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The Good, Bad and Miami Heat Culture: Richardson for Most Improved Player?

By Lauren Gewirtz

MIAMI, FL - NOVEMBER 12: Josh Richardson #0 of the Miami Heat handles the ball against the Philadelphia 76ers on November 12, 2018 at American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Issac Baldizon/NBAE via Getty Images)
MIAMI, FL - NOVEMBER 12: Josh Richardson #0 of the Miami Heat handles the ball against the Philadelphia 76ers on November 12, 2018 at American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Issac Baldizon/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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MIAMI, FL – NOVEMBER 12: Josh Richardson #0 of the Miami Heat handles the ball against the Philadelphia 76ers on November 12, 2018 at American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Issac Baldizon/NBAE via Getty Images)
MIAMI, FL – NOVEMBER 12: Josh Richardson #0 of the Miami Heat handles the ball against the Philadelphia 76ers on November 12, 2018 at American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Issac Baldizon/NBAE via Getty Images) /

The Good, Bad and Miami Heat Culture is now a bi-weekly column, continuing to look at what’s going on with the Heat in recent games and so far this season.

The Good

The good for the Miami Heat recently starts with one player: Josh Richardson.

The Heat are 7-12 and sitting at tenth in the Eastern Conference. Despite this, Richardson is the one consistency that the team has.

Averaging 20.5 points and 3.3 assists per game, Richardson is leading the team in points per game, while averaging about 8.0 points more than he did last season. Dwyane Wade had a comment on Richardson’s constant effort after the team’s win against the Bulls:

Richardson is doing the right things, but he is not getting much help consistently, which has been a reoccurring problem as I pointed out in my last column. Regardless, Heat fans have to be happy to see Richardson so confident this early in the season.

So, does this make Richardson an early Most Improved Player candidate?

I would say yes, because even though the rest of the team is struggling with constant rotation changes, Richardson is consistently giving the Heat what they need.

It is still very early in the season, but if he is able to maintain his current efforts and improve even more, he stands a chance to win the award. Especially, if he stands out as a leader, who possibly helps the Heat to make the playoff push late in the season.

While there are a lot of ‘ifs’ right now, Richardson is who the Heat are looking to currently, to be a playmaker and young leader this team has been looking for.

From what we’ve seen so far, he clearly has it in him.

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