Should Anthony Randolph be Untouchable?

One of my uncles is in town on business for the week. This particular uncle is an old-school Baahhston bloke (who happened to marry an Indian girl mind you) who adores the Celtics and once claimed that, “There is no God but Larry Bird, and McHale. Parish and Walton are his prophets.” Admittedly, this was after a night of heavy drinking with his nephews. Still, you get the idea.

Nevertheless, he’s also, after my dad, the sharpest basketball mind I know. So whenever he has to come to ‘Straya for a business trip I make sure to pick his brain.

Which I did over a plate of fried rice last night, after I sat through his whining that he had booked this trip when he thought the Celtics weren’t with a snowball’s chance in hell of making it past the second round.

He was in agreement with my theory that, when all is said and done, Stephen Curry will become the best player of this draft. Although he disagreed with me when I claimed that he’ll become better than Rondo. Which I stand by.

Then he dropped the bombshell.

“You know that kid you guys got at PF? Tall, skinny as hell, missed most of this year…”

“Randolph?”

“Yeah, him. You better watch out for that one, he’s a bit nuts. Reminds me a lot of Antoine Walker.”

Now, when my uncle says that someone reminds him of Antoine, it’s not a compliment. I still remember his constant complaints about Walker’s shot selection (“why the f*** does he shoot so many f***ing threes? He’s not even that good at them!”), attitude (“walks like an arrogant little punk”), commitment (“at least pretend you worked out in the off-season, you fat c***t!”) and plenty more that possess too much profanity to print here. I think Antoine Walker may just have been his least favorite Celtic.

So I asked him why.

“You can see it in the way he plays. Kid’s got all the talent in the world, but he’s only going to become as good a player as his head lets him.”

And this quote, I thought, sums up Anthony Randolph perfectly.

When the Warriors, surprised he had fallen down to 14, picked him with their first round draft choice in 2008, they did so despite having taken another PF project in Brandan Wright the year before.

He was sold to Warrior Nation as a special project, someone who would become the next great Golden State power forward once his body filled out and his game refined.

Then the cracks started to show. A feud with Coach Don Nelson over minutes. Reports that his family were interfering. Injuries. The debate over whether he’s a small forward or power forward.

Yet we’ve all seen glimpses from him on the court that make us hopeful to the point where most of Warrior Nation has declared him untouchable.

Should he be?

Let’s get one thing straight right now. I certainly don’t advocate that we actively shop Randolph around this off-season, or do a Stack Jack 20 cents on the dollar trade just to get him out of Oakland. No way.

However, I also don’t believe he should be a deal-breaker for a potentially good trade. What if, say, David Kahn rang up and offered us Kevin Love for Randolph and a future protected first rounder?  (In other words, we get a PF who defends better, provides a real post threat and could earn his paycheck just throwing outlet passes to Steph and Monta on the Nellie Ball fast break?).

Or Ed Stefanski offers Andre Iguodala for Corey Maggette and Randolph? Donnie Walsh with a David Lee/Maggette and Randolph deal?

At this point, Randolph’s trade value is still very high. He’s still young with heaps of upside—teams eat that up.

However, being a project alone is one thing, and being a head case alone is another.

When you put the two together, however, you get a very dangerous combination. It’s like dating your friend’s hot and crazy sister—the peak is incredible, but if it goes wrong you’re up poop creek in two ways. (Yes, I have seen this happen. Long story short, mate got his car torched).

In short, Randolph is the hot crazy sister here, although I certainly hope he doesn’t burn anyone’s car if he winds up getting traded.

He could well wind up being a Top 25 player and forming the modern-day Stockton/Malone with Curry in the Bay Area (along with Monta as the evolutionary, much more athletic Jeff Hornacek).

Or he could wear out his welcome and cause Riley or whoever the future GM is to ship him out for 20 cents on the dollar just to get rid of him.

While I don’t want to see the Warriors give up on him right away, I have a strong suspicion that we may be facing the latter come the 2011 trade deadline.

Because at this point, I haven’t see much from Anthony Randolph that convinces me his head won’t get in the way of him becoming the player he can be.