Suns make a Nick Richard’s recognition that hornets fans know too well

Despite not adding Jimmy Butler to their list at the trading deadline, Phoenix Suns dealt with their biggest problem area on the security list weeks before by adding a legitimate center in Nick Richards. The former Charlotte Hornets player wasted some time starting for her new team and playing with the type of energy and hustle that was poorly missing for much of the season.

Hornets would end up being even more useful down the road after taking Jusuf Nurkic from their hands, even though it cost Suns a future choice of first round to ditch a player who next season would be an expiring contract next season. Maybe not the homemade deal it seemed to be at the moment.

Suns’ is now aware of what they have in Richards and it is limited.

Although Richards has been a nice addition to the valley, the reality is that Suns is an organization in the other apron and he was as good as they should ever come to the deadline. What has got them is a 27-year-old big, there was a backup center for Hornets and which started 74 games in five seasons in Charlotte.

Richards has never appeared in the post season, and this campaign has served as a backup for Mark Williams. You know, the same center that Los Angeles Lakers traded to solve their own big man only to send him back after failing a medical. To this point, Richards are an average of 8.8 points and just over 10 boards per day. Battle, and Suns need all these rebounds in particular.

But it’s about what he gave a hornets list that didn’t go anywhere – and there has been no big leap from him to this point – despite having much better teammates. There may be more room for Richards to operate in than ever before – but with Suns hardly a defensive beast – he has to work as hard as ever for that purpose as well.

That’s why Suns is still struggling just to make the play-in tournament at the Western Conference. That was before Richards injured his knees in a recent loss for Denver Nuggets, even though he ended up playing 22 minutes in this game. Yes, he is an upgrade to Nurkic – but given that he had been permanently benched – the only way to go up here was.

If something Nurkic was more able to have bigger scoring and rebounding nights, though these days so far behind him, as head coach Mike Budenholzer had decided to sit completely. The point here, however, is that if Richards is the biggest trade they made at the deadline – and he was – then there is only so far that this team will go in the coming months.

He does not basically change their core, while if something he is asked to do more than Nurkic ever was because he has the athletics that Bosnia does not. Since the Richards trade, the team sits a low 21. Match. In the season as a whole? They are 25., though they have given up smaller points (115.7).

Given that Richards are only an average of 23.8 minutes per day. Night, you start to see why. It is the same amount of time Nurkic got before they were ditched. It’s worrying. Despite having the chance to impress and win several minutes, Richards to this point has not done so. It’s almost as if trading a backup that is big from a reconstruction organization can only do so much for your title ambitions.