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Ex-NBA lottery pick jumps over defender for monster dunk in Spain
For years, basketball lovers of a certain stripe have carried a torch for Anthony Randolph. The 6-foot-10 lefty out of LSU looked, at times, like the future after hitting the league, showing flashes of stat-stuffing, court-distorting brilliance. He earned a rotation spot as a rookie on Don Nelson’s funhouse-mirror Golden State Warriors, tantalizing fans with soaring blocks, putback dunks and loping drives through traffic that didn’t seem to compute with what many thought was possible from a 19-year-old power forward in 2008.
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Things didn’t quite pan out. Randolph’s tenure by the Bay sputtered out thanks to ankle injuries and rumored clashes with Nelson, and after failing to find footing during stints with the New York Knicks, Minnesota Timberwolves and Denver Nuggets, he was forced to look overseas for continued gainful employment. Even so, those whose who watched his post-All-Star emergence as a rook, his Summer League savior turn as a rising sophomore and the glimpses of the Phantom Zone he provided along the way held out hope that one day, somewhere, Anthony Randolph would click into gear and run free.
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Well, this might not be Randolph as “a singular talent capable of someday making [his] team a title contender,” but while playing this weekend for Real Madrid of Spain’s ACB, Randolph straight up jumped over a defender to dunk in transition, which seems worthy of some kind of championship, I think:
No, it’s not 6-foot-6 Vince Carter leaping over 7-foot-2 Frederic Weis at the 2000 Summer Olympics, but what is? Randolph igniting a break by getting his hands in the passing lane, corralling the ball and going end-to-end himself, then going up and over 6-foot-1 Estudiantes guard Jamar Wilson for a stylish fast-break dunk remains pretty great, and pretty much exactly the sort of thing we’d all hoped to see him pull off one day. That it happened in Spain, far away from the broader consciousness of the basketball world as the NBA gets set to begin a new season, almost makes it perfect.
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The best Anthony Randolph always existed on the fringes of our imaginations. He’s still there, and sometimes, he’s straight-up hurdling dudes to dunk. All is well; everything is going to plan.
Hat-tip to Austin Green of Los Crossovers.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!
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