Randolph 'excited' to rejoin Celtics after trade

Randolph 'excited' to rejoin Celtics after trade
January 15, 2015, 9:30 pm


By: A. Sherrod Blakely





BOSTON — Shavlik Randolph will have to update his winter wardrobe now that he's back playing for the Boston Celtics.

"Even though I'm leaving like 75-degree weather and going into just terrible, cold weather, I couldn't be more excited," he told CSNNE.com.

Randolph was part of Boston's three-team trade with the Los Angeles Clippers and the Phoenix Suns that was completed on Thursday.

In addition to acquiring Randolph and a $2.4 million trade exception from Phoenix, Boston also received Chris Douglas-Roberts and a second round pick from the Clippers.

Boston sent Austin Rivers to the Clippers where he will play for his father, ex-Celtics head coach Doc Rivers. It's the first time in NBA history a father gets to coach his son. Also in the deal, the Clippers sent Reggie Bullock to Phoenix and in a related move, Boston requested waivers for Nate Robinson.

Randolph said he didn't see the trade to Boston coming, but it didn't catch him totally by surprise, either.

"I've been around the league long enough to know that there's only a handful of guys who can wake up and not worry about being anywhere else unless they want to be," Randolph said. "And I'm definitely not one of those handful of guys. Everyone pretty much can be traded at any time. It's just part of the business. I knew the team was actively trying to make itself better and was going to do whatever it took. And I was not immune to the possibility of getting traded."

And while leaving a playoff contender out West for a team like the Celtics that is rebuilding may not seem the most ideal situation, Randolph could not be any more pleased about having another opportunity to stick around for a while.

Most players and their agents know the Celtics are going to have significant cap space this summer. Of course Boston will take a long, hard look at all available players, but will certainly give strong consideration to those in their organization who perform well.

Randolph being waived by the Celtics in 2013 had little to do with his play and everything to do with the team's need to clear a roster spot.

"It's definitely good to be back," he said. "You know how disappointed I was when I had to leave the first time. I couldn't be any happier to be back."

Randolph will also get a chance to work with Brad Stevens who Randolph has known since he was at Duke and Stevens was an assistant coach (and later head coach) at Butler.

"One of my best games at Duke came against Butler," Randolph recalled, referring to his 24-point, 10-rebound performance on Jan. 30, 2003 when Duke beat the Bulldogs of Butler 80-60. "The first text he (Stevens) sent me once he got the (Celtics) job was that he was still holding it against me that I had a good game against them, kind of jokingly."

For now, Randolph's focus is on doing whatever is asked of him in hopes that his second tour of duty will be a better - and longer - stint with the Celtics.



bob
MY NOTE: He was a victim of a numbers game. I think we were all disappointed when he got cut. He was a hard worker with a lively body, and Brad is going to love that about him.


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Good luck, Shav. Right now, we're got one center who plays 20 mpg and three PFs who are undersized for the center position but are collectively trying to "placehold" for the other 28 minutes. The opportunity is there for you.

Sam

Randolph may make some small contributions during the second half of the season, but if he makes any really significant contribution it is going to look like Sullenger and Olynyk might not be as much a part of the re-build as we all have hoped for.  Nothing against Randolph as he hustles and works hard, but he has been cut a bunch of times (once already by Boston), traded for almost nothing and spent some time in the Chinese league when he could not find work in the NBA.

Now if Randolph can fill in behind Zeller at center to keep Sullenger and Olynyk from having to play there, that will be a very good contribution in my eyes.

I would hope that Stevens either does not play Randolph very much (or at all) at power forward.  Taking any developmental time from either Olynyk or Sullenger at this time in the re-build makes no sense to me.  And, this is why the Cs will probably trade Bass before the deadline.

At 6' 10" and 240, I'm expecting him to play almost exclusively in the backup center position. One factoid that may have slipped through the cracks is that this will be his eighth NBA season (counting partial seasons of course, because he has appeared in only 141 games. So he's one of those mini-journeymen who, regardless of talent level, have probably been exposed to just about every type of system. If he's held back at all, it will likely be because of talent level and not because of his difficulty in adapting to the Celtics' system.

Sam