((""Micheal -Sugar- Ray Richardson"")) (born April 11, 1955) is an American former professional basketball player and head coach. He most recently was head coach of London Lightning of the National Basketball League of Canada. Richardson played college basketball for the Montana Grizzlies. He played in the NBA for eight years, most notably for the New York Knicks and New Jersey Nets. NBA career[edit] Richardson was born in Lubbock, Texas. The New York Knicks drafted him with the fourth pick overall in the 1978 NBA Draft, and he was billed as "the next Walt Frazier." Two picks later, the Boston Celtics drafted Larry Bird. In his second year, Richardson became the third player in NBA history (1. Slick Watts - 1976, 2. Don Buse - 1977 to lead the league in both assists (10.1) and steals (3.2), setting Knicks franchise records in both categories. At the beginning of the 1982-83 season, he was sent to the Golden State Warriors as compensation for the New York Knicks signing Bernard King as a free agent. After playing only 33 games for the Warriors, Richardson was traded to the New Jersey Nets. He would be named an all-star as a Net, playing on the Eastern Conference all-star team that allegedly froze out Michael Jordan. In the 1984 playoffs, Richardson led the Nets to a shocking upset of the defending champion Philadelphia 76ers. In the fifth and deciding game, he scored 24 points and had six steals. While the Knicks showed mild improvement after trading Richardson, that improvement was short-lived, ending when King was felled by a devastating knee injury midway through the 1984-85 season. In 1986, NBA commissioner David Stern banned Richardson for life after Richardson violated the league's drug policy three times. Richardson's right to play in the NBA was restored in 1988, but he failed two cocaine tests in 1991, though he disputed the results. He bitterly complained that the suspensions he received from the NBA were unfair given the fact that Chris Mullin was never disciplined by the league for his well-documented alcohol problem, implying that this "double standard" existed because Richardson is African-American while Mullin is white, and became a frequently cited example of destructive lifestyles in the NBA. He was the subject of the 2000 film Whatever Happened to Micheal Ray?, a look at his troubled life. It was narrated by Chris Rock. CBA & Europe career[edit] Richardson went on to play a few seasons in the Continental Basketball Association and United States Basketball League as well as 14 seasons in Europe. There, he signed with Virtus Bologna, a prominent European team, in 1988 and remained 3 seasons. With the Virtus Bologna he won the Cup Winners' Cup in 1990. In Italy, he stayed 2 seasons (1992–1993 and following) in Baker Livorno and 1 (1998–1999) in Montana Forlì. He also won the French championship with Olympique Antibes in 1995. Coaching in the CBA[edit] On December 14, 2004, he was named head coach of the Albany Patroons in the Continental Basketball Association. This is Richardson's second stint with the Patroons; he played for the team during the 1987-88 season, in which Albany won its second CBA championship. 2007 ((""suspension"")) On March 28, 2007, he was suspended for the rest of the CBA championship series for his comments in an interview with the Albany Times Union newspaper, in which he stated that Jews were "crafty (because) they are hated worldwide." Specifically, it was reported by the Times Union that before a game against the Yakama Sun Kings, Richardson made anti-Semitic comments to two reporters in his office when discussing the contract general manager Jim Coyne had offered him to coach his team in the CBA and USBL. "I've got big-time lawyers," Richardson said. "I've got big-time Jew lawyers." When told by the reporters that the comment could be offensive to people because it plays to the stereotype that Jews are crafty and shrewd, he responded with: "Are you kidding me? They are. They've got the best security system in the world. Have you ever been to an airport in Tel Aviv? They're real crafty. Listen, they are hated all over the world, so they've got to be crafty. They got a lot of power in this world, you know what I mean? Which I think is great. I don't think there's nothing wrong with it. If you look in most professional sports, they're run by Jewish people. If you look at a lot of most successful corporations and stuff, more businesses, they're run by Jewish [sic]. It's not a knock, but they are some crafty people." "i do not own this in anyway"

• published: 19 Sep 2014
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