The Warriors held a light practice on New Year's Eve. Most of the discussion surrounded Anthony...

The Warriors held a light practice on New Year's Eve. Most of the discussion surrounded Anthony Randolph.

To see what spot Nellie was talking about, go to NBA Hotspots and enter Anthony Randolph.

Other stuff, Matt Steinmetz: Warriors take it easy on New Year's Eve

over 2 years ago IQofaWarrior 14 comments 0 recs |

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wonder if that's

geoff lepper holding his iphone the wrong way to pick up AR’s voice.

"We're Menudo," -BB

by eshock on Jan 1, 2010 1:26 PM PST reply actions

Seriously…doing interviews with your iPhone? The main thing of interest to me, was this guys focus on the 18 foot jumper. Nellie gave him an insight as to why he is a Head Coach, he can actually see (much as many may not recognise it) exactly where Randolph is currently strongest and where he would like to see Randolph concentrate his efforts.

Flip now to the same question the interviewer aims at Randolph, leading him down the path with the prompt as to whether he will become a better player if he can hit that 18 foot shot…..and bingo, AR agrees and states that he is working on it and it has gotten better.

My personal view on that (again many could care less, but hey ho) is that there is a disconnect for whatever reason between AR and the coaching staff. Why do I think that? If Nellie has told the guy that he is evidently VERY good taking the single dribble in to roughly the 16 foot area then choosing what to do…WHY…is he focused right now on getting that long distance jumper better. Maybe an answer from AR that he knows what the coaches what him to focus on and he is doing that and the practice on the long distance shot takes 2nd place right now, would show him and the coaches on a closer wave length…?
Also AR makes a clear point that being on the floor is giving him greater experience, which is great and many here are desperate to see more, but circle this back to Nellie’s point in the interview…. HE, as the head coach, wants the guy to concentrate his efforts on that 16 foot threat area, if AR chooses not to do that, then this is partly why he will get yanked off the floor.
I truly love this kids game, but he is in desperate need right now of someone to steer him that if he actually does “X” as the coach requests…he gets “Y” (more time on court) because I genuinely believe that aside from mismatches, the only thing restricting AR’s minutes right now is AR’s ability to do and play exactly as coach wants, rather than following his own gameplan.
Very interesting commentary, even if the interviewer pre-loaded the question.

"Better a Has-been than a Never-was. But better a Never-was than a Never-tried-to-be"

by BritWarriorGSW on Jan 1, 2010 2:12 PM PST up reply actions

+1

Beyond just if he does X, he’ll get more PT, someone should make it clear to Randolph that if he does X, he’ll be a more successful player and he’ll be involved in more wins. [I tend to downplay that there are players who do and don’t ‘know how to win’ beyond just who is a better player, but Randolph played on a losing squad his last year in HS, an LSU club that went nowhere and now two Warriors teams that haven’t shown much. I wonder if there is a disconnect, that he has’t had the experience of “play well = wins” enough to know what playing well actually means.]

Obviously Randolph will have to expand his game at some point, and being a backup five who is effective at the right elbow and nowhere else is not really going to do much good for us, but it doesn’t sound like AR realizes what he’s good at and certainly doesn’t seem to understand that playing to your strengths while you work on improving the rest of your game incrementally works much better than forcing up shots you don’t make over and over again.

It’s nice to see that Nellie recognizes this. Now what can he do to get them on the same page?

by jae on Jan 1, 2010 7:25 PM PST up reply actions

how could a high school team have a losing record with anthony randolph as a senior

that baffles me.

Cause Havoc. Bring Nash in and 120 point games will be very expected

by monta.da.boss on Jan 1, 2010 9:16 PM PST up reply actions

t Randolph played on a losing squad his last year in HS, an LSU club that went nowhere and now two Warriors teams that haven’t shown much. I wonder if there is a disconnect, that he has’t had the experience of "play well = wins" enough to know what playing well actually means.]

Interesting point.

by tafkasam on Jan 2, 2010 10:57 PM PST up reply actions

I think you may be overanalyzing Randolph's comments

Randolph was asked if he thought he needed to hit the 18 footer to be successful, and he answered in the affirmative. I’m not so certain as you are that he wasn’t conflating an 18 foot shot with a 16 foot shot, just so as to more easily and directly answer Steinmetz’ question. As Nellie said, Randolph had been working on the step-in jumper during practice that day very day; I can’t imagine that Randolph answered the question thinking, “Yeah Coach wants me to shoot a 16 footer, but eff that, I’m shooting an 18 footer!”

I think we’ll be better served paying attention to Randolph’s shot selection during games going forward, rather than risk misconstruing a response to a somewhat poorly-worded practice floor interview question.

by ivanbe on Jan 1, 2010 11:19 PM PST up reply actions

I dont disagree...

and in fact I am sure he is working on the rest of his game, it was more the fact that he agreed that the 18 foot jumper is needed to be successful and I am not so sure. But I absolutely agree that watching games from now on, with Nellies comments in the back of our minds and actually watching what Randolph does on the court…will be very interesting.

Certainly if he starts popping long range jumpers that miss and/or seems to have no interest to dribble and drive, etc and he gets yanked off the court, then no one is going to have any doubts as to why he has been pulled.

It’s seems clear to me now that the coaching staff are incredibly ‘pro’ AR and love an aspect to his game, its now down to AR as Jae pointed out, to realise that and play to that strength every time he comes out….the long range jumper and some form of low post game will come with time….but for now…do what your clearly very good at!

"Better a Has-been than a Never-was. But better a Never-was than a Never-tried-to-be"

by BritWarriorGSW on Jan 2, 2010 5:15 AM PST up reply actions

Well, he doesn't have a post game

but atleast he gets to the line enough to compensate at this point in his career. If he focus’s on getting garbage points, getting to the free throw line, and taking 16 footers, i think he will start becoming the supposed ‘centerpiece’ we all think he can be.

Cause Havoc. Bring Nash in and 120 point games will be very expected

by monta.da.boss on Jan 2, 2010 8:45 AM PST up reply actions

Off topic

But when you look at Anthony Morrow’s hotspots, it looks funny that he totally sucks at shooting when facing straight towards the basket. He’s on fire from just about everywhere else.

by IQofaWarrior on Jan 1, 2010 1:41 PM PST reply actions

Because rarely do you drive and kick to the top of the key

I’m guessing the majority of the shots he creates for himself(like any other player) comes from the center of the court, and that he is not nearly effective at creating his own shot.

Cause Havoc. Bring Nash in and 120 point games will be very expected

by monta.da.boss on Jan 2, 2010 8:47 AM PST up reply actions

Its funny

because Randolph only is good at hitting two shots on there:
Right elbow jumper, and layups. The rest were really bad.

Cause Havoc. Bring Nash in and 120 point games will be very expected

by monta.da.boss on Jan 1, 2010 4:47 PM PST reply actions

it seems Randolph is going to progressively get more minutes.

i see him getting about 25-30 minutes now.

Cause Havoc. Bring Nash in and 120 point games will be very expected

by monta.da.boss on Jan 1, 2010 4:54 PM PST reply actions

Thanx IQ

this was one of the more interesting interviews of Nellie I’ve seen in last year or so. It makes me regain my faith in Nellie, the coach I knew was awfully smart and intuitive. Not the perceived half-retired old drunk the media portrays.

by tafkasam on Jan 2, 2010 10:56 PM PST reply actions

I noticed Randolph’s 1st shot of the night against POR was an open look at about 19 feet where he paused, dribbled in a step and nailed the 16 footer. Did a message get through?

by jae on Jan 3, 2010 2:07 AM PST reply actions 1 recs