Eastern Conference Exec: Randolph's a 'Black Hole'

LAS VEGAS – Where else but the summer league can you see Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak being heckled by a Lakers fan sitting 15 feet away? Where else but here can Ron Artest’s little brother sit on the Kings bench dressed in a Kings uniform?

It’s a very casual environment where scouts, executives and coaches are given seats behind both baskets, which is heaven for a basketball writer.

Most NBA coaches and executives have a similar take on the Knicks decision to acquire Zach Randolph; they are not sure how it will work.

One former head coach said “They will be tough to guard in the paint” while one GM says “neither will defend.”

Perhaps the best story of Randolph comes from an executive with an Eastern Conference team.

“He is a black hole,” the executive said. “I was watching a tape last season where he caught the ball in the post and spun around twice. He did a 720! I had to call everybody into the room to show them. But I tell you what, when he shot the ball it went in. He’s just never going to pass.”

And finally, one GM can’t believe how slow the Knicks have become with the addition of Randolph.

“Is Isiah going to use his mid-level exception on Jamaal Magloire?” the exec joked.

As for rookie Wilson Chandler, the consensus is that he is a great athlete but he’s limited offensively. Basically, he is Renaldo Balkman Jr.

“To me he’s not a first-round pick,” said one scout. “But I didn’t think Balkman was a first-round pick either.”

* * *

The Knicks face Kevin Durant and the Sonics tonight and I’m interested to see how Chandler and Randolph Morris both perform. I’m not buying this notion that Morris was a lock to be a first-rounder in this year’s NBA Draft. He didn’t show much last season and he looks like another lumbering big man that doesn’t shoot well.

With Jared Jeffries, Malik Rose and Jerome James currently on the roster I don’t see how Morris will get much of a look during the regular season.

* * *

I wonder if the Knicks tried to make a run at Lamar Odom before they traded for Zach Randolph. I think Odom is the most under-valued player in the league. He creates mismatches, he can dribble, pass and shoot. For some reason it hasn’t worked out with Kobe Bryant in Los Angeles but Odom had great success with Dwyane Wade in Miami. Imagine a starting lineup with Eddy Curry, Odom, David Lee, Jamal Crawford and Stephon Marbury? I like that better than Curry, Randolph, Quentin Richardson, Crawford and Marbury.

that magloire quote was funny.

[Edited by - djsunyc on 07-09-2007 4:28 PM]

DUH!

We have 2 now in him and Curry. It should be interesting.

Hopefully the shock troops will be more effective as a change of pace. I think we're slow when Curry, Marbs and Q are on the floor anyway.

Randolph and Curry are going to grind our offense down to halt. Boooorrrrrriiiinnnngggggg.

Posted by Anji:

Funny stuff, love the Wilson Chandler part............



Random war room guy "Zeke, you wanna trade down and pick a second rounder. Alot of good talent fall today and we are targeting a second rounder nobody got to workout. Mardy has bad knees at 22, marbury has bad knees, you should cosider picking up Jordan or Pruitt"

Zeke "Nan I'm good.............."

LOL. People said the same about Balkman last year, but the bottomline for me is can the guy play. I heard talk that there were some teams interested in drafting Chandler in the first round. Who knows if that is true or not but apparently IT thought there was enough truth to the rumors to pick CHandler where he did.

Posted by kam77:

The most boring team of the Decade just got done dusting off their last trophy.

Agreed. It won't be boring if we are scoring and the team is winning. This team never was going to run much anyway once we got curry. Moreover, we don't have the type of ball-handlers and decision-makers needed to make a run and gun offense work on a consistent basis. A half-court offense is better for this team, especially once we add some more shooters.

If there is anyway to ship zachs fat ass to la for odom, i don't care what we have to include to get it done i do it, give them chandler as well and a future pick it'w worth it......

Actually Isola just looks at this logically as oppossed to being optimistic that anything isiah will do will garner some victories i really just have a heard time believing in a gm with limited knowledge of winning players.

His talent evaluator is joke: Channing, Nate, Jefferies, Jerome, Crawford when was the last time these showed you they have what it takes to be winners in this league

In three years all isiah has to show for himself is collins, balkman, and lee a terrific group of energy role players, one of which will be a fringe allstar. Other than that he has spent and cost the knicks 300 million for signings any ******* with insider could have told you were disasters waiting to happen

arkrud - you need to check your math homes

In three years The People's Choice David Lee will be 27

The steady and heady Mardy Collins will be 26

The soon-to-be topic of discussion Wilson Pickett Chandler will be 26

The manchild in the promised land Eddy Curry will be 27

Zach will be pushing AARP membership at the ripe old age of 29

ain't nunna dem cats old

Posted by kam77:

The most boring team of the Decade just got done dusting off their last trophy.

There's a huge difference




Spurs Defense=City Full Of Activity


Knicks Defense=A Desert of Tumbleweeds



Spurs win championships


Knicks don't make the playoffs

I can see this is gonna be a BIGTIME "hater" vs. "lover" year around here. Already so many guys are happy to read anything negative that is said by some phantom GM. 1st of all Isiah has more than proved his ability to recognize talent, so I really don't care what another GM thought of Chandler, Nichols or Morris for that matter. You would think that his track record would be respected around here by those who follow the team.

As for the trade. I don't see how Isola or any GM can really have anything negative to say about the deal. We gave up nothing and got back a player that can produce. Yeah he has fault's but so do many NBA players. How much of a black hole can he be avg'ing 2 assists on a lousy team? That seems like a overstatement to me. This would only be a problem if he's missing shots or forcing them when he has a teammate open. Often times people get remembered for who they were and not who they are now. Zach and Curry both seem to be trying to improve as team players. I've read articles that have said Zach is trying to get better, so i'll wait and see how he does in that regard.

From what i've seen of Zach and Curry despite being big they both get down the court fairly well. I expect that we'll be a much more efficient offensive team and with more made baskets that will allow us to get back on D. I really don't see much of an issue here. When Curry's in the game we aren't gonna be racing up and down anyway. Our goal is gonna be to slow the pace down to a half court game. Also since we are a top FTA team, that will also take a lot of the pace out of the game. This is a power team and that's how we'll win. The real key will be how good our perimeter shooting and D will be. If we hit for a good % then teams will be stretched trying to cover us inside and out. This is why i'm hoping Nichols not only makes the team but sees some PT.

Posted by nixluva:

I can see this is gonna be a BIGTIME "hater" vs. "lover" year around here. Already so many guys are happy to read anything negative that is said by some phantom GM. 1st of all Isiah has more than proved his ability to recognize talent, so I really don't care what another GM thought of Chandler, Nichols or Morris for that matter. You would think that his track record would be respected around here by those who follow the team.

As for the trade. I don't see how Isola or any GM can really have anything negative to say about the deal. We gave up nothing and got back a player that can produce. Yeah he has fault's but so do many NBA players. How much of a black hole can he be avg'ing 2 assists on a lousy team? That seems like a overstatement to me. This would only be a problem if he's missing shots or forcing them when he has a teammate open. Often times people get remembered for who they were and not who they are now. Zach and Curry both seem to be trying to improve as team players. I've read articles that have said Zach is trying to get better, so i'll wait and see how he does in that regard.

From what i've seen of Zach and Curry despite being big they both get down the court fairly well. I expect that we'll be a much more efficient offensive team and with more made baskets that will allow us to get back on D. I really don't see much of an issue here. When Curry's in the game we aren't gonna be racing up and down anyway. Our goal is gonna be to slow the pace down to a half court game. Also since we are a top FTA team, that will also take a lot of the pace out of the game. This is a power team and that's how we'll win. The real key will be how good our perimeter shooting and D will be. If we hit for a good % then teams will be stretched trying to cover us inside and out. This is why i'm hoping Nichols not only makes the team but sees some PT.

It's not "hater" vs. "lover" it is "IT lover" versus "NY Knicks lover"
It's not too much left of the Knicks but funs who want their club back from someone who took it away.

The trade results will be clear after team will play 20-30 games into the season. Now it is complete speculation.