Illini's Richmond Passed Over in NBA Draft... Who's to Blame?

By Benjy Lipsman in News on Jun 27, 2011 6:20PM

The NBA Draft played out pretty much as we expected for former University of Illinois basketball player Jereme Richmond, who declared for the draft back in April to the surprise of many. The former Illinois Mr. Basketball's single season with the Illini was more notable for his off-the-court issues than his play on the court. Despite averaging just 7.6 point and 5 rebounds a game, he declared for the draft, hired an agent and withdrew from classes, so there was no going back to school.

Few believed that trying to jump to the NBA was the right move for Richmond. One who did was Richmond's uncle. Crawford Richmond thinks all 30 NBA GMs got it wrong, telling the Tribune recently, "NBA executives have to be a fool not to consider him. They have to be fools and they are fools, but what they're going to do is they're going to get him for cheap." The proud uncle also stated that his undrafted nephew was, in fact, better than the top pick, Duke freshman Kyrie Irving. Crawford Richmond also went after 11th pick Klay Thompson, son of former NBA player Mychal Thompson, because of his recent drug arrest and how that didn't impact his draft prospects.

Only after reading his brother's comments did Jereme's father, Bill, choose to speak with the Trib. He apologized to the Irving family and backtracked on his brother's comments toward Illini assistant coach Jerrance Howard, whom Crawford Richmond blamed for misleading Jereme about his draft prospects. Bill Richmond defended the coach, stating, "He's a good guy and he's never done anything but try and help our kid get to where he wanted to go."

Given his comments, to us it sounds like it was the uncle who put the illusions of grandeur in his nephew's mind. Now, the younger Richmond is without a basketball program for which to play, and with the looming NBA lockout he might not even have a chance to prove if he's NBA ready in free agent tryouts or the Summer League for quite some time. Rather than preparing for a sophomore year at U of I where he could continue to improve his game and draft prospects, he now will likely try to sign on with some pro team overseas.

Good luck with that.