Q&A With Mitch Richmond
December 4, 2003
Kings.com caught up with Mitch Richmond during Vlade Divac's annual
Charitabowl in Sacramento on December 3, and chatted with him about
his upcoming retirement ceremony on Friday, Dec 5th.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kings.com: Mitch, you're just a day away from having your jersey retired.
What is going through your mind as 'Mitch Richmond Night'
approaches?
Mitch: "I'm very excited. It's a special honor. They've invited me into
the Kings family for good and for life. It's a great honor. I'm
just overjoyed by the organization coming together and doing such
a thing."
Kings.com: You, Chris Mullin and Tim Hardaway had a good thing going,
being known as 'Run TMC'. Did it surprise you that it was
broken up and you were traded to Sacramento?
Mitch: "Oh yeah. No doubt. T hey had a family-oriented thing down at
Golden State. They were the team that drafted me and I thought
I was going to be playing there the rest of my career. I never
thought I was going to be moving on. When I came to Sacramento,
they were going through a really tough time. First, you had a
great team (Golden State) and then you had to start and rebuild
all over again (having gone to Sacramento). We never really got
it over the hump with all our struggles. But now, they're
receiving benefits from those long struggles. And they deserve
it."
Kings.com: You were just about all the offense there was back then. Even
when other teams were keying on you, you still managed to
average over 23 points per game. When you look back at that,
did that surprise you?
Mitch: "I really have to give credit to some of my teammates. Every night
, they were looking for me and they found me. Even during certain
situations when guys were keying on me. But I know what you're
saying. It is amazing sometimes when I look back at it. There were
some hard nights. But they were good times."
Kings.com: Who was a cool player to talk to in the locker room, hang out
with off the court, etc?
Mitch: "You know, I had some great teammates. I think over the years,
that's what you really take from this game. There was Walt
Williams, Randy Brown, Spud Webb, Billy Owens. All these guys that
I've played with, we still talk and hang out a little. That's what
you really take from this game. Because you can't play it as long
as you want to play it. So what you get in return are those friend
ships."
Kings.com: You've put up, Hall of Fame type numbers, played on teams with
losing records, you were an All-Star, won All-Star MBP honors,
played in the Olympics and ended y our career winning a
championship ring. Do you feel you've gone full circle in your
career?
Mitch: "I think I've gone full circle. There were some struggles that
started early. There were some rough roads. But I had the
opportunity to get the ring. So, it felt good."
Kings.com: When people 10 years from now talk about players from back in
the days, how do you want to be remembered?
Mitch: "Just as a guy who left it all on the floor. It didn't matter if
we lost 20 in a row. I just want to be remembers as a guy who came
to play every night."
http://www.nba.com/kings/news/QA_With_Mitch_Richmond-92369-58.html
--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc)
◆ From: 61.224.103.159