Seemingly everywhere he went Friday, Zach Randolph heard a variation of a question on one topic: the Grizzlies’ recent trades.

Randolph was asked if he agreed with team chairman Robert Pera, who this week said his new-look Grizzlies are better equipped for playoff success after a trade that sent Rudy Gay to Toronto.

“I definitely do,” Randolph said during a media session in a ballroom at the posh Hilton Americas hotel here. “I think once we get our identity together and continue to play, get some more games under our belt as a unit and come together, I think we can surprise a lot of people.”

In a 20-minute interview session where media members came and went, Randolph was asked about the trade nine times. Gay is missed, he said. He hears the doubts but doesn’t believe them, he said. The new pieces will help the team, he said. And as a veteran, he knows it’s incumbent on him to help the team jell.

via Kyle Veazey of the Memphis Commercial-Appeal