Randolph Dominates in Professional Debut

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice… well you know how it goes.

After the first summer league game, Warrior fans are buzzing about one player; first round draft choice Anthony Randolph. While his performance was impressive, the Marco Belinelli experience from last year should keep expectations tempered a bit.

Randolph was a force against the Sixers, scoring 30, with eight rebounds and two blocks. He showed that he is clearly a perimeter player, often driving, hitting pull-ups, and receiving the ball several feet outside the arc. It should also be noted that the player guarding Randolph, Jason Smith, accrued 11 fouls over the course of the game.

His turnovers (5) were not great, but that will happen when driving to the hoop at 6’10”. It also seemed like the kind of game where his jumper was falling, so we’ll need to wait and see if his jump shot is really that good, or if he was just feeling it on Friday. Several of his shots caught a lot of rim, including one that hit rim, then backboard and finally fell in.

Some fans are already getting supremely excited, saying Randolph could start next season, and making hasty comparisons to top NBA players. This probably won’t happen, but if he can have more of a role than Belinelli did in his first season, it would just fine.

Speaking of the Italian Stallion, Belinelli was back to his old summer league self, firing up crazy long range jumpers like it was nothing. He started and finished cold, but had a nice stretch in the middle where everything he flung up went down.

On one memorable play, Belinelli hustled around a screen to pop open in the low post, received a pass and dropped a beautiful turnaround jumper. He also hit several of his fastbreak threes where his feet were flailing as he went up for the shot, but for some reason they fall.

A few are calling him a bust for his lack of D and poor shot selection, but when he is running around screens a la Rip Hamilton, he appears to be a nice offensive option.

Brandan Wright had one of those games where he never looks truly dominant, but the stat sheet tells a different story. He had a nice and-one, but mostly scored on lay-ups, missing all but one of his jump shots. He also showcased defense, with several graceful blocks, tallying four on the night.

The most encouraging sign was that he got to the free throw line 10 times and made seven of them. If he can be aggressive and get to the stripe, it will make him that much more valuable in the rotation next year.

C.J.Watson struggled early (six turnovers) and definitely left some doubt as to his ability to run an NBA offense. There ware a few positives (four steals, perfect on free throws), but his upcoming play still bears watching. Louis Amundson was aggressive early, throwing his body around while sporting one of the most horrendous ponytails seen in athletic competition, and that includes women’s sports.

The bench produced only two performances of note. Tamar Slay scored 10, stole the ball four times, and was noticeable on the court (though hard to distinguish on the grainy video form the NBA’s website). Oakland-native DeMarcus Nelson did not see much court time, but still made a few NBA level buckets and assists.

It’s important to stress that one summer league game does not make Randolph a bona fide all-star. We’ll have to wait and see how the team performs, especially in their next game against Dallas Sunday.

Other Notes:

Rookie power forward Richard Hendrix was sidelined with a hip injury. The coaches are hopeful that he will play either Sunday or Tuesday,

Center Patrick O’Bryant signed a two-year deal with the Celtics, ending his disappointing tenure with the Warriors. O’Bryant at times flashed the potential to be a solid NBA player, combining a plethora of skills with a tall body and massive wingspan. He never could find his way to the floor under Don Nelson and is of to (literally) greener pastures.