| The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Zach Randolph |
 |
| Written by Chip Crain |
| Thursday, 23 July 2009 05:13 |
|
Honestly it is one of those deals that really is best judged in hindsight not in advance. Randolph has had run ins in the past with the law, his teammates and opponents. He also has been a consistently high performing player in the NBA. No one gets 29 double-doubles in only 50 games without consistent effort. Which player will be coming to Memphis is still a mystery. I have been rather retiscent to discuss the deal because I honestly don't know what will happen here. It's a high risk/high reward type of deal. If things go well the team will be much stronger this season with Randolph over some of the higher profile Free Agents out there. However the potential for disaster seems greater than the potential for reward.
So take that all you critics who say I always defend the team!
The Good: In other words, Zach is the type of player that most Memphians can relate to unlike Pao Gasol. His parents weren't millionaires, he wasn't born with a silver spoon in his mouth and he doesn't shoot like a girl ( I apologize to all the women who actually have a more traditional shot than Gasol by the way). Remember this is the city that still says they prefer Marc Gasol to Pau simply because he plays more manly. Well Zach is manly to a fault. The Bad:
Now there are numerous examples of a single, knuckleheaded player destroying a team from the inside so if you know that Randolph can be that destructive of a player why take a chance on him? Well for every negative impact player that destroyed a team there is a story of a player with a bad history who resurrected his career when he changed teams. Rasheed Wallace going from Portland to Detroit (via Atlanta) is the prime example. Wallace is still considered a knucklehead but he is a knucklehead with an NBA Championship ring on his finger. Other recent examples include Ron Artest going to Houston and Bonzi Wells going to Sacramento. Randolph has two seasons to change the league's perspective on him to get another long term big money deal. He needs to put his best foot forward. Stop defending him Chip. This is supposed to be the bad part of Zach Randolph and defense is another bad part. Randolph's career high for blocks in a season is 41. Outside of that season his career high is 17. His season high in steals is a little better at 68 and his second best season is 59 but it isn't the numbers that make his defense weak. It is the uncounted number of times players score easily because Zach didn't stay in front of his man. People remember the huge games he had against the Grizzlies but they don't remember the big games Grizzlies PF's had against him. In the 2007-08 season Darko Milicic was injured two minutes into the game against the Knicks and Kwame Brown - yes that Kwame Brown - put up 11 pts and 8 boards in the game. Sure Randolph had 27 and 10 but Kwame freaking Brown nearly had a double-doulbe against him. That is bad and the Grizzlies won the game too. The Ugly: Do the Grizzlie really want to invest $33 million on a player who has missed nearly two full seasons of actions in 7 years? and the trend isn't improving. He played only 50 games in 2008-09. He played 69 and 68 respectively the two years preceeding that. He hasn't reached the 70 games played plateau since the 2005-06 season. To put that in perspective that was the last season the Grizzlies made the playoffs. Zach is looking like he is in great shape now but it's not like Memphis fans have a lot to compare it against. Last season Randolph missed games for suspensions, twisted ankles, troublesome back issues and a sprained knee. Minor injuries for the most part and bad personal decisions (see the Bad section for more info on that). Conditioning has to be a concern.
My mom always told me that two out of three ain't bad but in this case I think that isn't the case. High risk/high reward bets can pay off but can the franchise survive if the odds makers are right? Will Rudy Gay, O J Mayo, Marc Gasol and the rest of the youth movement hang around if the team isn't winning and can the team win if Z-Bo is on the bench for any reason?
|
I have been rather hesitant to put into words what I think of the Zach Randolph deal. 
However because this is a Grizzlies blog - and so many people have asked me what I think - I will try and put this down in such a way that I admit the negatives without over-emphasizing them as well as to discuss the positives without glorifying them. Consider this my best Fox News inerpretation
The man is a double-double machine and he loves playing in Memphis. That is two really big positives for the home town fans. The closest thing Memphis has had to a true nightly double-double threat in Memphis, Pau Gasol, was a effiminate white foreign player too. Zack has more in common with the Tigers brand of play than the Grizzlies reputation. He will mix it up. He is from the streets not the penthouse. He won't shy away from contact or confrontation. For a team looking to build it's identity as a tough, scrappy group that is no fun to play Randolph should be a good role model (and no lightning didn't strike me for saying role-model and Zach in the same sentence).
Speaking of faults, Zach's manliness is not only an asset but a distraction as well. He has thrown a punch at Louis Ammundsen (and if you have seen him play who can blame him honestly) but that type of immaturity isn't limited to on-court heat of the moment type of situations. It got so bad in Portland that Brandon Roy went to the front office and said it was either Randolph or him but not both. Portland stayed with Roy by the way. 
People probably thought I covered the ugly up above. Well I didn't. The really ugly part of Randolph coming to Memphis is not his rap sheet, his beating up of opponents and teammates, his temper tantrums or his poor defense. No the really ugly part of Zach Randolph in Memphis is his injury history. Zach Randolph has appeared in 80 or more games exactly once in his career. That's the same number as O J Mayo and Marc Gasol each have and they were rookies last season. He's played more than 70 games just three times in his career (and that is including the one season he played 81). Twice he has played 50 or fewer games in a year. 
So that is that. The good is a highly productive stat player on the court, the bad is a myriad of destractions and poor effort defensively and the ugly seeing him walking around in street clothes.
Comments
But still, I quite like the Grizzlies, so I hope you have more luck with him that we did.
Pau and Marc are brothers, haha. So while Pau may play more "girly" of the two that still makes Marc the son of millionaire parents born with a silver spoon in his mouth.
Nevermind that Pau scores with both hands, has a refined post game, shoots 60% from the field, can take you off the dribble, face you up, run a fast break, make pin point passes out of the double team, play big minutes, and hit free throws. All things he does much, much better than Marc. Oh, he also went toe to toe with the most dominant physical player in the game during the finals and completely took him out of his game.
But, Marc plays MANLY! (I still really like Marc's game btw)
Really, the main problem with Pau in Memphis is that he's simply not a first option player. It is what it is, but Pau is easily a top 5 big man in this game.
Your a clown!