Looking back now, I have to give Nellie credit for the development of Randolph. There is little doubt in my mind he's a keeper, a "centerpiece", someone to build around who has more potential for getting this team competitive than JRich, Dunleavy, maybe even Monta. He's got size who can do things in the paint offensively and defensively. Maybe this was all Randolph and not Nellie, but there is some definite improvement in Randolph. He's under control and making things happen beyond just an amazing block (which at most would only be 3 times a game). If only Brandon and Marco made the same strides, we'd be talking about some real hope.
Agreed. Re: BWright and Marco. They were making those strides until they got injured. It seems Marco is going to be thrown under the bus given how expendable the guard position is right now. It's a shame because I feel he has more upside than a lot of the guys ahead of him in the rotation, including Morrow.
Even I have to agree that Nelson being hard on Randolph has helped Randolph grow up. He was a crybaby earlier, but the tough love made him a better player. We'll have to see if he continues to grow under Nelson.
Plus, when he gets penetration, he actually draws defenders and kicks to the open guy, unlike Craw who has a tough time finding the open guy during penetration. Craw usually forces a jumper if he can't get all the way to the rim. Belly drives with the intention of hitting Morrow for the three... a lot like Steve Nash, actually.
AR's stats in April; 15.1 ppg, 10.6 rpg, .9 bpg, 1.6 apg, 1.5 spg, 1.3 TOpg, 3.8 PFpg on 47% FGs and 81% FTs. Jim/Bob were saying the Nellie said in an interview that with the way Randolph is playing he has to pencil him in as the starter next season.
It's good to hear that the Randolph - Nelson thing has come full circle into a more positive situation. First it was Nelson loving Randolph in the offseason, then we saw Nelson punish Randolph where it looked almost Webber-like or something. But it sounds like things have become better now with Randolph and Nelson, or what?
Definitely. In the couple of tidbits I've heard about Randolph recently they say how he understands why Nellie did that to him and hes better for it. Note how Nellie did the same things with Ike and POB and they never adapted, were moved eventually, and never made anything of themselves in the league. As much as people love to rip on Nellie at any opportunity, the dude knows what hes doing. BTW I wonder if Nellie already anointing Randolph the starter is also in part to light a fire under Wright's ass. Wright has also been a victim of Nellie's tough love but hes humble, works hard, and has a good attitude so he isn't in the dog house. His problem seems to be aggressiveness though. Randolph has definitely earned the PF spot but I think that Nellie saying that hes got it is a better motivator for Wright than if he said it would be an open competition.
Nellie... he did it right for Randolph, but not everyone's going to respond the way he wants to get what he wants for his team. Plus, it's unfair Ike and POB are completely different players. Ike was a junior coming in and he was constantly injured so he couldn't do anything. POB was an unpolished center playing in the MVC and seemed unmotivated by basketball. The latter two players could still become dominate if developed right and are healthy. It's a fact that Nellie is never one to be patient with prototypical bigs that get down in the paint rather than behave like small forwards. I mean for gosh sakes he uses Maggette as a power forward for more than half the season and he's coming down on Ike for not playing D?
I guess Al Harrington's words could have gotten to Nellie's head. Or maybe we just didn't have any other big men to use at power forward besides Kurz or Davidson.
