After being taken 56th general in final 12 months’s NBA Draft, Will Richard has already confirmed a significant steal for the Golden State Warriors throughout what’s been an spectacular rookie season.
Yet becoming a much more constant 3-point shooter is the one move that may make Richard and even bigger steal, and can finally lead him to being a helpful and dependable rotation participant within the league for the following decade or longer.
Will Richard must discover a constant jump-shot
With robust hustle, good palms defensively and a basic knack for being in the correct spot inside Steve Kerr’s system, Richard has been capable of make an influence with out producing a lot consistency as a shooter from past the arc.
That was evident once more on Saturday in opposition to the Atlanta Hawks, with Richard seeing prolonged minutes off the bench earlier than getting the beginning within the second-half after Quinten Post exited on account of damage.
Richard was 4-of-7 from the ground, for 9 factors on Saturday, however all of his misses had been from 3-point vary as Golden State suffered one other blowout loss, falling to their sixteenth defeat previously 22 video games after struggling a 126-110 beatdown.
Much like quite a lot of the Warriors’ position gamers, Richard is a succesful 3-point shooter however typically a feast or famine one that lacks reliability. The 23-year-old is all the way down to being a sub 33% 3-point shooter in his rookie 12 months, which can have compelled him out of the rotation had Golden State really been wholesome over the ultimate months of the season.
At 6’3″ and without being much of a ball-handler or playmaker, Richard is going to find it difficult to become a long-term NBA player if he can’t be at least a league average (35-37%) shooter from beyond the arc.
College numbers provide some reason for optimism
Richard was a 35.9% 3-point shooter in his final collegiate year at Florida last season, while also being at 39.8% during his second year in 2022-23. That provides some reason for optimism that with further NBA experience, the shooting can become a solid part of his game — even if it’s never his biggest strength.
The other reason for optimism is that he’s been an 85.2% free-throw shooter during this rookie season, ranked third behind Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler among Golden State players to have taken at least 50 free-throw attempts.
On a helpful four-year, $8.7 million contract, Richard has a while on his facet. The Warriors as a staff do not although, which means enchancment in his 3-point taking pictures will likely be essential to carving out a rotation position in 12 months two.
