Free Agent Profile: Zach Randolph

With the NBA Draft Lottery highlighting the majority of the week, we decided to push our Free Agent Profile series back to today. If you’ve been following my previous articles throughout this series, you will notice a trend. With the exception of LeBron James we have yet to talk about a true veteran player that the Sixers could potentially lure to Philadelphia. This week’s article featuring Memphis Grizzlies, veteran forward, Zach Randolph will erase the trend. Randolph is already 32 years old and just completed his 13^th NBA season. Obviously, yes he would help the Sixers maybe win some games and would serve primarily as a teacher to Nerlens Noel, but I’m not so sure that’s what GM Sam Hinkie wants right now.

Randolph, who is now with his fourth NBA team, was a 20 points and 10 rebounds guy back in his prime but since then he has watched his production slowly deteriorate. With that being said, the Grizzlies starting Power Forward still accumulates quality numbers, averaging around 13 points and 8 rebounds per game over the past two or three years.  Part of this is due to his body beginning to breakdown. Randolph seems to always have a nagging injury or something that bothers him constantly, which is probably the reason he’s never played a full season throughout his 13 year career. In fact, he’s actually only played in at least 80 games once, clearly a guy who has battled through injury after injury during his career. To bring a player like Randolph to a young team at this point of his career could tag along multiple durability issues, almost reminding me of Elton Brand from a few years back.

The latest news on Randolph’s contract situation with Memphis says Randolph wants to retire as a member of the Grizzlies, but he has yet to agree to his $16.5 million dollar player option for the 2014-15 seasons. Some people around the Grizzlies organization are saying the reason he hasn’t agreed to his player option is because he’s thinking about opting out, then signing a brand new, long-term deal with Memphis to finish out his NBA days. His teammates are under the impression he will be back, and it seems to me like he wants to be back but with the lack of commitment from the front office in Memphis it could be best for Randolph to finish up his productive NBA career someplace else, maybe Philadelphia.

Let’s say something goes wrong in Memphis, resulting in Randolph having to opt out and look for a new home. Would the Sixers be interested? I believe the answer is no and Sam Hinkie brought me to this conclusion yesterday when he was on ESPN Radio with SVP and Russillo. Hinkie clearly stated that the plan is to stick with his strategy of developing the younger players. He also said that he feels once GM’s start reaching for players that can maybe win them only a few extra games, they tend to lose track of their main goal, which is to develop a young core for many years to come. As much as Randolph could be a good teaching tool for Noel and younger players, Hinkie wants the young guys to gel well together. He doesn’t want any older veterans in the starting lineup because that would just be taking away valuable development time from younger players. This strategy is well thought out and personally I completely have Hinkie’s back on this idea 100%.

At the end of the day I don’t see the 13-year veteran Randolph coming to Philly over the summer. I believe he will opt out of his current deal and then re-sign with Memphis to make sure he retires as a member of the Grizzlies. This is the first Free Agent article that I believe has virtually no shot to put on a Sixers uniform next year and Sam Hinkie helped me officially finalize my opinion with what he said yesterday afternoon. The future of this franchise will revolve around five young starters that will have time to develop and gel with each other. They may bring in a few older guys to come off the bench but no old veterans, will be getting quality minutes on this team next season, I can almost guarantee it. Hinkie has a plan he is committed too.

Next week the Free Agent Profile series will be back in its usual Wednesday slot featuring Boston Celtics Guard Avery Bradley who has been linked to be a possible target for the Sixers this summer.

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