The story of how Mitch Richmond, one of the best shooting guards in the era, had to swallow his pride to attain a championship ring.
Mitch Richmond was always the leader of his team.
He was always the first option and always led his teams in scoring and always defended the opposing team’s best player.
This led to him becoming a six-time NBA All-Star and a five-time All-NBA player in the 90s.
Richmond was, needless to say, one of the best shooting guards in the NBA and players in the league knew it.
Even Michael Jordan, then the most competitive player in the league, praised Richmond’s game by saying that his opponent was always a “challenge” and he respected his game.
Via Sportcasting:
“Mitch is certainly one of the best players in this game. I’ve always admired his game, and he’s always gonna be a challenge, no matter how you look at it, and I respect that.”
From 1988-2001, Richmond averaged 22.2 points on 45.6 percent shooting, 4.1 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 1.3 steals.
He was also dubbed as one of basketball’s best pure shooters.
However, being a great player isn’t enough to win if you have a bad team.
And this was the bad luck that Richmond was cursed with.
He achieved so many accolades and was so talented and skillful. But throughout the majority his career, he played for bad teams.
For 13 seasons of his career, he only made the playoffs three times -twice with the Golden State Warriors and once with the Sacramento Kings.
So, when he turned 36 and was on the verge of entering his 14th NBA season, he decided he wanted to try for a ring. He wanted to be an NBA champion.
Mitch Richmond Joins the Los Angeles Lakers
He signed a one-year deal with the defending back-to-back champs, the Los Angeles Lakers, in hopes of helping them win a title.
However, the 2001-02 season didn’t pan out the way he had envisioned. The Lakers were stacked with the likes of Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant, and he barely played. He only averaged 11 minutes per game in the 64 contests that he played.
And in the playoffs, he only played 2 games and averaged 2 minutes per game.
He felt underused. He was so used to being the main guy and wanted to contribute more to the team. So, in the middle of the season, he brought up the issue with Head Coach Phil Jackson.
Via Bleacher Report:
“As an older player you lose your timing,” Richmond says. “I told Phil [Jackson] I needed to play. ‘I’m resting you,’ he’d say. Then there were times he’d ask me if I wanted to go in the last five minutes of a game and I’d say, ‘Go ahead and put the young guys in.’ I always told him it’s hard for an older player to sit the whole game and then play those last few minutes.”
Richmond also added that he had a hard time transitioning from being the star player to the old role guy coming off of the bench.
“It was difficult because I felt like I could help the team,” he says. “But I had to step back and accept it. When I was at my best, I had guys playing behind me and cheering me on when I was getting most of the minutes. Kobe was a young kid, so it was my time to give it back.”
But even though the experience wasn’t what he visualized, Richmond did get his first -and only- NBA championship that season.
However, because he played so little that campaign, many people don’t know that he has an NBA title.
But I guess that’s just one of the flaws of ring chasing.
Conclusion
Richmond is one of the greats.
After he retired from the NBA, his No.2 Jersey was lifted up into the rafters and he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2014.
