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Veteran wing Quentin Richardson took part in his first media day as a member of the Orlando Magic and like most Magic players, he was asked several questions about the Miami Heat.
Of course, it made sense to ask Richardson these questions considering he played for the Heat a season ago.
Richardson said the Heat “put themselves in a pretty good position,” but quickly added to his statement – “With that being said, we feel like we have a very good team and where in a pretty good position.”
Richardson didn’t have any “secrets” to share about his time in Miami but called “Coach Spo” (Heat coach Eric Spoelstra) “one of the hardest working coaches I’ve ever been around” and said that he runs an offense that is very similar to the one Stan Van Gundy’s runs in Orlando.
Richardson stressed his desire to win a championship over and over again and cited it as the main reason he signed with Orlando, but did mention that the obvious dip in playing time he would have seen in Miami playing behind LeBron James was an important factor.
After the jump, you can read more about Richardson’s comments, including several quotes.
- “I definitely wanted to come here because it’s a situation where I’d still be in a position to compete for a championship while being a contributor.”
- Richardson is very happy to be in Orlando with a chance to win.
- Richardson said Orlando’s meeting “was about holding each other accountable and about being responsible for each other, being pros.”
- He was happy with the meeting, saying he had a good feel for his teammates.
- Richardson said he wasn’t motivated by anything other teams, like the Heat did.
- “For me, the championship is enough motivation,” Richardson said. “I want to win a championship. Whether or not they had that going on down there, I would be motivated. It doesn’t start and end in Miami. Right now, the Los Angeles Lakers are the defending world champions and it’s not like guys retired or they lost Kobe or something.”
- Richardson has a good relationship with Dwyane Wade but they haven’t talked much about who’s the favorite.
- Richardson takes pride in being tough and being a good defender, but he isn’t going to actively look for a fight.
- I asked Richardson even he embraced the tough guy role.
- “I don’t think it’s something you embrace or you shy from,” Richardson explained. “I try to do whatever the game calls for or the team needs me to do. I’m definitely a guy who’s capable of handling myself but I’m not a trouble-maker or someone who goes out there looking for it.”
- Richardson told the media that he doesn’t really pay attention to what we write. He did make sure to throw in the words “No disrespect.”
- He is very happy to be playing in front of Dwight Howard.
- “That’s going to give me the chance to be a better defender,” Richardson said. “Because I know that I’ll have a real enforcer back there that if I am beat, I know it’s got a pretty good chance of getting block. That gives me a chance to be more aggressive and get up on my man.”
- Richardson named Oklahoma City, Utah and Sacramento as exciting venues with excellent fans.
- I asked Richardson if he thought he’d play the 3 exclusively.
- “I don’t know,” he responded. “I’m just preparing myself to do whatever Coach Van Gundy asks me to do. Hopefully I can deliver on that and be the best on whatever he needs to be.
- Richardson had a quote that should make Magic fans excited about how hard their team works.
- “We want to win a championship,” Richardson said. “We know it’s not just “oh, we want to win” and putting up pictures of a trophy. It’s a lot of hard work, a lot of blood, sweat and tears. Guys took it very seriously this summer and went out and busted their butts coming into this preseason. We’ve all been here within the last month working really hard prior to training camp just to come into training camp in the best shape possible.”
(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger, a contributor on the Fansided Front Page, and co-host of CB Sports Radio from 5-7 pm week days (1420sports.com). Subscribe to his RSS feed, add him on Twitter to follow him daily. You can download the HTD app here).
Original Story:
http://howardthedunk.com/2010/09/27/o...
