Will Richard, the “hellified listener” who’s just paying it back to Steph Curry and Draymond

[videos/interviews/transcripts]

Looked it up Sunday night: Will Richard began the night 62nd in the league in points per-36. After scoring 15 points in 19 minutes, postgame Pacers-Warriors in which we assumed the rankings stayed static — it would have been near-impossible to calculate real-time points per-36 across the league as even bkref.com needs til the next morning for stats to be uploaded — Richard would have been about 49th in the NBA in scoring per-36.

Just think about that. Even at 62nd in the league, with 30 teams, that’s roughly being in the top two on your team in scoring. As of this writing, one Wardell Stephen Curry is 5th in the league in per-36 ppg, Jimmy Butler is 48th and Richard is 57th.

Here’s Jimmy postgame the other night:

The thing that I love about Will the most is his ability to listen. Like, you tell him what to do to the best of his ability, he’s going to do it, whether it’s on offense, whether it’s on defense. It’s really hard to try to please everybody because you could be told five different things from five different people and he’s the type of human being that’s gonna try to do all five of those things that everybody’s telling. It could totally contradict each other, but he’s a hellfied listener and whatever you tell him to do, he understands that it’s to win. So he’s gonna do it and he just looks incredible whenever he is out there doing it.

That’s hilarious, trying to “do all five of those things,” but it just shows how much he cares.

As for increasing those minutes so we don’t always have to look at per-36 to normalize the minutes, I’ve said before that the only problem is he’s a finisher of plays, not a ball-handling initiator or playmaker, so really the only guy he could swap in the rotation with, i.e., leapfrog, is Buddy Hield.

It still looks like Steve Kerr is going to wait until Hield (both Will and Buddy played a little under 20 minutes apiece) messes up before that gets shaken up, and he’s got both players on the floor at the same time, the majority of that rotation. We’ll see how that plays out and it’s a fair way to increase Will’s presence from the usual rookie bench spot without immediately demoting Buddy.

Again, Buddy hasn’t done anything egregiously wrong that would warrant a reduction in his usual role. He was 9 for last 19 prior to going 0-for-3 against his former team, Indiana, which by the way if you noticed on our Discord Server, had dinner at Draymond Green’s restaurant, Meski’s SF, with his pal Tyrese Haliburton and three other Pacers.

But our audience is clamoring for more Will Richard, that’s for sure.

Anthony Slater of ESPN tried his best…

Will, the last few games, has kinda been fringe rotation to start and obviously he’s busted through in both games. Where are you at with him? I know there’s like a rookie pecking order type thing, but obviously he’s performed --?

KERR: Will’s been amazing. I didn’t know a whole lot about him when we got him, but really early on in camp, you could see that he really knew how to play. He’s constantly making the right cut and the right pass. He’s solid. His fundamentals are fantastic. You can see all the experience he’s had in big games coming in here. Will is, he’s a ball player and we’re excited to have him and he’s gonna contribute quite a bit for us this year, like he did tonight.

…but whether on purpose or not, Steve didn’t end up answering the question in a direct manner.

And, like I said, Will’s demeanor — he cares, to the extent that it comes full circle:

As soon as I see the defender’s head turn, that’s when I cut or when I see the back of his numbers, that’s when I know to cut, yeah… credit to my coaches. Growing up in high school, college, they’ve all poured into me in playing the right way. And I grew up watching the Warriors as well, so I grew up watching guys like that, moving without the basketball… so for me, Steph and Dray and all them, they made my childhood, so I feel like every time I’m on the court, I need to pay that back by going out there and playing as hard as I can.

Videos, interviews and transcripts below, including Steve, Will, Jimmy, and Al Horford…

00:00 Steve, what was the biggest difference in that third quarter, towards the end that 10-0 run at end the third?

00:10 STEVE KERR, POSTGAME IND-GSW: We finally got some, strung together some stops and then we had good pace to the game. Jimmy really took over the game at that point, but we got some guys out there with him who were really cutting, moving. Will, Moses did a great job. I liked how Pat Spencer pushed the ball and, obviously, Al knocking down some shots and blocking shots. Yeah, that was a good stretch and that opened up the game for us, finally.

00:42 Steve, Kuminga obviously having a breakthrough season up until the last couple games and, tonight, not so much. Your thoughts on what’s going on there?

00:53 Just a tough night. Every night, it’s different and wasn’t his night, but Tuesday could be his night, so you just gotta keep playing.

01:06 You guys about to head on out on this six--

01:09 Sorry?

01:09 You’re about to head on this six game trip with a back to back right away, a couple back to backs on the trip. How do you feel you guys are playing right now and also just physically where do you feel like you guys are at?

01:21 Yeah, we’re not playing very well, clearly. We had a great fourth quarter, end of third. And then fourth quarter the ball started moving. There was some flow, but overall we haven’t played real well. But I’m very confident in this team. It’s gonna be a tough trip, as you mentioned, two back to backs. We felt getting through this early part of the schedule in one piece and, if we’re healthy, and win our share of games that it sets up the rest of the season well for us. Obviously, we gave a couple games away, but all in all we’re pretty healthy and know we’re gonna get there. I can picture the team. I can see what kind of team we’re gonna be, but we don’t really have our identity yet.

02:15 Hello, Steve. Question for Canal Plus Africa. Back to Kuminga then, so you talked about tonight, but overall, how do you judge his beginning of this season that has been made of some ups and downs? And how different is he from last season already as a player and when it comes to his melding with the team?

02:35 How different is who as a player?

02:36 Kuminga, from the last season?

02:38 Yeah. So yeah, as far as the season, the beginning of the season, we feel like our record should be better. We probably let a couple games slip away, but we’re finding out a lot about our team. It’s been great to see Will Richard play and try to incorporate Al Horford, let him get comfortable. And then JK has done a really good job here in the early season. Tonight wasn’t his night, but I think he’s had a good start to the season. We’re giving him more responsibility guarding the ball and he’s showing the growth that we had hoped.

03:22 Steve, hi. Indiana was the last team that had not lost here. Is that kind of a wild stat to you? Or you don’t, I know you don’t see them regularly at Chase Center, but do you think about, do you get a kick outta stats like that?

03:38 They’ve had our number, last few years, and we’ve had a couple games against them that probably we should have taken care of the one last week for sure, but I know you’re talking about their streak here at Chase. But they’re a talented team. Rick’s a great coach. They’ve just come in here and handled their business, so nice to finally beat them here.

04:03 Steve, you referenced earlier the tough trip and you’ve talked a lot about trying to find the right lineup combinations and leaning on your depth. I imagine that’s even more necessary on a trip like this. Do you feel like you’re closer to having an understanding of the combinations you want and how much will you need that in these next 10 days?

04:20 We’re expecting Steph to be back Tuesday and so that’ll be helpful. We’ve had a lot of different starting lineups. We’ve gone back and forth between Quinten and Brandin at times. I’d like to get, to gain more consistency with the lineup and I like Quinten out there with that first group. He’s played really well. His defense has dramatically improved. I think he’s second on our team in plus minus. He gives us that shooter feel, quick ball mover, all of that stuff. I imagine I’m gonna keep Quinten out there in the lineup, but we have to look at everything, obviously. The starting group the last few games hasn’t been great. It’s a little clunky. You guys can see it and so we have to evaluate everything, but I do like Quinten with the first group.

05:21 Will, the last few games, has kinda been fringe rotation to start and obviously he’s busted through in both games. Where are you at with him? I know there’s like a rookie pecking order type thing, but obviously he’s performed --?

05:33 Will’s been amazing. I didn’t know a whole lot about him when we got him, but really early on in camp, you could see that he really knew how to play. He’s constantly making the right cut and the right pass. He’s solid. His fundamentals are fantastic. You can see all the experience he’s had in big games coming in here. Will is, he’s a ball player and we’re excited to have him and he’s gonna contribute quite a bit for us this year, like he did tonight.

06:05 Steve, how did Steph come through the workout before the game?

06:09 I assume fine. I saw him on the bench. I haven’t talked to him about the workout, but yeah, he got a really good shooting workout in with Q (Bruce Fraser) and he’ll get another session in tomorrow before we leave for OKC.

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06:28 At this point, just how comfortable do you feel in this offense with this team?

06:37 WILL RICHARD: Yeah, I feel pretty comfortable. I try to keep it simple out there, spacing the floor, knowing when to cut and stuff like that. I’m definitely getting adjusted and, credit to my teammates, they’ve helped make that transition a lot easier.

06:47 How have your teammates helped you with that transition?

06:49 Just being so insightful. I feel like I asked ‘em a lot of questions about where they like to be on the court, where I fit in and stuff like that. And all of them have been helpful telling me where exactly where to go and stuff like that, so I would probably just say the way they’ve guided me throughout my transition to the NBA.

07:04 You mentioned it in your first answer, but what are the keys to knowing when to cut?

07:09 I feel like as soon as I see the defender’s head turn, that’s when I cut or when I see the back of his numbers, that’s when I know to cut, yeah.

07:18 Is that something you’ve just known instinctively since high school or college or how do you develop a skill like that?

07:24 Yeah, credit to my coaches. Growing up in high school, college, they’ve all poured into me in playing the right way. And I grew up watching the Warriors as well, so I grew up watching guys like that, moving without the basketball and stuff like that, so it definitely helped.

07:39 Will, you got, you just got a nice compliment from Al Horford. He said that when you go on the floor, you do things right, you bring the energy level up. Maybe that sounds simple, but those things really matter. What do you take pride in doing when you hit that floor from the second you check into a game?

07:57 Yeah, just making an impact, whether that’s on the offensive, defensive end and sprinting the floor and doing stuff like that. Like I said, I grew up watching the Warriors, so for me, Steph and Dray and all them, they made my childhood, so I feel like every time I’m on the court, I need to pay that back by going out there and playing as hard as I can.

08:14 And he also mentioned a maturity level that you have. Did going through a pretty spectacular NCAA run just months ago prepare you for high level games and, I know it’s not exactly the same, but how much did that experience help you?

08:32 Yeah, it definitely helped me, playing in the NCAA tournament. It’s a lot. It’s one game at a time. It’s a lot of pressure on that one game. You gotta win the event, so I’ll say that. And then just being in college for four years, that experience, you go through a lot of ups and downs, face a lot of adversity, just not getting too high, too low, and just knowing that if you stay together as a team, you gonna be all right. So I feel like that’s definitely helped me transition to this league.

08:55 Al also said, like, you guys, they’re gonna need you moving forward to contribute and everything. How do you keep this momentum up as the season goes along?

09:04 Yeah, just keeping it simple. I feel like whatever role they need me in to help us win, I’m willing to do that and just keeping it simple, trying to make an impact every time I step on the floor.

00:00 Al just after that, how do you feel physically?

00:09 AL HORFORD, POSTGAME IND-GSW: I feel good today. Feel much better. And it was just good to get back out there.

00:15 How do you feel like you guys are playing as a team?

00:20 So I think, I think we’re doing okay. I feel like after last game, Draymond challenged us to be, to be better and come out with, with more intensity, better energy. And, and I felt we did that today and it’s something that, that we have to continue to do every day, every game, because if we do that, we’re gonna be in a really good position as a group. But it’s something that has to be constant and, and it’s a good start and now, we hit the road and we’ll see where we’re at.

01:00 With Draymond challenging the group, you haven’t been teammates with him for too long, what have you learned from him about his leadership style and how he goes about things like that?

01:11 Yeah. He, he’s, he’s very sharp. He gives a great perspective and, and I feel like he’s reasonable with us and, and let’s paint the picture clear. And I feel like he, he’s teaching out there a lot when he’s getting after us or saying stuff. I feel like he’s, he does a really good job with that. And for me it’s just trying to learn, absorb from him and seeing how he operates and he knows when he has to get up and down and all that stuff, so just things that you’ve seen from afar over the years and now that I’m here, I’m able to see it firsthand.

01:55 Al, you mentioned the trip. How much of a challenge and a test is this, not just six games in nine days, but you’re playing the defending champs, you’re playing San Antonio twice with Wemby. You obviously got a tough road ahead. How significant is it this early in the season?

02:13 I think it’s significant. I think it’s, I know it’s still November, but it’s a big challenge for our group and the way to address it, and I know that we will, it’s, we’ll take it a game at a time and we can’t overlook anyone and all I’m thinking is, OKC. They’re playing at home. They play really well, defending champs, like you said. We can’t even think about the rest of it. Just have to focus on that first one. That’s, that’s gonna be great to see where we’re at. It’s a group.

02:45 And you’ve only played 11 games here, but the first eight with Steph, the last three without, how much, beyond the obvious talent and scoring, how much does it change, just the feel of a game when he’s out there versus not? It sounds like you guys are optimistic he’ll be back out Tuesday.

03:00 Yeah, I hope so. It, it changes completely. It changes completely. It is, it’s, it’s a privilege, luxury, whatever you want to call it, but it’s that big of a difference when he’s not in and I know that it’s the NBA and we have to find ways, but we, we can’t wait for him to get back out there and hopefully it’s on Tuesday.

03:24 What’s been the challenge been like for you, trying to get a rhythm, new team, sitting one side of back to backs, the foot thing recently. How, how big of a challenge has this been for you?

03:34 Yeah, I mean it’s, it, is, just getting acclimated to playing at different times and different rotations and with different players and I’m getting to know everybody, getting to know our system. It’s something that, that I’m gonna continue to, to, to work through and try to fill it out and see, which way I can impact the game. I know that defensively I can always impact the game in that way. But, but yeah, it’s, it’s something that I know that it’ll take some time, but once we, once we get it down, I know it’s gonna be good.

04:13 Did you just feel like you hit shots tonight or did it feel more comfortable, maybe that was part of--?

04:18 Yeah. Yeah, I think Jimmy right away was, made it a clear point to look for me and, and he had, there was a few times he had layups and he’s looking out to kick it out and encouraging me to shoot the ball. And the passes are, they’re there, they’re on the money. I credit a lot of that to him, to for getting me going, offensively. And then on the defensive end, I just, I’m trying to play with more energy and be more active and just figuring that out.

04:54 When you see guys like Will Richard and Moses Moody come in there with a lot of energy, what does that sort of do for like the vibe of the team, especially ‘cause energy’s been an up and down issue this year?

05:03 No question. Will, it’s, it’s amazing because he’ll go from not playing or not having any stretch and then when he comes in, he’s ready and he’s cutting, he’s hitting threes, he’s getting out on the break, he’s defending. He does a little bit of everything, so it’s just been, I’ve been very impressed with his maturity and how he’s been able to handle all the tasks that, that we throw at him, because it’s just very unpredictable. But when you call his number, he’s ready to go.

05:34 Sort of following up on that, how much of a, an impact can he have going forward? It seems like you guys play better when he’s out there.

05:41 Man, he, I’m just impressed of how quick he’s picking everything up and how used to he’s getting to playing in the NBA ‘cause it’s not an easy transition. And to be a part of a team that’s a veteran team and he’s coming in and finding his way, it’s not that simple. And if you go on a team that’s not a good team, that’s, that’s a bad team and you’re doing those things well, it’s expected, but to be on a contending team like us and doing what he’s doing, it, it’s, it, to me, it’s more impressive.

06:15 One, one last, one last thing. You mentioned this trip, the way to deal with it is take it one step at a time, not look at it in sum, but in that sense, how much will you learn about your team Tuesday night? You’re playing against a team that won the championship. And if Steph’s back, you’ll be pretty much at full strength.

06:31 Absolutely. I think that we will learn a lot, regardless of the result. I feel like Oklahoma City, when you look at them, that’s the standard. They are the champions, but that’s where you see, where you’re at in this league. They do so many good things and defensively, they’re a very good group. I think it’s gonna be, it’s gonna be a good challenge for us.

06:53 Al, is that the game that you’re expected to play in?

06:56 So I, I have no idea. I hope. I enjoy playing in those type of games, but I’ll, we’ll see. We’ll see what we have there,

07:07 Great. Cool. Thank you. Have a couple more up soon.

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07:20 Jimmy, just generally, how do you feel like you guys are playing right now?

07:24 JIMMY BUTLER: Right now, we’re good. We’ve won one in a row. You can’t win two in a row without winning one in a row, so right now we’re an incredible team.

07:34 When Steph is out like he was tonight, like he was the past few games, how aggressive do you need to be offensively?

07:41 I think it’s a balance of being aggressive and making sure that everybody gets their shots. I love making sure that guys are getting their open shots, make sure that their confidence is going early and then when it’s time to score, I think I can do that with the best of ‘em honestly. But before any and all that stuff, I just think our pace was great. We were, we were spaced incredibly well tonight on offense, it, it looked a lot better.

08:12 To that point, Al credited you with kind of -- he’d been struggling shooting. You said you got him a couple good clean looks early. How purposeful was that?

08:21 Oh, very purposeful. As great of screens as he sets for me and protecting everybody at the rim and making all the right plays, it’s only right whenever he’s open. He gets the ball every single time, for sure, for me. And I’ll tell him, like, when I got the ball at the top, I’ll jump over and skip it to you every single time in the corner, so just be ready to shoot it. So I’m glad he got to see the ball going.

08:45 Jimmy, obviously it’s only November, but how telling will this trip be? It’s six games in nine days. It’s defending champs, San Antonio twice. How do you view this, trip?

08:59 Exciting. That, that’s one. We play some really good teams on the road, but you gotta win some of these to show that you can compete with the best of them. Obviously, if we got 30 out there, our chances of winning goes up drastically, but even if he isn’t ready to go, we still gotta go out there and we gotta compete ‘cause it, it is very possible that we can win.

09:25 Hey Jimmy, you worked with Kuminga a bit this season and he obviously was off to a great start. Last couple games, not so much like tonight. You talked to him after something like this, kinda keep the spirits up or anything?

09:37 He’s actually gonna come over to my house for dinner right now, but the thing that I tell you and I tell him, you’re not gonna play great every night. You’re not gonna play bad every night either, but you don’t ever get too high whenever you score 79 points and you don’t ever get too low whenever you score two. You stay right in the middle and you keep working and you keep doing what you’re supposed to be doing every single day. And those days, they will even out, they’ll equal out. So as long as we win, I never care how anybody plays because we won, but I want him to continually be aggressive, shoot the ball when you’re open, attack, get to the free throw line, all of that good stuff. I wouldn’t say that he’s played bad. The stat sheet, he had five points tonight. Whoopdy-do who cares? Because there’s gonna be nights when he has 45 points and it’s gonna look like, oh, look at this. But he’s playing well enough on the defensive side. He’s rebounding the basketball. It’s more than just scoring, which is what I try to tell him.

10:35 Jimmy, what are your early impressions of Will Richard and how he’s brought his game, college game to this level and makes things happen every time he steps out there?

10:43 He’s, he’s a winner. He’s hella smart, but I think the thing that I love about Will the most is his ability to listen. Like, you tell him what to do to the best of his ability, he’s going to do it, whether it’s on offense, whether it’s on defense. It’s really hard to try to please everybody because you could be told five different things from five different people and he’s the type of human being that’s gonna try to do all five of those things that everybody’s telling. It could totally contradict each other, but he’s a hellfied listener and whatever you tell him to do, he understands that it’s to win. So he’s gonna do it and he just looks incredible whenever he is out there doing it.

11:26 Is there a piece of advice you’ve given him that you’ve seen him take out there and deliver?

11:32 I always say like to everybody, your time’s coming. We don’t know. I damn sure don’t know when, but I was you at one point in the league too and it’s always, be ready. It’s always gonna be the next man up. And when his number’s called, when his name’s called, he shows up in a big way, so he just needs to keep going with that. You show up, you work out, you train, you do everything the same way. And then when your numbers called, you go out there and you compete at a high level and you show up like he’s been doing these last couple games.

12:02 Jimmy, you and Draymond in Denver the other night were asking the younger guys to just play harder. That was the theme coming outta the locker room. Al said Draymond challenged everybody to come out better. How did you think the group responded given the way you guys played Friday?

12:18 Incredibly well. We, I always say we gonna win together and we gonna lose together and we will come together and understand that whenever somebody’s speaking, it’s not at one, somebody, even though somebody’s name might be in it. It’s as a, it’s as a whole. It’s as a group and you just gotta get back to winning, doing winning plays on both sides of the floor, doing what you’re supposed to be doing and taking the challenge on the defensive side of the floor and taking it personal when your man score on you. Yeah, it’s a five man game, but that’s what the whole thing was. Who are we gonna be? I just think we gotta be the most connected group.

12:53 Jimmy, when you were asked earlier about JK, you said the important thing is that he stays aggressive. It seemed like the last couple games he was more tentative. He settled for some threes when he, driving to the hoop’s obviously his strength. Did you see that at all? Do you--?

13:05 No. I like all the threes that he takes. And if he makes those threes, you would say that he’s being aggressive, right? It’s a make or miss league. If he’s making them, we don’t have this conversation. If he drives and he misses, y’all still gonna say something. Not y’all, but people miss shots, all right? The game’s not dictated, and it’ll never be won or lost, if JK misses two shots or if he turned the ball over once. It’s never gonna come down to one person. I just want him to keep that confidence high, knowing that he belongs in this league, knowing that he’s a starter on this team and it’s all gonna turn around for you. Don’t read nothing that any of y’all read, write. Don’t read nothing that they say on socials ‘cause that don’t matter. That ain’t gonna make you play no better anyway. So you go out there, you put your head down, you compete and know that the guys in this locker room in this organization got your back, for sure.

13:56 Steve said that you guys are searching for an identity. I think you hinted at you guys wanna be the most connected team, but what type of identity do you guys really want?

14:07 I just wanna be a really hard playing team and, like I said, the most together team through the good, through the bad. We are not worried about the outside noise. It’s the people in here that’s living it, that’s doing it every single day, that is going to hype you up when you’re not playing your best, when you’re not feeling your best. And that’s gonna humble you whenever you’re doing too much. That’s the togetherness that I’m talking about.

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