Anthony Randolph: #14 Pick Golden State
by Richard Pittman
on Jun 27, 2008 6:35 AM CDT
in Basketball
We take a short break from our football preview series to talk about Anthony Randolph, the NBA, the college game, and what's wrong with all of them.
A couple weeks ago, I gave my assessment of Anthony Randolph:
My consensus, in reading mock drafts that have him going in the top 10, is that he must be way overrated. I don't think he has superstar potential, plus I think he has a substantial understudy period before he becomes a really useful player. Plus, because of his lack of passion, I question the chances that he'll reach whatever upside he has. He seems like a player who is a substantial risk to flounder and fail to reach his potential.I think whoever drafts him that high is going to end up disappointed. Now, if the NBA teams gather some sense and drop him down into the 20s where they're just looking for guys who can play some basketball, Randolph will be a much better pick. I don't think he's bad, but his top 10 status is, frankly, bewildering to people who watched him at LSU. He just never showed that kind of ability or competitive drive.
That Randolph went almost a full round ahead of Chris Douglas-Roberts is astounding to me. Maybe it just shows how little I understand the NBA game.
But one thing I think I think I know is that this one-and-done rule is not good for college basketball. I'm not one to moan about "the integrity of the college game" endlessly, but I do think there comes a point where we're just admitting that college basketball is pure business. And that point is when we force players into college who have no desire to be there and who have already decided to bolt before they complete two semesters of work.
These one-year-wonders only have to complete one semester of C-average work, then they never have to go to class again. They are mercenaries, transients, and essentially meaningless to a team in the long term. But the NBA forces them on us. I say "us" because I am among the crowd that cares about college sports a lot and professional sports very little.
I'm not against people leaving college early for the draft. If a guy comes to college and decides, even after just one year, that he is ready for the pro game, that's fine with me. I am against forcing people to engage in the illusion that they are college students for less than one year. I would rather the NBA just let these guys enter the draft. End this fraudulent charade that these guys are students.
If you don't want to force the teams to tote around 18 year old kids, here's what you can do. Let these players enter the draft right out of high school or when they reach 18 or whatever, but set an age limit to get on an NBA roster. If you are below the age limit, you can still be drafted, but you go to the D-League or to another professional league while the drafting team retains their rights. The players would get more basketball experience than they would playing a year in college, and the high draft picks would have guaranteed money. They'd be playing in some lousy gyms, but they wouldn't have to go to any classes at all.
I'm not going to display my woeful ignorance of the NBA game by attempting to analyze how Randolph fits on Golden State. I know he'll be living in a beautiful part of the country and playing for a historically lousy franchise. I don't know if that's good for him. I think his best chance for success would have been to live in a place with lousy weather and expectations of success. It would have increased his famously low level of intensity. Unfortunately I can't think of an organization like that. Maybe Utah.
I wish Randolph luck, but I can't say I'm rooting for him. He's not a Tiger, and for all it matters, he never really was.
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NBA Draft Preview: Anthony Randolph
by Richard Pittman
on Jun 14, 2008 7:01 PM CDT
in Basketball
via i.a.cnn.net
Rush The Court asked me to give a draft preview of former LSU forward Anthony Randolph. I agreed to do it, but warned him that I wasn't really a big fan of Randolph. An older version of this article is posted here. I made a couple of small edits since submitting it to him, but it's substantially the same. He said that was fine, so here's my preview. Keep in mind, I know next to nothing about the NBA (I don't even, honestly, know when the Draft is), and while I am somewhat knowledgeable about college basketball, I don't consider myself an expert. But I have watched Randolph quite a bit while watching LSU, and here's what I see:
Strengths
- Very good basketball skill. He looks as fluid on the court as anyone you will see. For a tall man, he is quite confident with the ball in his hands. He is agile on the court and good around the rim. I don't think he's Magic Johnson or anything, but he clearly has the skill to be an NBA player. He is decent with the dribble, pretty good out in space unless you want him to shoot it from beyond 15 feet, and generally looks like he can really play basketball.
- Very good length. He's a tall, long-armed kid who can easily play above the rim and make it very difficult to shoot over him.
- Solid Athleticism. While he's not a "jump out the gym" type like former Tiger Tyrus Thomas, he's got good athleticism. He can run and jump a bit.
- Lack of Passion. A lot of commentators probably will list "lack of physical strength" as his biggest drawback, but having watched him quite a lot, it's plain to me that even more serious of a concern is his lack of passion. He's a guy who rarely seems concerned about winning or losing or how things are going on the court. If you've ever been out to a club and seen a guy just staring at himself while dancing, that's Randolph. As long as he's doing OK, that's fine with him. He doesn't seem to care very much about the team aspect of basketball. I really don't think it's a coincidence that his last two teams (the 2007-2008 LSU basketball team and his senior-year high school team) were both rather bad teams despite having a talent like him on it. If you think about it, of all the one-and-done players in college this year (Eric Gordon, OJ Mayo, Derrick Rose, Michael Beasley, etc.), which one played on the worst team? Answer: Anthony Randolph. Randolph was the only player talented enough to enter the NBA after high school who failed to elevate his college team to a national stage. LSU, with Randolph, was not even an NIT team despite being a fairly solid program historically, and despite having players on the team who were actually solid contributors to a Final Four team two years ago. The cast around Randolph wasn't great, but it wasn't that bad either. Randolph did not make that team significantly better than it would have been without him, in my opinion. I think that says something about Randolph. And yes, I know he had teammates, but so did Michael Beasley, and Beasley's teammates weren't very good either, but K-State had its best season in recent memory because of Beasley. LSU had Randolph and was still mediocre.
- Lack of Physical Strength. Now we get to the one that everyone mentions, and they mention it because it's true. Randolph is just physically immature, even for his age, and he'll be one of the youngest players in the draft. While Randolph is comfortable away from the basket, he isn't good enough outside the paint to make a living there in the NBA. Randolph will have to earn his NBA money by competing in the paint, and he isn't strong enough (yet) to really compete with the bulked up NBA players. He's a guy who makes his living with a quick first step near the goal and a slick move. He was frequently out-muscled by SEC competition, and the SEC isn't even the best COLLEGE competition. Until he bulks up a little, the NBA post players will eat him alive. This means that whoever drafts him will have to wait a while to see him productive.
- Not a lot of basketball experience. This is self-explanatory. He's young, and he's only had one year of college coaching, and it was John Brady-coaching at that. He's going to be a little behind the learning curve compared to the sophomores and juniors that make up the bulk of the draft, not to mention the experienced players who make up the bulk of the NBA.
- Doesn't have star upside. He wasn't even great in college. He was good. But he wasn't great. He didn't dominate the college competition. He's neither a great shooter nor a great penetrator nor a great defender nor a great passer or playmaker. He's decent at a lot of things, great at none. He can be a solid NBA player if he develops, but I don't see All-Stars in his future.
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