Kadary Richmond Scouting Report

Strength, size, and length are what NBA decision-makers value in their point guards. At 6'6", Richmond is one of the best teammate-improvers in college. What else is there to like? Find out more below

Photo via NJ.com

While keeping his name in the Big East Player of the Year conversation, Richmond is the leading factor in Seton Hall’s Big East success this season.

His flashes of high-end playmaking, capable shooting, and advantage-creation in the first three years are shaping out to be one of the most complete floor generals in college basketball.

Physical Profile

At 205 pounds, Richmond has a well-filled frame at 6-foot-6 that helps him create advantages. In a switch-heavy NBA, it’s crucial to know when it’s time to exploit mismatches, which is an important part of his game.

With a 6’10” wingspan and great instincts, Richmond is a pest for opposing teams due to his ability to guard multiple positions and play passing lanes with his great feel for the game as a defender.

Offense

His passing gravity is what makes Richmond special. Despite him shooting 21.4% on 1.6 threes per game so far this season, he keeps defenses on their heels with the ease of finding open teammates.

His signature move is slowing the game down by selling the dribble-drive to the rim. He has a great understanding of when to launch the pass, with mostly it happening after the roll man cuts to the rim or any off-ball movement causes a late rotation.

Whether it’s him finding high-quality looks from a stand-still, with the first two plays being an example, or by using his craft to get himself to the high post area, Richmond generates open looks consistently. This results in him being responsible for almost 40% of Seton Hall’s total assists per game.

The NBA values high-quality playmaking. But ball touches are mostly given to guards who show they can create for themselves as well. In Richmond’s case, the lack of spacing and his not being a consistent three-point scorer still don’t stop him from getting to the paint on a less-spaced college basketball floor.

One of the main reasons for his success is his solid ball-handling ability. He’s able to dribble out of most pick-and-roll coverages opponents throw at him. When teams pack the paint, Richmond is effective in forcing switches to attack the rim at will, with the first two plays being an example.

His strength led to almost five free-throw attempts per game which he converts at a reliable 79% rate. Knowing his body so well offers his profile with much-valued scalability in the long run.

The area of development for Richmond is developing a quicker release on his threes. Even with teams willing to let him shoot instead of having to worry about his paint presence, the shot looks a tad too slow for a faster-paced NBA game.

Despite being a full-time college point guard it’s likely an NBA franchise will utilize his positional versatility. His size, strength, and great length make it possible to play up to the four, especially in smaller line-ups.

Richmond has earned the coach’s trust in his freedom to exploit mismatches in bunches. His post-ups are his often-seen ways of scoring or creating for others. Being able to recognize mismatches is key, but it’s a smaller group that is active in exploiting them as much as they can. That’s a plus in Richmond’s profile.

With great footwork, it doesn’t matter for Richmond if he’s getting to his post-ups via his dribbles or from entry passes. The execution is quick and effective. The value of guards posting up is a trend we see growing in the last few seasons, making it another plus value in his profile.

It’s more than likely that Richmond won’t have the ball in his hands as much as he’s used to at Seton Hall. Therefore his off-ball game is an important factor in keeping him on an NBA floor for the longer run.

When evaluating his film, the lack of consistency in his off-ball movement stood out. Someone with his strength and positional advantage should be more interior-oriented, also considering his lack of consistency from three.

With about 4% of his attempts coming from cuts, it’s clear that the above-mentioned combined with his role as Seton Hall’s leader is causing the lack of easy looks via off-ball movement.

However, when he does, the positional advantages become more clear, with both plays being an example. In the first one, the corner shooter gets a potential wide-open look due to incoming help toward Richmond, and in the second play, the driving lane opens up due to him exploiting the back screen.

As a fourth-year senior production becomes more important in Richmond’s profile. With only 15 of his 133 total college career three-point attempts coming from the corner, the low shooting number doesn’t tell the whole story regarding his shooting. This is due to his positional versatility to most likely lead to NBA teams utilizing him more in the corner than he has had to do for Seton Hall.

The slow release is an early concern in his profile that he must improve in the coming years. Avoiding shooting is something that’ll make it easier on an opposing team’s preparation for him, where it’s likely opponents will almost force Richmond to shoot. As a guard, that scenario isn’t something an NBA team is waiting for. Thus playing G League basketball in the first years of his professional career is a likely outcome.

Defense

At close to 7 rebounds per game, Richmond is showing that his positional advantage is leading to production on the defensive end. Despite his bulky build, his vertical leap is something that’ll stand out at the next level as well. This helps him collect rebounds even when he’s boxing out against stronger players.

Another area is his athleticism translating to him being able to play in multiple roles. Considering the jumper is his biggest challenge for the next level, he can still earn NBA minutes with his versatility as a defender.

His ability to close out hard with his leap and long wingspan, as shown in the first play, or switch and even guard as a weakside defender in the second play are examples that he can be a complete team defender the NBA will gladly reserve a roster spot for.

The combination of disrupting passing lanes or rotating timely thanks to his great awareness will provide an NBA team with a potential plus-team-defender in the long run. With over 1.5 steals per game in each of his four seasons of college basketball, the numbers match the defensive intensity and impact as a team defender.

In the first two plays the awareness stood out, which is something he’s consistently showing, especially in his senior season. In the third play, we see Richmond setting his feet very well in the closeout without losing his balance. His following up on the play led to the deflection and transition opportunity.

However, the closeout came to a tad too late, and where the athleticism had to compensate. Richmond checks most boxes as a team defender, but despite all the positives, the risk of his late closeouts is something an NBA decision-maker should consider when creating his developmental plan.

At 6’6”, he isn’t used as the primary point-of-attack or pick-and-roll defender often. This isn’t helpful for his draft stock due to the limited sample sizes of his abilities for a role that’ll likely be his calling card at the next level.

What stood out is that he wasn’t always using his defensive footwork to his advantage, with the second play being an example. In the third play, Richmond was late to recognize the incoming screen leading to the open driving lane.

With his positional versatility and strength, it could be the case that an NBA team will do the same and won’t treat him as a traditional point guard on defense. That’s why this aspect of his defense is less important in my evaluation compared to most of his peers.

To add to the above-mentioned, his decision-making in the pick-and-roll did stand out. In the plays where he was the interior defender matched up to the screener, his ability to play drop and timely react to the pull-up shooter made it more clear that an NBA team should consider treating him less as a traditional guard and value his positional versatility in P&R defenses as well.

As mentioned earlier, Richmond tends to close out way too late. This is a result of him overhelping on defense at times. Especially when the play is executed later in the shot clock or many ball movements lead to ball reversals, Richmond shows consistency in his late closeouts.

Providing help defense too early or overhelping is a common area of development for most draft prospects. However in Richmond’s case reps on a faster-paced NBA game will lead to him improving on that end.

The lack of a consistent motor is another area of development in his profile. The second and third plays show an example of Richmond not having the same intensity on defense in each play. However, making the right reads is making it more feasible that he will improve. An NBA decision-maker should value the importance of involving their strength and conditioning programs more when evaluating his profile.

NBA Draft Projection

Getting a strong 6’6” high-end playmaker with great length should have every NBA team intrigued. Especially when considering his impact as a team defender. He has a few areas to clean up on that end but Richmond gives enough feasibility that he can grow into a role on an NBA floor.

The concerns about his long-range jumper after four years of college are a value-dropper for his profile. In a league where consistent shooting becomes a must-have, an NBA team will likely see how well he’ll develop on that end.

As a fourth-year senior the production becomes more important. With his Seton Hall being ranked 4th in the Big East standings behind Final Four contenders in UConn, Marquette, and Creighton, the production factor and his impacting his team will lead to more draft value of the 22-year-old’s profile.

Based on the above-mentioned areas, with readiness and versatility being the most important ones, I project Richmond to be able to land a two-way contract as an undrafted free agent and continue to develop under the wings of an NBA team.