Unsung Hero - Kadiri Richard

I am a big fan of Kadiri Richard. I bought Kadiri's jersey (and waited for it to arrive since there weren't any in stock when the jerseys were first sold). Two games ago, I brought boxes of Kraft Dinner (KD) to string up in front of my seats for each block he made, only to see him have no blocks for that game against Quebec. I found that the Rainmen played zone defense for at least the first half, and then an ineffective man coverage in the second half when Quebec capitalized on drawing defenders away from the net and then scoring. This doesn't give one a lot of chances for big blocks.

In my haste to get to the game against Vermont, I forgot the boxes, but I will bring them to the rest of the games. I didn't miss much of a chance to string them up, since KD only blocked 2 shots. Most of our defense in that game was in the form of grabbing the ball after the shot, hence the 34 defensive boards for the team.

It seems like Kadiri has never really been used to his full potential, with Eric being chosen as the man to take the ball in to the hoop. Watching Kadiri's highlight reel shows that he is certainly capable of driving hard and I have never really understood why he has been relegated to a largely defensive role with almost no opportunity given to him to score unless the opposition's defense breaks down. Maybe it is the Rainmen's small offensive play list that leaves Kadiri out in the cold. He has too much talent to simply be a 15-to-20-minutes-per-game player. Looking at his stats, he has rarely played more than half a game and his stats prove that the more time he has on the court, the more effective he becomes, with rebounds and blocks.

Having said that, his attitude -- both on the court and the bench -- is excellent. No one has a bigger smile when the Rainmen are winning (remember those days?), when a teammate scores an impressive basket Kadiri is right there congratulating him, and no one is more imposing when KD gets his scowl on to intimidate an opposing player. As the Rainman who starts chants nearly as much as Chris, Dunc and I do, Kadiri is almost as valuable to the team on the bench as he is on the court. I simply think he has more to contribute than he has been given the chance to show us.