Jason Richardson on the road to recovering his Golden State magic

Against the Orlando Magic last week, Jason Richardson had a stat line I typically get in my Sunday night, I wish I was halfway decent at sports but I wasn’t even an athlete when I was younger, basketball league. He scored no points on four missed shots, grabbed three rebounds and had four personal fouls.

The poor performance, and his poor decision making in the offseason, lead some people–I’m looking at you Jerry Brown–to question whether or not Richardson fit in with the Suns.

Apparently J-Rich was listening (probably not but it’s nice to dream that he visits our site). Since his “old fat white guy rec league” performance, he’s scored 85 points in three games (28.3 point average), has shot an impressive 62.5 percent from the field (30-for-48), 73 percent from three point range (16-for-22) and collected 21 rebounds (7 a game).

Three games does not make a season but the energy, effort, determination and rim rocking dunks we’ve seen from Richardson since the Orlando game is promising. I’d imagine this is more what Steve Kerr envisioned from Richardson when he traded for him almost a year ago.

The return to Seven Seconds or Less, or whatever we are calling it now, gives Richardson the perfect platform for his energetic and high flying talent. Think Shawn Marion, with a little less prowess for rebounding and a jump shot that doesn’t make you cringe.

If the Shaq deal is what Steve Kerr will be loathed for, the Richardson/Dudley deal has the potential to be the one that saves him from eternally being lumped the Isaiah Thomas’ of the NBA world (at least in Suns’ fans minds’).

Kerr’s legacy, and to a lesser extent the season, hinge on Richardson. Luckily the Suns style of play mimics that of the 2005-06 Golden State Warriors, Richardson’s most successful season.

Expect the stats of the last three games to be more of the “rule” rather than the “exception” this season. He won’t shoot 60%, but he’ll hit threes, get easy dunks and bring electricity to the Suns fast pace offense. And when someone asks you who benefited the most from Shaq’s departure, at least consider Richardson before going with the easy answer of Steve Nash.

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