Josh Richardson exercised the player option in his contract to return to the Miami Heat this offseason. But Richardson is still on the road back to returning to full health.
Richardson, 30, just started shooting a basketball on July 2 for the first time since hurting his right shoulder during a Feb. 11 game against the Boston Celtics. The 6-foot-5 guard eventually underwent season-ending labrum surgery on March 6 to repair the instability in his right shoulder.
“I’ve never gone through anything this serious,” Richardson said while in Las Vegas this week to take in summer league and also continue his work with Heat coaches and trainers. “So it sucks to have to sit down for four months and not be able to do a whole lot. But it’s baby steps, trying to pace myself and not to get too ahead of myself or down. Because I can’t wake up one day and be able to do everything again. But I’m excited to be on the road back.”
Richardson’s road back may not have him ready for the start of training camp in early October, though. He noted that training camp is “the optimistic goal” for his return to full five-on-five contact basketball work in hopes of being available for most of the preseason and the start of the regular season, but added there’s “no official timetable.”
“I’ve had three days on the court now,” Richardson said of his basketball workouts since beginning to put up shots earlier this month. “I’m shooting like midranges. That’s the farthest I can shoot. I’m shooting little floaters here and there, but I can’t shoot threes yet. But it’s good for me because I can kind of break my shot down and work it back up from the bones.”
Richardson may be trying to find the positives in his situation now. But a few months ago, he was struggling with the reality of being sidelined for the stretch run of the season.
Richardson was just a part of the Heat’s injury issues last season — a season that included a second straight play-in tournament appearance and an early first-round playoff exit. The injury-riddled Heat played without Jimmy Butler, Terry Rozier and Richardson for the entirety of its first-round playoff series against the eventual NBA champion Celtics.
“It sucks because you know the potential that we had,” Richardson said. “We were like, what, three games out of the No. 4 seed? I mean, it’s like down the stretch when your rotation guys and best player gets hurt, it’s like what could have been.”
That feeling is one of the reasons Richardson made the decision to pick up the $3.1 million player option in his contract to stay with the Heat for next season instead of entering free agency this summer.
“I think that there’s kind of some unfinished business from last year for myself,” Richardson said. “Being able to see how long that form lasts that I was finding.”
Richardson is referring to how he was playing right before hurting his shoulder. After a slow start to last season, he had just begun finding a rhythm to average 13.2 points, 4.2 rebounds and two assists per game while shooting 50.9 percent from the field and 42.9 percent on 5.8 three-point attempts per game in his final six appearances of the season prior to the injury.
“I feel like every year when I play here, even the first time, I start playing my best basketball the back half of the season,” Richardson said. “I feel like that was just what was happening and it’s unfortunate that it got cut short like that.”
Richardson is preparing for his sixth season with the Heat, but just the second of his second stint with the organization. After spending the first four seasons of his NBA career with the Heat before being traded, Richardson signed a two-year deal at the veteran minimum salary last offseason to return to Miami — where he has kept a home.
Richardson averaged 9.9 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game while shooting 44.4 percent from the field and 34.7 percent on threes in 43 games (six starts) this past regular season prior to missing the final 29 games of the regular season and the entire postseason because of his shoulder issue.
“Nobody wants to play on a minimum, to be honest,” Richardson said when asked if it’s hard to accept playing on a minimum salary for the second straight year this upcoming season. “But yeah, I had offers when I came back for more. But it’s kind of the crib. So it’s one of those things that you’re kind of like, what’s important?”
But Richardson hopes to return to full health, stay healthy and contribute quality minutes this season to earn a bigger contract next summer.
“Hopefully this season I can find that form for longer and play like I know I can play and make them pay me,” he said with a smile.
Most Popular
Comments / 0