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00:00 Nick Richards, your new Hornets starting centre.
00:04 Well, not even anymore because he is also out with an ankle injury.
00:08 Another one to add to the line.
00:10 Nick Richards as a starter since Mark Williams has been out of the line-up.
00:14 Nine points, nine rebounds, 1.2 assists, 0.7 turnovers, 1.3 blocks.
00:21 I mean, I've been pretty disappointed, I have to say.
00:25 His counting stats are up.
00:28 If you look, just because of the minutes played, he's up at 29 minutes per game.
00:32 But I mean, if you give any seven-foot guy in the NBA who is remarkably okay at basketball 29 minutes,
00:38 they're basically going to put up 10, 10 and 1 most of the time,
00:41 even if they're not a good basketball player.
00:44 And I don't think Nick has been awful, but the efficiency and effectiveness and impact measurements
00:51 are just down across the board, all the metrics.
00:54 His rebound percentage, his block percentage.
00:58 Last year, his foul rate was at 26%.
01:00 He was one of the most fouled players.
01:02 I think he was fourth in the league in foul rate.
01:04 He was absolutely getting fouled by everyone.
01:06 This year, it's down to 18.
01:08 And I just don't understand why that would drop.
01:11 He used to get fouled going for offensive rebounds all the time.
01:14 It seems like maybe Clifford has dialed him back from going for offensive boards
01:18 to get back on defence.
01:20 Maybe that's why.
01:21 But there's just so many times you look out there and you feel that Nick Richards is overmatched
01:26 on both ends, and he struggles to impact the game, gets into foul trouble at times.
01:31 And maybe that's one of the reasons his impact is down is because he's now trying to balance
01:35 things out of foul trouble, whereas that never used to be the issue.
01:39 And now you're having to see him make decisions, don't block that shot,
01:42 don't try to grab that rebound.
01:44 And that's dropped his impact and effectiveness a little bit.
01:48 Yeah, I mean, I'm glad that you made the point about his counting stats being up,
01:52 but not necessarily reflecting that if you dig a little deeper.
01:55 Because, I mean, you could make the argument that when you're born out in the advanced stats,
02:00 like Nick Richards is probably the worst rotation player on the team right now.
02:04 His on/off point differential is -4.6, which is 24th percentile among all center--
02:11 or -6.6 is 22nd percentile, -4.6 offensively.
02:16 Defensively, he's still a positive asset technically, but among centers,
02:21 he is, again, only in the 34th percentile.
02:24 Like he is just in the bottom third of pretty much every player in his position
02:29 in pretty much every category.
02:31 Like there's really no way in which he's excelling right now.
02:34 And to your point about his foul rate going down, I think the reason why that happens
02:39 is because he has displayed very little growth in terms of low post scoring,
02:45 any sort of finishing touch.
02:47 Like he is still essentially a run-and-dunk big, which, again,
02:52 that can lead to being very efficient and, like you said, being good for 8-8, 10-10,
02:57 depending on how many minutes you get.
02:59 But you're just not going to be an overly positive asset to your team in that way
03:04 because, A, you can be schemed out of the game, as we've seen with him,
03:08 A, getting into foul trouble, B, just being a complete lack of an offensive option
03:12 outside of screening and rolling to the rim.
03:15 And he also is just not ever going to be able to create anything for himself.
03:20 So when he doesn't play with players like Lamella or Terry, which happens semi-often
03:25 because the team has been so injured that it's hard to keep one of those guys
03:28 on the floor at the same time, it just exacerbated even further
03:32 the lack of offensive utility that he has, which I just think it's time that--
03:37 I mean, he has clearly established himself as a backup center
03:40 and is still probably on a pretty good contract, but I definitely think this last month
03:45 or so has shown that it's time for a new look at backup center here for the Hornets
03:49 because it's just not working very well anymore.
03:53 A new look as in you would look to move on from Nick Richards?
03:56 Yeah, I mean, to me, that would be one of the first things that I would be doing
03:59 if I were Mitch Kupchak or whoever ends up being the decision maker for this team
04:04 going forward, is just switching it up in some way because it's just--
04:08 it's more of the same with Mark except he's kind of just worse in most ways.
04:13 Like he's a little bit more physical than Mark, but Mark is still a little bit bigger
04:18 and obviously has way more offensive skill and touch around the rim
04:21 and is even more of a lob threat and a better roller and better defender
04:26 in drop and in space.
04:28 Like now the free throw and the foul rate is not equal but much closer to being equal
04:34 to where you can at least grow with Mark and maybe use PJ as a small ball five
04:39 that they've had to do lately.
04:41 Like use some other big that gives you a little bit of a different matchup
04:45 than what Nick does because it's just not bearing itself out
04:48 in any sort of impactful way right now.
04:51 Do you think Nick Richards is a better player this season
04:54 than Mason Plumlee was last trade deadline?
04:57 No, no, I don't think so at all.
04:59 I think Mason Plumlee was marginally better I think in my eyes
05:04 because of how much more utility he has offensively.
05:07 He was a rotation player for a playoff team.
05:11 Nick Richards being a rotation player for the Hornets,
05:14 I don't know that he is like an every night rotation player
05:17 for a playoff team right now.
05:20 Just with the way that he can only score when being fed shots around the rim
05:25 which is a hard way to live.
05:27 Sometimes on a better team that fits better because on a team
05:30 where someone's drawing lots of doubles like on the Mavericks, right?
05:33 This is why Derek Lively's had a good season because he's playing
05:36 next to Luka Doncic and Carey Irving who are crafty, draw doubles,
05:40 draw a ton of help and then all they have to do is find him
05:43 and he's able to dunk it.
05:45 The Hornets just don't have that kind of roster but it's interesting.
05:49 I also had in my notes, I think the Hornets,
05:52 he's one of the few Hornets who might have trade value this deadline
05:56 because he's locked up on a low-cost deal whereas Plumley
05:59 wasn't expiring, right?
06:00 So even though Plumley was a better player, maybe the value around there
06:04 is some sort of equivalent because of the contract status.
06:08 But I'm sorry, MC Hammer, I'm going to have to disrespect you here.
06:13 I think an upgraded centre might be something that this team looks at
06:17 in the off-season and this isn't upgrading backup centre.
06:20 I'm talking starter.
06:21 Maybe Mark Williams, I don't think we should just be putting him in
06:25 in permanent marker next season as a starter, not with these back issues,
06:29 not with what this team has lacked.
06:32 This off-season there are some guys, Nick Claxton, Jonas Valanciunas,
06:36 Isaiah Hartenstein who could be even Goga Bittadze,
06:41 guys who played really well for Orlando this year
06:44 after basically getting released from Indiana.
06:47 Those are all guys who give you toughness, defence, rebounding
06:51 and are probably more impactful right now than Nick Richards
06:54 and I think could even start ahead of Mark Williams.
06:56 And then imagine if you've got Mark Williams coming off the bench
06:59 and he can still be a long-term project, but you've got some guy there
07:02 who while he's getting his back thing sorted and while the Hornets
07:05 are trying to get back to respectability, that's something that they can look at.