Randolph is raw, no doubt, but Nelson has tried to coach him like finished product

December 22, 7:30 PMGolden State Warriors ExaminerMatt Steinmetz

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Anthony Randolph and coach Don Nelson 

Well, we can talk about Orlando 113, Warriors 81, or we can talk about Anthony Randolph?

Let’s talk Randolph, should we? And after this, we’ll move on for a little while from the topic. Maybe.

Obviously, that was a very encouraging stretch of basketball by Randolph … might have been his best game of the year.

BOXSCORE

There’s something that’s been missing in the whole “Should-Anthony-Randolph-be-playing-and-if-so-how-much debate?”

It’s this: If Randolph is so raw and unready, why has he been asked to do so many things?

Warriors coach Don Nelson has put it pretty plainly in the past couple of weeks: Randolph is not NBA ready, is having difficulty picking up the pro game and might not be working hard enough, on top of it.

But if that’s the case, why not keep the game simple for him? Why not make it easier on the kid? How about playing Randolph at one position and one position only for right now?

It seems obvious that Randolph can at least rebound, block shots and run. So why not ask him to do those things and those things exclusively from the power forward position (where, at this point, he's at less of a disadvantage than at other spots)?

That’s it … learn the plays from the four position and try to go get the ball every time you can.

Instead, Nelson has played Randolph at small forward and power forward in both games and practices this season. He also has had Randolph playing point forward in practice situations.

Randolph was playing power forward on Monday against the Magic, finishing with 11 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks in 26 minutes.

It’s no secret, Nelson loves skilled big men, and he thinks (or thought) Randolph fit the bill in that area. He wants (or wanted) Randolph to be that dream three, a versatile player capable of playing the four and creating mismatches at either place.

The kind of player Nelson can fiddle with, putting Randolph in all sorts of interesting and potentially advantageous situations. Maybe down the line, but not now.

Randolph might be a do-it-all type of player in a few seasons. But this year Nelson's been asking Randolph to do too  much.

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RECAP

♦

By the way, it’s setting up so the Celtics might come into Oracle Arena on Friday night with a 20-game winning streak.

The Celtics will have to beat Philly tomorrow and then knock off the Lakers in Los Angeles on Christmas night.

That would put the Warriors front and center in the NBA on Friday night.