Zach Randolph attended my alma mater, Michigan State University, thus giving NBAObsessed a close up look at a young roly poly star in the making. Randolph came to Michigan State on a special program for learning disabilities with some legal controversy in his background, including something about a gun.

Randolph came to play for Tom Izzo and brought an extreme level of talent. Your gallivanting author can remember early in that year watching both Jason Richardson of the Suns and Zach Randolph of the Grizzlies coming off the bench for Michigan State University. There is no forgiveness in the approach of Tom Izzo. You have to come to practice, get the grades, pay attention, and play defense. Mostly play defense.

Zach is squeezing the most out of his talent

Even as a freshman coming off the bench you could see the talent oozing out of Zach Randolph. He had a variety of moves under the basket either facing or with his back to the basket. His footwork was excellent. He was getting ready to dominate college ball when the NBA came calling.

After being labeled a black hole on offense and never really fitting in, Zach Randolph has finally found a home in Memphis with the Grizzlies and the Grizzlies think they have found someone special.

Where would the Griz be without the nine-year veteran?

The Griz certainly wouldn’t have been in the winner’s seat without Randolph’s 32 points and career-high 24 rebounds powering them past the Denver Nuggets, 102-96, before an announced crowd of 13,385.

“I knew he’d be good. I had no idea it would be like this,” Griz point guard Mike Conley said. “Shockingly, people here were down on him. But he’s 100 percent different than what people thought.”

Even Randolph seemed baffled by the skepticism upon his arrival. Now, he doesn’t understand the hoopla over his sturdy play. He’s always contended his impact is explained by the numbers. Against the Nuggets, Randolph’s rebounding total was an NBA season-high, eclipsing the 23 boards Orlando’s Dwight Howard grabbed against Indiana last week.
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Coach Hollins has been trying to increase the toughness of the Memphis team, because even with Randolph they are not going to win a lot of games on talent alone. Zach Randolph is a big key to that increasing toughness. Now it is time for Memphis to deliver some victories.

Image: Zuma Press

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Zach Randolph is sent to the Clippers

The Knicks have shown the door to half the team or so it seems. Time to clean out the deadwood and find some winners.

The summer of 2010 is still almost two years away, but on Friday the New York Knicks officially made themselves players in what is expected to be the richest free agent crop in recent history. In two bold strokes, Knicks president Donnie Walsh has shed a pair contracts that have hung around his neck like an albatross since he assumed control of basketball operations last April: Jamal Crawford, the offensively-effective-yet-defensively-putrid guard who was shipped to Golden State for forward Al Harrington, was owed more than $20 million on a contract that ran through the 2010-2011 season; and Zach Randolph, a stat stuffing machine who, along with reserve guard Mardy Collins, was sent to the Los Angeles Clippers for forward Tim Thomas and guard Cuttino Mobley, is scheduled to pocket $38 million through ‘10-’11.

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So are the Knicks setting up to get LeBron James or Chris Bosh as some are saying?

Maybe they are just cleaning out the losers and trying to get players that fit in D’Antoni’s fast paced system?
Photo source Newscom

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Eddy Curry does not have the quick look

Watching the Knicks struggle last year, the games often revolved around sloppy play or selfish moves. The one area where they seemed to have some strength was down on the box with Eddy Curry and Zach Randolph. New coach Mike D’Antoni just does not see it that way. Eddy is out and small ball is in.

After playing in four of the seven Knicks preseason games (including one DNP/coach’s decision), Curry was surprised by the news that he is not part of his coach’s regular rotation.

“Definitely stunned, especially being that [D'Antoni] didn’t tell me that,” Curry said Tuesday. “I haven’t talked to him. I’m here with him every day. All he has to do is tell me. I’m definitely stunned to hear that.”

Last season, the 25-year-old Curry averaged 13.2 points and 4.7 rebounds per game. During the preseason, he averaged 4.3 points and 2.5 boards in nearly 14 minutes.
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This was often a complaint when D’Antoni coached the Suns. He would go small and quick for his quick shooting offense. During the regular season the Suns would pile up the victories, but in the playoffs the lack of size often caught up with them.

Last year the Sun tried adding the Shaq to the mix to give them some size when the game went half court in the playoffs, but Shaq is kind of old now and it just did not work.

Photo source Newscom

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Michael Curry will try to right the Piston ship

The NBA is proud to bring a brand new coach to your area. They did it for 8 teams.

Think about that. 8 new coaches.

Ever heard of a brand new coach immediately winning it all? It has probably happened, but not to my knowledge.

Usually you just fired the last coach because the team stunk so bad he could not make them win.

So this year we bring you the 8 trying to make the magic happen.

Michael Curry, Pistons

Curry, 40, was an assistant to last year’s coach, Flip Saunders, who was fired. From 2000 to 2004, Curry was president of the National Basketball Players Association. He’s also a former NBA vice president for basketball operations and played for six teams in an 11-year career.
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Michael is lucky. He inherits a veteran team with a real honest to god chance to win it all. The team knows him. The GM, Joe Dumars, knows him. Heck, the hotdog vendor in section 133 knows him. Michael Curry was a defensive minded team oriented over achiever as a player. He even used to plan out bike trips and movies for when the players were on the road.

But can he coach? Well, he can as an assistant, but can he as the head coach?

Vinny Del Negro, Bulls

Del Negro, who has no coaching experience at any level, follows interim coach Jim Boylan, who replaced Scott Skiles. Del Negro, 42, formerly was assistant general manager for the Phoenix Suns and played for five teams in a 12-year NBA career.

Scotty Skiles and Jim Boylan is a tough act to follow. Vinny has his hands full with that crew in Chicago. Skiles whipped and beat them to play defense and play as a team. Boylan found out they are lacking depth, size, speed, etc. Good Luck!

Erik Spoelstra, Miami Heat

Club President Pat Riley named Spoelstra, a seven-year assistant, to succeed him. Spoelstra, 37, is the youngest coach in the league.

This guy just has the job on loan until Pat Riley sees a good enough team to take over. Sure doesn’t hurt to have Dwyane Wade and the Matrix auditioning for jobs.

Larry Brown, Charlotte Bobcats

Have witnessed Larry up front with my Pistons and he is an amazing coach and complicated man. He is always chasing after something that is missing in his life. Some think he is looking for his father that left him at young age, not literally, but figuratively.

Larry will put them in half court sets and make them play playoff style basketball. If teams listen, they win, but most young players do not want to play that way. Example: Chauncey Billups was close to a triple double one night and Larry pulled him and said “You don’t have a clue as to how to play point guard for me, do you?” Think about it.

Rick Carlisle, Dallas Mavericks

This one will be fun to watch. The Dallas Mavericks and Dirk Nowitzki were often shooting before crossing half court and now will be playing half court. Rick was the Piston coach before Larry and he alienated so many people that he had to be fired with a winning record. Chauncey Billups used to say they knew exactly what plays would be run in the last two minutes as Carlisle called all the plays. Rick also does not like to double on defense. Can Dirk defend?

Mike D’Antoni, New York Knicks

Mike has his hands full until the Knicks can clean house and find some D’antoni style players. He needs speed and outside shooting to go along with a pass first dribbling point guard, a la Steve Nash. Mike is a great coach and the players love his style. The ball gets shared and the pace is quick.

Can he play enough defense to win a title though?

Must be Michigan week in the NBA or something

Michael Curry, Detroit Pistons
Larry Brown, former Detroit Pistons coach
Rick Carlisle, former Detroit Pistons coach
Vinny Del Negro replaces Jim Boylan former assistant at Michigan State University
Before Jim Boylan was Scott Skiles former player at Michigan State University
Mike D’Antoni was brought in to replace Isiah Thomas former Detroit Piston
The D’Antoni wanted to trade Zach Randolph former player at Michigan State University
Terry Porter, former Detroit Pistons assistant coach
Scott Skiles, former player at Michigan State University
Scott will work for GM John Hammond and he worked under Joe Dumars of the Detroit Pistons.

Terry Porter, Phoenix Suns

A hustling guard as a player and an average coach at Milwaukee, Terry will have some talent to work with, but will drastically change the style for the Suns. Terry is a real believer in defense.

Scott Skiles, Milwaukee Bucks

Scott will have some hungry players in Michael Redd and Richard Jefferson. Maybe not enough talent to win, but that has never been an issue with Scott. He just wants you to bring the desire.

Photo source Newscom

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Zach Randolph only equals a Darko and a Marko?

How can this even be a real trade?

Memphis is looking to trade Darko and Marko? What? Come on.

No, as reported in Hoopsworld, …

The deal, which has been on the table for quite some time, had the Knicks sending Zach Randolph to the Grizzlies for Darko Milicic and Marko Jaric. As we’ve discussed at length in this space, the positive for the Knicks in what would otherwise seem like a lop-sided trade, would be the possibility that Mike D’Antoni’s expertise with European players might be just what Milicic needs to finally arrive as a productive NBA player.

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Zach’s value went down under Isiah Thomas and could go up under Mike D’Antoni or could not. Anyway, that seems to be the holdup on this trade. What is Zach really worth?

By the way, go to Hoopsworld. It is a fun read.

photo source newscom

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Isiah Thomas continues to believe

Isiah Thomas holds two jobs.

Isiah is team President of the New York Knicks.

Isiah is also Coach of the New York Knicks taking over the coaching duties after Larry the wanderer Brown was fired by the Knicks.

Now if you are the coach and you stink up the place, then the President will fire you. In this case, though, it may be the owner, Jim Dolan.

It is kind of hard to get the President to fire you when you are the President.

It is time for the owner, Jim Dolan, to step and do the right thing. Put the Knicks fans out of their misery and double fire Thomas.

He tried and did not get it done.

The New York Post, citing an unidentified source, reported Saturday that Thomas told a friend he was considering stepping away from coaching to concentrate on the team presidency.

“That was a lie,” Thomas said. “That was just a flat-out lie. I would never, ever, ever quit. Ever.”

Of course, he could eventually be fired, and even Thomas seemed to acknowledge that. Asked about the idea that he could be removed, he responded: “When that happens, we’ll all know.”

The Daily News, citing an unidentified source, reported Saturday that Dolan is leaning toward making a change before the end of the season. source

All the signs of getting fired as coach are there. It is not just the losing record of 9 – 26. It appears he is losing his players. When a coach has lost his players that spells doom.

Still, the speculation that Thomas may be in his final days could make it difficult to deal with his players. In Friday’s 99-90 loss to Toronto, Thomas had his second incident in three weeks with a player on the sideline.

Last month, it was a heated exchange with Quentin Richardson during a loss at Charlotte. On Friday, forward Zach Randolph chose to sit toward the end of the bench when he was pulled, seeming to refuse Thomas’ request to sit next to him.

Considering the poor job Isiah has done in collecting players, could he also be soon fired as the President as well?

And this from an owner that recently rewarded Thomas with a multi-year contract extension. Might be kind of tough to do that.

Thing are getting hot in Knicks land.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Would you fire Isiah?

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Sports can really suck sometimes.

As fans, you often forget about a man’s character if he can help your team win. Admit it.

Isiah Thomas knows that if he can win, all will be well in New York and the NBA.

Tuesday the Knicks beat the Nuggets 119 to 112.

Fans are already beginning to love Isiah again.

It was the Denver Nuggets and George Karl, where things really began to spiral downward for Isiah.

Just a year ago, these Nuggets and Knicks had been co-conspirators in a night of sucker punches, suspensions and damaged public personas. Since the brawl, Thomas’ New York life has been one public humiliation after another. Karl called Thomas “an ass” and “full of (expletive)” after his Nuggets lost Carmelo Anthony for 15 games, and Thomas never did respond.

Ever since, Thomas has been backpedaling as Knicks emperor, a tumultuous tenure that has turned him inward, even bitter. For so long the subject of the tabloid’s back-page lampoons, this summer’s sexual harassment trial worked him to the front of the papers. Since losing the case, he has still tried to sell himself as the victim, not the perpetrator.

The front line of Eddie Curry and Zach Randolph is helping to transform the Knicks into a formidable team and make the winning possible to leave the fans thinking only of victory. Isiah knows how to survive.

Before those things can happen, there is the matter of Thomas’ last stand with his reshaped roster. Give Thomas this: He is a survivor. He doesn’t go down easily. Michael Jordan has long been reputed to have shunned him from the Dream Team in 1992, and Pistons owner Bill Davidson chose Joe Dumars over Thomas to run his franchise. And yes, Larry Bird fired him as Pacers coach in 2001. Always, Thomas has gotten up again. He still sees himself as the little kid who survived Chicago’s west side to turn himself into the game’s greatest little man ever.

That trial against a deposed Knicks executive seemed to hit him the hardest, though, because nothing devours the human spirit like going through the ringer in New York. In this preseason, Thomas has done a lot of feeling sorry for himself. Around the league, he is isolated. Even within the Garden, his power has been marginalized. Everywhere, it’s open season on Isiah Thomas. Before the game, someone asked Karl if he had apologized to Thomas for the nasty names he called him last December, and the Nuggets coach rolled his eyes and let out a long sigh.

It seems Isiah has worn out his friends and co-workers and is left with only the winning.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Will the Knicks be able to win enough this year?

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And he shall come from the East and lead them…

Denver is all set up to win the Northwest.

Think about this division. Greg Oden is out for the season at Portland and they let their other big man, Zach Randolph, go to the Knicks.

Seattle is playing for the future with young Rookie of the Year front runner Kevin Durant. They are young and inexperienced.

The Timberwolves are starting the Al Jefferson show and have yet to move up town with their supporting cast of castaways.

This leaves only Utah. Carlos Boozer, Deron Williams, Mehmet Okur present a solid core, but an unhappy Kirilenko really hurts them.

Carmelo is set to lead the Nuggets out of the Northwest.

He’s not the all-around threat James is, but he does exude greatness, able to put the ball in the basket as well as anyone in the game. All that has been missing are key ingredients like maturity and help. He feels he has both now. Excuses are out the window.

CBSSports.com believes in Anthony and the Nuggets, predicting they’ll overcome Utah in the Northwest Division. If they fail, it had better be a result of the scenario Karl believes possible, where Utah simply outperforms them and wins more than 60 games. That’s unlikely, but if it happens, Denver has every right to shake off the disappointment and feel good about its season. source

Introducing the Champions of the Northwest to be, the Denver Nuggets with an aging but still hungry Allen Iverson, a shoot happy Carmelo, a block happy Camby, and perhaps the key in Kenyon Martin.

Kenyon is coming off microfracture surgery and a lot depends on his recovery. Without Kenyon Martin they are not a very tough team on the offensive blocks.

Camby is counted on more for defense. Did you know he was the defensive player of the year? Came as a shock to me.

It appears any kind of chemistry on offense between The Truth and Melo should produce close to 50 victories and be good enough to win the division.

Hard to believe they have the horses to march through the playoffs, but we believed that about Cleveland and LeBron last year.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Who do you pick in the Northwest Division?

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