Still, from this photo, it would take me a second to recognize this as Zach Randolph, he of the baby fat and floor-bound game.
Check the definition on his shoulders and arms. I think there's a photographic perspective thing going on that makes his legs and torso look skinnier than they actually are. Not to deny that his torso does look trim. Also, his face and neck look thinner. Despite his baby fat and lack of dunking I've always thought Zach was incredibly quick in and around the post when he has the ball. If he really has lost significant weight and is in the proverbial "best shape of his career," then je t'aime! Encore!! Je t'aime!!!
-d.d.
-d.d.
Holy hell! Yer right, from the neck down, I would never have recognized this as Zach. I dunno how quick I ever thought Zach was, but his low-post, back-to-the-basket footwork is practically unsurpassed in today's game. Shades of Hakeem and Moses Malone, when he was on his game, coupled with a lovely shooting touch that compensated for his ground-bound frame.
ReplyDeleteWe'll see how this newly sculpted body interacts with his recovery from the Surgery That Once You Have It You're Never The Same Player Again(TM). (Will a lighter Zach be able to establish low-post position like he useta?)
However, as you've pointed out, the real key for Zach's success this year might not rest on his bum knee or his newly-skinnified bod: the ability of the Blazers to create and convert open jumpers might well make or break his season. Not even Hakeem could out-footwork a tripleteam, and what we saw last year was a steady diet of triple-teams for Zach while the wide-open backcourt either bricked it up (Telfair, Dixon on even-numbered nights) or passed up shots (the Wonder Twin, Jack). If that happens this year, we'll see the same results we saw last year, and as I've said before, the Blazers have a very poor backcourt...
-Fat
re: Zach's "quickness."
ReplyDeleteSorry. I guess "a quick first step" -for a big guy- is the more apt descriptor I was looking for. And the footwork, too, 'course.