We have two very different and young SGs on the roster. Who's the franchise SG? I thought it would be really interesting to look at both of them, and Richardson has been the forgotten young guy on our team.
Malachi Richardson was looking very promising before his hamstring injury. Here's his stats this year:
22 games (9minutes): 3.6points, 1.0reb, 0.5ast, and 0.4to.
DLeague (11 games): 21pts, 4.3rebs, 1.5asts, 0.9stl, 3.5tos
Richardson is an extremely different type of SG than Hield.
Malachi is a lanky shot creating PG. He has average athleticism and good quickness. He's a comfortable ball handler with an array of escape dribbles. He creates his shots with ball fakes, head fakes, step backs, and more. He uses his quickness and dribbling to create space on every single shot. Richardson's offense mostly comes from the mid-range. He faces up his defender, then makes a move to free himself up for a shot. On top of being a shot creator, Richardson does a very good job using his quick first-step to get to the rim. He's not a great finisher, but he does a very good job in being aggressive and drawing fouls. As an off-ball player, Richardson is much less effective. He moves ok without the ball, and does good ability for catch and shoot 3s. He's more comfortable with creating his own space and using screens. As a 3pt shooter, he seems to be solid. He's a good shooter in general. His facilitating and passing are below average. He's not a very good passer and doesn't have any playmaking instincts. As a defender, he has good size for the position. 6'6 with a 7ft wingspan. His average lateral quickness will help him a lot on that end. He'll need to gain more defensive awareness.
Here's Buddy's stats this year, from first with the Pelicans, then with the Kings:
57 games(20.4mins): 8.6pts, 2.9rebs, 1.4asts, 0.3stl, 0.8tos
25 games(29.1mins): 15.1pts, 4.2rebs, 1.8asts, 0.8stl, 2.1tos
Hield is a perimeter SG who excels behind the arc. He's an average athlete with solid quickness. Hield's game is more 3pt oriented, and he's really comfortable as an off-ball player. He has good cuts to the basket, and tries to use screens to free himself up. As a ball handler, he's average. He does a good job freeing himself up when he has the ball at the 3pt line with screens and some head fakes. He'll either try to attack all the way, or stop and shoot the mid-range. He has a very nice lean in mid-range shot that somehow falls in almost every time. His ball handling can get very loose at times, leaving him prone to TOs. His average ball handling mixed in with only solid quickness does bring up some problems for Buddy, specifically for when he attacks. He has a bit of a difficult time getting to the rim against quicker players. However, when he does get to the rim, he's a very good finisher. As a passer and facilitator, he's average. He keeps his head up and does look to make the easy pass. As a defender, he has average size for the position at 6'5 with a 6'9 wingspan. However, his lateral quickness is only average, or maybe even slightly below. He'll need to compensate his average footspeed with his wingspan and defensive awareness. misc: Hield is about 2 years older than Malachi.
In Short: The Kings have two very talented rookie SGs. Both of these guys are very different types of SGs, and score in their own ways. Yeah there's a possibility of Malachi bulking up and playing SF, but he's a natural SG. In the end, who do you think will become the Kings' franchise SG?
Malachi Richardson was looking very promising before his hamstring injury. Here's his stats this year:
22 games (9minutes): 3.6points, 1.0reb, 0.5ast, and 0.4to.
41.2% FG, 28.6% 3pt, 78.9% FT
42.9% FG, 44% 3pt, 76.3% FT
Malachi is a lanky shot creating PG. He has average athleticism and good quickness. He's a comfortable ball handler with an array of escape dribbles. He creates his shots with ball fakes, head fakes, step backs, and more. He uses his quickness and dribbling to create space on every single shot. Richardson's offense mostly comes from the mid-range. He faces up his defender, then makes a move to free himself up for a shot. On top of being a shot creator, Richardson does a very good job using his quick first-step to get to the rim. He's not a great finisher, but he does a very good job in being aggressive and drawing fouls. As an off-ball player, Richardson is much less effective. He moves ok without the ball, and does good ability for catch and shoot 3s. He's more comfortable with creating his own space and using screens. As a 3pt shooter, he seems to be solid. He's a good shooter in general. His facilitating and passing are below average. He's not a very good passer and doesn't have any playmaking instincts. As a defender, he has good size for the position. 6'6 with a 7ft wingspan. His average lateral quickness will help him a lot on that end. He'll need to gain more defensive awareness.
Here's Buddy's stats this year, from first with the Pelicans, then with the Kings:
57 games(20.4mins): 8.6pts, 2.9rebs, 1.4asts, 0.3stl, 0.8tos
39.3% FG, 36.9% 3PT, 87.9% FT
48% FG, 42.8% 3PT, 81.4% FT
Hield is a perimeter SG who excels behind the arc. He's an average athlete with solid quickness. Hield's game is more 3pt oriented, and he's really comfortable as an off-ball player. He has good cuts to the basket, and tries to use screens to free himself up. As a ball handler, he's average. He does a good job freeing himself up when he has the ball at the 3pt line with screens and some head fakes. He'll either try to attack all the way, or stop and shoot the mid-range. He has a very nice lean in mid-range shot that somehow falls in almost every time. His ball handling can get very loose at times, leaving him prone to TOs. His average ball handling mixed in with only solid quickness does bring up some problems for Buddy, specifically for when he attacks. He has a bit of a difficult time getting to the rim against quicker players. However, when he does get to the rim, he's a very good finisher. As a passer and facilitator, he's average. He keeps his head up and does look to make the easy pass. As a defender, he has average size for the position at 6'5 with a 6'9 wingspan. However, his lateral quickness is only average, or maybe even slightly below. He'll need to compensate his average footspeed with his wingspan and defensive awareness. misc: Hield is about 2 years older than Malachi.
In Short: The Kings have two very talented rookie SGs. Both of these guys are very different types of SGs, and score in their own ways. Yeah there's a possibility of Malachi bulking up and playing SF, but he's a natural SG. In the end, who do you think will become the Kings' franchise SG?