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Ryan Richards declares for 2010 NBA Draft (plus, a personal plea)

April 27, 2010

It’s official: Great Britain’s 1991-born Ryan Richards has declared for the NBA Draft: According to UK-based Basketball 24/7, the British power forward/centre currently playing for Swiss first-division club BBC Monthey (on loan from the ACB’s Gran Canaria 2014) will enter this year’s NBA Draft.

Unfortunately, I can’t for the life of me understand why he would do this … yes, Richards is a 6’10”, 235 lb. big man with extreme amounts of potential, but he is not considered one of Europe’s top prospects in most mock drafts (unlike Donatas Motiejunas, Jan Vesely and Miroslav Raduljica) and he doesn’t have the experience or skills that a lot of these players have.

Richards is not, like some European big men, playing on their national teams (even though Great Britain has a relatively weak national squad), though Richards has played well at international tournaments such as the Future Stars 2009 event in the UK and last year’s European championship against opposition from Spain and Poland. He is however, lacking some key fundamentals, a key go-to move, experience and the skills that a lot of Americans can provide.

Unfortunately, some of my information may be wrong (no offence to some sites, but I don’t understand where information is derived from) Eurobasket.com has Ryan averaging 13.3 points per game with 56% field-goal shooting and having scored a season-high 30 points against SAV Vacallo in January; however, according to the official BBC Monthey website, his top individual-game score was 20 on February 6th. I therefore must assume his other reported averages are wrong: Richards could be averaging more or less than 13.3 ppg. Also according to the same site he only played 3 profesional games last season, for a guy who has declared for the NBA draft seems rather low.

Finally, Richards’ stats in European under-18 play in 2009 were impressive, at 29 points on 61% shooting and 13 rebounds per game; however, he and Team Great Britain weren’t exactly playing against Russia or Lithuania or Spain, but rather against relatively lowly national teams from Belgium and Austria.

This guy is good, don’t get me wrong, and by some standards he’s big, but Richards could be easily defended by bigger stronger guys in Europe, let alone the NBA. Joel Freeland is a bigger, stronger, more complete player than Ryan with more experience and better fundamentals – Freeland was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers back in 2006 and has yet to play a game in the NBA.

I feel that if Ryan does enter the NBA this year, he’ll be sent back to Europe and forgotten. Yes with time, he could develop into a solid power forward, but I feel this is not his year as he’s just not ready. Ryan drop out of the draft please! As a fellow Briton, I’m telling you, it’s not your year!

− written by Sam Chadwick

Sam Chadwick is a assistant coach for the Solent Kestrels U13 team. He also writes a basketball-centered blog called Behind The Back.

Apr 27, 2010ballineurope
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This post was published on April 27, 2010
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Comments: 16
  1. SwissBBall
    15 years ago

    BBC Monthey is actually playing in Switzerland’s 1st division (and not France’s 2nd) although the level is more or less the same…

    And you can find Ryan Richards’ official stats on the Swiss league’s website : http://www.lnba.ch/joueur.php?id=4576&m_f=0

    ReplyCancel
  2. English Person
    15 years ago

    Thanks once again for making English people look stupid.

    You say that “even though Great Britain has a relatively weak national squad”.

    Great Britain has just made the European Championships! That makes the one of the top 16 countries in Europe. Now Im not saying that Great Britain is one of the best countries in the world but that is almost as an ignorant comment as claiming that Ryan Richards is in the second french division!

    Richards has been the youngest ever player to play in the Hoop Summit game and performed well in front of numerous NBA scouts there. He was voted in the All Star team of the U16 B Division Championships and has played in Spain and Belgium. He has more European experience at a higher level than Joel did when he was drafted.

    I would like to know how many times you have seen Ryan play after you have commented on “his lacking some key fundamentals, a key go-to move, experience and the skills that a lot of Americans can provide.”

    If you also knew anything about the NBA draft process you would know that Ryan will either quite possibily pull out of the process or a later date once he has risen his profile or wants to go into the 2nd Round/Undrafted so that he can negiotate his own contract at a later date.

    As a fellow brit I am telling you, start writing some better articles

    ReplyCancel
    • Sam Raphael Chadwick
      15 years ago

      Hi anyone who reads this site, mainly the English Person.

      I am the writer of this article and would like to apologise the factual error about Ryan playing for a French second division squad. [That wasn’t Sam’s mistake, but rather Os the editor’s. Now fixed. –Ed.]

      With regards to GB being a weaker squad I will stand by that yes we may be in the top 16 in Europe as we will be at the European Championship, but on the FIBA world ranking we are not even in the top 73 teams yes we may have beaten some ranked teams but obviously not enough to prove to FIBA that we are deserving of a position in the rankings.

      Also I’m talking about Joel Freeland now VS Ryan Ricahrds now a team would be better off bringing him back to the USA rather than drafting Ryan. Ryan has little experience in the big leagues compared to other draft picks like Motiejunas, Radujica and would be draft pick Vesely.

      And finally I will admit that, yes he could stay in the draft get some good workouts with second round teams, but I feel that he would be better off with maybe 1 year in Switzerland totally dominating or 1year in maybe Spain or any other Euroleague team with average results and this will totally boost his stock and show that he can go up against bigger, better players at a higher level.

      Thanks for reading.

      Sam

      ReplyCancel
  3. Dzoni
    15 years ago

    yo man relax i am from serbia(basketball country) and i am not gona say that great britan is worst in europe,but you have some hard work to do to come to medium level in europe,i hopw thta your basketball will become much better in years to come,but realy ryan richards,almost nobody in europe didn’t heard about him,and the guy is 1991!!! man with no expirience at any high level in any high league in europe this guy,can’t go to draft,and i watched him on youtube he is very talented,but needs at least a 2,3,4 more years in europe,to develop,have you seen vesely is not going on this years draft cause he wants to learn more,and gain some and expirience and he is already very expirence player for his age,playing in euroleague,many minutes….. so i hope british basketball will rise but for now be realistic .

    ReplyCancel
  4. English Person
    15 years ago

    The FIBA rankings are taken over a long period of time…Great Britain has only existed for one round of qualifications so therefore even if they had won the European Champs in this time they still wouldn’t have got close to the Top 20. The rankings are meaningless when comparing teams. This is not me saying that GB are a fantastic basketball nation but I take offence when you say it is a weak squad.

    Correct Ryan has little experience in comparison to other potential draft picks, like Radujica and Vesely who are playing in top leagues. However in your article on Motiejunas you claimed he also has no experience!

    Getting drafted in the NBA is not only about how good you are now, its about how good you can be. Just by entering the draft Ryan is not declaring that he is going to play in the league next season. As I mentioned he might simply be doing it as a business decision…something that in the long run is going to earn him more money and enhance his basketball career. Check someone like Tiago Splitter and even Joel Freeland the draft process has hurt both of them by going in the first round. They both would have been much better getting drafted in the second round due to the implications of the CBA.

    Dzoni I pretty much agree with most of what you say. Only point I would make is that does being recognized in Europe have any relevance to the NBA? Freeland was not recognised in Europe when he got drafted, Petteri Koponen was not known in Europe when he got drafted.

    ReplyCancel
    • Sam Raphael Chadwick
      15 years ago

      English person. Im sorry for saying that team GB is weak but I stand by that comment I have seen them play on numerous occasions and am looking forward to the August games in Birmingham as I will probably attend those, but we are alot weaker than most european teams let alone a lot of world teams, hopefully we will continue to develop our young players especially the like of Ryan but I feel if he withdrawns and enters either next year or the year after he will have a lot higher stock. obviously he can feel free to prove me wrong.

      ReplyCancel
  5. Dzoni
    15 years ago

    English person that works in some cases,look rubio,vesely,raduljica,spliter,bjelica,lull,claver they all are drafted or gona be drafted and what makes it easier for nba team to pick them is that they are recognized in europe’s top leagues,competitions(euroleague,eurocup)so in 90 % casec it is very important to play in good european league against good players because that helps player that wants to be drafted,but there are that 10% like rodrige beauboua,jonas jerbeko.And i forgot to name batum , galinari and caspi to my first list they also played in good leagues and in euroleague,so it is very important to be in good league in europe before entering the nba,i hope english basketball will become better you are to me in tha top 30 teams so good luck 😀

    ReplyCancel
  6. Dzoni
    15 years ago

    and i frogot petteri koponen????? does that tells you something,does anybody know where that guy is playing now???? so you have to be at least little recognized in europe so don’t finish like this guy or like mahimi,petro,stefolosa,milicic,koufos,diwara…. list is long.

    ReplyCancel
  7. Dzoni
    15 years ago

    If england wants to be good in basketball they have to have strong league-so the players play against higher competition,i think that also more sopnsors more moeny a lot more must be invested in basketball in england.

    ReplyCancel
  8. radallo
    15 years ago

    koponen is playing for virtus bologna
    legaA italy
    he’s long tern injured since 25april

    ReplyCancel
  9. Dzoni
    15 years ago

    yeah that is my point he is playing on a bed team(virtus was good in the past) because he went on draft not recognized in europe before,so it is important to be recognized if posibly in euroleague but eurocup is also solid competition.

    ReplyCancel
  10. Shilas
    15 years ago

    to be correct his surname is Motiejūnas, not Motiejunas, but that is not a big mistake.
    “ū” is like in “spoon” (spūn), while “u” is like “should” (shud), so it is not as big mistake, but still, i think it is always nice to see, if your surname is spelled without mistakes. 🙂

    and about Ryan, good luck for him.

    P.S. it is nice, but still it is also strange, that english person is interested in basketball 🙂

    ReplyCancel
  11. Shilas
    15 years ago

    And about the level of English basketball, one Lithuanian worker, who has worker in construction yard in England, has recently entered England’s basketball league. Of cource he was on a bench most of the time, but still he has got the contract, ant it says a lot about the level about English basketball.

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  12. Dzoni
    15 years ago

    yeah i said that myself the level of english basketball is very bad,but they have some good players : mensa bonsy,freeland,archibald,luol deng,so i think they should work more on their league.And i can’t wait for world championship in turkey do you know who is gona play for lithuania cause many of your players didn’t played on eurobasket 2009.

    ReplyCancel
  13. Titletown99030507
    15 years ago

    This kid could well be a diamond in the rough. 7 foot big body with raw skills oozing from this kid and a confidence level unheard of from a 19 year old. He is coachable, can shoot, rebound, and is athletic. Tony was 19 when he came to the Spurs. Richards played in U16 and U18 leagues as did Tony and seems to have High Basketball IQ.
    Buford (Spurs FO) stated last night in San Antonio after they drafted Ryan that they were going to take a look at him knowing he doesn’t want to go back to Europe. He want’s to develop in the Spurs D-League team. I’m hoping we see him in the Summer league games. This is his chance to open some eyes. Good luck Ryan in your efforts here in San Antonio. We hope its a long and enjoyable relationship with the Spurs!

    ReplyCancel
  14. Titletown99030507
    15 years ago

    Furthermore on Ryan Richards, the Spurs FO know talent when they see it even if its young and raw. My bet if he works hard with the Spurs D-league he’ll be in Spurs uniform next season in a supportive role. I trust the Spurs FO. They’ve won 4 Championships since they arrived in San Antonio. Who better to search for talent, they found Tony Parker as an 18 year old and played on the Spurs 2003 Championship Team as a 20 year old. Enough said.
    Enjoy your long stay in San Antonio Ryan! Go Spurs Go!

    ReplyCancel
Pingbacks: 5
  1. Ryan Richards Impresses at Day 1 of NBA Draft Combine, Silences Critics
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  2. BallinEurope, the European Basketball news site » Blog Archive » Official 2010 BallinEurope mock draft, version 2.0: Round two
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  3. BallinEurope, the European Basketball news site » Blog Archive » Official 2010 BallinEurope mock draft, version 3.1: Round two, the first 15
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  4. BallinEurope, the European Basketball news site » Blog Archive » On 2010 NBA Draft night, four Europeans hear names called
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  5. Official 2010 BallinEurope mock draft, version 2.0: Round two … | thenewsbreak.com
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15 years ago 21 Comments More, NBA/NCAA2010 NBA Draft, ACB, BBC Monthey, Donatas Motiejunas, Gran Canaria 2014, Great Britain, Jan Vesely, Joel Freeland, Miroslav Raduljica, NBA, Ryan Richards, SAV Vacallo, Switzerland, Team Great Britain
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