BBNBA: Third-year Nick Richards for MVP
At Kentucky, Junior Year Nick Richards turned into the beast we saw glimpses of during his first two seasons, and he appears to be following the same formula in the NBA. Richards has been primarily an end-of-the-bench guy his first two seasons with the Charlotte Hornets, but after a stellar Summer League in Las Vegas, Richards is showing that once again, the third year is the charm.
On Sunday against the Atlanta Hawks, Richards racked up 20 points on a perfect 9-9 from the field, 11 rebounds (five offensive), and two blocks.
His scoring wasn’t just put-back dunks. Richards showed off a pretty reverse finger-roll layup and a running hook shot that for a moment made you rub your eyes to make sure you weren’t watching clips of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar instead of third-year Nick Richards.
His 20 points and 11 rebounds are both career highs and bring up his early average to 15 points and nine rebounds per game. Compare that to this 3.0-point, 1.7-rebound average last season. On top of his scoring and rebounding, Richards led his team in the +/- category, finishing with an incredible +25 to help secure the win for the Hornets.
Richards changed his jersey number from #14 to #4 this year, the same number he wore at Kentucky, so I have to think this has played a factor in his explosive start. Place your bets now for Nick Richards to win MVP.
Devin Booker and John Wall do battle
John Wall is back and Devin Booker never left. These two high-profile Kentucky names battled it out in Los Angeles, with the Phoenix Suns coming away the victor behind Book’s 35 points.
Booker has turned into a perennial All-Star over the last few years and has been dragging his team to victories along the way. He is a scoring savant who just seems to keep getting better.
After resting on Saturday to avoid a back-to-back, Wall returned to action on Sunday and promptly made his presence felt. He casually dropped 17 points and dished out four assists off the bench, though his team took their first loss of the season. The Clippers are clearly easing Wall back into the swing of things, but the way he is outplaying Reggie Jackson, it seems inevitable for Wall to usurp Jackson in the starting lineup at some point this season.
It sure is great to see John Wall back.
The star Kentucky player on the other Los Angeles team also had a big game in a losing effort. Anthony Davis put up 22 points and snagged 10 rebounds, but the lowly Lakers moved to 0-3 after the Trail Blazers took them down on Sunday. Pour one out for your bandwagon Lakers fan friend.
De’Saron Fox, Malik Monk tap back into Kentucky days
Speaking of former Kentucky greats who put up impressive numbers in a loss, De’Aaron Fox and Malik Monk are teammates once again, this time for the Sacramento Kings. Fox had another excellent performance on Sunday, scoring 26 points and doling out 10 assists, while Monk flirted with a triple-double with 16 points, eight assists, and seven rebounds.
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Fox has been on a tear to start the season, as this 26-point outing was his lowest-scoring game thus far.
Despite these impressive numbers, the Kings fell to the defending champion Golden State Warriors, dropping them to 0-3 on the season. The Western Conference is extremely competitive and the Kings have long been its bottom dwellers. Hopefully, the Fox-Monk reunion turns into some more wins soon, as it would be great to see some meaningful playoff games from those two at the end of the year.
Jarred Vanderbilt is turning heads in Utah
It is easy to point to Nick Richards as Kentucky’s surprising NBA star this season, but in a not-too-distant second comes Jarred Vanderbilt. The man they call The Vandolorian has acquired a new weapon in the offseason: the 3-point shot, and he is not afraid to use it.
Vanderbilt scored 15 points for the Utah Jazz in their thrilling 122-121 overtime win against the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday, but what stood out was that six of those points came from shots behind the line. Vando was 2-3 on the day from deep, which is one shy of his career total in 3-point makes. Previously, he was 3-21 before looking like the next Karl-Anthony Towns on Sunday.
He was a force on the defensive side of the ball as well, coming away with four steals, leading to a simple yet to-the-point tweet from the Utah Jazz’s official Twitter account: “This is a Jarred Vanderbilt appreciation post.” They also highlighted his newfound pure jumper.
Speaking of Karl-Anthony Towns, it was a quiet scoring outing by his standards with just 15 points, but he added eight rebounds and five assists as well as a +14 rating to help the Minnesota Timberwolves get the win over the Oklahoma City Thunder, which were without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who was sidelined with a left hip injury.
Overall, Sunday was another impressive showing for former ‘Cats in the NBA.
10/23/2022 Statistics
| Player | Score | PTS | FG (3PT) | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | MIN | +/- |
| Devin Booker (PHX) | 112-95 W vs. LAC | 35 | 13-21 (5-9) | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 35 | +13 |
| De’Aaron Fox (SAC) | 125-130 L vs. GSW | 26 | 11-20 (1-6) | 5 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 36 | -7 |
| Anthony Davis (LAL) | 104-106 L vs. POR | 22 | 9-17 (0-3) | 10 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 36 | +3 |
| Nick Richards (CHA) | 126-109 W vs. ATL | 20 | 9-9 (0-0) | 11 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 20 | +25 |
| John Wall (LAC) | 95-112 L vs. PHX | 17 | 7-12 (2-4) | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 21 | -1 |
| Malik Monk (SAC) | 125-130 L vs. GSW | 16 | 6-15 (4-10) | 7 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 29 | +2 |
| Karl-Anthony Towns (MIN) | 116-106 W vs. OKC | 15 | 5-9 (1-3) | 8 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 30 | +14 |
| Jarred Vanderbilt (UTA) | 122-121 W vs. NOP | 15 | 5-7 (2-3) | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 28 | -4 |
| PJ Washington (CHA) | 126-109 W vs. ATL | 12 | 4-8 (2-4) | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 22 | 0 |
| Shaedon Sharpe (POR) | 106-104 W vs. LAL | 4 | 2-6 (0-1) | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 16 | +8 |
| Trey Lyles (SAC) | 125-130 L vs. GSW | 2 | 1-3 (0-2) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | +4 |
| Brandon Boston Jr. (LAC) | 95-112 L vs. PHX | 0 | 0-1 (0-1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Olivier Sarr (POR) | 106-104 W vs. LAL | DNP- Wrist | ||||||||
| Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (OKC) | 106-116 L vs. MIN | DNP – Hip | ||||||||
| Wenyen Gabriel (LAL) | 104-106 L vs. POR | DNP – CD |
Tonight in the NBA
7:00: Pacers (Jackson) @ 76ers (Maxey)
7:30: Raptors @ Heat (Adebayo, Herro)
7:30 (NBA TV): Magic @ Knicks (Randle, Quickley)
8:00: Celtics @ Bulls
8:00: Jazz (Vanderbilt) @ Rockets (T. Washington)
8:00: Nets @ Grizzlies
8:00: Spurs (Johnson) @ Timberwolves (Towns)
10:00 (NBA TV): Nuggets (Murray) @ Trail Blazers (Sharpe, Sarr)
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