Zach Randolph Says He’s the ‘Garbage Man’ for the Memphis Grizzlies

He has bounced back from last year’s struggles, and Zach Randolph is happy to prove people wrong (the Memphis Grizzlies’ 31-year old power forward leads the NBA in rebounding with 13.9 a night.) Z-Bo has also given himself a new nickname: “Garbage Man“. Per the Commercial Appeal: “I’ll just be the garbage man,’ Randolph said. ‘I’m going to pick your trash up. I’ll do what I’ve got to do.’ Garbage man, loosely translated, generally means Randolph embraces the role of junkyard dog or that guy who doesn’t need a play called for him to score with the Griz. His primary goal of cleaning the glass has played a major role in the Griz building an NBA-best 8-1 record heading into tonight’s home game against the Denver Nuggets. Randolph isn’t necessarily reinventing himself as a basketball player. Randolph’s nine double-doubles in as many games this season have increased his fifth-most NBA total to 322 in that category since the 2003-04 season. Randolph, 31, rightfully points out that he’s just re-establishing his worth as the bang-for-buck big man the league revered before a knee injury cost him most of last season. ‘This feels good because I worked hard this summer and when people last year said, ‘Is he going to be the same Zach of old?’ I heard that,’ Randolph said. ‘I just wanted to come out and prove people wrong. I still got it and I’m still in my prime.'”