I knew this young guy has potential at the end of last season. What round do you think this kid will get drafted in 09'-10' season? Do you think he will still be undrafted after the first 100? Do you think he will start?

One would think he's the starter at the 4 next year. I'm targeting late 6th early 7th...

Is it me does this kid look a lot bigger. Must be hittin the weights

http://d.yimg.com/a/p/sp/getty/cc/fullj.b6...mmer_league.jpg

https://www.nmnathletics.com/pics14/400/AS/...80712213853.jpg

He doesn't look like the 205 pound guy he's listed at anymore, thats for sure... Hopefully he can do some post better post up moves...

i heard somewhere he bulked up 20 lbs in the offseason.

he looks a little bigger, and that's a good sign. i expect him to start at PF.
but will Biedrins hog all the rebounds??

randolph looks like the type that would not give up a rebound (taking rebounds away from teammates)

are you buying randolph this season?
i really like his upside, but i don't like nellie. the warriors also seem like a disaster waiting to happen this year.

"Waiting" to happen? I think it's already happening.

As for Randolph, take him in the seventh or you won't get him at all. Unless you're playing in leagues with buffoons, of course.

im drinking the kool-aid at the right point. i thought pick 75 is good for him

If Nellie plays him (and he just announced that he's "committed" this year to sticking with his youth) he can put up 3rd round stats. That makes him a about a 6th round pick because Nellie doesn't always do what he says. I believe him however. Randolph has a skill set that's vary rare, Nellie knows it. Hell, the Warriors owner came right out and said it. Randolph could end up being the next KG. We're also possibly looking at the next Kevin Durant who blew us away in year two. If he gets the minutes in the Warriors system, 17 and 11 with two blocks and a steal is reasonable and maybe even likely. 3-4 assists on a team with no true point guard is also not out of the question. With a high FG % and a FT % in the mid 70's, that makes him better than Gasol. I won't let him go past the 6th round, and will probably end up grabbing him in the 5th.

That is pretty optimistic, I see about 9.5 boards and 1.6-7 blocks.

Also, that seems like a bit of a reach. There are a bunch of other proven guys in the 5th I would rather have.

I was particularly impressed with the assists and steals from a big. I remember him going coast to coast when the reins came off last year. Just crazy athlete. He can handle and pass. I am going out on a limb and saying this is the next guy who will get a 5x5 in the NBA.

So yes, I'm bullish.

I also like him very much. Saw him play a few times last season, and he has got mad skills. I'm a little worried he will be brittle because he is skinny, but so far so good.

The 5th round seems pretty extreme IMO.

1. I don't think he'll put up 5th round numbers
2. He'll be around 2-3 rounds later even in deep leagues.

hes not quite so skinny anymore, packed on over 20 pounds of muscle

http://www.slamonline.com/online/wp-conten...ny_randolph.jpg

It's pretty much impossible to gain 20 pounds of muscle in a single offseason. It's possible but it would take a totally dedicated regimen dedicated solely to gaining muscle mass, and probably wouldn't allow much in the way of serious basketball training.

Taking him in the 5th or 6th is risky, I acknowledge that. But with risk comes the possibility of reward. Again, Randolph has skills that are unique. He could put up surprising numbers. I don't see why 11 boards would be so surprising anyway, he averaged over 7 in 19 min/game last year. And if your in a keeper league, you have to take the reach... Two years from now, he could be a top 10 player or better.

And adding 20 pounds of muscle when you're 7 feet isn't that crazy. Especially when he was skinny to begin with. By the way, WTF is Ellis saying that he can't play with Curry in the backcourt for? Ellis is a young cancer cell, just waiting to grow up to be a 6-3 Derrick Coleman.

I don't think being skinny has much to do with it. I am not dismissing the possibility that he gained 20 pounds, but 20 pounds of muscle is a bit of a stretch. I would believe half fat, half muscle.

Also, being skinny is often a detriment to gaining muscle because it tends to be an indication that your metabolism is really fast. You end up burning a lot of the calories/protein that would normally be used to build muscle.

If you are bulking properly (eating 500 calories above your BMR) you should be able to put on 1 pound per week. About 50 to 75% of that will be lean muscle - depending on how diligent you are with your diet.

Maybe he put on 20 pounds of body weight but as you said it is impossible for him to put on 20 lbs of muscle in only 12 weeks.

I think it's technically possible to add 20 lbs of muscle in 3 or 4 months, but you would basically have to take up muscle building as your occupation. It wouldn't leave a lot of time/energy for actually playing basketball or doing anything else constructive.

You can only work out so much, over-training is the cardinal sin of bodybuilding. No doubt he could put on 20 pounds of weight over the off-season but he definitely didn't gain 20 pounds of muscle - unless he was on the Rashard Lewis diet.

I didn't mean to imply that he would be lifting weights 8 hours a day. He would probably do 1-2 hours of weight training a day, but would also have to eat meals every 3 hours (and perhaps even eat a meal in the middle of the night) and be extremely dedicated to nutrition. A nap or two would also be recommended.

I hope you guys can consider me as the leader of the Randolph mancrush club here. I expect 3rd round numbers at least, and I will target him the sixth round of just about every draft I do. "But he's coached by Nellie" is becoming one of my favorite phrases to hear, because it means my opponents are passing on a great player for no reason other than the coach he plays for, who just happens to be the absolute best coach in the league at maximizing his players' fantasy value. Nobody goes at a faster pace, and nobody gives their main guys as many minutes as he does. Worrying about the veteran benchings at the end of last year is also ridiculous because, well, Randolph isn't a veteran, and he's more likely to gain minutes through this than he is to lose them, if it does happen again. He was the one reason I was able to drag myself to otherwise dreadful Warriors games at the end of last year, and as the future of the franchise, he's got a very bright future ahead of him. Within a couple years, I expect him to be considered hands down the best of the 2008 draft class, better than Rose, Lopez, Beasley, Mayo, and all the other very good players from one of the strongest drafts in recent memory.

By the way, not only did he gain 20 pounds (even if that wasn't all muscle, gaining bulk of any form wouldn't really hurt his wire-thin body), but he also reportedly gained an inch, so he's above 6-11 now.

hey man, im just reiterating what rotoworld stated on the player news.

and wtf? this kid STILL growing?

I live out in the East Bay area where he lives...i play hoops with his cousin at my gym..Randolph also belongs and comes in once and a while..and i can tell you that in person he is a legit looking 6'11 or 7 ft..really really tall..i know what 6'9 or 6'10 looks like, and he is taller than that..legit 6'11-7 footer..

Dayum! I love it when guys go out on a limb. Good on you. This thread will be one we go back to in Dec, to see who is right. I'm pulling for you, Rico.

brandon wright could miss 4 to 6 months with a shoulder injury; this according to yahoo sports

obviously this is horrible news for wright.
however randolph faces no competition at the 4 for the warriors; unless you consider nellie competition..

Wow, too bad for Wright. Seems like an innocent enough play.

It could also be his genetics... Some guys just get naturally bigger way faster than most people...

Or steroids...

this just turned into a nutritonists' discussion...

I'm surprised no one mentioned Nelson's comment's on Wright and Randolph about training camp. Wright was to be the starter?

Nellie is crazy. You can't trust anything he says.

He said Wright had been playing better in camp, but that Randolph was still supposed to be the starter anyway. Of course, now that Wright is out, Randolph should get tons of minutes, because the Warriors simply don't have many other options at PF. Turiaf can play there, but he's also the only center behind Biedrins, so he's already got quite a few minutes on his plate. Any increase would make him a very good fantasy option, though, if it pushed his block numbers even higher. Other than that, um,... Mikki Moore? I have to admit, I know nothing about Shaun Pruitt, but he's the only other big the warriors have. Corey Maggette or Stephen Jackson have played PF before, but...

Remember the D Stack Jack played on Dirk in the first round a couple years ago??
That was magical!

The problem with Captain Jack at PF is that we also need him to play SF, SG, and PG.

We really need someone to take his contract, but that ain't happening.

36 M over the next 4 years.... I just can't see anyone trading for him that wants to be a big player in 2010.

Other than that he may have a couple suitors, his contract is bad but its not THAT bad. He is still a good player in the league and decent value for the money he makes.

I don't know, I would say it's pretty bad. Can you name 10 worse contracts? Sadly, Maggette is probably one of them. They're both about 4 years for $40m. Bargnani just got a horrible extension but at least he's young, so he could improve. Both of the Warriors should get significantly worse over the course of their contracts.

Yeah Bargs' I can accept because he has the potential to be worth more than that. Hedo just got the same deal too ($50M/5 years) that is pretty bad considering he will be 35 in his contract year.

There are definitely worse ones though, I am just estimating but they are something like this:

Gilbert - 95M/5 years
Z. Randolph - 35M/2 years
Kirilenko - 33M/2 years
Brand - 66M/4 years
Bogut - 60M/5 years
Baron - 55M/ 4 years
Dunleavy - 21M/ 2 years
Diop - 28M/ 4 years

I think those numbers are close to what they actually make. Those are all pretty terrible contracts in my opinion and much worse than Jack's. There are probably a few more out there but I just can't think of any.

Well the short ones aren't nearly as bad, as evidenced by the fact that one of those guys (Randolph) was traded this off-season. It was Chris Wallace, but still.

But yeah, the Bogut, Baron and Diop deals look to be worse for sure. I am uncertain about Brand; he's got a huge deal, but he has the ability to play very, very well when healthy. Jackson doesn't have nearly the upside.

I've seen him go in the 5th round in a couple of drafts

14ppg, 9rpg, 1.2apg, 1.2spg, 1.8bpg

I like his upside but I'm always fearful of Nellie's whimsical ways. I'd feel more comfortable taking him a round or two later.

Brandan Wright could be out 4-6 months - who else is Nellie gonna play?

Nellie would be happy going with 5 point guards.

if he gets consistent starters minutes (very big IF), i think he could post a season similar to KG's breakout 2nd year (17 pts, 8 rebs, 3 ast, 1.4 stl, 2.1 blk). but im not sure i trust nellie enough. last yr nellie was just a madman, and it seems very easy to get into his doghouse, so drafting randolph is a pretty big risk IMO, because he could be boom or bust, or, more likely, have a rollercoaster season lookign like a top 25 players at times, followed by weeks of getting 15 mpg due to nellies crazyness.

10 points 9 rebounds 3 blocks and 2 assists in less than 11 minutes tonight

He played 23 minutes: http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=291004009

Still nice to see that he can have good stats even on nights when the shots aren't falling. All of the blocks were emphatic, for what it's worth, so we know he wasn't getting any cheapies. One came on a meaningless layup at the fourth quarter buzzer, but the other two were "meet him at the top, stuff the layup, and get the rebound to initiate the fastbreak" plays, and he's looking like he may even be a little more refined in terms of blocking shots cleanly than he was at the end of last year.

nba.com says he only played 10 mins 48 seconds.

Yahoo says the same thing. A. Randolph F 10:48 That's why I originally said he played less than 11 minutes.

But 13 field goal attempts in 11 minutes is an awful lot for a single player, along with 4 fouls, unless you are Greg Oden.

The total of every warrior's minutes added together on the yahoo box score only adds up to 180, or three quarters of game time. I think yahoo just neglected to add the minutes from one quarter due to some malfunction. Biedrins is also listed as only having played 8:54 when he played in the entire first quarter, which leads me to believe that quarter was the one that was omitted. The rest of the stats are accurate, though, just the minutes are off.