Fitting a Really Fat, Square Peg into a Round Hole

Photo from Getty Images...annnnnd it totally makes me think that Reggie was grabbing something he shouldn't have.


Just so you know, I'm pretty sure that I advocated trading Randolph to Memphis for god knows what in the name of cap space. Boy do the Knicks need that. But after seeing Randolph's production in the early going (I know, it's pre-season), to say I'm having second thoughts is an understatement.

The slated starting lineup is Duhon, Crawford, Richardson, Lee, and Randolph. There are some pretty glaring problems with that, and only one of them is named Chris Duhon. The other may or may not start with a Q and rhme with Linton Fichardson. I thought that long lost Ninja Turtle Zach Randolph might be among that group, but the more I hear from D'Antoni and the more I read about him in camp and beyond, I'm convinced this guy can not only play in D'Antoni's system, but thrive in it. I remember Will Leitch saying that as American fans of sports, we love redemption stories. We love giving everyone that isn't named O.J. or John Rocker a second chance to correct their mistake. With Zach, I guess you could argue that he's made quite a few mistakes and is probably on his fourth or fifth chance by now. But with the coaching situations in Portland and then in New York, I'm not sure how much deterrence he actually had. This is 100% wholesome assumption, but if that is indeed the case, is it possible that all Zach needed was the right coach?

Conditioning is a problem, but from what I understand, the effort is there. Zeebo is running and he's running hard. There will be criticisms about how he stops the ball, but I don't consider that to be as much of an issue. The guy can flat out score, and you're naive if you thought there weren't any ball-stoppers in Phoenix (don't make me play that rhyming game again). The important thing is that he's moving on the offensive end and not camping down on the block or in the high post. If Randolph is setting picks, cutting down the lane, or even flaring out on the pick and pop, he will be successful this season.

There's a strong chance that I'll look back on this post in a few months and either insist that I had hit my head that day or just deny that it ever happened. I hope not, but c'mon, this is Zach Randolph. But I've considered the Knicks opener a must-see since they hired Pringles, and this only fuels my desire to see just what this team can do. This team will be bad, and sometimes they'll be downright awful, but the valuation of Wilson Chandler, Nate Robinson, and David Lee along with seeing how Jamal Crawford, Quentin Richardson, and now Randolph operate within the system make the old look, new era Knicks interesting, at the least.