Sports + reporter Kong Dexin reported
Slovenia will win the championship all the way to this year's European Championships, allowing people to see the huge energy contained in this team. Dragic proved his worth on the world stage with MVP and leadership performances, and Luka Doncic managed to make the world remember his name and was ready to parachute into the NBA next summer. But it's not just these two that deserve a book, but Anthony Randolph is equally striking.
The striker, who currently plays in the Spanish league, has been away from the NBA for years, and few people may remember that he was one of the most promising newcomers in 2008, and the Warriors finally selected him with the 14th pick. However, the young man did not immediately adapt to the long season of the NBA, he went to 4 teams in 6 years, always seemed to find a suitable position, and finally had to leave the NBA in 2014.
Randolph, who was 2.08 meters tall, was in an awkward position in 2008, an era when the interior required tall stature and 1-on-1 single defense. Randolph happens to be in the No. 3 and No. 4 positions, playing small forwards with slow speed and frequency, and playing big forwards with his lack of confrontational ability, which makes the teams have to press him on the bench. At that time, Randolph probably could not have imagined that his characteristics would be perfectly adapted to the current era.
"Now I can adapt perfectly to the way the NBA teams play, right?" Randolph said with a smile.
"I'm not going to go back to the league just to say, 'I'm back in the NBA.'" Randolph, who has an NBA jump clause with Real Madrid next season, said, "I think I have to know exactly what role I can play, what I can do for the team and have enough opportunities to play before I make the decision to return to the NBA." I don't want to go back to the bench, I want to play, I love to play. ”
Although nearly 10 years have passed since he entered the NBA league in 2008, Randolph is now "only" 28 years old and still in his prime. At the just-concluded European Championship, Randolph averaged 24.3 minutes per game, averaging 11.7 points, 5.2 rebounds, 1.1 steals and 1.4 blocks, shooting 45 percent and 41.7 percent from three-point range, respectively. His style of play is seamless with the small-ball trend that is popular in the NBA today, and can serve as the No. 5 position in many teams for small teams.
"Looking back on my past career, I'm in a better position now. Once I was young and wanted to figure out what kind of person I was, now I have the answer. All I had in mind was to play basketball, enjoy the experience, I had a good time in Europe, and as for the future, let it be. ”
Compared to when he landed in the NBA in 2008, Randolph gained 13 kilograms and his arm span reached 2.2 meters, which is fully capable of guarding the frame. In contrast to his total of 2 three-pointers in the first five seasons in the NBA, Randolph has shot 139 of 400 three-pointers in overseas leagues in the past three years, counting the European Championships and the 2015 Pan American Basketball Cup, his three-point shooting rate has reached 35.6%.
"I think he can go back to the NBA," Dragic said of Randolph, "and that's life." He said he made some decisions that weren't quite right now, but I'm sure he can get back to the NBA. Randolph is vital to our team, he can play multiple positions – 3, 4, 5. He brought us another way of playing, where we've never had a guy who could do air connections, switch positions and finish mid-range and three-point shooting at the same time. He is an all-powerful warrior. ”
Of course, Randolph still has many shortcomings, he is still not strong enough, occasionally inattentive, silent on the field... But as he himself says, his characteristics fit perfectly with the current trend of NBA leagues. As long as Randolph wants to return to the league, we believe there will be a lot of teams willing to give him a trial opportunity, and the lotto show is likely to prove his worth again.