Kenny Smith: Zach Randolph is the best post player in the league

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What don't people understand about trading huge contracts, especially for a guy that wasn't highly thought of?

Randolph's reputation was nearly the same in 2007 as it is now. He wasn't looked at as this kind of player at all.....because he wasn't. He was an immature player who was massively overpaid, and no one wants one of those. Combine that with his contract running through 2011, past the 2010 FA, and it's not likely at all the Blazers could have gotten more from him.

Saying the Blazers should have gotten more for Randolph is not being realistic. Hopefully you people will understand this one day.

 

Very hard to come by. I think only Zach, Dwight Howard and who am I missing are the only players to average over 20 points and +10 rebounds a game.

 

1. We got close to nothing back for him. Nothing that helped the team. I would go so far as to say it hurt the team because I believe Pritchard was reticent to make other trades in order to preserve his valuable cap space, which really didn't pan out close to anyone's expectations. For over 2 years, the Blazers were held hostage in the name of preserving this cap space, while at the same time not addressing its real needs.

2. Again, based on current contracts at the time and production, he really wasn't overpaid. He was not a Brandon Roy situation where he's getting paid a lot but not producing. He's always produced. He wouldn't have been an allstar if he did not produce. But then again, the Zach haters at the time brought up he never made it to the playoffs and was a stat-machine that inhibited winning. So now we have him winning in the playoffs and the Zach haters are trying to justify Pritchard selling "low" and still believing it helped the Blazers.

3. If that was the best Pritchard could get back from ZBO, he's a horrible GM and should be fired, which he was.

 

Ha ha. If it is "hardly damning", then why the fuck is KP unemployed by an NBA front office?

 

Are you not understanding that his contract ran through this season, and that he wasn't worth it at the time KP traded him?

It's like you guys are purposely ignoring the fact he was traded 3 times for basically nothing. No one wanted his contract and he was just coming off of MF surgery.

Oh btw..

Questionable character, black hole on the court, huge contract on top of it? Yuck. All of that is exactly why the Blazers traded him, and why a lot of teams weren't willing to give up much. Too big of a risk. 3 years after the Blazers traded him it's nice to see he finally grew up. It's a shame it couldn't happen sooner.

Can you conclude that is what got him fired? I bet not.

No one knows why KP was fired, but I think we have an idea it had more to do than just basketball reasons. If Allen thought KP was such a terrible basketball mind he wouldn't have asked him to finish the draft the same day he fired him.

#winning

 

He was still a 20/10 power forward. Almost his whole career.

I believe every gm that traded him got fired. Its more indicative of the gm than the player.

The real risk is what the blazers did and the end result is no good.
X

 

Yes. Looking back zach was certainly worth the contract. Which means kevin pritchard is a poor evaluator of talent.

X

 

And it was a contract that most people would say he wasn't worth. It was basically a MAX contract, and no one at that time in their right mind would say ZBo was a MAX contract player. MF surgery...no defense...bad shot selection...eww.

Sure, there were teams interested in him. As you say teams are always looking to get their hands on 20/10 guys....They're just not going to give up a lot for a guy with Zach's red flags. Too big of risk financially since he was a different player and person back then. 3 years later it's nice to see he was finally able to put it together, but saying the Blazers should have got more value for him isn't being realistic.

 

Great. Are you going to still be crying about this shit five years from now? My god.

 

I remember the Bulls were interested in ZBo but a deal never materialized.

Thoughts on that, Denny?

 

I don't think Pritchard made a good decision in dealing Zach, and I'm a Pritchard fan.

On the other hand, I've gotten over it. Things would have progressed differently had he not been traded for pennies on the dollar and while I think the team would have won more, it's possible that they wouldn't have.

 

Now isn't that interesting. The Bulls chose cap space over a 20/10 guy with tons of baggage and other concerns. Hmm.

I think I've seen someone else do that.

 

The Bulls were just an example as I remember there being talks about ZBo being traded to Chicago. Plenty of other teams chose to do the same thing because of the length of his contract, and that it ran through 2010. Hell, that's why the Knicks ended up trading him.

ZBo with that contract and his level of play was just too risky, and that's why it was next to impossible to get anything great for him. He's been traded 3 times for almost nothing, and I don't think it's a coincidence. No one is going to give up a lot of value for a player with a MAX salary that isn't a MAX player. It's a gamble, and it's a gamble that didn't work out for the Knicks and Clippers. It ended up working for Memphis as Zach finally matured as a player and person.

edit - Btw, I'm sure the Bulls aren't the only team with a cheap owner.

 

again, they have bad GMs. Eligin Baylor and Isiah Thomas.