The One Boston Celtic Who Has Been, "The Best Version of Themselves" Most of This Season

Josh Richardson is averaging 10.7 points per game while shooting career-highs from the field and 3-point range. Oh yeah, he just dropped a season-high 27 on the Knicks, too.

One of former Boston Celtics head coach (now the team's President of Basketball Operations) Brad Stevens’ favorite Brad-isms, had to do with players “being the best version of themselves” as often as possible.

It’s fair to say that for the most part, we haven’t seen that from the Celtics this season.

That’s how a team with a pair of All-Stars under 25 years of age find themselves a middle-of-the-road club, record-wise.

But the underwhelming and at times underachieving ways of the Celtics this year does not apply to Josh Richardson.

When he came to town, the concern was about his ability.

Specifically, could he knock down an open shot or two?

Can his game mesh with the teams' stars, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown?

Richardson has on many levels, exceeded the expectations placed before him and has been one of the few relatively consistent players for Boston this season when he has been available.

And it is that latter point, availability, that seems to be the biggest knock against Richardson this season.

He has had a number of minor ailments along with a recent bid in the league’s health and safety protocol program after testing positive for the coronavirus earlier this month.

But when he has been able to play, he has played well.

He certainly was all that and then some on Friday night in helping Boston to a 114-107 win over the New York Knicks.

Richardson, averaging 10.7 points per game this season, finished the night with a season-high 27 points off the bench, his fourth straight game scoring in double figures.

That’s not the real surprise with Richardson, a double-digit scorer in all but his rookie season.

But he’s doing it now at a level of efficiency we haven’t seen from him, ever.

He’s shooting 47.5 percent from the field, a career-best mark for the 28-year-old who is now in his seventh NBA season.

Richardson is also shooting 40.5 percent from 3-point range, also a career-best mark.

His breakout performance against the Knicks came after being placed in the league’s health and safety protocol program after a positive covid test result shortly before the Celtics played at Phoenix on December 10.

The game against the Suns was the end of the team’s West Coast trip.

Because of Richardson’s positive test result, not only was he unable to play with the team against the Suns (a game in which they lost), but he also had to stay behind afterward while they returned to Boston.

“I found out I had tested positive, the morning of the (Phoenix game),” Richardson told reporters. “I watched a lot of film, slept a lot. My Xbox was broke, too. That made it a lot worse. I couldn’t even play the game like I wanted to.”

Of course, no one wants any player or person for that matter to test positive for the coronavirus or its variants. But Richardson acknowledges that the time spent resting his body without any practices or games to play has helped his return to the floor.

“Being able to have one off-day is huge,” said Richardson who missed two games following the positive test result. “Five off days definitely different, good for my legs.”

And it’s good for the Celtics (14-14) as they try to navigate a path towards more wins which can only be aided by Richardson’s availability and ability to do what he’s doing so well now which is to impact the game when called upon.