EXCLUSIVE: Knicks Legend Michael Ray Richardson Talks Memoir

Former New York Knicks star Michael Richardson is set to tell his story in "Banned," an upcoming memoir that will be released in November.

Geoff Magliocchetti | 12 Hours Ago

Nov 19, 1985; Portland, OR, USA: FILE PHOTO; New Jersey Nets guard Michael Ray Richardson (20) battles for a loose ball against Portland Trailblazers guard Darnell Valentine (left) at Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Imagn Images / Imagn Images

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New York Knicks

This Thanksgiving season, former New York Knicks star Michael "Suagr" Ray Richardson is offering a public documentation of gratitude and redemption.

Richardson, who was drafted by the Knicks as the fourth overall pick of the 1978 draft out of Montana, has teamed up with Seattle-based writer Jake Uitti to pen "Banned: How I Squandered An All-Star NBA Career Before Finding My Redemption."

The memoir, set to be released by Skyhorse Publishing, will be released on Nov. 26 and will document Richardson's rise and fall through the professional ranks. Having also worked with the Golden State Warriors and New Jersey Nets, Richardson established himself as a strong two-way player by leading the league on both assists and steals on multiple occasions. Richardson also reached four All-Star Games in eight NBA seasons.

The Lubbock, TX native's career came to a halt in 1986 when NBA commissioner David Stern administered a lifetime ban from the Association for repeated violations of the league's drug policies. He was allowed to return two years later but Richardson instead made a name for himself on the European circuit and also became a coach in several professional minor leagues.

"The benefit of a book, and the benefit of getting to know somebody, and the benefit of doing research is that you find out a person is way more than you know, as the saying goes, their lowest day, or way more than a certain decision or two," Uitti told Knicks on SI. "It's been a gift to get to know Michael and his story, and to tell his story, to be the lucky one to tell his story with him through this book."

"I think Michael's story is important because it's not only important to know the details of his life, but it's also important to underscore the idea that we are more than just a headline, we're human beings. Michael's stories were telling from beginning to end."

Wit the book set to be released later this month, Richardson at down with Knicks on SI to speak about his life and career.

(Special thanks to Uitti and Skyhorse Publishing for making this interview possible. Pre-order the book HERE)

Q: Why was now the right time to tell your story?

MRR: I think now is the best time to tell my story because before there were about two or three other guys that were writing books about me, but they were using newspaper articles, and so I had nothing to do with any of those other books. I wanted to set the record straight, and I always wanted to tell my side of the story, of what really happened to me. As a basketball fan, I'd like to think that the thing people can take out of it is that no matter what you go through in life, there are going to be some ups and downs, but there is an end of the road if you do the right thing.

Q: Was there ever a time you thought you wouldn't make it to this point and what puts you on the right track in those moments?

MRR: When I was going through my addiction, I never thought that I couldn't get out of it, because I believed in a higher power, and I believe that I'm the one that got myself into it, I'm going to have to be the one to get myself out of it. But I think what it really was, it was my young kids. At the time, I had three kids, Tasha, Corey, and Tamara, and I didn't want them to look at their dad as a failure. So I knew that I had to get myself together, not only for myself, but for my kids. I'm really close to all of my kids. All together. I have five kids. I have two kids in the south of France and we FaceTime each other every day, Kimberly and Michael Jr.

Q: In the excerpt you shared with Knicks on SI, you mentioned a turbulent relationship with then-Knicks head coach Hubie Brown. If you could say anything to Hubie today, what would it be?

MRR: You know, what's so strange about that is that I saw Hubie about seven months ago in Oklahoma City at a basketball game. He saw me because he was broadcasting on one of the [Thunder] games. He saw it was me, he got up and hugged me and said he was really, really proud of me, happy that, things were going really, really well and he wished me success.

Q: Another relationship that drives the book is the relationship you shared with the late Jud Heathcote at the University of Montana. What sort of conversation would you want to have with him?

MRR: Judd was one of a kind. He came, he recruited me out of high school, and he gave me a four-year scholarship at the University of Montana. He stayed with me for two years. He was unbelievable to me. He was like a dad. I mean, it was, he was just, he just understood the side of a basketball coach but he also understood the side of being human:. for my four years, like my first three years, I was only black player on the team. So it was, you know, it was like a shock, because in high school, you know, my team was all-black. When I went to school, up in Montana, it was all white. But I used to go to Coach Heathcote's house twice a week and eat dinner. He was like a father, he really was.

Q: How would you also describe your relationship with the late David Stern?

MRR: We were really, really close. When I left the NBA, I really didn't get a chance to see him, but I saw him over in Milan, Italy when the NBA teams had come over there. I saw him doing the basketball game, and I walked up to him and told him that I wasn't angry or anything, that he did what he had to do. The way I looked at it, was that he was part of saving my life, because he did something that he had to do, that that really caught my attention. I would call him, like, once a week, twice a week. Once I stopped playing ball overseas, he had gave me a gift: he gave me a job working out the NBA office in England, as an NBA ambassador.

Q: You've said that you've had no regret over the way things went down. How does that continue to ring true today?

MRR: When we were first born, all of our scriptures were written. This is my belief, and so this is something that I had to go through to get where I am today and so this is just something that I had to go through. I've got a lot of friends, I got a lot of other friends that have dealt with drugs, dealt with alcohol, dealt with the gambling that are still doing it and didn't have the opportunity or the will, just to, see the end of it, you know what I mean? I had that opportunity,

If you don't have any faith, there's nothing that you can do in this world. I'm not the kind of guy that goes to church every day, but I do believe in Jesus Christ. I know that there is a higher power, because what I was doing, when I was doing it and what I was doing, He had to keep me safe, because I was going to places where I had no business going. He wanted to see me through the end of this and so, for that reason, I've been sober for almost 40 years.

Q: Being a top pick from a small school, how do you deal with the pressure of not just the immediacy of the pick, but coming to New York, of all places, as well?

MRR: Have you ever seen the movie "Coming to America" with Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall? It was like that, it was like going from the smallest place in America to the biggest place in America. It was like a shock, you know, because, like, when I first got there, I arrived in the evening time, and when I woke up the next morning, like the first day, I said where's the grass, where's the trees? Because there's no grass or trees in New York City. I mean, it was a shock.

I was there to play basketball, you know what I mean? I came from a small university, and I wanted to, you know, show everybody that I belong in the NBA. I think I set myself up well: I made the All-Star team four times in eight years. I led the league in steals and assists two years in a row and then I left the NBA, I went overseas, I won two more championships. I played another 11 years in Europe.

Q: Who is your all-time Knicks starting five?

MRR: I've got to put Walt Frazier. I've got to have myself in there. I would put Willis Reed, probably Patrick Ewing, and probably Dave DeBusschere.

Q: What would be your advice to the modern Knicks as they embark on what is by far their most hopeful season in quite some time?

MRR: I think those guys have a little more experience, because they've been in the league a little longer, so they've kind of been in and out of New York. So I think those guys kind of know what to expect. But like, for a guy that just leaving college, you've got to pick and choose the places that you go, you've got to be aware of everything because now social media is so big Everything you do, you're in a spotlight. So you really got to be careful in New York City. It could be good and it can be bad, but when I went through what I went through, I was in the newspaper all over the world. Social media was that, it was the newspaper back then.

Q: You established a reputation as one of the finer two-way players of your time. What does the NBA need to do to somewhat rediscover a sense of defensive intensity in this era where 100-point games are common?

MRR: I think we're in for a new normal. Because of the way that the officiating is, the fans want to see a lot of scoring. Fans don't want to see a lot of defense. So as long as the fans want to see a lot of sport, the referees are going to call a lot of fouls.

Q: If there is a star in the modern NBA you could compare your game to, who would it be and why?

MRR: Russell Westbrook. Russ gives you 110 percent day in and day and day out. Every time he gets on the basketball court, he's going to give you 110 percent.

Q: What advice would you offer a European coming into the NBA?

MRR: If you have lived in Europe before, you'd know it's a whole different lifestyle. When I got to to Europe, I thought that I was much more free in Europe than I was in America, because over there they will, they would work to enjoy life. Over here in America, we work to survive life.

Take a lunch break. In Europe, it's like three or four hours, you go to lunch at noon, then you'll leave lunch and go home and take a nap, and you've got be back to work at four o'clock. Here in America, everything is like a hustle and bustle. You know what I mean? You've got to eat, and you've got eat in 30 minutes. Everything is like a fast food. There's not a lot of fast foods in Europe.

Q: We talk an awful lot about legacies in this day and age. What do you hope your legacy becomes?

MRR: I hope it's not that I was the first player banned.

That was just a phase that I went through. I played 21 years of basketball all over the world. I was successful. I coached in minor leagues for seven years. I won five championships in three different leagues.

So my legacy ought to be, really, if you look at, if you look at the big picture, I think I should be in the Hall of Fame because the Hall of Fame is about what you have done in your basketball career. I'm in the Hall of Fame in college. If you look at some of the guys that in there now played in like one or played in on or no All-Star Games, played eight years or nine years. I just saw where they were putting guys like Walter Davis in. He was a great basketball player, but I don't know if he's a Hall of Famer. I mean his his career was not like my career. Because I went through my drug addiction, I think that's going to be a reason why [voters] don't put me in."

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Published 12 Hours Ago

GEOFF MAGLIOCCHETTI

Editor-In-Chief at All Knicks