With the NBA Draft tomorrow night, we now re-post our NBA Draft Stock Profile article. This one originally ran March 18. Right now, #16 Michigan State are doing what the best teams of the Tom Izzo era always do- win, and win with rebounding, defense, and solid offensive execution. They won 78-68 at Northwestern today, but the game’s halftime score (MSU 47-28), tells the true story of the game. Jase Richardson, who has become the Spartans’ x-factor this season, contributed 13 points off the bench.
“With his emergence, as he’s been getting better, we’re getting better too,” Izzo said in postgame.
“He’s getting better everyday.”
The Golden State Warriors drafted his father, Jason Richardson out of Michigan State University in 2001 with the 5th overall pick. He won a national title at Michigan State, alongside fellow future NBA players Mateen Cleaves, Charlie Bell, and Morris Peterson.
Richardson earned the NBA Rookie Challenge MVP and All-Rookie Team First Team honors his debut season in the league. He went on to play for 13 more years with five different additional teams.
Jason Richardson never made a NBA All-Star team, but if you want to know who will likely to make the ASG next month, RG did a phenomenal projection. While Richardson The Elder never made an All-Star team, he was still always regarded as one of the NBA’s most demonstrative dunkers, winning the NBA Slam Dunk crown in 2002 and 2003.
He joined Michael Jordan and Nate Robinson as the competition’s only back-to-back champions.
And now Richardson the Younger, a four-star rated prospect who chose Michigan State over Cincinnati and Alabama, is now writing his own story.
“As I’m learning with him, and giving him freedom is safe,” Izzo continued.
“When he gets into that paint, he can make a lot of things happen.”
Jason Richardson only averaged a few minutes per game, as the 8th or 9th guy in the rotation, on the national title team. He then made huge strides his sophomore year at Michigan St. and jumped to the league. Jason Richardson was the only member of the ’00 title team to really have a special NBA career.
Jase Richardson is the only guy on the current State team who really has any substantial NBA Draft stock, and the freshman combo guard could end up being a one-and-done guy to the league.
But we can save that an analysis and speculation for another time and place. For now, Jase Richardson and company have a solid squad that could win the Big Ten conference, and/or make some major noise come March.
“We have a lot of different guys that can do a lot of different things,” Jase said in his media opportunity with reporters at Welsh-Ryan Arena today.
“We’ve got (Jeremy) Fears, he’s finding lanes and he’s kicking to open guys.
“We got J.A. (Jaden Akins, the team’s leading scorer who surpassed the 1,000 career points scored milestone today) and myself going in there and making plays for our teammates.”
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America and RG. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.