UPDATE: ESPN not only confirmed this rumor, but went a step further and said the trigger was in Knicks president’s Donnie Walsh’s hands. Thus rendering a bit of this post, pointless seeing as how I guess it doesn’t really matter what D’Antoni thinks.
Portland’s favorite son could be on the move once again. The Memphis Edge reports that a potential deal between Memphis and the Knicks is in NYC’s hands. The reported deal would send Zach Randolph to Memphis for Marko Jaric and Darko Milicic.
This is a head-scratcher in my books. I think a lot of people are assuming that the Knicks will just dump Randolph for next to anything. I’m not too sure about that one. Why? One thing about Mike D’Antoni…he loves offense. Loves it like Fergie loves spelling in her songs. One thing that Zach Randolph can provide…offense. And mean mugs. Let’s not forget that D’Antoni has dealt with a surly, selfish, offensive-minded, defensive-deficient big man before (staring at you Amare). I’m not so sure that D’Antoni would dump 20 and 10 for Darko and Maric. At least not without seeing if he could make it work. He’ll try anything once (looking at you Shaq) and he’s played much worse big men (Brian Skinner?). We know the rap-sheet on Randolph, no need to bust out the laundry list…I just don’t know if D’Antoni would settle for that right now. My thought is the Knicks would get rid of Marbury and Curry before they got rid of Randolph. At least he’s still producing.
I must admit though, the thought of Darko, Danilo and David Lee forming some sort of corny named trio (Triple D’s??) intrigues me. There could be an argument that maybe D’Antoni is just what Darko needs. But then again you’re more likely to find a college male who loves Hannah Montana than you are likely to find someone defending Darko’s game. Let’s be real a front line of Curry, Darko, David Lee, Malik Rose isn’t providing that much on the offensive front. Darko could still have a little life in him if he can find a team who will consistently play him, but honestly that’s a story that many NBA players could go with right now. Mr. Adriana Lima on the other hand…..bad. Terrible. In my pre-season rankings he’s nominated for worst player in the league.
On the Memphis front, you’d dump Darko and Marko who were sapping up minutes and get a producer. Yes a producer. The guy is getting his stats there’s no doubt about it. But that’s about it. If I was Memphis I would be deathly afraid of letting Darrell Arthur or OJ Mayo spend 5 minutes with Zach. Well…nope, not making the low-blow Arthur joke. Just insert it right here. Even worse….could you imagine a grumpy Zach alongside a grumpy Antoine Walker. Iavaroni’s head would explode. You have a pretty nice trio in Gay/OJ/Zach….but who on earth is passing the dang ball? Rudy averages 17 shots a game, Zach would probably return to his Portland average of around 18 shots a game. Yeesh. Also after having all that cap space, your big move is going to be getting Zach Randolph? Really? Since becoming a starter (aka not counting the tail end of the 2000 Blazer era) Randolph has yet to make the playoffs and has only been at .500 once (03-04). Not exactly the guy you want to turn your franchise around.
Now of course this could all blow up in about 5 minutes. Such is the nature of the off-season trade rumor.