Miami Heat: Does Josh Richardson have a higher ceiling than Butler?

Were the Miami Heat right to hold onto Josh Richardson, over trading him for Jimmy Butler?

Adding Jimmy Butler to the Miami Heat’s roster is already a questionable decision; he has the talent that Miami is currently lacking, but there are obvious locker room issues there too.

Despite any issues that there may be though, Butler is still a player worth looking at, depending on the price. The main reason that Miami and the Minnesota Timberwolves have failed to come to an agreement, is that trading Josh Richardson away is a difficult long-term decision.

Butler just turned 29, and while he is in his prime and there are many more productive years ahead, the shooting guard that you see now, is the shooting guard you will see over the upcoming seasons.

As a four-time All-Star, his current level of play is attractive to any team.

But in reality, seeing him getting any better than what he is right now, is hard.

Richardson is entering his fourth season in the Association, and is living up to the hype.

Miami’s shooting guard was expected to take a larger role this season. During the offseason, that’s exactly what happened; he stepped his game up.

And now, so far in 2018-19, Richardson has exceeded expectations.

He set two career-high’s last week and kept his hot shooting on mark versus the Detroit Pistons.

Richardson is becoming the scorer that Miami needs in any area of the court.

From averaging 12.9 points a game last season, to 21.4 points so far this season (and that number will rise at his current pace), Richardson is delivering everything Miami could ask for, from him.

If you were to trade Butler for Richardson straight up, Miami does become a better team.

Right now.

They would win more games and would find a solution to a lot of issues the team currently has.

Because while they are both go-to scorers, Butler, as a product of the league for a longer period, can be the guy the Heat could lean on. Richardson, while close, is just below that level.

However, although Butler would make the Heat a better team right now, Richardson makes them better in the long run.

The ideal goal of course, would be to have the two play together; but Minnesota has made that seem unrealistic.

So while Butler is the talent that you would love to have on your roster in the now, Richardson has the excitement of untapped potential, and a higher ceiling in the long term.

The sky’s the limit for Josh Richardson.