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Zach Randolph's jersey retirement became a tribute to what he created for Memphis Grizzlies | Giannotto
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- Zach Randolph's jersey retirement became a tribute to what he created for Memphis Grizzlies | Giannotto
The surgery is scheduled for Tuesday.
LaVelt Hill will go into the hospital and get a new kidney from his sister. It's a transplant procedure that will hopefully save his life, that will hopefully have him back working as a FedExForum usher again in his familiar spot right behind the Memphis Grizzlies bench before another playoff push.
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A transplant that will happen then with Saturday in mind, with Hill's desire to be right where he always was during those eight magical seasons Zach Randolph re-wrote his story, and the story of NBA basketball, in Memphis.
"I had to be here. I watched his kids grow up," Hill said. "It was just meant for me to be here."
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Everywhere you looked around the arena, on a night when the Grizzlies' 113-106 win over the Houston Rockets served as merely an extended opening act, this became a theme expressed by all the familiar faces who showed up to salute Zach Randolph.
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That had to be there to watch his No. 50 become the franchise's first jersey retired, a coronation that went down with a live performance of "Whoop That Trick" by Al Kapone as the banner was unveiled high up in the rafters, with plenty of room for the rest of the Core Four beside it.
So Marc Gasol flew in from Spain despite playing in a game on Friday night, surprising Randolph and getting the full-throated ovation from tens of thousands of Grizzlies fans that the COVID-19 pandemic took from us, when Gasol's return to Memphis occurred with the Lakers in a near-empty building.
Robert Pera made a rare appearance in the owner's box. Former coach Lionel Hollins and former general manager Chris Wallace were each on the premises again, despite unceremonious exits from the organization.
MORE: For Zach Randolph, his Grizzlies jersey retirement more than just basketball. It's about Memphis.
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There were filmed tributes from Mike Conley, Rudy Gay , JaMychal Green , Michigan State coach Tom Izzo, Yo Gotti and Peyton Manning, among others, and even kind words from Chris Paul that Randolph could barely hear because they were drowned out by all the boos from Grizzlies fans forged during those postseason battles with the Los Angeles Clippers .
There was a retirement video narrated by Ice Cube that began, "In Memphis, bullies get bullied." There were homages to all of the signature quotes Randolph uttered as part of this franchise's defining games.
"It's a blue-collar town and I'm a blue-collar player. I'm a hard worker. Nothing's been given easily to me and nothing's been given easily to this town. It's a fit."
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"We don't bluff."
"Just throw it to the hand."
There was also a poster-worthy dunk by Xavier Tillman Sr., the one Michigan State alum playing for the Grizzlies on Saturday, that brought Randolph out of his courtside seat along the baseline. At halftime, DJ Paul of Three 6 Mafia performed with 8Ball & MJG and Young Buck.
Even Bongo Lady made her return, jamming out on the jumbotron like she did during all those memorable postseasons. "Deep Thoughts with Zach Randolph" were back, too. So were all manner of Randolph jerseys.
"I didn't know what to wear because I love Zach so much," Stephanie Ammer said, which makes sense since she owns eight different Randolph jerseys. "I will always wear a Z-Bo jersey when I come to a Grizzlies game."
It was, in every sense, a definitively Memphis moment, occasionally emotional but mostly joyous and triumphant and a rollicking reminder of how much fun Randolph helped to orchestrate with every jab step, mean mug, fadeaway and baby hook. This was as much a tribute to what he and his teams created for the Grizzlies and this community. To a time that will always be remembered as when Memphis really, truly fell in love with NBA basketball, in no small part because it fell in love with Randolph.
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That is, still, the most remarkable part of how Saturday night came to be, the part that made little details like Tony Allen's conspicuous absence due to his pending legal issues and the fact that the retired jersey up in the rafters isn't a jersey at all – it's a platinum record with No. 50 in the middle – easily overlooked.
About 30 minutes before tip-off, Randolph re-hashed once more his arrival in Memphis via trade back in 2009. How his initial reaction to landing here was a word that rhymes with grit. He felt given away by the Clippers, and misunderstood by the public. His acquisition was initially deemed a disaster by the local media due to his reputation in Portland and elsewhere.
"Memphis gave me a chance on their own to see how I was," he said.
And Randolph gave the Grizzlies a chance to form an identity, to create ever-lasting bonds with the city.
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Bonds that remain in place today for the plucky team that somehow won again Saturday even with Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr. sidelined. A team that came out on the court to watch the postgame party, that looks like it's at the beginning of the journey Randolph and the Core Four embarked on a decade ago.
"He's our unifier," Wallace said of Randolph.
And fittingly, as the ceremony began, Randolph sat in the middle of it all, wearing a dapper three-piece suit while seated on a throne no less, surrounded by friends and family and tens of thousands of the fans he inspired, who just had to be there, to see No. 50 one last time.
"This is unbelievable," Randolph eventually summoned into the microphone, to which the crowd chanted again, like he was battling Blake Griffin and bullying bullies and bringing Memphis back in time.
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"Z-Bo, Z-Bo, Z-Bo."
You can reach Commercial Appeal columnist Mark Giannotto via email at mgiannotto@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter: @mgiannotto
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Zach Randolph's jersey retirement a tribute to what he created in Memphis
