Nick Richards looking forward to becoming a vocal leader, getting better

#4, Nick Richards, So., F

On meeting Justify …
“You know, I was actually kind of scared. I was hoping he wouldn’t bite my finger off. I was hesitant to feed him carrots.”

On why he wants to be a leader now and why he wasn’t a leader before …
‘When I meant leader I meant like a vocal leader. During high school I never really spoke out that much. I guess it’s my personality. In high school I was more of a lead-by-example (person). My coaches and everybody just followed me. Just look what I’m doing and here we are.”

On what he looks forward to in the position group …
“Those group of guys around me hopefully get better in practice every day. We have PJ who basically played with a broken finger last year. You have guys like Rob (Harris) who will teach you how to be hungry. EJ (Montgomery), he works hard every day and does one-on-one workouts with the coaches to get better and get ready for the season.”

On waiting for his teammates to decide about the draft …
“We all knew what was going to happen. It was pretty obvious who was going to be here and who wasn’t going to be here. The draft is in a couple of days and I hope everybody that’s in the draft becomes successful in the NBA. Hopefully I’ll be able to join them.”

On why Jarred Vanderbilt and Wenyen Gabriel went to the draft …
“That’s their decision, what reason they chose to go to the draft. The saw it as a good opportunity for them to go and enter their name in the NBA. I wish them nothing but the best and good luck to them.”