Full Circle: Portland’s Past, Present Collide In Playoffs
By Chris Kirby
Sunday’s battle between the Portland Trail Blazers and Memphis Grizzlies will mark the first time the two teams have locked horns in the NBA Playoffs. This matchup will have a number of interesting angles, including the Grizzlies “Grit ‘n’ Grind” style of play versus the Blazers “flow offense,” as well as the high number of key players that are currently on the injury report.
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However, the most interesting subplot of this series may be the power struggle between two of the NBA’s premier forwards – LaMarcus Aldridge and Zach Randolph.
Randolph and Aldridge know each other very well from the one season they spent as teammates in the Rose City. You can call it a matchup between a mentor and a protégé, but Aldridge may have spent more time learning what not to do from Randolph during his one season playing behind him on the depth chart.
That’s not to say that Randolph doesn’t have a very efficient offensive game, because he does, but Z-Bo has been part of some of the worst off-the-court episodes in franchise history.
Randolph came to the Trail Blazers as a baby-faced 19 -year-old in 2001. He was drafted by the team with the 19th overall selection in the NBA Draft, and he turned out to be a great bargain for a contending team.
He began his career as a backup on the depth chart to Rasheed Wallace and Shawn Kemp, but by the time the 2003 Playoffs rolled around, Randolph had made a name for himself as a scoring and rebounding machine with a low center of gravity.
The Trail Blazers’ 2003 playoff series against the Dallas Mavericks turned out to be Randolph’s coming-out party to the rest of the world. The team quickly fell into a 0-3 hole against Dallas, but head coach Maurice Cheeks made the decision to insert Randolph into the lineup for the do-or-die Game 4.
Shockingly, the Blazers rallied back to tie the series, but they ultimately fell in Game 7. Randolph finished the series with averages of 13.9 points (on 52.5-percent shooting) and 8.7 rebounds per-game.
Unfortunately, the rise of Zach Randolph in Portland also coincided with the demise of the team all together. The Trail Blazers were riding a 21-year streak of consecutive playoff appearances in 2003, but they would miss the postseason first the first time in more than two decades the following season.
The team transitioned from being a team built around stars such as Wallace, Scottie Pippen and Damon Stoudamire to one run by Randolph, Sebastian Telfair and Darius Miles. While the Blazers had far less talent, the change was needed – the team had become a national punchline thanks to numerous run-ins with “Johnny Law.”
A number of the players had issues with smoking marijuana, as well as issue with referees (Wallace), giving away false identification (Qyntel Woods) and trying to pass drugs through an airport metal detector (Stoudamire).
Don’t get it twisted, Randolph was no angel either. Over six seasons in Portland, he got in trouble for underage drinking, driving under the influence and he even broke teammate Ruben Patterson’s (a man convicted of raping his children’s nanny) eye socket during practice.
Interestingly enough, Randolph (a rookie at the time) decided to hide out at veteran teammate Dale Davis’ house for a night so Patterson wouldn’t retaliate.
While he was somewhat of a deviant off of the court, Randolph was highly productive when he was on the floor. He averaged 16 points and 7.7 rebounds per-game during his time on the squad, and he also won the NBA’s Most Improved Player award in 2004.
Shortly after he won the honor, the Blazers front office had to weigh their options and decide whether to sign him to a long-term extension. Ultimately, they decided to take a gamble and agreed to pay him $84 million over five seasons – a signing they would soon regret.
With Randolph as their driving force, the Trail Blazers tied a franchise-worst record when they went 21-61 in 2005-06. The team was a complete mess – Randolph, Juan Dixon, Steve Blake, Telfair and Jarrett Jack led the team in minutes played. Thankfully for Portland fans, that was rock bottom.
The 2006 NBA Draft was a landmark night for the Portland Trail Blazers franchise. Outside of winning the 1977 NBA championship (or any meaningful playoff game), no other moment had as big of an impact on the franchise as that draft had. In one night, general manager Kevin Pritchard had completely revamped half of the roster.
After swinging a number of trades, the Blazers walked away with the two best players in the entire draft – future All-Stars LaMarcus Aldridge and Brandon Roy.
Aldridge began his career as a backup to the mercurial Randolph, but it soon became evident that LaMarcus was the future of the team at the power forward position.
“I love [Blazers owner] Paul Allen. They have great guys. It was my time to move on. Sometimes a player needs a fresh start. They had LaMarcus [Aldridge] playing forward and they got the No. 1 draft pick, so they tried to kick me to the curb. But, you know what? It’s all good. I’m happy for them. If I were the GM, I would have kept me and Oden.” –Zach Randolph after 2007 trade, via Oregon Live
The end of line for Randolph came in March 2007 when he was spotted at the Exotica International Club for Men in Portland. Normally, you wouldn’t think much of it – the man likes strip clubs. When you factor in that was on leave from the team so he could attend a funeral for two of his high school friends, it looks pretty bad.
Two months later, the franchise won the NBA’s draft lottery and they were awarded the first overall selection in the 2007 NBA Draft. The team ended up picking Greg Oden, as well as jettisoning Randolph to the New York Knicks in a trade for Steve Francis and Channing Frye.
When you consider that Francis was bought-out by the Blazers shortly thereafter, they basically traded Randolph for pennies on the dollar.
Fortunately for Randolph, he was able to resurrect his career in Memphis. He spent two years split between the Knicks and Los Angeles Clippers before landing on the Grizzlies. He quickly became the face of the franchise, racking up double-doubles on a nightly basis while providing toughness to their frontline.
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“Grit ‘n’ Grind” was born with Zach Randolph (and enhanced by Tony Allen), and the FedEx Forum quickly became known as “The Grindhouse.” His contributions to the hard-nosed attacking Grizzlies eventually led to two All-Star appearances (2010, 2013) and Randolph was able to redeem his career after nearly derailing it in Portland.
Meanwhile, Aldridge quietly became the face of Rip City after Roy sustained career-ending injuries and Oden became one of the biggest busts in NBA history. After being labeled soft early in his career, LaMarcus was able to develop a beautiful outside-in game. Statistically, he is the best mid-range shooter in the entire NBA, but he can also mix it up inside the paint.
He has been named to the Western Conference All-Star team for four consecutive years (2012-15), while averaging a double-double over the past two seasons.
Both of these two players epitomize their squads – Randolph is hard as nails and he never backs down from a fight, while Aldridge is quiet and often overlooked. When paired against one another this season, Aldridge has won the battle statistically (22.3 points and 8.0 rebounds in three games), but the Grizzlies have grinded out the win in each battle.
However, the NBA Playoffs are an entirely different beast. Every team goes back to 0-0 when the postseason begins, and the past meetings don’t mean anything. If the Portland Trail Blazers are going to move forward in the future, they will have to forget about the past while taking a substantial piece of it head on.
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