Over the past few weeks there has been a heated debate about the Los Angeles Clippers’ stockpiling of centers and power forwards and how to resolve the issue. While everyone expected the Clippers to trade either Chris Kaman or Marcus Camby to provide more playing time for Blake Griffin, the franchise management was able to come up with a different solution.

Despite their tendency in the past to make rather unfavorable trades they managed to trade power forward Zach Randolph to Memphis in exchange for swingman Quentin Richardson. Zach ‘ZBo’ Randolph’s $17 million contract was largely regarded as impossible to trade due to his lack of defense and questionable attitude off the court. Even though Randolph put up very respectable numbers in recent years, his drug abuse, drunk driving and other escapades off the floor turned him into player with little demand around the league. Since Memphis is already under the cap threshold salaries did not have to match, thus the Clippers will save $10 million in this season alone where as the Grizzlies will obtain a $7.4 million trade exception.

However, the aforementioned facts do not necessarily mean that it has to turn out being another one-sided trade. If the Grizzlies can keep Randolph entertained he might become a very valuable addition to their current roster. While Memphis has two young centers with a lot of potential in Marc Gasol and Hasheem Thabeet they do lack another serviceable big man at the 4-spot. Last year, Zach Randolph averaged 20.8 points, 10.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game for the Los Angeles Clippers. Considering these stats one might even be tempted to regard Randolph as a potential All-Star if he played for a better team and stayed quiet off the floor. But more importantly for the Memphis Grizzlies, they now have a promising young player on every position and can start looking forward to finally climbing out of the pit the franchise has been stuck in over the past years.

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