Nick Richards, the Putback King of Charlotte

I never really believed in Nick Richards's potential. When it took him until his junior season at the University of Kentucky to break out, despite starting all 37 games of his freshman season, I figured he was going to follow in the footsteps of several other Calipari-era upperclassmen and enjoy a relatively anonymous pro basketball career overseas à la Derek Willis or Dominique Hawkins.

I am here today to report that I was wrong. In this, his age 25 season, Richards has all but guaranteed that he will secure a multi-year, eight-figure contract when he enters restricted free agency at the end of this season, and it's all because he extends possessions.

Richards averages 9 points and 6.4 rebounds for the Charlotte Hornets. That sounds pedestrian, but he's doing that while playing only ~19 minutes per game and coming off the bench all season, and Richards has cashed in on his teammates' misses more than anybody else in the NBA. He averages 2.9 offensive rebounds per game, which is 13th most in the league. Every player who averages more OREBs per game than Richard plays more minutes than he does and has started at least one game.