Randolph is expected to miss six to eight weeks after tearing a ligament in his right knee, the team announced Wednesday.

“That’s life,” coach Lionel Hollins said. “You have to go and play. He’s not going to be here. We can’t worry about what ifs and what we should do to get him back. This is where we are.”

The 6-foot-9, 255-pound Randolph tore his right MCL in the first quarter of the Grizzlies’ 104-64 loss at Chicago on Sunday. Randolph had an MRI on Tuesday, and the team learned of the prognosis Wednesday afternoon before they played at Minnesota.

It’s a crushing blow to the Grizzlies, who had never made it out of the first round of the playoffs in their nine seasons before last year’s remarkable run, the deepest a No. 8 seed has ever gone.

Randolph scored at least 30 points and grabbed at least 10 rebounds four times in the playoffs last season, and he also provided some toughness on defense.

The 29-year-old Randolph led the Grizzlies in scoring through the first four games of the season with an average of 14.8 points and had pulled down 7.5 rebounds per game. More importantly, they lose their emotional core and the player whose maturity and evolving game elevated one of the league’s moribund franchises to a contender in the powerful West.

He was injured when he knocked knees with guard O.J. Mayo, and the Grizzlies are 1-1 since he went down, with a 40-point loss to Chicago and a victory over Sacramento on Tuesday night in which the team still managed to score 72 points in the paint.

“The way we play and attack, hopefully we’ll continue that way,” Hollins said.

An 11-year NBA veteran, Randolph was selected to the 2010-11 All-NBA third team after leading Memphis to the semifinals and averaging 20.1 points and a career-high and franchise-record 12.2 rebounds during the regular season.

He teamed with emerging star center Marc Gasol to give the Grizzlies one of the most formidable front courts in the league, a bruising tandem that dominated the boards and racked up the points in the paint.

“It doesn’t matter what happens, we’ve got to (move on),” Gasol said. “Our reality is that he’s not here. The truth is he’s not here and we’ve got to play and we’ve got to win.”

Now, with forward Darrell Arthur already out for the season with an Achilles injury, the Grizzlies will likely have to turn to Dante Cunningham and the newly acquired Marreese Speights, who came over in a trade from Philadelphia on Wednesday to fill in up front. The Grizzlies sent guard Xavier Henry to New Orleans and a second-round pick to Philadelphia as part of the three-team trade.

The 6-10 Speights has averaged 7.2 points and 3.7 rebounds in four seasons.

“We weren’t trying to get Speights to replace Zach,” Hollins said. “We’ve been trying to get a big man since we started training camp. We were really thin in the front-court area.”

Randolph’s injury will put more of the onus on Rudy Gay, who is still trying to find his game after missing the final three months of last season with a shoulder injury. Gay leads the team with 15.2 points per game, but he had made 6 of 23 shots in two games before breaking out against Sacramento on Tuesday with 23 points on 10 of 16 shooting.

“This is a great opportunity for guys who haven’t played,” Hollins said. “This is a great opportunity for a team to show their character, show what their made of, show their mental toughness because I don’t think you can have success or growth without some kind of adversity.”

___

Follow Jon Krawczynski on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/APkrawczynski.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

New Orleans — Philadelphia, Memphis and New Orleans have agreed on a multi-player trade.

The 76ers are sending Marreese Speights to Memphis, the Grizzlies will move Xavier Henry to New Orleans and the Grizzlies and Hornets each will send a second-round draft pick to Philadelphia.

The 6-foot-6 Henry, in his second NBA season out of Kansas University, has averaged 4.3 points and 1.0 rebound in 38 games with Memphis.

“We are delighted to welcome Xavier to our team and the New Orleans community,” Hornets general manager Dell Demps said in a release Wednesday. “We hope Xavier will develop into a good basketball player that will contribute to the success of the New Orleans Hornets this season and into the future.”

Henry became the first player in Kansas history to leave for the NBA after his freshman season.

The 6-10 Speights is in his fourth NBA season out of Florida and has averaged 7.2 points and 3.7 rebounds.

Copyright 2012 The

Associated Press.

All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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MINNEAPOLIS — Grizzlies general manager Chris Wallace no longer has to force himself to forget the euphoria that came with last season in order to focus on the future.

Circumstances have taken care of that.

News that star forward Zach Randolph could miss two months with a torn MCL accelerated Wallace’s efforts to improve the Grizzlies’ frontcourt depth. So the Grizzlies acquired 6-10 power forward/center Marreese Speights from Philadelphia on Wednesday in a three-team trade that sent second-year guard Xavier Henry to New Orleans.

To complete the transaction, Memphis gave Philadelphia its 2012 second-round draft pick. New Orleans also sent a 2013 second-round pick to Philadelphia.

The Griz were reluctant to part with Henry, the 12th-overall pick in 2010, but they decided the move might keep the Grizzlies positioned to make another playoff run.

“In a perfect world we wouldn’t have wanted to (deal Henry),” Wallace said. “But we’re not in a perfect world. Our team last year showed we can handle an injury on the perimeter. Where we’re most vulnerable is at power forward and center. We’re down two key players and scorers.”

Randolph went down a couple of weeks after his backup, Darrell Arthur, was ruled out for the season with an Achilles injury. The Griz had been pursuing Speights since Arthur was hurt during training camp.

Griz brass began this season believing they needed more frontcourt depth with only Randolph, Arthur and center Marc Gasol under contract. The hope now is that Speights can use his athleticism, rebounding and scoring ability to help compensate for the Grizzlies’ sudden void in frontcourt scoring.

“He has a lot of talent,” Gasol said. “He has a soft touch and a nice little hook. He can play. He’s big, and I think he can help us.”

Speights is in his fourth season after the Sixers selected him out of Florida with the 16th pick in 2007. But Speights has never averaged more than 16.4 minutes in the NBA. He has not played this season.

“He’ll space the floor,” Griz forward Rudy Gay said. “He’s athletic but he limits his game because he shoots too many jumpers. He’s big and physical. He can score down low.”

Griz coach Lionel Hollins said he isn’t sure how he’ll use Speights. Whilethe big man is versatile, with the ability to play power forward and center, critics question Speights’ motivation.

Speights is expected to be in uniform Friday when the Griz play at Utah.

“Marreese is a guy that’s talented. He’s had some moments in the NBA,” Wallace said. “He fell out of the rotation in Philadelphia. But we’re hoping this can be a perfect marriage. We need him, and he needs us.”

The Griz took on more salary to acquire Speights, who will earn $2.7 million this season. He’ll be a restricted free agent this summer. Henry will make $2.1 million, and New Orleans must now decide whether to pick up his third-year rookie option by Jan. 25.

Henry has not played this season because of an ankle sprain. His rookie campaign was curtailed by knee soreness.

Memphis is sending Xavier Henry to New Orleans, along with two second-round picks to Philly, in exchange for big man Marreese Speights. Reports ESPN: “The Grizzlies were in search of added depth in the frontcourt even before star forward Zach Randolph suffered a bruised knee when teammate O.J. Mayo fell onto him in Sunday’s 40-point loss in Chicago. That’s because Memphis lost versatile forward Darrell Arthur, its most valued reserve, to a season-ending Achilles injury last month. Although Randolph’s injury was diagnosed only as a bone bruise, Memphis wants to move quickly in the wake of its 2-3 start. The Grizzlies have never faced higher expectations after upsetting top-seeded San Antonio in the first round of last season’s playoffs before losing to Oklahoma City in the second round in seven games. Randolph averaged 20.1 points and 12.2 rebounds last season and was averaging 19 points and nine rebounds before he was injured. Speights is in his fourth season with the 76ers, who selected him with the 16th overall pick in the 2007 draft but has never averaged more than 16.4 minutes per game in the NBA. Henry played in 38 games as a rookie last season in Memphis and has missed the start of this season with torn ligaments in his right ankle.”

The Sacramento Kings are struggling to open the 2011-12 NBA season. Sacramento lost again on Tuesday January 3 to fall to 2-4 on the season.

The team put together a solid first half before getting blown away in the second half and losing the game 113-96. Not even the return of DeMarcus Cousins helped in this game. Cousins came off the bench and played just 22 minutes. His poor shooting continued as he shot just one out of five from the field on his way to four points and eight rebounds.

The starting unit accounted for only 36 out of 96 points in the game. No NBA team will win a game when they get performances like that from their starting five. The starting unit only made 13 out of 35 shots for just 37% shooting in the game. Sacramento is a young team and needs to get more consistent play out of their stars like Tyreke Evans and Marcus Thornton.

The one bright spot is that this may have been a breakthrough game for rookie guard Jimmer Fredette. Fredette has struggled coming into this game and has not had an outstanding start to his rookie season. Fredette led the team in scoring and played the most minutes on the team in the loss to Memphis. Fredette made six out of 12 shots including four three pointers on his way to scoring a season high 17 points.

Sacramento also saw a good game off the bench from rookie point guard Isaiah Thomas. Thomas has played very well early on and has earned more playing time off the bench. Thomas finished with 15 points, five rebounds and three assists.

One of the biggest problems the team is having early in the season has been their lack of assisted baskets in games. This directly translates to the stagnant offense that fans are watching in games. The team is not moving the ball well and the offense is struggling because of it. No player on the team has had a game with more than five assists through six games this season.

Sacramento fans shouldn’t panic quite yet. Several of the teams losses have come against quality opponents so far this season. Sacramento needs to start playing better and more consistent basketball. Once they do, victories will come and the improvement will be evident.

Kyle Rapoza is a Featured Contributor for the Yahoo! Contributor Network and a lifelong fan of the Sacramento Kings. He started going to Kings games at age six and has attended hundreds of games since. Follow him on twitter @kyler11.

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