The Grit and Grind Era officially came to an unceremonious end in the past few days as the founding father and heart and soul of the best era of Grizzlies basketball, signed a two-year, $24 million contract to become a member of the Sacramento Kings.
Randolph spent eight seasons in Memphis, averaging 16.8 points and 10 rebounds and making two (only two) All-Star appearances while rejuvenating his career and becoming a tough and grizzled (see what I did there) leader for a Memphis Grizzlies team that was a competitor in the western conference over the past half decade.
Randolph and Memphis seemed like a perfect match on multiple levels, a blue collar and hard-working player in a blue collar city that was ready to embrace him.
Because of this Grizzlies Owner Robert Petra wrote a short letter about Randolph’s importance to the franchise and that no Grizzly would ever wear the No. 50 again.
#GritGrindForever pic.twitter.com/fHFb2ah4ee
— Memphis Grizzlies (@memgrizz) July 6, 2017
Pretty crazy for a team to officially announce the retirement of a player’s jersey while he is still playing in the NBA. This is the right move for a Grizzlies team that had their greatest success in their 22 year history the past eight years since Randolph arrived in town as a troubled player.
It will be a little sad to see Randolph suiting up in another uniform in 2017-18, he will always be a Grizzly.
