He was 70 years old and had been ill for months. In Bologna, he won a Cup Winners’ Cup and two Italian Cups. His past as a top-level NBA player was marred by cocaine, so much so that he tested positive three times and was eventually expelled from the league.

Mourning in the world of basketball. Michael Ray Richardson, known to everyone as “Sugar,” has passed away at the age of 70 after a long illness. A former star of Virtus Bologna, he was one of the most iconic and beloved foreign players ever to play under the Two Towers and in our league in general. Even today, when talking about the strongest foreign players ever to have played in Serie A, it is natural to mention Richardson of Virtus.

His draft pick number alone would suffice as a calling card: fourth overall in 1978. Two spots below him, the Celtics picked Larry Joe Bird… Born in Texas but moving with his family early on to Denver, Colorado, he was recruited by many universities in high school, including Iowa, Colorado State, and Montana. He played in the NBA for eight years, mainly for the New York Knicks from 1978 to 1982 and the New Jersey Nets from 1983 to 1986. In 1984, he tested positive for cocaine for the third time and was suspended from the NBA, before being permanently banned in 1986.

Italy—  He arrived in Italy in 1988 to play for Knorr Bologna, coached by Bob Hill with Ettore Messina as assistant coach: it was Porelli’s Virtus, with Villalta and Brunamonti. He played in Italy until 1994, winning the Italian Cup in 1989 and becoming MVP of the All-Star Game. The following year, still with Virtus, he won the Italian Cup and the Cup Winners’ Cup. He scored 50 points in the All-Star Game, setting a new record. In 1991, he began training with Bologna and tested positive for cocaine. ‘Sugar’ justified himself by saying that it was an anesthetic. That’s when he began his tour of Europe: Split, Livorno, Antibes, Cholet, Forlì, and then ended up at AC Golfe-Juan-Vallauris, near Nice, at the age of 47.

son—  His son Amir, born in 2002, moved from Reims to Fiorentina last year. He also won a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics with Morocco, scoring a splendid goal with a curling shot from the top of the box against Iraq in Nice in the last game of the group stage. Born on the French Riviera, where Sugar played his last season before retiring, he began his career at Le Havre in Ligue 2, a club that has produced talents such as Pogba, Mahrez, Benjamin Mendy, and Payet. A skilled midfielder, as they used to say, he was voted one of the five best young players in the league by L’Equipe last year.
Fiorentina—  The Viola club also expressed its condolences: “President Rocco Commisso, his wife Catherine, General Manager Alessandro Ferrari, Sporting Director Roberto Goretti, and the entire Fiorentina team stand with Amir Richardson and express their deepest condolences to him and his family on the passing of his father.”

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