The Zach Randolph Drug Story, Day 2

Less than 24 hours after an Indianapolis news station reported that Grizzlies forward Zach Randolph was implicated in a recent drug bust, Randolph, and Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace, responded with official statements claiming innocence and a commitment to the Memphis community. These two statements follow reports that the initial story as reported last night was not entirely true.

In a statement released to the media Thursday afternoon, Randolph claimed that he "was not involved in any of the allegations" brought forth by Channel 6 News in Indianapolis. Furthermore, he noted that the "IMPD made an official statement around 6p EST stating that I am not a suspect in any current narcotics investigation." Throughout the statement, Randolph emphasized that he has learned lessons from his past mistakes and has worked hard to rebuild his public image. The full statement can be viewed here.

Zach, I truly do want to believe you. I believe that you have worked hard to repair your once-tarnished image and I believe that you fully demonstrated that commitment throughout the past season. Do I believe you? Mostly. I doubt that you had anything to do with drug dealing or the financing of drug dealing. That said, I believe that you have friends with cars and houses in the past. When those friends get caught up in illegal activity, you are going to be questioned, regardless of whether or not you were involved.

In a bland, by-the-books statement, Memphis GM Chris Wallace declined to comment on the ongoing investigation but stressed that Randolph has been a valuable contributor to the team and to the community. His statement can be viewed here.

What does all of this mean? It sounds like the initial allegations were way too broad and that Randolph legitimately was not involved in any illegal activity. Did he know of any illegal activity? That remains to be seen. For now, Randolph is essentially in the clear and can get back to focusing on basketball. Good.

Stay tuned to GrizzLife,

Owen

Zach Randolph Implicated In Indy Drug Bust

Well, you can store this one under your "I should have seen this one coming" file, Grizzlies fans. Although official details are still hazy, here is the story so far. (All of this information comes from Jack Reinhart of Channel 6 News in Indianapolis.)

Two weeks ago, Indianapolis police were performing a stake out on a suspected drug house. After observing a Cadillac Escalade leaving the residence, police pulled the SUV over. The driver of the vehicle was Arthur Boyd, 32. Upon searching the car, police found marijuana and ammunition stored inside hidden compartments. Guess who the car was registered to? That's right, All-Star power forward Zach Randolph of the Memphis Grizzlies, who has a long history of trouble with the law.

Today, apparently, police raided a storage facility where Randolph had rented four storage units. In two of those units, police found narcotics. I all four units, police found more cars that were also outfitted with secret storage compartments.

Randolph's attorney, John Thompkins, asserts that Randolph is not involved in any drug activity. According to "a trusted police informant," however, Randolph is a "major" marijuana supplier in Indianapolis. Also according to the informant, Randolph provides cars and houses for certain individuals, including Boyd.

As of this writing, Randolph has not been arrested or charged with a crime. "Looking at his ownership of the vehicles, he should be aware of who's driving them and possessing illegal narcotics in them," said Lt. Jeff Duhamell of the Indianapolis Police Department. "That in and of itself brings up questions."

Over the next few days, this story will certainly clear up and hopefully, facts will become available. If Randolph is dismissed as a suspect, great. Let's move on and pretend like nothing ever happened. But these are serious allegations and will likely not go away easily. An arrest or trial here would be a crushing blow for Randolph, who is coming off a career season and had seemingly turned the corner regarding his behavior.

But I don't want to speculate or jump to conclusions. This investigation could be much ado about nothing. However, given Randolph's track record, it may prove to be more serious. Here's hoping it's the former.

The Memphis Grizzlies are expected to release a statement tomorrow in support of Randolph, and we will provide a copy of that statement as soon as it becomes available. As always, stick with GrizzLife for all your Grizzlies needs.

I support you Zach!!,

Owen

Draft Rater

This is some of Chad Ford's Insider article. It ranks players based on The Draft Rater, which produces a projection of a player's "peak" PER in Years 4-5, something that might not be apparent from looking at the rather underwhelming numbers next to each name. The Draft Rater has yet to miss a lottery pick who became an All-Star in its top 12 collegians list.

Chad Ford has been saying for a long time that the Grizzlies love Luke Babbitt. Babbitt's draft status has been rising as of late and The Draft Rater has him at #7. Below is the list of top Draft Rater players in the draft

Rank	Player	Team	Projected PER
1	DeMarcus Cousins	Kentucky	16.14
2.	Evan Turner	Ohio State	14.79
3.	John Wall	Kentucky	14.68
4.	Greg Monroe	Georgetown	14.39
5.	Derrick Favors	Georgia Tech	13.98
6.	Xavier Henry	Kansas	13.52
7.	Luke Babbitt	Nevada	13.35
8.	Al-Farouq Aminu	Wake Forest	13.30
9.	Wes Johnson	Syracuse	13.03
10.	Greivis Vasquez	Maryland	12.97
11.	Sylven Landesberg	Virginia	12.52
12.	Omar Samhan

Here's a highlight film from his college career

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0_PCqoB0aI

Let's just hope the Grizz don't draft a project or on position. Let's draft ability and see what happens.

Go Grizz!

Grizzlies Land #12 Pick

I went into the official draft lottery watch party last night with high expectations. I thought that the city would respond to a (comparatively) successful season and show up in full force to Jason's Deli at the corner of Poplar and Highland. I expected to see rabbits' feet, lucky pendants and more replica jerseys than I could count.

Additionally, I expected the Grizzlies to get a fairly high selection in the lottery. How hilarious would it be that the one year we aren't favored to get the #1 pick, we get it (or a high pick)? I thought, for some reason, the stars had aligned and we were finally going to get lucky. Don't ask me why I thought this; I don't know. Something just felt right.

What happened? I was wrong, very wrong, on both counts.

First, the watch party was more disappointing than the Grizzlies bench. That crowd I expected was merely 50 people small and there was no common connection between fans. Everyone basically just sat there. It wasn't a total loss, though, as attendees included a few titans of Memphis sports media (Geoff Calkins, Jarvis Greer, Eric Hasseltine, etc.) and Grizz. Oh, and I got a free Grizzlies flag (with 888-HOOP printed on it, just in case I had forgotten the ubiquitous season ticket hotline). Overall, however, it was an underwhelming experience and showed me that the city has yet to truly get behind the team.

I know, there wasn't much reason to come out to a watch party. We had only a 0.7% chance of landing the #1 overall pick and there were 11 teams with a better chance of winning the lottery. But, still, I thought the fans would come out. I guess I was wrong.

I was also wrong about the lottery itself. We didn't get the #1 pick, or a top pick that matter. We didn't move up at all. We got the #12 pick. Whatever. Honestly, I like this. It won't look as bad when we screw up the #12 pick as it did when we screwed up the #2 pick last year.

I can't wait to see what happens,

Owen

Draft

For those of you without NBA Insider, Chad Ford has the Grizz taking Paul George out of Fresno St in the late first round. Who knows whether or not we'll keep those late picks, but the article Ford wrote on him is pretty impressive. Here it is:

Paul George
If you want the upside sleeper of the first round, look no further than George. He is a 6-foot-8 wing whose silky smooth play has drawn comparisons to everyone from Tracy McGrady to Wilson Chandler

George is closer to Chandler than McGrady at the moment, but it's clear that he's the type of player who could explode with a little coaching. He's been in the gym with former NBA big man Don MacLean for the past three weeks working on the little things that separate the good wings from the great wings. Specifically, he's working on creating his own shot -- ball handling, first step and getting separation off the dribble.

In the workout we saw, George was terrific. He showed deep range on his jump shot, exploded to the rim and had terrific quickness. Scouts have had questions about his consistency and toughness. They've also worried about his love affair with the 3-pointer. But it was also clear that he was rarely pushed at Fresno State.

In this environment, playing alongside other NBA prospects, he looked much sharper and more focused. He needs to get stronger and improve his motor (something he admitted to me when we chatted) but MacLean told me George has been a sponge since coming into the gym.

George believes he may be more of a 2-guard than a 3. Some NBA teams agree. In fact his first workout is in San Antonio on Thursday. His workout partner: Kansas shooting guard Xavier Henry.

Whether or not we keep the pick, I like this guy's upside.