He got cheered by fans, grabbed seven rebounds and blocked two shots in 20 minutes and exited with blood on his shirt.
What wasn't to like about Chris Richard's Bulls debut Saturday night in a 95-91 victory over the Miami Heat at the United Center?
"He gave us some really good minutes," coach Vinny Del Negro said. "He was physical. I give him a lot of credit."
Richard, who filled in for Joakim Noah (plantar fasciitis) and Tyrus Thomas (one-game suspension), said he's just trying to bring consistent effort.
Photo: Chris Richard (left) shares a laugh on the Bulls' bench with Joakim Noah. (Chris Sweda/Tribune)
"I have to do whatever I can to help," Richard said. "I knew my what role was because I was here in the preseason. It was a matter of finding my wind again and getting a feel for this game. Once I figured that out, I was OK."
Richard played with Tulsa of the NBA's Development League after the Bulls made him a late cut in training camp. That's why Del Negro said he wasn't surprised by Richard's success.
"I know he's in shape," Del Negro said. "He's a big body who can take up space and rebound."
Richard is approaching his 10-day contract with equal parts Tom Boerwinkle and Tom Thayer.
"If I get lost on the offensive end, I can just go set a random screen somewhere," Richard said. "That's the great thing about being a big.
"Everything happens for a reason. I feel I got a little better in this whole thing. I grew as a person after getting cut and as a basketball player."
Get our updates on 
Frank Wilson-
Jesse Jackson has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the state of NBA Basketball today. If you have a problem with the players in the league, perhaps you should focus on the GM's, owners and the Commissioner, for not being "pro-active" in ridding the league of bad apples.
I always get a kick out of the coded language some folks are want to use in their little "inane" rants.
Chris Richards story is 1- of a kid who has (literally) hit the bottom, in terms of trying to live his dream. He probably now understands and appreciates the opportunity that the Bulls are giving him, and will work his butt off to achieve it.
I think folks forget that so many of these athletes were the "cream of the crop"(or told they were) since they were teens. When you are told you are the greatest thing since sliced cheese so long, so often, 1- could get a big head. the reality is- that only a SMALL percentage of athletes get the chance to star in the league and make the big bucks. Some of these kids took the time to work on their games and get an education. Some just(tried) to depended on their talents, never giving much thought to whether or not they could make it in the big league, or their future outside the game.
Frank Wilson- you know they are trying to start a league in Georgia that might suit you well(you won't have worry bout "Jesse Jackson" types THERE)!
NJ Lou:
Good points there.
It just makes me mad of how the NBA enables these negative players to basically run the league to ruin. That is what bothers me so much.
Also the NBA needs to get out of social politics by basically telling Jesse Jackson to "shut up and stay out". The NBA should do what it is supposed to do which is to professionally entertain with professional players who take the sport of organized basketball seriously.
We the fans are also enablers. If we stop endorsing all these "Ron Artests", "Allen Iversons" and "Tyrus Thomas" maybe the NBA will get some professionalism.
What the NBA can do also is try to put some public relations to show what the professional players do but I guess they are too much about making money they tend to overlook it.
However point well taken. I like to see a player like Richard score great points and play solid defense to show that REAL professional basketball players can play baskteball. I want him to suceed so that the public can understand that you don't have to be a ghetto-tattoo wearing thug, with poor English grammer to succeed in the NBA.
I'm really rooting for Richard.
I really liked what I saw from Richard.. and he can smaile .. Thats more than I can say for Tyrus and Salmons .. 2 peas in a pod.. Both will be gone.. I like Richard before they cut him and I liked Byars .. I think the stupid Bull management can see talent .. Byars is better than Brown who they traded for . and Richard can get reboubs and help on defense better than Taj and Tyrus.. BUT you know Vinnie , He sat him most of the 4th quarter..l
Frank,
While there are some bad apples, most NBA players aren't immature hotheads. And as far as the age limit, think about it this way, at the age of 18 you are considered an adult by law, but not by the NBA? And I agree with age limits, not because of maturity issues (Gilbert Arenas is almost 30 years old), but becasue a lot of the teens that go to the league aren't good enough to last. They need some college to either get better or look for some other profession.
If you take the 450+ players in the NBA and look at their lives, most of them are just normal people with a lot of money. Unfortunately, it is not newsworthy to report on positive or normal things, so all you are going to hear about is the negativity. Don't let your beef with Jesse Jackson and his politics cloud your vision to the point where you are painting everyone with the same brush.
He had more boards thatn fouls....if he can keep that up its nice to have him on the bench....we Noah back and banish that loser TT
Good to have players like Richard around. He is a breath of fresh air from all the immature babies that are running rampant in the NBA pulling guns on each other and flashing street gang hand signals.
The NBA needs more maturity and professionalism in its league. All these teenage players are destroying the league.
And when the NBA wants to increase the minimum age or require NBA players to have a college education, oh here comes Civil Rights leader Jesse Jackson with some stupid sob story about, "Oh the kids are poor. The NBA will give them economic security thus improve their maturity and lives" garbage. The NBA listens to Jesse Jackson's garbage and like the weak NBA league officials do, stop all efforts to raise the minimum age of NBA players and college requirements they struggle to implement in the NBA. Man the NBA league officials have no spine.
Look as long as the NBA keep getting immature kids to play the sport the quality of the NBA and American Basketball will continue to be in the toliet.
What the NBA needs to do is to increse the minimum age to 21-22 years old and have at least 4 years college. As long as they don't do that you will get babies in the NBA acting like goofs.
Go Richard. Hope his play can improve so he can show what a real professionl NBA player should play and act.
Good luck to him and hopefully many good fortunes.
i hope he sticks around this time, could'nt hurt. he play tough something that they need right now.