HEAT Acquire Quentin Richardson
Finally! A significant off-season move for Pat Riley and the Miami HEAT. People in HEAT Nation were waiting for this moment more than the Boston Celtics were waiting to win the championship.
The Heat, making their first significant move of the summer, acquire guard/forward Quentin Richardson from the Timberwolves. In return, the T-Wolves get a reunion with center Mark Blount.
Blount, a 9-year NBA Veteran, was acquired by the HEAT along with Ricky Davis from the Timberwolves on Oct. 24, 2007 in exchange for Antoine Walker, Michael Doleac, Wayne Simien and a conditional first-round draft choice. In two seasons with the HEAT, Blount appeared in 89 games (46 starts) and averaged 7.4 points, 3.4 rebounds and 19.7 minutes while shooting 45.2 percent from the floor, 39.4 percent from three-point range and 63.6 percent from the foul line.
I believe this is the final stop for Q-Rich this summer. His summer started by being dealt to the Memphis Grizzlies in a draft night trade for Darko Milicic. Later, he was subsequently dealt to the Los Angeles Clippers on July 17 for Zach Randolph and then to the Timberwolves on July 20 for Mark Madsen, Craig Smith and Sebastian Telfair. Talk about change of scenery. Do remember, he ended the season with the New York Knicks.
Pat Riley said it best, “Over the course of his career, he has proven to be a fierce competitor, a great locker room presence and a very prolific three-point shooter who may be one of the strongest perimeter players in the NBA. We feel that he will be able to match-up well against the top scorers in the league.”
I agree, this trade was a steal for us. We traded a seldom used Mark Blount for a very high caliber player in Q-Rich. This is basically payback for us from 2007 when we were robbed by the T-Wolves.
HEAT Nation and myself are not the only ones celebrating this acquisition… “Who would of ever thought we would play 2gether. Let’s get it,” Wade wrote on his Twitter feed today. YES! Wade is happy (for now). The next thing that will make him happy should be getting Allen Iverson… but you didn’t hear that from me.
August 18, 2009 at 4:11 pm
I think this was one of the bad trades that the Heat made. I mena think about it, the Heat already have enough guards/forwards so why should the Heat get another one. The Heat needs to worry about getting a center and a point gaurd. We don’t have a real good point gaurd to back up Mario Chalmers and Chris Quinn and we don’t have a real center on the team. Also Quetin Richardson is honestly not that good, if you think about also. For a player to get traded that many time during the offseason, then there is a problem and not worthy enough to be giving up our center for. Even though Mark Blount isn’t that good of a player, we needed him for a center.
August 20, 2009 at 8:15 pm
I agree with you. Even though I wrote the article, I agree with you. The only difference is that I believe that Q-Rich will add a veteran presence to the team. We all already know that we have Udonis Haslem and Mike Beasley. Also, we know the our guards are set with Wade and Chalmers. We can put Wade at the point and Richardson. The posibilities are endless. Now talking about the problem at center. We have Jermaine O’Neal and as Coach Spo has said, a healthy O’Neal is like adding a marquee free agent…. I dont know. What do you think?
August 21, 2009 at 11:02 am
i understand where you’re coming from, but what happens if Jermaine O’Neal gets injured, we don’t have a good back up center. Also Wade isn’t a point and the Heat should worry more on getting Iverson then fillinf up a position that we have more than enough for. I mean lets not forget we have Cook as our back up gaurd. Besides when was the last time Q-Rich had a good season? But you make a good argument.
August 21, 2009 at 7:08 pm
Tell you the truth, I don’t buy what Spo said about O’Neal at all.. I was just quoting him. You are very right. I agree with you, we need a solid backup center. How about this idea. Let’s say, O’Neal goes down *knocks on wood*. How about this line up? Center: Udonis Haslem, Forwards: Beasley and Q-Rich, Quards: Wade and Chalmers (maybe even AI).
Yes, we would be a small team again, but look at the potential. Then again, your agument comes back up. Who would back-up Haslem? and for that, I have an answer as well….. Have we forgotten about Jamall Magloire? I’m going to be honest, I forgot about him. haha
He’s a rock-solid back-up center. Wouldn’t you agree? I think we have a pretty good line-up. I mean even if O’Neal AND Haslem go down. I’m not going to lie to you. We only have 3 players in the bench that i trust. Chris Quinn, Yakhouba Diawara, and Deaquan Cook.
So, what do you think about that? let me know.
Pedro
August 23, 2009 at 11:58 am
I honestly don’t feel good putting Q-Rich in the starting position before Cook, Quinn, Magloire,or Diawara; I prefer trusting Dorell Wright before I trust Q-Rich. It’s more that Richardson needs to prove to me that he is good ebough to be put in the rotation. I think best if Jermaine O’Neal did get injured, my starting line-up would be Jamaal Magloire as center, Udonis Haslem as power, Mike Beasley as small, Wade as guard, and Chamlers as point. You Magloire did do a good job last season and with more work during the preseason will really help become that center we need.
I agree with you with the 3 players on the bench that I can trust, but Quinn really to me is on the rocks just cause the simple fact that he hasn’t done anything for me to really go out and say okay if Mario gets hurt I know I got you.
Also getting Q-Rich, really puts more pressure on the other forwards on the team. We have so much of them that now we have more fighting with each other for the position and to me personally none of them are ready enough to play and be the starters on the team. You know Pat adn Coach are trying to make Beasley this great player for the future, but they keep getting players to take his spot, which I don’t understand.
I don’t know what do you think?