Randolph

Morris

The former Wildcat star was arrested by Lexington police, according to district court deputy Clerk Glenda Walls. Released on $100 bond, he’ll appear in court later today. Apparently, Morris and new teammate Zach Randolph will be great buddies in no time.

Nate Robinson will also join last season’s rookies, Mardy Collins and Randolph Morris, and this year’s picks, first-rounder Wilson Chandler of DePaul and second-round shooting guard Demitris Nichols of Syracuse. The Knicks appear to have serious interest in acquiring Ron Artest from the Kings and several of these players could be included in a deal. However, for the Knicks to get Artest, they’ll likely have to part with fan-favorite David Lee. Stay tuned.

He was arrested Aug. 7 in Lexington after an officer spotted him speeding and failing to use a turn signal as he drove down an exit ramp. He acknowledged he had been drinking and was given a preliminary breath test at the scene, with his blood alcohol level showing .069, below Kentucky’s legal limit of .08.

Coach Mike Woodson was excited by what he saw. “It’s nice to see two big bodies first and foremost,” Woodson said. “Zaza [Pachulia], Al Horford and Solomon Jones are the only real bigs we’ve got...Kwame might come back [Wednesday], so that let’s me know that he’s sincere about our team.”

Morris has agreed to sign for the NBA minimum salary, which is believed to be around $1.7 million for the two years. The Hawks would like to move Al Horford to power forward, meaning Morris could compete with Zaza Pachulia for the starting center gig. However, given the fact that neither player is all that exciting in reality or fantasy, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Horford continue to start in the middle for Atlanta. It also depends on whether or not the team is able to re-sign Josh Smith, who started at PF last season. If Smith returns and the Hawks want to start a true center, Marvin Williams could possibly come off the bench.

Morris will actually be looked at as a possible starter for the Hawks, even though he’s never done much in the NBA. The Hawks want to start Al Horford at power forward this season, so watch the position battle at center between Horford, Zaza Pachulia and Morris in training camp.

Randolph’s agent said he went home to rest his bruised foot that has kept him out of three straight games. Isiah Thomas, however, said Randolph left for unspecified personal reasons. Keep him benched until this gets sorted out...unfortunately for fantasy owners, Randolph Morris replaced Zach in the starting lineup but doesn’t have any value.

Typically this would be a negative result, but the Knicks are playing for next year’s draft lottery and they got exactly what they wanted -- a loss to the Grizzlies, who hadn’t won on the road in their past 18 tries. Unless Morris makes great strides in the next few games, fantasy owners can probably ignore him altogether.

For how long or for how many games is still unknown, but we’re guessing Isiah got his “look” at Randolph Morris. Zach’s owners are surely fuming over the unnecessary benching, as Morris contributed a whopping 2-of-15 shooting for a combined six points and six boards in his two starts. The Knicks somehow managed to lose to both the Grizzlies and Timberwolves on back-to-back nights, while Randolph sat helplessly in weekly lineups. Isiah not only managed to tank a couple games for potential draft position, but cost many fantasy owners a shot at a championship in the process. Bravo!

He has no fantasy value, but his story of going from the NCAA tourney to the NBA in a week’s time frame is a good one.