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Long-shot hopes he's on-target
Published January 26, 2008
SAN ANTONIO — He went from starting to inactive in a span of hours, but that did not discourage Jeremy Richardson.
“That’s the way it goes,” the newest Spur said after Wednesday’s 103-91 win over the Lakers at the AT&T Center. “You just try to stay positive and keep working hard and be prepared for when you get a chance to play.”
The chances are sporadic, sometimes rare, for the 6-foot-7 Richardson. He looks much younger than 24, especially when compared to the collection of veterans on the San Antonio roster.
And, more than age separates him from the likes of Tim Duncan and Bruce Bowen, Richardson’s neighbor in the Spurs’ lockerroom.
With a franchise that values experience — and veterans — Richardson is a fresh face, one of what has become a revolving spot on the end of the San Antonio bench. Signed earlier this month after being cut by the Memphis Grizzlies, he is on his second 10-day contract.
By next week, the Spurs must decide whether to sign Richardson for the season, or cut him, leaving him to catch on with another team or head back to the NBA Developmental League, where he was the league’s leading scorer, getting 28.5 points per game for the Fort Wayne Mad Antz.
Mad Antz are a world apart for Kobe Bryant and the Lakers, a fact Richardson got to see up close and personal Wednesday. But, the two-time All-Gulf South Conference performer at Division II Delta State University is not fretting over his future. Instead, he is focused on his opportunity and making the most of the chances it offers.
“It’s hard, but I don’t think God is going to give me something I can’t handle,” Richardson said. “This is the fourth team I’ve played on this year, including the teams in the ‘D’ league. That makes it hard because you’re never sure. But, that’s the way it is.”
It is that way for Richardson and the scores of young men with more basketball talent than most people will ever realize, but still battling on the fringe for a chance to play at the game’s most elite level.
Richardson was an undrafted free agent out of Delta State, a small school in the middle of the Mississippi Delta, known as much for its long legacy of women’s basketball excellence and a bevy of successful programs on the D-II level.
His senior season, Richardson averaged 17.8 points per game and led the Statesmen with 65 three-pointers. He left Cleveland, Miss., at No. 14 on the school’s career scoring list.
Impressive, but not enough to get drafted. Still, he spent the 2007 preseason with the Miami Heat before being cut just before the regular season. From there, he headed to Fort Worth ,where he averaged 17.4 points for the NBADL Flyers and was named second team all-league.
Along the way were two 10-day stints, first with the Hawks in Atlanta, and then with the Trail Blazers in Portland, but no contract. So, off to Fort Wayne, where he played well enough to earn a call from Memphis in December. When the Grizzlies waived Richardson earlier this month, the Spurs called with the first of two 10-day contracts.
Is a second stint a good sign? Maybe. An even better indication was the chance to start last week in the Spurs’ 95-86 win at Charlotte.
“You hope that’s why,” said Richardson, who scored three points in 11 minutes of action against the Bobcats. “I have been through it before, and I know that you can’t read anything into anything. Your job is to go out and work to be the best player you can be and hope that you get the chance to play and stick with a team.
“It felt good (starting in Charlotte), but really all I wanted to do was go out and play as hard as I can and do the best I can every time I go out there. I started some preseason games for Miami and still got cut before the season. You can’t worry about stuff like that. I just try to work hard and control what I can control.”
The nomadic existence means players like Richardson have a small window to make a big impression. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said he started the slender forward because the team needed to get a look, in game action, before it decided whether or not to sign him for the season.
“It’s tough sometimes,” Richardson said. “You have to learn a lot of stuff in a short amount of time — get to know the guys on the team and how they do things. All you can do is go out and work hard in practice every day, listen and learn as much as you can, and then try to do the best you can with every opportunity you get.
“It’s different here. This is a very professional team — very professional atmosphere in everything they do, and I like that a lot. That’s why I hope I can stick with them. It is a very precise system here. You have to pay attention and really work to learn. I try to go out every game and every practice and be the guy that can fit in the system.”
If that doesn’t happen, Richardson said he will pack his bags and head out to wherever the next opportunity takes him.
“That would be the happiest day of my life,” he said of a chance to sign for the rest of the season with San Antonio. “It’s what I’ve spent my life working to do, and there would not be a better place to stick than here.
“If that doesn’t happen, then I’ll go where I can go to play and keep working to make it. I won’t quit.”
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