MEMPHIS -- Zach Randolph curled down Beale Street on Tuesday afternoon on foot and amid the hum of the blues clubs, he stopped cold. A group of children who attend a nearby charter school were on a walking field trip, too. They screeched, smiled and howled, surrounding the Grizzlies power forward.

"My father was an alcoholic," Randoph said. "I saw drugs. I saw destruction and all that. There's a lot of poverty here. If I can stop one kid from picking up the rock, you know, stop one kid from picking up a sack of dope, then it's a win.

"This is how I get my blessings."

He kept repeating that phrase. Over and over, the 33-year-old said it under his breath as he posed, smiled and asked the children, "School ... how is school?"

Randolph agreed to meet on Tuesday after Memphis' practice. He arrived in a black pick-up truck with a tree branch hanging out of its bed. "It fell in my backyard," he said, pushing the limb down. "I have to remember to get rid of that."

As Randolph gave a walking tour of the neighborhood adjacent to FedExForum, he talked about his wife and his four children. Forgive me, stopping right here. But I couldn't help but think of the contrast on Tuesday from the guy whose entourage during his Blazers-era drag raced cars up Southwest Broadway, fired shotguns at night in his Stafford-area backyard and wore diamond-crested necklaces emblazoned with the phrase, "The Hoops Family."

"You killed me," Randolph said. "You just killed me in print. Man, that was a long time ago and I was so young."

Randolph now spends his free time with his wife, their 17-month-old son, their two girls -- 5 years old and 9 -- and his 16-year-old son. He has a tattoo of his 5-year-old daughter on his left forearm. Before Game 1 against the Blazers, his children sat in seats in the row behind the scorer's table. The father looked over and smiled at his children, then waded past media before the game to high-five them.

"I come home and it's about my kids," he said. "We just play. The oldest wants to play video games. I've learned a lot. I'm a humble person."

Randolph long ago sold the home he owned in suburban Portland. He said he thinks about buying property in Oregon again. He also thinks about being drafted in 2001 by the Blazers and serving as the bridge between fellow power forwards Rasheed Wallace and LaMarcus Aldridge.

"'Sheed was great. I learned so much from him," Randolph said. "Then, it was my time, and I saw LaMarcus come in and saw his growth and development. They knew what they had. There wasn't any hard feelings or anything, it was just business. LaMarcus is a good player, look what he turned out to be."

An hour earlier, Aldridge sat inside the arena before Blazers practice, talking all things Randolph. The teammates from Aldridge's rookie season now find themselves pitted against each other in a key matchup in this series. When I asked Aldridge how Randolph has changed since leaving Portland in 2007, he blurted, "I mean, he's married now and has all those kids, can you believe that?!?"

Randolph had 16 points and 11 rebounds in the opening game of the series. Aldridge said there was a stretch in Game 1 where the Grizzlies took five consecutive shots without Randolph being involved.

"The old Zach would not have liked to watch five shots go up," said Aldridge. "For him now, you can tell it's become about winning and his team."

During warmups for Game 1 Randolph stood against the railing inside the arena, talking with a courtside fan named Andy Groveman. The 6-foot-9 forward and the 5-foot-9 Groveman, a real estate developer who wore a yarmulke, were in deep discussion.

About what exactly? The Blazers? The Grizzlies? The NBA playoffs?

Said Groveman: "I just took a trip to Israel. He wanted to know what it was like."

There are chapters in every life, and in every story. One of them was prepared by the Blazers prior to drafting Randolph out of college at Michigan State in 2001. They hired a private investigator to research his family, his friends and assess the risk of picking an 18-year old with the 19th pick of the first round. He'd been arrested for possessing stolen guns, convicted on a battery charge, and arrested for shoplifting as a juvenile.

They made him the pick. What followed were six tumultuous seasons in Portland that had thrills (See: 2004 Most Improved Player) and chills (See: Practice punch that fractured Ruben Patterson's eye socket), and an $84 million contract extension for his production on the court.

The reinvention of Randolph came in Memphis, after short stops with the Knicks and Clippers. The chapter of the story he's living now, the final piece of his basketball career, the growing family, the endless series of selfies with his fans on the streets, feels finally so peaceful.

"He's not just liked, he's beloved here," Grizzlies executive John Hollinger said. And teammate Mike Conley said, "He could be Mayor if he wanted." During breaks in Grizzlies playoff games, the franchise has now debuted a bit titled "Z-Bo's Deep Dish Thoughts," which plays off the Jack Handey production from Saturday Night Live.

Randolph asks in one:

"If your shirt is not tucked into your pants, then are your pants tucked into your shirt?"

Randolph's T-shirt was untucked on Tuesday. He was also curious about what else Aldridge had said about him earlier in the day. Most players would either not care or pretend not to care. Not Randolph. He cares. Deeply. Not just about Aldridge, but about what anyone thinks of him.

"You can't get caught up in it," he said, "but I just be me and people see the smile on my face and hopefully they know I'm a good person."

As a player, Aldridge said he marvels at how Randolph utilizes his body. The Memphis power forward has made more than $140 million in 14 NBA seasons largely playing below the rim.

"He's mastered not getting off the floor," Aldridge said. "He's really good at using his upper body to move guys around. He has a big butt that he can duck in and bump you off your spot. He's really learned how to use his body. Most bigs in this league aren't physical enough to match his intensity so then he just buries them ... then he can drop a jump shot, he has so many ways he can score, he's hard to guard."

Also, Aldridge said Randolph wages verbal warfare during the game, whispering and chatting casually during the action in an attempt to lull his opponent.

"He's really good at getting you talking and saying things like, "I was in Portland this summer and it was nice,' and then you let up and think, 'Yeah, it was nice,' and then he just drives past you and gets a basket."

Randolph cackled when he heard that.

"Ha! He's right. Soften 'em up some. Get 'em talking."

Randolph's biggest issue as a young player centered around the theory that he was young and a follower, surrounded by a dicey "Jail Blazers" era locker room and a sketchy group of sycophants who heavily influenced him. None of that is present in Memphis, where he's among good leaders on a team that features Conley, Tony Allen, Vince Carter and Marc Gasol. Randolph now finds himself living in a community that looks to him as a leader.

"Poverty," he said, "so much poverty."

Randolph purchased 300 Blazers-Grizzlies Game 1 tickets last week and gave them away to fans in Memphis. At Thanksgiving, he put together a food-donation drive for needy families, paid the utility bills of 100 Memphis-area families and in 2012 he took area children Christmas shopping.

He consented to this interview away from the Grizzlies media relations department. Randolph did so outside mandatory NBA availability, on his own time, as if he was stopping off for groceries on his way home from work. He said he wanted to do the interview not because he feels like he owes a debt to Portland, but because he cares what Oregonians think of him.

"That's a place that tried to take care of me for the first five or six years of my career," he said.

Randolph posed for photographs with anyone who wanted one, and walked the sidewalk of Beale Street, collecting the business card of Mrs. Castillo, the school teacher who was leading that field trip. Then, Randolph made his way back to his pick-up truck. Before he climbed in, the forward stopped. He reached into the bed of the truck, pushing down that fallen branch from his backyard.

He must remember to get rid of that thing.

--- @JohnCanzanoBFT