This Portland loss was totally on Nellie, he played right into their hands. Yay we got our bigs back, but let’s play Morrow at PF, WTF. I hate playing these 4 guard line-ups. It’s one thing when your best players are guards(Baron, Monta, Jack, JRich) but doing it with this roster is an epic fail.

Does he need an attitude adjustment? Yes. Is he immature, and does this affect his play? Yes. Does he make lots of mistakes, and disrupt the Warriors’ chemistry at times? Yes.

BUT

He’s a key to the team’s future. Sometimes, young guys learn by watching someone more experienced do their same job. Or they learn because a coach is able to get inside their head and motivate them. Or, they learn by taking their lumps.

Randolph doesn’t have an experienced player to show him the ropes. We can rule that one out. He doesn’t have a coach in Nellie that can get inside his head or heart and motivate him. Nellie’s constant benching and punishment of AR demonstrate a lack of connection with Randolph.

So Randolph, on this team, is going to have to learn by taking his lumps. By playing. Need an example? Look at Ellis.

Monta has made several mistakes during his young career. But, he’s stepped up as a leader, and has shined now that he’s the man, and responsibility has been put on his shoulders. He’s risen to the occasion.

Randolph will too. And if he doesn’t, then the Warriors need to know that, so they can move in another direction. But sitting him on the bench, while inferior players with no ties to the team’s future play the decisive moments in games makes no sense. Let him play. Let him learn how to step up in crucial game situations. Let him feel the responsibility he has to his team and to the organization as a leader, and as a go-to player. He’s one of the W’s best. He should be on the floor.

ECJ

Exactly. And the one thing you have never heard from either Marcus or Kawakami is that Randoph’s teammates are clamoring for him to get more time. If he were really helping them win, wouldn’t that be the case?

In fact, everything we’ve heard reported on this front, whether in Monta’s comments, or Jack’s, or Bean’s or Turiaf’s, or even Curry’s, is just the opposite. The fact that the Warriors came into the season relying on Wright and Randolph at the four is what drove Jackson over the edge, and just about took Monta with him. Jackson construed it as “not caring about winning.” Isn’t that right, Marcus?

Oh, and did it ever occur to you that the people who cover the Warriors for a living might know a little bit more than you about basketball?

AR is 6th on the team in total minutes, 5th in points, 1st in rebounds this year. Obviously, those stats are skewed some by injuries and roster changes, but they don’t sound like the numbers of a forgotten man.

I know it’s hard not to play armchair coach – we all do it. We all want to see Randolph play more, because he’s one of our main hopes for the future, like POB and Diogu were before him.

At this point, it’s quite reasonable to assume that Anthony will be a much better Warrior than they were. We can’t let him play just to avoid the pouts, though. At every level, all the way down to elementary school-age rec league, there are players who feel “disrespected”, and show it.

In my experience, it’s often the teammates who try to do most of the damage control. You mentioned that AR spoke with Turiaf. I also heard Andris speak about Anthony’s emotions in a recent pre-game interview. His on-court game is not the only work in progress.

In the long run, Randolph’s improved play will continue to earn him more playing time. If that doesn’t settle him down, then he just might not have the emotional control necessary to ever reach his potential.