Grizzlies' Zach Randolph proves there's more to rebounds than leaps
There was a good reason Monday why Grizzlies forward Zach Randolph had one of those rare games in which he failed to achieve a double-double in points and rebounds.
Because on that night, the world champion Los Angeles Lakers, with future Hall of Fame guard Kobe Bryant and three of the most athletic 7-foot players in the league, determined their priority would be stopping a 6-9, 260-pound, round-shouldered, 30-year-old forward with underwhelming leaping ability.
Grizzlies vs. Bucks
When, where: 7 p.m. today at FedExForum.
TV, radio: SportSouth, WRBO-FM 103.5
Z-Bo's Grizzly reign
Zach Randolph has played in 131 games for the Grizzlies since joining the team at the start of the 2009-10 season, and there probably hasn't been a more efficient player in franchise history. Consider that he:
Has scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in 48.9 percent of his games (64-of-131).
Has averaged 14 rebounds in each of the past two months, something he had done previously just once, in December '09.
Has had five games this season of at least 20 points and 20 rebounds, and his two-year total of seven 20/20 games is two more than the combined total of every other Griz player in the franchise's 16-year history.
Has 11 30-point, 15-rebound games with the Griz, more than any other NBA player the past two seasons.
"Get into Randolph early" were the pregame instructions scribbled on the dry-erase board in the Lakers' dressing room.
"He's clever, and he's got a game which he's adapted to," said admiring Lakers coach Phil Jackson. "He's actually 6-11, but because God chose not to give him a neck, he measures only about 6-9, 6-81/2 . But with those long arms getting a lot of offensive rebounds, he's very successful."
Then, Jackson ordered his defense to double-team Randolph all night with all those long 7-foot bodies. It's something that Randolph, a 10-year NBA veteran who's nursing a sore ankle and will be a game-time decision tonight against the Bucks in FedExForum, has become accustomed to facing.
Every NBA team is trying to figure out how to slow one of four players in the league averaging at least 20 points and 10 rebounds -- in Randolph's case, 20.2 (20th in the league) and 13.2 (third).
His game is cerebral, below-the-rim, old-school rebounding, especially on the offensive end where he averages 4.7. Virtually every game against bigger, faster, younger and more athletic players, Randolph, who's on his way to averaging a double-double for the sixth time in the past seven seasons, conducts Rebounding 101.
"When you come to this league, you find your niche," Randolph said. "You learn what you can and can't do. I know my skill level, and I know there's not a lot of guys my size who can play with their backs to the basket like I do. I love having good games against bigger guys."
Randolph has three key elements that have formed the basis of consistent rebounding since the inventor of the game, Dr. James Naismith, began clanking shots off the side of the peach basket.
He anticipates when someone is about to shoot, he consistently boxes out, and he follows his own shots. All sound rather simple, yet all are lost arts in today's game ruled by players who rely more on their athleticism than guile.
But Randolph also has some throwback elements, such as his ability to jump quickly and tip rebounds to himself. It's a lost art that Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer and former Mississippi State star Bailey Howell said you don't see often.
"I didn't have a great vertical jump," said Howell, a hard-nosed 6-7 forward and six-time All-Star who played 12 NBA seasons and is still the 40th-leading rebounder in league history despite retiring about four decades ago. "So I learned to jump sort of like a pogo stick; soon as I hit the ground, I could go right back up.
"I learned how to tip the ball to myself. Most people aren't good at tipping because they don't have good hands to be able to tip the ball accurately. I had a drill I worked on by myself where I tipped the ball 10 times off the backboard. On the 10th time, I'd try to catch it and dunk."
Sound familiar?
Randolph said he realized playing for Marion (Ind.) High that he was never going to have a jaw-dropping vertical leap. But he had long arms and was a quick jumper, so ...
"I can tip the ball to myself," he said.
Rebounding is also about fighting for position, especially when a player is pursuing an offensive rebound. If a player is an effective offensive rebounder like Randolph, a 5-second wrestling match starts just before a shot is taken.
"Players are now bigger, quicker and stronger than ever, so today's game in the paint has evolved into a rugby scrum," said former NBA player Hank McDowell, one of the Grizzlies' radio network analysts.
"Zach does a good job of clearing space, while not shoving people out of bounds. His elbows are up, and from his shoulder to his elbow he's created 18 to 20 inches of space. That's one way he does it. He'll get people up underneath their armpit and hold them off."
Randolph's one year in college at Michigan State in 2000-01 taught him much about how to battle in the lane. He's never forgotten coach Tom Izzo's brutal 3-on-3 rebounding drills.
"They were called 'War,'" Randolph said. "There were three guys inside trying to block out, three guys outside trying to rush the boards. Coach would throw the ball up, and bodies would be flying. It taught me how to wrestle people, how to move people out when they're flying over you.
"I love the physical game, and you got guys in this league who don't like all that bumping and wrestling. It's not like the old NBA where guys loved physical play. You've got a lot of younger, softer guys now that don't like being hit. They don't like a body on them the whole time, and that's an advantage for me."
When Randolph got to the NBA as a rookie with Portland in 2001-02, it didn't take him long to realize he could make a living pounding the offensive boards, basically because it wasn't a high priority with most players. It still isn't.
"When shots are taken, most teams just turn around and run back on defense," said Tom Nissalke, who has been involved in pro basketball as a coach and broadcaster for 40 years. "You don't see guys rushing to the boards; you don't see guys taking pride in being a rebounder."
Once upon a time, both in the ABA and NBA, Nissalke coached Moses Malone, a 13-time NBA All-Star and three-time league MVP who ranks as the league's No. 5 all-time rebounder. Nissalke sees some of Malone's traits in Randolph.
"Moses assumed every shot was going to be a miss," Nissalke said. "He was the best offensive rebounder I've ever seen, and I think being a great offensive rebounder sets you apart. He was relentless, very cerebral and anticipated shots. You don't see that much in today's game, but Randolph stands out like that as a rebounder. He's matured, and he's gotten smarter."
How smart?
"When a shot goes up, guys relax, and lot of them don't come to the boards," Randolph said. "They're already running back on defense while I'm going to the board every time. I know the guys on my team, and I know when they are about to shoot. So I get a running start to the basket before they even pull up."
