Zach Randolph: 'We still believe that we are one of the best teams in the league'

By foxsports
Published

The Grizzlies are reeling in the Western Conference. Even at 14-13, Memphis has looked particularly unimpressive early in the season. It hasn't been an encouraging look for fans of the Grit 'n' Grind. 

The recently benched Zach Randolph is still as optimistic as anyone, though, as he told ESPN's Scoop Jackson:

There's a real problem with the Grizzlies, and it's not their record. 14-13 is still totally possible from which to recover. The issue is the numbers say the team's record might be flukish. 

The Griz are making less than 32 percent of their threes, ranking 28th in the league in long-range percentage. They're not even getting off many shots, also ranking 28th in three-point attempts per game. Shooting has always been a problem for the Grizzlies, but it's been especially bad this year and coach Dave Joerger has made recent adjustments to try improving on the issue. Tony Allen and Randolph have recently headed to the bench with Courtney Lee and Matt Barnes entering the starting lineup.

Memphis has also been outscored by 4.8 points per 100 possessions. That's good enough for 24th in the league. If the Grizzlies continue to play like this, that number indicates there are far more losses than wins in their future. Something's got to change.

In our minds everybody still counts us out, but we still believe in ourselves. Even though we haven't been playing our best, the way we want to play, the season is still early. We still believe that we are one of the best teams in the league. We believe that. But we have to accomplish that [on the court]. Our confidence is high. We know we can compete with anybody.