I was in Ames high school on Saturday and they had a Harrison Barnes display and in that display they had a poster about a ESPN game that was played in Hilton Coliseum that was made-for-tv matching up Barnes and Richmond. We obviously know what happened to Barnes, but what was Richmond's deal? What happened to him at Illinois?
He had a reputation in high school as having a shitty attitude and had a few suspensions. Part of the reason Illinois was able to hang on to him through a four year commitment (he verballed to oscar when he was a freshman in high school).
He played decently as a freshman at Illinois in a sixth man role, but then got suspended for the NCAA tournament. He also had a couple unexplained DNPs during the season. Word was he may have had a postive drug test(s) or bad grades and also that he got into a fight with Brandon Paul in the locker-room after a game. Then he declared for the NBA rather than come back and didn't get drafted.
Then:
On August 9, 2011 Richmond was charged with aggravated battery, aggravated assault, disorderly conduct, illegal possession of a firearm, and unlawful use of a handgun after he allegedly beat his seventeen-year-old girlfriend and threatened to shoot her. On October 5, Richmond tested positive for marijuana after a random drug test while on bond. When the Lake County court learned of this, he was taken to jail on October 21. He was due to return to court on November 7. On December 22, Richmond was placed on court-ordered home detention, meaning that it is mandatory that he be home between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. as a bond condition. On January 23, 2012, Richmond was sentenced to 18 months probation, ordered to pay a $500 fine and court costs, and completion of 200 hours of community service, after pleading guilty to unlawful use of a weapon. The other charges were dropped as part of a plea agreement. On October 25, 2012, Richmond was returned to jail after violating several conditions of his probation. On April 26, 2013, Richmond was again taken into custody based on new felony charges of witness harassment and disorderly conduct in connection with an incident involving his probation officer. On August 8, Richmond was found guilty on two of three counts of harassment of a witness, and faced up to seven years in federal prison. On November 25, 2013, Richmond was sentenced to three years in prison.
If he wasn't a total eff-up he could have been a very good college player. I don't think he ever would have made the NBA. He wasn't all that athletic given his size.
