Good Results Can Erase a Bad Reputation
By WILLIAM C. RHODEN
Sports of The Times
July 3, 2007
Greenburgh, N.Y.
For all the high praise for the new crop of N.B.A. rookies and their great personalities, character in sports is overrated as a primary component of winning.
There are other traits that are far more important: toughness is far more important, having attitude, having an edge is far more important. Desire is crucial. Skill is significant but meaningless without these other traits.
That’s why Channing Frye is in Portland today, and Zach Randolph, a bruising, 6-foot-9 forward, was introduced yesterday as the newest Knick.
Randolph comes to the beleaguered Knicks as part of a trade that sent Steve Francis and Frye to Portland.
“You need a little bit of pepper,” Coach Isiah Thomas said yesterday. “You can’t have too much pepper, but on any team, you got to have some toughness.”
•
Yesterday afternoon, Randolph said he had not gotten over being traded from Portland, which had been his N.B.A. home since 2001. He attended Marion (Ind.) High School, had a cup of coffee at Michigan State, then went to the National Basketball Association. Portland has been Randolph’s home, has been the spot where he has grown up and, the Knicks hope, matured.
He will be only 26 years old on July 16, and his early life has been speckled with brushes with the law. Now that he is in New York, the brushes will become part of his statistics, like height and weight and scoring average. Age 14, spent a month in a juvenile detention center for shoplifting. In 1997, placed under house arrest for 30 days because of a conviction for battery. Juvenile detention again, two years later, for selling a stolen gun. All this before his senior year in high school.
But as a senior, Randolph led Marion to the state championship. He spent a season at Michigan State, then was drafted in the first round by Portland.
More growing pains: an underage drinking charge back home in Marion in 2002. A year later, he punched a Trail Blazers teammate. Later in 2003, Randolph was arrested for driving under the influence, and in 2004, he tried to protect his brother, who had fired a gun in a nightclub, by not cooperating with authorities. He eventually cooperated, and no charges were filed against him.
Randolph has been trouble free for three years, and now he is Knick. Depending on your perspective, his troubles are either just beginning or he is now facing a rainbow.
“That’s my past,” Randolph said yesterday. “People make mistakes, people grow up. Don’t judge me for the past, judge me for the future and what I can bring to this New York Knicks organization and to the fans.”
If the Knicks win, Randolph’s past will be largely forgiven. There is history as proof. In fact, my most enjoyable Knicks news conference of all time took place in 1998, when the Knicks introduced Latrell Sprewell as the newest Knick.
You could feel the tension in the room that afternoon as more than 150 members of the news media filled a large ballroom for a first glimpse at the player who had become a villain or a hero — depending on your perspective in the aftermath of him choking his coach, P. J. Carlesimo. Carlesimo was the coach of the Golden State Warriors. Sprewell led the Knicks to the N.B.A. finals in 1999 and left as one of the team’s most popular players ever.
Steve Mills, the president of Madison Square Garden, was working in the N.B.A. office when Sprewell joined the Knicks. He saw the transformation of attitudes in New York.
“I don’t think it’s that anyone completely forgets your transgressions, but they expect you to win and they expect you to give everything you have when you play,” Mills said. “Latrell gave everything he had on the court every night, and the fans embraced him and they embraced the way he played and what he brought to the Garden every time he came.”
All Randolph has to do is look at the Knicks players who have been embraced, among them Charles Oakley, Anthony Mason and John Starks.
“Our fans embrace guys who play hard, who are tough, who give everything they have every night,” Mills said. Then, referring to Randolph’s chances for redemption, Mills added: “If he’s given a clean slate, he’ll be able to be very successful here in New York. We feel he can have a very successful career here as a Knick.”
•
Randolph at least knows this much: Change is sometimes for the better. About a week ago, he began hearing trade rumors and didn’t believe what he was hearing. Now he has dropped into the N.B.A.’s version of “Alice in Wonderland,” where a sky-high payroll does not necessarily equate with sky-high results. Or at least it hasn’t in six seasons. With Randolph, the Knicks could be close, very close to making a playoff run.
“He’s got to play well and stay out of trouble,” Thomas said. “It’s really that simple.”
Be tough. Score your 20 points, grab your 10 rebounds.
Character is nice, but in New York, the so-called bad guy can be the hero.
E-mail: wcr@nytimes.com
Sports of The Times
July 3, 2007
Greenburgh, N.Y.
For all the high praise for the new crop of N.B.A. rookies and their great personalities, character in sports is overrated as a primary component of winning.
There are other traits that are far more important: toughness is far more important, having attitude, having an edge is far more important. Desire is crucial. Skill is significant but meaningless without these other traits.
That’s why Channing Frye is in Portland today, and Zach Randolph, a bruising, 6-foot-9 forward, was introduced yesterday as the newest Knick.
Randolph comes to the beleaguered Knicks as part of a trade that sent Steve Francis and Frye to Portland.
“You need a little bit of pepper,” Coach Isiah Thomas said yesterday. “You can’t have too much pepper, but on any team, you got to have some toughness.”
•
Yesterday afternoon, Randolph said he had not gotten over being traded from Portland, which had been his N.B.A. home since 2001. He attended Marion (Ind.) High School, had a cup of coffee at Michigan State, then went to the National Basketball Association. Portland has been Randolph’s home, has been the spot where he has grown up and, the Knicks hope, matured.
He will be only 26 years old on July 16, and his early life has been speckled with brushes with the law. Now that he is in New York, the brushes will become part of his statistics, like height and weight and scoring average. Age 14, spent a month in a juvenile detention center for shoplifting. In 1997, placed under house arrest for 30 days because of a conviction for battery. Juvenile detention again, two years later, for selling a stolen gun. All this before his senior year in high school.
But as a senior, Randolph led Marion to the state championship. He spent a season at Michigan State, then was drafted in the first round by Portland.
More growing pains: an underage drinking charge back home in Marion in 2002. A year later, he punched a Trail Blazers teammate. Later in 2003, Randolph was arrested for driving under the influence, and in 2004, he tried to protect his brother, who had fired a gun in a nightclub, by not cooperating with authorities. He eventually cooperated, and no charges were filed against him.
Randolph has been trouble free for three years, and now he is Knick. Depending on your perspective, his troubles are either just beginning or he is now facing a rainbow.
“That’s my past,” Randolph said yesterday. “People make mistakes, people grow up. Don’t judge me for the past, judge me for the future and what I can bring to this New York Knicks organization and to the fans.”
If the Knicks win, Randolph’s past will be largely forgiven. There is history as proof. In fact, my most enjoyable Knicks news conference of all time took place in 1998, when the Knicks introduced Latrell Sprewell as the newest Knick.
You could feel the tension in the room that afternoon as more than 150 members of the news media filled a large ballroom for a first glimpse at the player who had become a villain or a hero — depending on your perspective in the aftermath of him choking his coach, P. J. Carlesimo. Carlesimo was the coach of the Golden State Warriors. Sprewell led the Knicks to the N.B.A. finals in 1999 and left as one of the team’s most popular players ever.
Steve Mills, the president of Madison Square Garden, was working in the N.B.A. office when Sprewell joined the Knicks. He saw the transformation of attitudes in New York.
“I don’t think it’s that anyone completely forgets your transgressions, but they expect you to win and they expect you to give everything you have when you play,” Mills said. “Latrell gave everything he had on the court every night, and the fans embraced him and they embraced the way he played and what he brought to the Garden every time he came.”
All Randolph has to do is look at the Knicks players who have been embraced, among them Charles Oakley, Anthony Mason and John Starks.
“Our fans embrace guys who play hard, who are tough, who give everything they have every night,” Mills said. Then, referring to Randolph’s chances for redemption, Mills added: “If he’s given a clean slate, he’ll be able to be very successful here in New York. We feel he can have a very successful career here as a Knick.”
•
Randolph at least knows this much: Change is sometimes for the better. About a week ago, he began hearing trade rumors and didn’t believe what he was hearing. Now he has dropped into the N.B.A.’s version of “Alice in Wonderland,” where a sky-high payroll does not necessarily equate with sky-high results. Or at least it hasn’t in six seasons. With Randolph, the Knicks could be close, very close to making a playoff run.
“He’s got to play well and stay out of trouble,” Thomas said. “It’s really that simple.”
Be tough. Score your 20 points, grab your 10 rebounds.
Character is nice, but in New York, the so-called bad guy can be the hero.
E-mail: wcr@nytimes.com
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