in the NBA.
the main reason poole was traded. They had to reduce payroll. Same reason they had to let Klay walk.
And here I thought it was because the bench completely sucked in 22-23. They kept giving up leads. Having Draymond come off the bench wasn’t sustainable in their in attempt get back to the finals. So, they traded for a reliable guy to stabilize the 2nd unit.
That’s right arc89.
Everybody, including Draymond, knew that the Warriors extended Poole for 5 years with the intention of keeping him.
Everybody also knew that signing Poole to $30M/yr meant one of Draymond or Klay couldn’t stay given the cap rules after the next season.
Everybody knew that Draymond was angry about Poole getting paid over him, but nobody imagined that Draymond assaulting Poole would work to Draymond’s economic advantage.
And if it wasn’t for the CBA in 2016, you would never have KD. It goes both ways but you don’t want to admit that Arc. Cap spiked the year KD was a Fa.
CBA rules were completely different when they signed KD. Now the penalties are way stricter now then they ever have been. How do you not know that? You did not know they brought in stricter penalties for being over the cap. Sounds more like you want to make it personal instead of being about the CBA.
You’re the one who brought up CBA for Poole. You keep insisting the refs the league etc is out to get the Warriors every which way. Still doesnt change the fact the cap spiked 38M or so when KD became a Fa.
Where did I say that? I didn’t. Why are you holding some grudge against me? So explain what i said to you to get you so mad?
I’m a dodger fan lol thats what triggered me lol. I’m not attacking you I’m just saying that it’s unfair to say the CBA didnt benefit GSW in some capacity.
I don’t blame the dodgers for the situation I blame MLB. The commish is terrible and he doesn’t care about the longevity of MLB. The dodgers are doing nothing illegal and playing by the rules just like the warriors did. The yanks dominated MLB and had to be broken up when they kept winning and fans stop coming to games. i saw how MLB turned their backs on Oakland even though they had a few people wanting to buy the team and keep them in Oakland. Give it a year and if the dodgers win easily they will change the rules to break up the dodgers. the other owners will want to create new rules.
MLB has a commish that doesn’t care about its sport. There’s bigger issues in that sport besides the dodgers spending. No marketing it’s best players, unusual scheduling and rule changes etc.
To get KD, the Warriors had to give up 2 bigs and Harrison Barnes because of the CBA. The CBA has been around forever.
CBA changed when Shaq ran off and took his ball to Lakers and there wasn’t a RFA offer back then. It was 100% conspiracy for lakers to be good again.
What ruined it was when NBA made up the Larry Bird rule so the Celtics could go over the cap.
Derrick Rose rule also hurt teams well.
At arc… Yeah, O.K. How did L.A. get magic again? As above, Shaq? Did you see the Kings series? How about game 7 finals 2010? And on and on. Celtics will be good and competitive for the foreseeable future. Warriors, not so much. It happens to everyone. At least you can admit you bought some chips acquiring KD, but hey, Bron made stacking super teams all the rage. Remember when Russell was playing against plumbers and electricians like Chamberlain, Baylor and West lol. LET’S GO CELTICS. Chin up pal, it’s not the end of the world.
I forgot…why didn’t the warriors take Larry at pick 5?
Didnt they trade Parish for a future 1? And it turned out to be Bird?
raz, the infamous Celtics Warriors trade of the early 80s. I think all Warriors fans remember this one, especially since we’re reminded by most Celtics fans lol
It was Robert Parrish and the third pick in the NBA draft which belong to the Warriors, traded to the Boston Celtics for the first pick in the draft and the 13th pick in the draft.
The Warriors figured they could build their future with two young big men with talent, Joe Barry Carroll, and Ricky Brown, and the Celtics knew they had a workhorse in the making in Parish and a down low scoring machine coming from Minnesota in Kevin McHale.
This is Often regarded as one of the worst lopsided trades in sports history, let alone NBA history.
raz, a little off-topic, but since we’re in the late 70s, speaking of trading a guy for a future number one pick that’s exactly how the Lakers got Magic Johnson.
They traded an elderly Gail Goodrich to the Utah Jazz for a first round draft pick which turned out to be Magic Johnson in 1979.
Thanks for the trip down memory Lane guys. The heists back then I think we’re easier to pull off by the NBA, oops sorry.., by owners and GM‘s. I think they let the cat out of the bag in 1985 and those things were a little more difficult to pull off.., for the league.
Of course the jazz Lakers trade is hard to prove the league was involved, but I think that envelope had some ice on it when they selected it out of the hopper number one. Just kidding, of course.
Before anyone jumps down my throat, I know they didn’t have a lottery for the NBA draft in 1979. But what they did have was a coin flip for the first pick lol.
Commissioner: “Utah/Lakers, call it in the air.”
Jerry Buss: Heads !!
Commissioner: “Heads it is, the 1st pick to Los Angeles !!” lol
The Warriors didn’t have that kind of a forward thinking President/GM like Red Aurbach.
I believe without looking it up, Larry was eligible to be drafted even though he played one year of college basketball after the Celtics did so. Who would’ve thought of doing that in those days?
I’m trying to rely on memory who the Warriors DID pick at number five… That would’ve been 1978, it wasn’t Larry Smith the big man was it? So they DID pick Larry lol
I’m going to have to look it up cause I can’t remember. Sleepy Floyd? Number one was Mychal Thompson.., I don’t even remember the top five, let me look it up. Don’t you love how I talk my way through these comments?
Ah, Purvis Short.
Nrg82, one more for you if you’re not tired of my lengthy comments here regarding this era, is are you aware the owners of the Celtics and the Buffalo Braves around 1977 or 78 traded franchises?
Yup, no kidding, mine for yours.
So the Celtics guy acquired the Buffalo Braves and immediately moved them to San Diego and became the Clippers. Nice job right?
The Braves owner acquired the Celtics and only added to their great legacy of winning and championships. This guy I think was it a Mr. Brown, had the Braves who were actually pretty good and so he knew what he was doing because the Celtics became very good.
Most Clipper fans in San Diego after watching them stink for four years wondered what happened to the success of the Braves and why didn’t it translate in San Diego?
Well it looks like even back then that everything depends on ownership?
Sorry about the long comments here guys, but quite a trip down memory lane.
Pretty sure everyone was ripping the hornets for giving away Richards for nothing
Actually, one guy said Phoenix was mortgaging their future.
They won their 1st game with Richards so let’s reward them the title already right? They own no draft picks for years and trading your entire future like that should have title aspirations. Phoenix is still a lower seed and has a gigantic mountain to climb in the west to even make the finals and Boston or Cleveland look primed to beat them if they even make it that far.
Whoa KC…What are you smoking there Chief? I said nothing about a title. All I said was that he had a nice start to his Suns career. It is something they can build on. Some players blossom later in their career. So, let’s see how things turn out when the season is over.
I took the safe route and gave both teams an F lol.
Sure is great to see that a player can change the narrative given a new situation often times. He’s a back up center to Mark Williams in Charlotte and suddenly he’s the starter for a championship wanna be in Phoenix. Hope he keeps it up. And Charlotte got their second round picks out of it.
Let’s check back in four weeks and see how this is going. I’m sure the suns are glad to have an athletic guy at the five spot. Look how well JaVale McGee turned his career around when athleticism became important at the five. He went from knucklehead and entire channels created in his namesake to championship contributor for the Warriors and other playoff teams.
All I gotta say is as soon as I started writing “Wiggins makes 20-25 PPG money as the #2 salary guy, so why is he averaging 16 and rarely cracking 20?” he immediately reeled off 3 games in a row of 20+, lol! Does he read the boards?
Also: what in the world went wrong with Dennis’s game the second he arrived at GSW? Oh right, the thing I warned everyone about: Kerr the idiot is going to play too many playmakers in Steph, Dray and Dennis at once, they will get confused and no points will happen, ergo, what has happened. Dray went off injured 3 mins into the game last night and Dennis had his best game as a Warrior, hmm why do you think that happened? Schroder is a scorer, he has had 6 games between 28-34 points this season (all with BK), so why is he averaging 10 for GSW? He slumped due to bad shot selection due to having a confused offense with too many playmakers, not enough bigs/spacers. Getting a true big who can finish (unlike TJD and Looney) like Vooch, and then put Moody at SG next to Steph has always been THE solution, they should have been developing Moody this whole time instead of blocking him with Podz, Lindy, or any 2W scrub off the street. Moody might really be the next Klay, we should be seeing this more and more. Once Moody figures out the Curry 5d chess spacing, GSW are back. But Kerr refuses to develop Moody for reasons no one can explain.
These 4 main rotations will cook most of the league and develop Moody along with the starters, instead of languishing him with Slomo and Lindy:
Vucevic Kuminga Wiggins Moody Curry
TJD Green Wiggins Hield Schroder
Vucevic TJD Green Moody Curry
Vucevic TJD Kuminga Schroder Curry
Davey, Vucevic comes to GSW, the one player he’ll never share the court with is TJD. Vucevic’s shooting reduces, not increases, Moody’s & Hield’s minutes
Adding a stretch 5 that can rebound makes Kuminga and Draymond the biggest beneficiaries.
Using Green at C and Kuminga at PF is effective in bursts, but it wears Draymond out. Pairing them with TJD gives too little outside shooting.
These front-lines have good balance:
– Vucevic, JK, Wiggins
– Vucevic, Draymond, Wiggins
– Vucevic, Draymond, JK
Best starting lineup
– Vucevic, Draymond, JK, WIggins (SG), Curry
I propose we move to a 9 man rotation. (Assume we give Looney, Payton, & Lindy for Vucevic)
STARTERS (5)
Vucevic Green Kuminga Wiggins Curry
ROTATION (4)
TJD Schroder Hield Podz
RESERVES (3)
Moody Slomo Santos