Former All-Star Strived To Help Zach Randolph During 'Jail Blazers' Era

The young Blazer fully blossomed during his third pro season out of Michigan State.

Former Grizzlies player Zach Randolph smiles during the jersey retirement ceremony for Marc Gasol at FedExForum in Memphis, Tenn., on Saturday, April 6, 2024. / Chris Day/The Commercial Appeal / USA TODAY NETWORK

Former Portland Trail Blazers All-Star power forward/center Rasheed Wallace was the focal point of the team's charmed 1999-2000 season run. The club posted a 59-23 record and pushed the eventual champion Los Angeles Lakers to seven games in the Western Conference Finals. That year marked his first of two All-Star berths in Portland. Wallace was also an All-Star that subsequent season, 2000-01.

The 6-foot-11 stretch four served as a critical mentor to a talented new addition to the roster that subsequent season, 2001 No. 19 draft pick Zach Randolph out of Michigan State.

Wallace revealed that, for a stretch of four-to-five games in Portland, he completely ignored plays drawn up by then-head coach Maurice Cheeks in an effort to inspire Randolph to perform better during high-pressure situations.

"I did that for about four or five games straight," Wallace said. "It wasn't even a matter of it being the coach or anything dealing with a coach. I just had to teach a younger player a lesson, and it took about three, four, five games for that to happen. So every time my number was called [I said], 'No, we're going to him, so he can see, he can learn.'"

Cheeks led the club throughout both players' shared tenure in Portland, from 2001-04. Wallace was, of course, traded to the Detroit Pistons midway through 2003-04, when he quickly became the missing piece in the Pistons' title push and helped the club win a title.

The 2000-03 Trail Blazers were nicknamed the "Jail Blazers" thanks to several off-court shenanigans. Multiple Trail Blazers were cited for marijuana possession, decades before the substance became legal in Oregon. That tally included Wallace, point guard Damon Stoudamire and small forward Qyntel Woods. Swingman Ruben Patterson was a registered sex offender. Randolph, for his apparently, allegedly fractured bones around Patterson's eye socket in a practice.

Randolph had a patchy first two seasons in the NBA. He averaged just 2.8 points and 0.9 rebounds while appearing in half of Portland's games as a rookie. The 6-foot-8 big man graduated to a more consistent bench role for a 50-win Portland squad in 2002-03, averaging 8.4 points and 4.5 boards. But he won Most Improved Player honors in 2003-04, when he saw his numbers balloon to 20.1 points, 10.5 rebounds, and 2.0 assists a game across 81 contests.

"'Cause my young fella was averaging... 20 and something as like a rookie, second-year player. He was on top of the world, thought he was killing it. But then he got smart with the vets for like one or two days in practice. He got smart with me, Bonzi [Wells] and Damon [Stoudamire]... Just feeling himself, coming off an NCAA championship... But we still loved him, it wasn't like he was doing something wrong... so we just had to teach him a lesson. He was like, 'Man, I'm out here killing these cats,' this and that. I'm like, 'Dog, you're killing them because they're doubling me. And so with them doubling me, I'm playing basketball, I'm hitting you for the wide-open layup, for the wide-open elbow jump shot.' [He responded with] 'Aw man, you're hating'... Everything that was called for me, 'No, we running this s--- for Zach'... So we had to humble him..."

"Once we humbled him for them few games, he was like, 'All right, my guys, I see what y'all [are] saying,'" Wallace revealed.

After spending his first six seasons in Portland, Randolph had a bit of a wilderness period from 2007-09. He often put up great numbers, but was criticized for his defense and his teams' lack of success. That all changed in 2009-10, when he finally landed with the Memphis Grizzlies and was named to his first All-Star team. Memphis, coached by Lionel Hollins that year, went just 40-42. The next year, however, the Grizzlies went 46-36 and used their twin towers of Randolph (an All-NBA Third Teamer that season, though somehow not an All-Star) and eventual All-Star center Marc Gasol to upset the No. 1-seeded San Antonio Spurs in the first round of the playoffs. They would go on to push the Oklahoma City Thunder to seven games in the semifinal round. Randolph enjoyed significant success throughout his eight seasons with the Grizzlies, making the playoffs in seven of those seasons and advancing past the first round three times.

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