Having finished his rookie season with the Golden State Warriors, Randolph has been one of the most pleasant surprises in the NBA's summer league in Las Vegas.

As of Friday night, Randolph led all scorers with an average of 26.8 points per game.

In a 95-83 win Tuesday night against the Chicago Bulls' summer team, Randolph erupted for a then Summer League-record 42 points in 34 minutes, going 16-for-21 from the free-throw line.

"He's very unique," Keith Smart, a Baton Rouge native and Warriors assistant coach, told the San Jose Mercury News. "That's why it's hard for us to tell him, 'Don't do this and don't do that,' because his window is so big."

Randolph, the No. 14 overall selection in the 2008 NBA draft, averaged 7.9 points per game as a rookie.

If nothing else, Randolph's effort through four games in the summer league drew the attention from hardcore NBA fans. As of Friday, he was the leading vote-getter in an unscientific NBA.com poll, whose question was: "Which player has surprised you the most in the Summer League?"

As of Friday night, Randolph led all players 47 percent of the first 7,791 votes.

Of course, stardom in the NBA Summer League does not always translate into stardom in the regular season.

A few examples:

In 2004, Denver's Nikoloz Tskitishvili led the summer league with 25.7 points per game.

Tskitishvili averaged 3.0 points and less than two rebounds over four NBA seasons.

In 2005, then- Hornets guard J.R. Smith averaged 20.6 points per game.

Now with Denver, Smith has only started to become a solid NBA player; last season, he posted career highs for points per game (15.2), rebounds (3.7) and assists (2.8).

Naturally, Randolph would like to turn out less like Tskitishvili and more like Smith.

So would Marcus Thornton.

Thornton, who spent two years at LSU and became SEC player of the year last season, went to the New Orleans Hornets last month in a second-round, draft-night trade with the Miami Heat.

In three games for the Hornets' summer team, Thornton has averaged 20.7 points in 30 minutes.

"Just going out there and playing hard, you know," Thornton told Hoopsworld.com. "Just getting out there and being aggressive and doing what I do.

"They tell me every day to go out there and be you, and do what you do."

Thornton, whose contract is not guaranteed (he must still make the team), could be a major boost for New Orleans if he pans out.

The Hornets drafted UCLA point guard Darren Collison to help ease the burden on Chris Paul, but their bloated payroll has prevented them from making a move in free agency.

The Hornets end their summer with two games this weekend, starting with a game at 5:30 p.m. today against Minnesota.

Former LSU standout Garrett Temple averaged 4.6 points in 12.6 minutes during his stint with the Rockets.