LSU fired John Brady in the middle of the season, and their trip to the Final Four is a very long two years ago, but Anthony Randolph still emerged as another promising member of a heralded freshman class.

Randolph?s statistics don?t jump off the page, which is why closely watching game tape is the most important element of scouting.

The aspect of Randolph?s game that is immediately palpable to any observer is how skilled he is at triggering the transition game.  After collecting a blocked a shot or rebound, Randolph will use his remarkably quick dribble for a player of his height to initiate early offense.  He will look to create his own shot, find an open teammate, or slow it down to setup the halfcourt offense.  His decision-making in this area is very mature.

In the halfcourt, Randolph has shown equal sophistication in the post as he has on the pick and pop/pick and roll.  

With his length, he is an easy target for his teammates in the post although he needs to be more prepared position-wise on the floor before the ball arrives.  He doesn?t yet have a sophisticated enough feel for moving into the open spaces of the halfcourt where he can have some room to get free.

But when he does catch the ball in the post, Randolph is strong and confident and doesn?t go too quickly.  He is best suited for catching the ball at the mid-post instead of the low block because he can have space for a quick dribble move into the paint, or he can also face-up where he has an extremely fast first step.  

From either side, Randolph is comfortable because he can finish a little baby hook runner with either his left or right (weak) hand.  He gets into the paint with ease and has impeccable body control in the air.  He, of course, needs to add a great deal of bulk to his frame, but he is wiry and strong.  Randolph is excellent at drawing contact while still finishing buckets, especially high degree of difficult shots.  

Furthermore, Randolph has excellent vision as a passer in the post.  He finds open spot-up shooters and has the physical tools to deliver passes to the opposite side of the floor if need be.

When Randolph comes out to the perimeter to set a screen, he shows an ability that wouldn?t be really expected from an 18-year-old.  His footwork could use some polish, but he pops into space well and is extremely confident (almost too confident because he needs to reel in his shot selection a bit) with his shot.  He has good form and consistently hits shots from 10 to 18 feet out.

If a defender takes away that perimeter shot, he can beat his man off the dribble and take the ball all the way to the rim or pull up for a jumper.

As he nears the rim, Randolph attacks the rim as well as anyone.  He is very long and doesn?t fear going to the rack on anyone.

Defensively, Randolph is already a very skilled shot blocker.  He got more than two per game for the season had four against Arkansas twice and Ole Miss once.  He can block shots with either hand and in on-ball as well as help situation.  I wouldn?t classify Randolph as a preternatural shot-blocker, but he is certainly skilled and will block shots at any level when motivated.  What separates Randolph from truly great shot-blockers is being consistent in a position on the floor to block or at least affect shots.  Too many of Randolph?s blocks are simply when he fortuitously finds himself within position to reach the ball.

This issue of court awareness also applies to Randolph as a rebounder.  He relies too heavily on his athleticism and length instead of anticipating where misses will bounce as well as not aggressively putting a body on his man when he boxes out.

As good as Randolph is offensively with the pick and roll, he is equally skilled on the defensive end.  His lateral quickness allows Randolph to not become vulnerable all the way out on the perimeter when showing help against quick point guards.

Like any freshman this side of Michael Beasley, Randolph certainly needs to become more consistent.  He played well in both Ole Miss games as well as against Kentucky, Vanderbilt, and Florida but struggled in both Arkansas games and in a close loss against Tennessee.  It is undeniable, however, that Randolph sacrifices much of that consistency because he played for such a mediocre team in a difficult conference.

A sophomore season at LSU would have been useful for both Randolph and NBA scouts, but he has already shown enough present talent and future upside to become a comfortable top-10 pick with the chance to sneak into the top-5 if a team is willing to wait for him to fill out.

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Christopher Reina is the executive editor of RealGM.  He can be reached at [email protected] where he may use your draft questions in a future mailbag edition