The Miami Heat have been an extremely busy organization the past couple of weeks. The Heat are currently on track to be the first team to ever have to pay the repeater tax and because of that they have been trying to trade players with guaranteed money so that their tax bill decreases. Most of the moves the Heat have made recently have involved getting rid of players and getting nothing in return but now they have reportedly signed their second round pick, Josh Richardson, to a three-year deal according to Shams Charania of RealGM.com.
After the trades of Zoran Dragic and Shabazz Napier, the Heat had an open roster spot which gave them room to sign Richardson. Richardson was the 40th overall pick in this year's draft and has impressed the Heat. The contract is for three years and $2.5 million. The first year of the deal is reportedly fully guaranteed while the second year has a partial guarantee.
Richardson is a 6 foot-6 shooting guard out of Tennessee who has prototypical size for a two-guard and improved in each of his four years as a Volunteer. In his senior season Richardson averaged 16 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game while making 46 percent of his field goals and 36 percent of his threes. Richardson is not known as a three point shooter but he improved on his long range shot throughout his college career and was able to make 39 percent of his long balls in the summer league.
Richardson was not invited to the NBA Draft Combine and was not included in many mock drafts but after working out for a lot of teams his stock began to skyrocket and it landed him in the beginning of the second round.
Finding playing time as a rookie might be tough for Richardson as the Heat are stacked but he does have the potential to make an immediate impact should he get the chance. Richardson is known as a very good perimeter defender and with his much improved jump shot he could be a nice bench player. With the league valuing "3 & D" more than ever nowadays Richardson is the type of player that just might carve himself out a niche in the NBA.
