Anthony Randolph Scores 42 In Summer League

Former LSU standout and current Golden State Warrior forward Anthony Randolph tied the NBA Summer League’s record with 42 points in Tuesday’s 95-83 victory over the Chicago Bulls.

You would think this young man would be gushing with happiness after the game.

Not exactly.

“I rebounded poorly,” Golden State’s second-year power forward said to reporters after the game. “I only had three rebounds and that’s not good for a 6-11 guy to only have three rebounds.”

This outstanding performance came a day before his 21st birthday.

You still aren’t somewhat happy about that, Anthony? 

Von Wafer and Marcus Banks are the only two people to ever achieve this feat in the Summer League’s six-year run in Las Vegas.

That has to be somewhat rewarding for you?

“I need to get rebounds,” he said. “That’s my focus—just to come out there and rebound. I felt that I was being pushed around too much and I don’t like that at all.”

“That’s what got me on the floor last year, blocking shots and just playing hard.  For me to be scoring and not to be able to do what I did last year, that’s not good.”

This is the attitude that got Randolph to the position he is in now, and this is the reason why the sky is the limit for what he can become in the NBA.

Randolph is a 6'10", 205-pound athletic freak who can run up and down the court, hit the long-distance jumper, and finish at the rim.  Despite all of this, Randolph had to earn every one of his minutes given to him by coach Don Nelson last season, who is notorious for being hard on rookies.

Randolph averaged 7.9 points and 5.8 rebounds last season, but played only a little over 20 minutes in four of the first 28 games of last season.  During the stretch, he had 16 games in which he played single-digit minutes.

But Randolph stayed determined and kept pushing and pushing until Nelson had no choice but to put him on the court.  He started all eight games the Warriors played in April and averaged 15.1 points and 10.6 rebounds.

So this 42-point outburst may not have been that surprising for those who followed Randolph during his strong finish last season.  But the most shocking part of Tuesday’s game might not have even been Randolph’s performance.

With about 1:31 left in the game, the crowd in COX Pavilion began to reign boos on the Warriors when they had the ball.  But they weren’t booing Randolph for his amazing accomplishment; they were booing his teammates for not getting him the ball so he could break Wafer’s and Banks’ Summer League scoring record.

“I would imagine that’s why the fans were booing,” Golden State’s Summer League coach Keith Smart quipped.

Randolph didn’t exactly share the fans sentiment.

“They did a great job of finding me the whole game,” he said, “so I was happy with how we played.”

There goes that attitude again.