Orlando Magic: Their All-decade least liked starting five
By Luke Duffy
Small forward – Quentin Richardson
If Green personifies a veteran mailing it in while the Magic struggled through an awful rebuild, then Quentin Richardson represents the beginning of the end of the organization as true contenders. The three-year, $7.5 million deal he signed wasn’t a hit on the Magic financially, but his production while with the team was really poor.
Richardson was present for the first two years of the decade, the last two that Howard would be in town and therefore their last couple as contenders. This was a crucial period for the franchise, who after making the finals were trying to get back to the top of the pile once more. The arrival of Richardson at this time was not what they needed.
Orlando Magic
He appeared in 105 games, starting 22 of them, and averaged 17.3 minutes per contest. This was less of a deal in 2010-11, with the finals core of Howard, Turkoglu, Jameer Nelson, Rashard Lewis and Mickael Pietrus still on the roster. Vince Carter was added that year too. So if they could have gotten anything from Richardson, it would have added to their depth for another postseason run.
Instead, he averaged 4.4 points per game during his time with the Magic. 3-point shooting hadn’t taken off league-wide yet, but as we’ve already mentioned, it was crucial for how the Magic were trying to play the game to allow Howard and his limited offensive game to have the required space needed inside to do damage.
Richardson shot only 31.5 percent from deep, taking valuable minutes away from young guys like Ryan Anderson (then only 22, averaged 39.3 percent from 3-point range in 2010-11) and J.J. Redick (26, shot 39.7 percent from deep in 2010-11). Had Van Gundy used them more and Richardson less, would their seasons in those two years have gone any differently?
We’ll never know, but with Howard teetering towards the exit during this period and the franchise still in the mix as true contenders (despite what the Miami Heat were promising down in South Beach), the addition of Richardson, who ironically played for the Heat the season before joining, was a bad miss. Poor on the court, and damaging to their long-term goals.