mediocre man

How about Randolph worked so hard that he came back last season to put up decent numbers when at the same time Amare Stoudemire played 3 games with the same surgery. Zach's surgery was earlier, but still Amare took the entire season off. he has his flaws, but the guy does work hard. I also believe it's on whatever coach we have to get it through Zach's head to let the offense come to him. If not sit his *** on the bench.

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"SHOW ME THE BUFFET!!!"


Former Blazer Alaa Abdelnaby on being a student athlete at Duke. "The only way I could get 5 A's at Duke was to spell my name"


I'm Mediocre Man, and I approve this message.

mook

there are five things that make me excited to see if Randolph can return to his glory days of a few years ago:

1. he's finally going to be reasonably healthy and conditioned. people dog on him (and rightly so), but the guy averaged 18/8 last season. yeah, the shooting percentage sucked, but 18/8 is still pretty good in comparison to most power forwards. and that's including the crummy stats he put up toward the end of the year. it is kind of exciting to think about how he'll do with a fresh start and healthier legs.

2. we finally have decent quality backups. Nate actually CAN yank Randolph this season. it's a little like when Stoudamire was our only healthy PG--the coach pretty much had to live with whatever crap he decided to do because there wasn't any other option. who was he going to sub in for Zach? Khryapa? ugh. with Magloire, Raef and Aldridge, there's always going to be someone willing to do it right if Randolph isn't.

3. we won't have to watch Randolph try to play center in spot minutes. ugly.

4. better play making. just from summer league I can tell Roy is a better playmaker than Telfair ever was for us. and he'll probably be playing the 2 alongside a pg? sign me up! Zach should get several more easy baskets just from better-run plays.

5. better outside shooting. Roy/Raef's shooting should drastically improve the spacing on the floor over Telfair/Ratliff. Webster is only going to improve as a shooter. anything we get out of Outlaw will be an improvement. reports are that Jack is hitting shots much more consistently now that the ankle's healed.

maybe it's just late September, the time when I'm usually most optimistic about the Blazers (because it's about as far removed from them actually playing as you can get). but this is going to be a big year for Randolph, and I really don't think Lucy (reality) is going to yank the ball out from our round-headed, goofy-looking Charlie Brown (Zach).

gatorpops

I agree with this whole heartedly. I predict that Zack will play very well this year. I predict that Miles may even play well.

Last years team was very competive early and until major injuries occured they were around 500 ball. This years team is much deeper than last and I believe better over all.

I really liked what Joel said about Sergio's passing ability in the pick-up games, in the interview with Barrett on Blazers.com. Mentioned it a couple of times.

This is a better "team" and Zack must fit in or sit out but I tink he will.

Good post.

gatorpos

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"Young, old, it doesn't matter. It's all about how you play."

"LaMarcus is a poor man's nothing." (meaning he is the real thing)

"You just got a foretaste of what life is going to be like all the time in a couple of years.

"It was tough when what’s his name got hot"

...they've got to be a pain to prepare for defensively.

Samuel

We get it: you don't like Zach Randolph

TallBottom

Well said I think (hope you're right)
and if Miles does play well that's when we should move him!

drexlersdad

here ya go

Although not much, the stats show a small improvement in the teams play when ZBO is on the floor. Lets see how the team plays before trading our best post player for NOTHING. If we still suck this year im sure we could trade him at the deadline.

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ebott

Those are the last meaningful games this team played.

You have nothing to back this up with. You might as well be making it up. I'm sure that in your head you think this is as true a statement as exists in the world. But you have no evidence to back it up with.

And as someone else pointed out he played the entire season. Most players that have this type of surgery take a year or two off. Point being that Zach is a badass!!!

Maybe this matters, maybe it doesn't. It's not uncommon for the best player on the team to also be the highest paid. Zach will come out and earn that money this year.

Sure. The Blazers won 21 games last year. Zach was the leading scorer in 14 of them. We lost 61 games last year and of those Zach was only the leading scorer in 23.

Record with Zach as the leading scorer 14-23. Not good mind you, but significantly better than the 7-48 record we had in games where Zach was not the leading scorer.

Summation: We do much better in games where Zach is the focal point of the offense.