That Randolph
The Blazers flirt with trouble once again…
I saw a headline late last night within the basketball headlines on the front of SLAMonline that read:
Randolph “involved” in sex assualt claim (AP)
I had a pretty good idea which Randolph they were talking about, and it wasn’t Shavlik. In this case, it was Zach Randolph, the Portland Trailblazers forward who celebrated his ascent to the NBA by being convicted on underage possession of alcohol, punching a teammate in the eye and getting charged with a DUI, all in his first two seasons.
He seemed to straighten up and broke out in 2004, winning the Most Improved Player award and being rewarded for his hard work on the court with a six-year, $84 million contract, the largest deal in Blazers history.
He commemorated his big payday by being present while his brother allegedly shot three people in a bar dispute, though Zach was never charged in that case.
Following that incident, Blazers president Steve Patterson said: “Although there were no charges, Zach and for that matter all of our players, need to be aware of their surroundings and work hard to not put themselves in compromising situations. In accordance with our pledge, we will continue to work with our players to make sure they understand what it means to be a Portland Trail Blazer and the responsibilities that go along with representing this community.”
Two months ago, two cars registered to Randolph were stopped in Portland and charged with racing, and two loaded guns were found in one of the cars. Randolph was in one of the cars but not driving, and he was never charged with anything because he had a concealed weapons permit.
After that incident, Patterson said: “During the past few years, we have tried to hold our players to a higher standard of accountability and behavior. Even though Zach did not break any laws, his involvement in this matter showed poor judgment, and he fully understands that he needs to take more responsibility for his actions.”
Which leads us back to the initial headline. Portland police have announced that they’re investigating a complaint of sexual assault that may or may not involve…Zach Randolph. (Strange that they’d go ahead and throw his name out there, isn’t it?) The Oregonian says that last week, Randolph and another man were in a Portland hotel room with two women. When they all left the hotel room, one of the women went to a hospital and called the police; though her injuries have not been disclosed, the woman supposedly had to spend a few days in the hospital.
Obviously, Randolph has not been charged with anything, and my job isn’t to pronounce his guilt or innocence in this current matter.
There is one thing we can pronounce him guilty of, though: horrible judgement. The Blazers keep making excuses for him, and he keeps putting himself into bad situations and taking advantage of the team. Since signing that deal, Zebo’s scoring has gone down each season as he struggled with a knee injury. And while he has some nice moves in the post and solid jumper, I still think he’s one of the worst passers out of a double team in the NBA. That’s a facet of a basketball player’s game that generally improves with time, though Randolph just hasn’t gotten any better at it yet.
There’s a lot of Blazers fans out there who hope, year after year, that this will be the year the team puts it all together, that the team will leave behind its troublemaking past and “Jailblazers” nickname. But until the front office shows that they’re serious about this kind of nonsense and they’re willing to take a stand — and I mean either a long suspension or an immediate trade — the Blazers will remain the punchline to the jokes about the NBA’s misbehavior.
20 Responses to “That Randolph”
Aug.22 at 12:07 pm
Gilbert0 says:
Regardless of guilt/innocence or whatever, that is a shame all round. The blazers appeared to be turning it around and even though I am not a blazers fan I am still hoping to see some positive on the court stuff this year. Given the moves they made, I still think they are in for a better year than last year. That max deal for Randolph just looks worse and worse every year.
Aug.22 at 12:08 pm
Sam Rubenstein says:
I guess Zack never got the memo that the NBA is a corporate league now. For the most part guys are staying out of trouble. This is more of an NFL player move these days.
Aug.22 at 12:26 pm
Cheryl says:
You know, maybe I’m wrong and this is just a gut reaction to this situation and not very well thought out, but why don’t teams start to void contracts of players that keep violating “morality clauses”? I mean, to consequence a player by effectively “firing” them, maybe some of them will look at the impact on their lifestyles and their family’s future, and decide to take seriously their jobs. A trade will just send them to a new city, and they can certainly afford to move. But by firing them, in essence voiding their contract and ending their salaries, would have a much more serious consequence for being involved in such questionable situations (both legally and morally). Anyway, I’m venting, but something’s got to be done.
Aug.22 at 12:32 pm
Mark says:
The Blazers are still two players away from heading into the Playoffs and a bright future: Zach Randolph and Darius Miles. As soon as they move those guys for some decent pieces, they can move forward. The problem is they can’t rush into a deal as they are unlikely to get more than 50 cents in the dollar for them…
Aug.22 at 12:59 pm
Tony Williams says:
There should be as much blame laid on management as the players. Stop babying these cats and Man Up! This is the same problem that’s plagued the Vikings. So long as the Steve Pattersons and Ziggy Wilfs of the sports world keep signing and rewarding head cases they get what they paid for. -TW-
Aug.22 at 2:36 pm
Drew says:
I think they should void his contract let him go regardless of compensation. The sad thing is another team will give him a chance and millions of dollars only to see him have perhaps 1 good year then start messing up again.
Some ppl just don’t handle the riches and the fame very well. They become complacent and don’t grow up from their impoverished roots.
Mike Tyson being the best example of this.
Money does not necessairly buy you a clue or class. Zach had his chance at millions and a future, he’s basically shit all over it and he should be dismissed from the NBA and others who are more willing to sacrifice and work hard for a lifetime of wealth should be given the chance.
Aug.22 at 3:22 pm
Mr. Pink says:
Look, the only thing that should matter is wether he was guilty of a crime or not. As long as you didn’t do anything illegally, you did nothing wrong.
Aug.22 at 3:46 pm
Cheryl says:
I, respectfully, don’t agree with you Mr. Pink. If it’s true that this hotel encounter ended with a woman in the hospital, whether he caused the injuries or not, he should have not been there, period. And, if it started out consenual and ended violently, well, that seems to me would be a demonstration “doing something wrong”. Dam, who raised you?
Aug.22 at 5:01 pm
Mr. Pink says:
If he wasnt the person who caused the injuries, then he is not responsible for them. And if the encounter ended violently but he didnt do anything to cause it to become violent, then he doesnt deserve any blame for it.
Aug.22 at 5:24 pm
SD says:
Mr. Pink here made a good point… if he was there but didn’t act violently and what not and the other man caused it then he shouldn’t take the blame. He can’t possible control what the other man does…. who knows maybe he actually made an attempt too, but was fought back or threaten? we werne’t there. That said he does have bad judgement as to where he actually ends up. And if keeps doing that time and time again, then there really might be something wrong with his character. some people really don’t handle riches well, suddenly with all this money, they just go crazy. But management was the one who gave him the contract no one pointed a gun at the management’s head, the management had bad judgement judging and figuring people out. If someone offered him money he’ll take it, if someone offered me money like that i’ll take it. Greedy? yes maybe? but when it’s all said and done it’s human nature. Plus this whole dealing with money and fame from a poverize (sp?) background reminds me of Allen Iverson. Anyways all im saying maybe sometimes it’s not judgment maybe he’s just sticking to his ‘group’ althoi his group is bad influence on him, however he doens’t wanna turn his back on them just cuz he has a fame and money now? There’s too many ways to look at this, but we’re all human in the end, we can go out and say he’s this and that. something should be done, and maybe NBA should reconsider how the contracts are, maybe for instance a team can void a contract if the player breaks the morality thing and in the contract it says the player cannot sign with another team for X number of years (the X being 1 or 2.. but no longer than 2 or 3) then that ways as someone above mentioned.. then maybe the player will be removed from all the riches realize how hard life is.. and come back in a year or two, more mature???? Yes money doens’t buy you class and a clue.. totally agree… but before you say something like that.. think about yourself first… don’t make it sound like you can do it.. but that person did shit and couldn’t do it..
maybe if we were them, we might do the same thing too.. who knows? peace outz
Aug.22 at 6:47 pm
LordGefroh says:
As a Portland resident and lifelong Blazer fan, I’ll speak for most of us when I say “WTF.”
Aug.22 at 9:49 pm
gioforeal says:
Sudden wealth doesn’t cause dysfunction,it reveals it.Put some people in a position to succeed,and some will.Put some people in a position to fail,and still,only some will.There are quite a few state lottery winners whose lives were ruined AFTER they won a lot of money…
Aug.23 at 4:16 am
Santtu says:
So what Mr. Pink and SD are saying is that if one doesn’t actually commit the crime (in this case most probably rape), he doesn’t have any responsibility for it? It’s OK to just stand by and do nothing? So, you would just stand by doing nothing while, say, one of your buddies raped a girl in a hotel room somewhere? How very civil of you. And, anyways, it is in fact illegal in most countries not to interfere if you see something like this happening.
Aug.23 at 6:41 am
jologs says:
a contract is a contract is a contract.
the GM who gave him the contract should be at fault here. talk about bad judgement.
Aug.23 at 11:13 am
Cheryl says:
That’s what I’m saying, Santtu! Whether he was the perpetrator or there while it was happening before him, do something to stop it from happening. And if you’re hanging out w/a guy that would rape someone, then that’s a character flaw, if you ask me. Look, I don’t know what went down, but if a woman had injuries that had to be tended to days later, to me, there’s something very wrong about that.
Aug.23 at 12:20 pm
Drew says:
While I agree you shouldn’t forget where you came from, nor forget your friends, sometimes you have friends who were good for your or okay to be around when you were younger, but your interests and paths change as you grew older. We all have those friends who just never grew up and still get drunk at an age where most ppl are settling down with a significant other, kids, career etc and that fool of a friend is still partying like he’s in college.. so you start to see less and less of them as your lives are headed in different directions. It’s called maturity to recognize this and obviously Zach has not matured enough to recognize when he needs to distance himself from shady characters.. and most assuredly Portland has to shoulder some of the blame for giving him the loot. They should also take responsibility by releasing him without compensation to sent a message.
it would be ideal if another team in the league didn’t throw an absurd contract his way too.. maybe then he would grow up.
Aug.24 at 3:34 pm
Don says:
i am bored to see yet another once-seem-promising player to fall. indeed the management should be blamed for rushing long-term deal solely becuz a player happened one good year. (it’s juz gambling with clubs’money) while there is nothing can be done to constrain players’ bargain power, guess the clubs should pressurize management by firing whoever signed such risky deals. Shame on the players who are corrupted,too.
Aug.28 at 12:52 pm
MEEK says:
WHY DO YOU ALL ALWAYS BELIEVE THE GIRL? IF YOU KNOW ZACH PERSONALLY, YOU WOULD KNOW HE IS NOT THE TYPE TO RAPE ANYBODY, HE DOES NOT HAVE TOO. DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY GIRLS THROW THEMSELVES AT NBA PLAYERS? ALOT ARE MONEY HUNGRY. DONT BELIEVE ALL OF WHAT YOU HEAR, AND IF YOU EVER GET TO KNOW ZACH PERSONALLY YOU WOULD KNOW HE IS A GOOD GUY WITH A KIND HEART WHO TAKES CARE OF ALL HIS PEOPLE AND FAMILY. IF MY ASS GOT RAPED, I WOULD GO TO THE ER ASAP NOT DAYS LATER WHEN YOU THINK MABEY YOU CAN GET SOMETHING OUT OF IT. THE GIRL HAD SEX WITH SOME GUYS AND NOW FEELS BAD FOR BEING USED SO SHE SAYS SHE WAS RAPED, YEAH RIGHT!
Sep.12 at 1:28 pm
Support ZBO says:
I agree with Meek I know Zach personally we went to Michigan State together and reminded friends even after he entered the NBA. Zach is not the kind of person that would even hurt anyone. I have been to Zach’s games, college and professional and there are always some groupie there throwing themselves at him and other players. It is sad to say but that is part of being a professional athlete the groupies come with being an athlete it like an extra signing bonus. I believe that this girl and many other do things like this and make allegations like this to try to cash in on a big pay day. I don’t think Zach raped the girl but I do believe that Zach and other athlete need to be more careful in who they are around and what they do. If Zach never took this girl back to the hotel and went home to his girlfriend and new baby like he should have this would have never happened. I don’t believe Zach raped anyone but I believe that he needs to be more responsible he is too old to always be in trouble and if you notice he is never by himself when the allegations happen. Zach needs to be careful of the company he keeps.
Sep.12 at 3:27 pm
Jerome says:
Get Zbo Some Help. this is a young person who has been in one thing after another. If he goes to another team there will be something else. It time for Zach to become a man. Zach is a father. If he was there when this happen then he is part of it. Maybe some jail time will help him become a man, and maybe he will stop acting like a boy