Jereme Richmond's Uncle Is Insane

With the NBA Draft completed, I wanted to mention briefly what's coming up this week.

First, I will have a new BP68 in the next couple of days, which will be my last bracket projection until October. My most recent BP68 was way back in mid-April, and is here.

There is also some more player movement to talk about. There are some transfers, coaching changes, late signings, et cetera, that are worth talking about. And I'm sure there will be more coming later this summer. I'll also talk a little bit about some early 2012 recruiting.

The title of this post is in response to this unbelievable article from the Chicago Tribune. Most people were surprised, as I was, when Richmond left Illinois after his freshman year. The day before the Draft I did a preview, and Richmond was on my list of guys that I thought should not be taken by any team in any spot. Here's what I said:

If I'm an NBA team, I never draft a guy who can't even start for his college team. He was a big high school recruit, but not as big as Josh Selby, and he was even more of a disappointment during the season than Selby was. He scored only 7.6 points per game, with 5.0 rebounds per game and as many turnovers as assists. I don't even know what his skill is - he wasn't one of the best shooters, scorers, passers, rebounders or defenders on Illinois. He needs at least another year or two in college, and is almost a lock to go straight to the NBDL for a couple of years. I wouldn't take him even with the last pick in the NBA Draft.

Here's what Jereme's uncle told the Tribune:

NBA executives have to be a fool not to consider him. They have to be fools and they are fools, but what they're going to do is they're going to get him for cheap... He's way better than (No. 1 overall selection) Kyrie Irving. He's right there with (North Carolina's) Harrison Barnes. I can't tell the difference. Jereme is soft spoken and he's different, but that doesn't make him a bad person.

Better than Kyrie Irving? The Irving who was arguably the best player on Duke when healthy, as opposed to the Jereme Richmond who couldn't even start for an Illinois team that barely snuck into the NCAA Tournament? You expect family members to over-rate their family members. But that has to be the single worst I've seen in quite a long time...