Glad Zach is Gone

Zach Randolph is a good basketball player. All-Star caliber. Yada yada yada.

But he was not a good person for Portland (I reject the assertion that Portland just wasn't good for him). His presence here was destructive.

Police never convicted Zach of anything. But there was enough smoke in the air to convince me that his life was a conflagration of trouble.

I repeat the litany again:

• Served 30 days in juvenile detention for shoplifting.
• Served 30 days of house arrest for battery.
• Served 30 days in juvenile detention for possession of stolen firearms.
• Got popped for DUII in 2003, with an odor of the whacky tobaccy wafting from his ride.
• Nearly got popped for lying to police in 2003 related to a nightclub shooting involving his brother.
• Sucker-punched teammate Ruben Patterson in 2003, shattering his eye socket.
• Was alleged to have helped Qyntel Woods intimidate witnesses related to the whole pit-bull fighting frackas, and eventually sued for the same.
• Suspended for flipping off fans.
• In June, 2006 he was the passenger in his own car while a friend was driving it, speeding, racing someone in another Randolph-owned car, downtown (with guns in the car).
• In August 2006, he was implicated in a sexual assault on a stripper (criminal charges were declined, but a civil suit is still pending).
• In January 2007, his wallet and gun were found when a friend of his brandished the gun, threatened people outside of a local bar with it, then left the scene in Randolph's car while drunk driving.
• In March 2007, Zach was at a strip club in NE Portland while on "bereavement leave" for the death of a family friend in Indiana, while his team was playing just a few miles away without him.
• In May 2007, Zach and Darius Miles were reportedly in a club's parking lot at around the same time that gunshots were reported in the area.

Eek. Not good.

Of course, Randolph wants you to not look at the man behind the curtain. As he was announced to Knicks fans in New York, Randolph was urging them to disregard history in determining what they were getting.

A couple of his recent quotes:

"Don't judge me for the past, judge me for the future. I've wiped my hands. It's a new start, new slate."

"I'm a man. I made mistakes when I was young. That's all over with. I'm on a fresh start."

Right. When you were young, those many four months ago (if you're willing, like most, to discount the last bullet point, since no smoking gun was ever found).

Zach Randolph is a good basketball player. But he's a flawed, troubled, and endangered person. Most note that Randolph's problem isn't intrinsic so much as it is a result of hanging around bad people. Rumor has it that as Zach is moving east, so is his "Hoops Family." And, if that's the case, Z-Bo's troubles aren't over.

But, thank God for us, Portland's are. We have a new slate, and we've wiped our hands clean. Thank God for our fresh start.