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Randolph miscast as Nelson’s latest center of attention
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It's hard to dunk when you play 20 feet from the basket.
Coming into the season, the Golden State Volcano Watch had narrowed to a sharp focus. Stephen Jackson was clearly the most likely Warrior to erupt, with Mount St. Ellis a distant second.
Bay Area residents hoped that the recently dormant Anthony Randolph had permanently cooled, defused by two recent developments pertaining to head coach Don Nelson: pending retirement and a sit-down with the Parents Randolph.
The days of Nelson micromanaging his future star were supposedly over, now that Nelson had clearly taught Randolph whatever lessons he felt the young forward needed to learn.
Plus, Nellie was no doubt softened by the Randolphs’ home cooking and sharing of embarrassing baby pictures.
But then the regular season started, and things took an ugly turn. Nelson’s bad habits picked up right where they left off, rationing Randolph’s minutes while pushing the Warriors’ prized sophomore into an ill-suited role as a backup center.
The coach’s reasons for not playing Randolph are a mystery to nearly everyone, which raises a number of questions:
Was Mama Randolph’s food really that bad?
Has Nelson gone rogue?
Do the Golden State faithful need to track down a young Alec Baldwin and send him aboard the USS Warrior to get some answers?
If Corey Maggette (currently shooting 36.8% from the field) is given as much time as he needs to construct his brick castle, why can’t Randolph get more than 14 minutes per game?
Warrior fans have witnessed enough misery over the years to regard optimism as something that needs to be treated, but Randolph manages to rob most Bay Area residents of their better judgment.
He’s projected by the diehards as a cross between Kevin Garnett and Zeus (the Greek god, not the 80’s wrestler), the one player capable of matching the promise once held by Chris Webber.
Randolph is the team’s big bright shining star, which is why Warriors fans are thisclose to turning on the team’s coach.
Nelson appears determined to repeat the Webber saga in its entirety, right down to the positional battle and Randolph's uniform number. His decision to use Randolph at the “5” ranks as one of the worst pivot ideas in Warriors history, which is saying a lot, given that this franchise once played Felton Spencer 21 minutes per game.
Nelson has used seemingly desperate center matchups in the past, notably with Al Harrington. Against players like Yao Ming, Nelson would station Harrington behind the three-point line, draw Yao out on defense and open up driving lanes for his scoring guards.
But Randolph is too important to this team to be a decoy, employed whenever specific matchups call for it. He's a potential ace for this team, yet his manager is handling him like a middle reliever.
Randolph is tall enough to play power forward and athletic enough to play small forward, but one thing he definitely is not is a center.
Unlike Harrington, Randolph’s outside shot isn’t consistent enough to justify hanging out on the perimeter. And thanks to his wispy frame, Randolph isn’t able to fight it out in the paint with the Erick Dampiers of the world.
Golden State’s second-year forward is still very young, and the emotional instability he displayed last season couldn’t have simply vanished. Jerking him around like this, with roles and responsibilities that change from game to game, won’t help his development.
Randolph-as-perimeter center also turns the perceived necessity of small-ball into a self-fulfilling prophecy. This team won’t make significant progress being led by an army of high-scoring midgets, but Nelson won’t allow Randolph the opportunity to help Golden State graduate beyond that style.
Leave it to the Warriors to move a young star to center in the hopes that he’ll stay out of the paint.
Between Jackson, Stephen Curry, and Anthony Morrow, Golden State has enough outside shooters to keep defenses honest. But if they ever want to establish themselves inside and avoid the need for offensive shell games, the Warriors need to let Randolph learn to play closer to the basket against people his own size.
The Warriors need Randolph to become a mountain in the paint, which means they have a responsibility not to provoke him into erupting.
The best way to do that is for the team’s lone Hawaii resident to stick Randolph at his natural forward position and leave him undisturbed for as long as possible.
The Oakland Sports Examiner.
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