By Jim Taylor
TrailBlazers.com
Zach Randolph was hoping for an early Valentine’s Day gift from the NBA today, but the league didn’t show much in the way of love for the Trail Blazers forward instead selecting Seattle’s Ray Allen and Utah’s Mehmet Okur to replace the injured Allen Iverson and Steve Nash on the West squad for Sunday’s 2007 NBA All-Star Game in Las Vegas.
"Sure, it hurts," said Randolph. "But right now it's all about us winning and getting better as a team. That's what's driving me."
Randolph is one of only four players in the NBA averaging 20-plus points and 10-plus rebounds (All-Stars Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan and Carlos Boozer are the others), he is 8th in the NBA with 29 double-doubles, 10th in the league with 10.3 rebounds per game and in scoring at 24.1 points per game. Randolph has also led the Trail Blazers in scoring and rebound 42 times and he has two games of 40-plus points and 13 games of 30-plus.
"We’re disappointed that Zach didn’t make it," said Kevin Pritchard, Trail Blazers assistant general manager. "But, I would also add that I’d put Zach up against all those guys that did made the roster. At this point what’s most important is we want Zach and the rest of our guys to continue to prove everyone else wrong."
One could make the argument that the Trail Blazers current record of 22-30 hurt Randolph’s chances until you consider that Portland has already won more games this year than all of last year and the regular season is just a little over half complete. And yet that seems to be the difference maker in today’s announcement because there really isn’t too much of a comparison when you stack Okur’s stats up against Randolph’s. However, Utah does sport the 3rd best record in the Western Conference at 34-17.
"Heck, the guys who didn’t make the reserve roster pretty much make up an All-Star team themselves," added Pritchard.
"Zach’s numbers certainly places him with the All-Stars," said head coach Nate McMillan. "He just needs keep working hard like he has been and keep his chin up. It’s not like this will be his one and only chance to be an All-Star. He’s improving and so is this team. If we continue to do that, we’ll get more national exposure and so will he. We just need to keep improving and we’ll get the respect we’re looking for."
"I think there is some disappointment from the coaching staff, management, and the players, that we didn’t have more guys represented at All-Star Weekend," said Kevin Pritchard, Trail Blazers assistant general manager. "We’re going to turn this into a motivation thing and I know the players will respond and be highly motivated to prove to this league and the decision makers that they’re way off base. I don’t know, there are all kinds of conspiracy theories that we’re West Coast, we don’t get seen as much, and we don’t get the respect. But, the reality is that we have to earn our respect here. We’ve been at the bottom, but we’re moving up and we’re moving in the right direction. Our culture is fantastic. We just have to prove everybody wrong."
The Trail Blazers will not be without representation though at All-Star Weekend. First-round draft choice Brandon Roy will participate in the T-Mobile Rookie Challenge & Youth Jam on Friday night.
