Donald $terling Appreciation Thread

[It_Was_Typed]

Griz fail to land Randolph and much more!
By Ronald Tillery on June 26, 2009 5:50 PM

The Grizzlies had agreed in principle to acquire power forward Zach Randolph Thursday night but Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling later nixed the trade, according to two NBA sources.

During the NBA draft, executives from both teams hammered out a package with Randolph and Darko Milicic as the key pieces. Griz guard Greg Buckner would also have been included in the transaction.

The Griz ended up dealing Milicic to the New York Knicks for swingman Quentin Richardson after they waited on a final answer from the Clippers and received a curious no.

Los Angeles selected power forward Blake Griffith with the No. 1 overall pick.

Power forward is a position where the Griz need the most help. This was Memphis' second flirtation with a Randolph deal over the past year.

The Griz held discussions with New York about acquiring Randolph's services before he was dealt to the Clippers last November.

And aside from Randolph's off-the-court, character issues, the deal could have been costly for the Griz.

The 6-9 beefy scorer and rebounder is owed more than $33 million over the next two seasons. With Milicic entering the final year of a deal that pays $7.5 this season, the Griz would have absorbed more than $22 million in additional costs when the final math was completed on the deal.

http://blogs.commercialappeal.com/the_memphis_edge/2009/06/griz-fail-to-land-randolph-and-much-more.html

Thank goodness $terling is an idiot...I want NO parts of ZBo on the Grizzlies.

[SD2042]

No Z-Bo means move on to the next PF on the list.

Josh Smith
Chris Bosh
Carlos Boozer

whoever else should be mentioned on this list.

[Benjammin]

You all dodged a serious bullet there. Z-Bo can score and board, and yet he makes his team worse.

[Luv those Knicks]

Zach is an underappreciated player. We were thrilled to get him out of NY because of his contract, but the knicks became a worse team once he was traded.

Zach certainly isnt' a perfect player, but his man to man defense is fine. He's got a magnificent set of post moves that are hard to defend and he's a good rebounder. If not for the occasional ball hogedness and bone headed play, he'd be an ideal PF, not that different from players like Brand and Boozer.

Zach also had a tendency to wear down during a season, and thats why he didn't help the clippers much, cause he was banged up and he missed some games. Early on, the clipper fans LOVED him.

I'm not saying you should want him. Had you gotten him, he'd be a middle aged player on a young team, and I'm not sure a 2 year rental of Zach would improve your team enough to make it worth the extra 20 million. He's an anti rebuilding move, so I don't like it for your team either. Zach's tendency to get worn down over the 82 game season is a reason to be concerned too.

BUT, it's incorrect to say that Zach makes teams worse!!! He doesn't. He made the Blazers better for several years. He made the clippers better till he got hurt and he made the knicks better. Don't judge everything by number of wins. Wins are a team statistic that have multiple factors including, the occasional tank and bad coaches.

[GrizzledGrizzFan]

BUT, it's incorrect to say that Zach makes teams worse!!! He doesn't. He made the Blazers better for several years. He made the clippers better till he got hurt and he made the knicks better. Don't judge everything by number of wins. Wins are a team statistic that have multiple factors including, the occasional tank and bad coaches.

Not being argumentative, but during Zach's stay in Portland they were under .500 and only made the playoffs two times (both first round exits).

[scratch21]

You guys missed out. Good luck trying to get a player of his caliber, knowing how your OP is.

[It_Was_Typed]

He's a ballhog, has a low basketball IQ and is a known cancer.

No thanks.

[Luv those Knicks]

BUT, it's incorrect to say that Zach makes teams worse!!! He doesn't. He made the Blazers better for several years. He made the clippers better till he got hurt and he made the knicks better. Don't judge everything by number of wins. Wins are a team statistic that have multiple factors including, the occasional tank and bad coaches.

Not being argumentative, but during Zach's stay in Portland they were under .500 and only made the playoffs two times (both first round exits).

Well, 02-03 doesn't count because Zach was a rookie who played under 20 MPG and the Blazers still had some of their core from their run for the title in 2000.

03-04 was Zach's first year as the Blazer's best player. They had a pretty bad team that year. Sheed was still there, but it was obvious they planned to dump him, and they finally did before the deadline. The rest of the team was banged up and not very good. 41 wins.

04-05, Zach's 2nd year as a starter, again, Portland didn't have a great team, a bunch of scorers (Zach, Miles, SAR, an aging Stoudamire, an aging Van Exel) Portland went 27-55, but Zach got hurt half way through the season. Portland was 20-29 when Zach was on the roster (He played 46 of those 49 games). 7-26 when he left for the season. That indicates that Zach made Portland better because they went 7-26 without him.

05-06, Zach's 3rd year as a starter. Portland goes 21-61. I'm sorry, but this was one Lousy team. Their 2nd best player was Darius Miles. Their 3rd best was Ruben Patterson. Yuk, Yuk and Yuk. take Zach away and this is a 10 win team.

06-07. 32 wins. The Portland team is making improvements. Brandon Roy & Jarret Jack help. Zach has a very solid year. Take Zach away, this team wins fewer games.


07-08. The Knicks blew up this year. Yuk. Portland felt that with Aldridge and Oden, they didn't need Zach and they got a nice young player, named Channing Frye (who eventually sucks, but at the time of the trade, People felt he still had potential) and they cut like 30 million in salary and they get under the cap for 2009 and 2010. Portland loves the trade, but people who are honest, know that Zach helped the blazers win, he didn't make them lose.

The Knicks are awful. Coach Isiah doesn't work out. Marbury cries and the Knicks had a better team than the 23 wins suggest, but they had bad chemistry thru and thru. Knick fans will tell you that Marbury and Curry were bigger problems to the chemistry than Zach, who really wasn't bad. Ugly season and too much went wrong. The Knicks were also in tank mode this season. Idiah knew that a high pick would help. that's not a recipee for wins.

08-09, if Zach stays in NY, NY has a legit shot for playoffs. He gets traded for Mobley (who never plays a game) and Tim Thomas, who kinda sucks. Knicks missed Zach in 08-09. No question, and the Clipers likd him, before he got hurt and before they went into tank mode. and in Zach's defense. It's the clippers. They are one of the worst run franchises in the NBA.


I'm not saying that this was a good trade for you guys. I already said it wasn't. Zach has a tendency to quit when the season is going poorly, he's injury prone and he does make mistakes, like bad shot selection and ball hogging, but to say he's a cancer and an automatic negative is unfair. He'd make your team better, it just wouldn't be worth it because what's 4-6 more wins to a rebuilding team?

If Zach ever lands on a well run team, a team like the pistons (look what they did for Rasheed's rep, or the cavs with Lebron or the Spurs - a team like that. Then people will suddenly say, you know what, this guy's not bad.


I'm not saying he's a quireboy or an allstar, but the guy is one of the most overcritisized players in the NBA and he has, usually, made his team better.

[dark-child]

I think to lay the team demise at his feet is a little unfair. He has clearly been in bad situations and still performed. He is not a leader but a follower so if you don't have knuckleheads leading him amuck he will be okay. I still favor pursuing a deal for him.

[It_Was_Typed]

He's the guy that sucker punched a team mate in Portland and threw a cup of water at someone in New York.

I tend to stay away from players like that. Far, far away.

[dark-child]

You do know that Michael Jordan is reported to have hit both Will Perdue and Steve Kerr during their playing days in Chicago? Steve Kerr, what in the world could he have done to deserve to get slapped?

I'm just saying things happen. I am not defending who he is as a person but he is not the sole reason things have went wrong with those teams. When Portland were notorious and they were the jailblazers and two of them were pulled over smoking marijuana on the way home from a road game, he was not in the vehicle. It was our assistant coach Damon Stoudamire and Rasheed Wallace. I say this only that there was plenty of bad judgement to go around. Why is everything sticking to Randolph but not anyone else like he was the ring leader?

[loflin3hree5ive]

Thabeet/Gasol/Randolph would have been a nice 3 man rotation up front for Memphis. Randolph only has 2 years left on his deal and unless Memphis has a big trade up its sleeve, they won't get a better player to fill that spot. Clips will eventually get an expiring at worst for Randolph if he stays healthy this season (if it even takes that long). As a Clipper fan, I'm glad this trade fell through.