Adelaide 36ers: Jerome Randle is already being touted as the NBL’s No. 1 showman

JEROME Randle hasn’t been here long enough to be rated among the NBL’s best imports, but if he stays, he’s certainly going to be.

12/12/15 - Adelaide 36ers v Townsville Crocs at Adelaide Arena. 36ersÕ Jerome Randle tries to evade Crocs' Mitchell Norton. Photo Tom Huntley

IS Jerome Randle the best import the NBL has ever seen?

As ludicrous as that may sound for someone who has logged a mere 20 games in the league, the fact is the outstanding showman’s impact has been undeniable.

Fans are flocking back to the Titanium Security Arena to catch sight of his magic and mayhem.

Not since Al Green electrified Adelaide audiences with his super skills, quickness and ability to dominate an opponent, has the city seen anyone like the 175cm of dynamite that is Randle.

But where Green at West Adelaide from 1981 onward drew packed houses to Apollo Stadium with his athleticism and antics, his nickname of “Mean Al Green” aptly spoke to his penchant for irritating and agitating opponents he was humiliating.

Randle doesn’t do that. It is enough for the Human Dynamo to leave opponents stranded and embarrassed without rubbing salt into their wounds.

It has helped make him as beloved as he is revered — the gentleman assassin who would rather engage the crowd than enrage the cowed.

“I think he’s a pocket-rocket and the real deal,” said Green, the NBL’s 1982 Most Valuable Player and still holder of the single-game point-scoring record for his 71-point game in 1984.

What Randle has in common with the two men most often debated as the NBL’s greatest imports — Leroy Loggins and Rob Rose — is he wants the ball in his hands at crunch time.

Randle from deep. Photo: Stephen Laffer.

Most MVPs do, players such as Illawarra duo Kevin Lisch and Kirk Penney springing quickly to mind but the trait also consistent for a Rocky Smith or Derek Rucker.

In the end-game, few were better at finishing off a match, and an opponent, than Loggins and Rose.

Loggins, the 198cm southpaw “coat-rack” forward who won three MVP awards and four championships, could be relied upon as one of the NBL’s greatest clutch performers.

Brisbane-based Loggins regularly watches the NBL on TV and thoroughly has enjoyed Randle, saying he is a throwback to the type of imports who could take over and dominate a game.

“I take my hat off to the guy,” he said.

“He is one of the best imports to come out here in a long time.

“He can take over a game and we don’t see that type of import much anymore.

“He’s right up there with the greats.

“How he handles the ball and breaks people down is so good — his best defence is his offence.”

Where dual-league MVP and championship-winner Rose was all business, Loggins’ great joy competing always was evident in his play and on-court demeanour.

Randle about to sink two points. Photo: Stephen Laffer.

He is an admirer of Randle’s on-court persona too.

“I like his poker face,” Loggins said.

“You never can tell what the guy is thinking.

“He shows no emotion and that’s tough on the opposition.

“I have a lot of time for him.

“He’s a well-rounded basketball player and it helps he’s so close to the floor.”

Adelaide 36ers icon Brett Maher, MVP runner-up in 2003, plus Randle’s teammates Ebi Ere and Anthony Petrie, all already rate him the best player in the NBL.

Whether he can become the club’s second MVP, ending a drought since Mark Davis shared the award with Loggins in 1987, remains to be seen.

But if anyone can do it, it is Randle.

Originally published as Adelaide 36ers: Jerome Randle is already being touted as the NBL’s No. 1 showman