How Impactful Was Zach Randolph With The Sacramento Kings?
By Rafe Wong
This article will feature Zach Randolph and what grade he deserves during his season with the Sacramento Kings.
A Royal Pain is back with another article which continues the series on evaluating what grade each player on the Sacramento Kings’ roster deserves for this season. This article will feature Zach Randolph who just concluded his first year with Sacramento.
Offense
Once the season concluded, Zach Randolph was the leading scorer for Sacramento as he averaged 14.5 points per contest. Z-Bo also finished the year as one of the Kings’ more efficient scorers as he made over six shots per contest (leads team) while recording a 47.3% success rate from the floor.
Although the numbers show that Randolph had a solid offensive season, the tape was not as kind, in my opinion. Z-Bo was able to make shots whether it was in the post or from beyond the arc, but it caused the ball movement to stop which stagnated the team’s entire offense.
So overall, Z-Bo was great when the Kings needed a guy who could create his own shot, but it sometimes ended up deteriorating the team’s offense due to the lack of ball movement when the ball was in his hands.
Related Story: Will Vince Carter return to Sacramento next season?
Defense
When I heard the Kings were signing Randolph last season, I was ecstatic. The main reason why? The impact he would make with his defensive presence. That did not work out well.
In short, Randolph was a defensive liability. For the year, he recorded a defensive rating of 113.1 which was ranked tenth amongst his teammates. He also showed on the tape that he was late on rotations and closing out on shooters which played a part in the Kings’ lack of defense this season.
Final Thoughts
It is 2018 and Zach Randolph is not the All-Star he used to be. Offensively, he occasionally put the Kings on his back by having some incredible scoring outings, but overall, he was a ball-stopper which limited the team’s ball movement. Defensively, he was nowhere near his elite self as he was a product of how the team defended overall.
Next: Will Garrett Temple play for the Kings next season?
Even though Z-Bo was not as efficient as I thought he would be this season, his veteran presence was still valuable to the Kings. The Kings are currently in a rebuild where a lot of their young talent play the big man positions, so having a mentor like Randolph who knows how to succeed in the NBA is precious knowledge towards the young guys.