<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Warriors rookie SF Anthony Randolph has earned raves for his summer league play from coach Don Nelson, who has called him "a star." Randolph, 19, was not expected to play much this season, but that might change. He is 6-10 and has the ability to score, handle the ball and pass, which makes him the point forward Nelson craves. "As I am getting used to this system, I think I can see myself in that way," Randolph says. "Maybe not right away. But, hopefully, down the line, I think I can be a point forward type of player." ...</div> Inside Dish: Nellie high on Warriors SF Randolph - Sean Deveney Haha, I just couldn't resist posting this.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (pegs @ Jul 28 2008, 11:55 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Haha, I just couldn't resist posting this.</div> What's funny about it? From what I've seen of Randolph, he could be that type of player if anyone can be. There just aren't many guys in the NBA with his size, quickness, and ball handling skills. Of course he won't truly be a point guard, but I can see the potential there for guard-like play in a big body.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (HiRez @ Jul 28 2008, 02:59 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (pegs @ Jul 28 2008, 11:55 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Haha, I just couldn't resist posting this.</div> What's funny about it? From what I've seen of Randolph, he could be that type of player if anyone can be. There just aren't many guys in the NBA with his size, quickness, and ball handling skills. Of course he won't truly be a point guard, but I can see the potential there for guard-like play in a big body. </div> It has a lot to do with one poster's hatred of calling TMac a point forward.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Dark Defender @ Jul 28 2008, 02:03 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>T-Mac's a point forward?</div> Hes 6'8, handles like a PG, career 4.7 apg average (more like 5-6 apg if you discount his first 3 seasons), he dominates the ball and it seems like everywhere he goes they always end up letting him bring it up and initiate the offense for ~15 mpg. I don't know if Randolph has T-Mac's natural passing ability. I've seen AR make some nice passes but they seem more forced than T-Mac who seems to be a natural distributor. Randolph seems to have the alpha-male type personality. Hes all over his teammates when they fugg up and seems to demand that everyone be as good as he is. I'd rather have that guy than the T-Mac guy who's unsure of himself and thus never really gets anywhere in his career. IMO Randolph reminds me more of Lamar Odom but, again, seems much much more aggressive.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Run BJM @ Jul 28 2008, 03:23 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Dark Defender @ Jul 28 2008, 02:03 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>T-Mac's a point forward?</div> Hes 6'8, handles like a PG, career 4.7 apg average (more like 5-6 apg if you discount his first 3 seasons), he dominates the ball and it seems like everywhere he goes they always end up letting him bring it up and initiate the offense for ~15 mpg. I don't know if Randolph has T-Mac's natural passing ability. I've seen AR make some nice passes but they seem more forced than T-Mac who seems to be a natural distributor. Randolph seems to have the alpha-male type personality. Hes all over his teammates when they fugg up and seems to demand that everyone be as good as he is. I'd rather have that guy than the T-Mac guy who's unsure of himself and thus never really gets anywhere in his career. IMO Randolph reminds me more of Lamar Odom but, again, seems much much more aggressive. </div> You described the point part but what about the forward part? Bad defensive player, doesn't play in the paint anymore and his rebound totals have dropped since he was in Orlando. Hes a shooting guard in my eyes.
Randolph needs to take control of those turnover numbers. He had a lot during the summer. But if he can limit the turnovers he did put up some decent assist numbers. As long as he passes, that sounds better than Al Harrington.
Classifying players is so tough. It's hard to say what Randolph will be because he's not done filling out. He seems like a Tim Thomas/Lamar Odom/Kevin Durant body where he's just right in between, but he could end up being a Pau Gasol/Kevin Garnett/Chris Bosh type (not much power in their games, but they got a lot of quickness/finesse/coordination to make up for it). More importantly if Randolph ends up being a terrific defensive player like such tweeners as Kevin Garnett/Andrei Kirilenko that will really help us in the long run. I think Randolph could be a power forward since he's so tall. I heard he may be still growing and he'll get stronger with age. If we get a stud power forward, we're probably moving him to SF, but if not we draft a solid swingman and bump Randolph up a position like we tried to do with Dunleavy. It might work out provided that Randolph rebounds and defends like a power forward. I think forwards in general are hard to classify. You got your small forwards and power forwards. And forwards can be short and squatty or tall and lanky, they just have to hold their own strength and quickness wise (like Brand vs. Bosh). Guys like Lebron James, Lamar Odom, Antoine Walker (when he wasn't as fat), Mike Dunleavy Jr. could be or are classified as point forward prototypes because they pass and dribble like guards and they're big. Those guys can play some shooting guard, but it's not really that ideal because of lack of quickness vs. smaller players. T-Mac seems like a tall shooting guard to me like Sjax/Mike Miller/Marko Jaric swingman class (a passing SG/SF leaning closer to SG tendencies rather than the all-around scoring punch most forwards have in post-ups, power moves). All those guys can play a true shooting guard, although defensively they might be outquicked, so instead they play small forward. Then there's also the passing swingman leaning towards the SF side like Joe Johnson, (I'll say Lebron James again because he so Magic Johnson like with the ball), Brandon Roy (when he's at 230 lbs) and (possibly in the near future) Danny Granger. Then there's a few others, but I'm really counting the point forwards as power forward type guys who can average 4-5 assists a game. I feel like there are so many cross-matchups between SG/SF, that a passing small forward doesn't really count anymore if the SG plays more like a forward. But a power forward that plays like a guard, that's a point forward to me. He could play power forward or small forward and handle point duties.
Randolph looks like a player, that's good enough for me. I think he and Wright will be a good combination because Wright is more of an inside cleanup guy and Randolph more of a scorer who will penetrate and create.
