Anthony Randolph, who played for four teams in six years after being selected 14th in the 2008 draft, hasn’t given up on his NBA dream, writes Mike Schmitz of ESPN.
The 28-year-old has reworked his game and his body and is serving as a center with 3-point range for a Slovenia team that reached today’s EuroBasket championship. Randolph, who shares an agent with Slovenian star Goran Dragic and 2018 draft prospect Luka Doncic, became a naturalized citizen to join the team. He has averaged 24.7 points per 40 minutes in the tournament while hitting 9-of-11 shots from 3-point range.
“I think he should be in the NBA,” Dragic said. “It’s just life. He said he made some choices that maybe he would do differently, and I still believe he can make it. He is a huge addition to our team. He can play multiple positions — 3, 4, 5. He gives us a different type of game. In the past, we never had a guy you can throw an alley-oop to, can switch everything, can take the big guys out, shoot the mid-range or a 3. He’s a complete player.”
Randolph, who entered the league at age 19, admits he was immature during his time in the NBA, where he was considered a “tweener” who didn’t quite fit traditional size requirements for a small forward or power forward. He is now 6’11” and 230 pounds with a 7’3″ wingspan and has the ability to stretch the floor that teams are seeking in a big man.
Randolph admits being “knocked down from my pedestal” after being waived out of the league on his 25th birthday in 2014. He never quite lived up to expectations with the Warriors, Knicks, Timberwolves and Nuggets and had to look overseas to continue his basketball career.
“I had to go back to the basics,” Randolph said. “It was a different experience. It helped me realize why I really started playing basketball again.”
He signed with Lokomotiv Kuban in Russia, far from the glamour of the NBA lifestyle, and developed his skills as a 3-point shooter. He spent last year with Real Madrid alongside Doncic and earned a contract extension with the Spanish team. That deal includes an escape clause next season if an NBA team comes calling, but Randolph won’t take just any opportunity.
“I won’t go back in the NBA just to say, ‘Oh, I’m back in the NBA,'” Randolph said. “I feel like I have to know that I’m going to have a role and that I can help the team and that I have an opportunity to play. I don’t want to go sit on the bench, I want to play. I love playing basketball.”
He could hook on with a contender maybe like San Antonio or Cleveland and be a part of their rotation
How does he go from a zero and out of the League to a rotation player on a playoff team?
Shouldn’t he first come off the bench on a middle of the road NBA team first and learn the league and learn how his game works against NBA players?
Because he is older and those middle of the pack rebuilding teams prefer to have young role players they can develop
I disagree I think that all the middle of the road teams wants a veteran player any time they can get one.
They’re trying to either get into the playoffs or get a better seed. Makes total sense to me.
Forget his offense — the question is whether he’s improved defensively. He had shot blocking talent, but I’ve never seen a player more confused about where he should be on the floor on the defensive end than Randolph.
To be fair, didnt he grow some crazy amount right as he was getting to the league? He didn’t know how to play as a big. It seems he may have been able to learn those things over the last few years, but its hard to say for me, having seen such a small sample size. I’ve heard good reviews of him being able to move laterally, so that’s something