The Memphis Grizzlies Get it Right
by edwzipper on Friday, June 27th, 2008 at 7:07am
No, seriously. No, seriously. Yeah. Seriously.
Go to bed last night, glad the Grizzlies did the obvious thing and took Kevin Love. Was wondering about why they took a wing in Syracuse’s Donte Green (a pick apparently made for Houston, as it turns out).
But still, was wondering (as ever) what it would be like to be the fan of an NBA franchise that was proactive and not eternally a double for the Gimp.
And, then, I wake up to the news that O.J. Mayo is a Grizzly. Huh.
The details are that Kevin Love and Mike Miller and two bad contracts (Brian Cardinal and Jason Collins) are in Minnesota.
And O.J. Mayo and three bad contracts (Antoine Walker, Marco Jaric and Greg Buckner) are in Memphis.
Huh. And, fuck yeah.
1. Love’s a good player, and I was glad the Grizzlies drafted him, but pretty much every NBA observer is of the opinion that he has a ceiling short of All-star, while Mayo’s ceiling is potentially far higher. I would rather the Grizzlies take a chance on the star.
2. Antoine Walker will be bought out, I think, so no worries about him being the “veteran” presence in what is now a locker-room of NBA toddlers.
3. Jaric has a hot significant other (now engaged), so, that will be nice to be on the lookout for at the FedEx Forum this year. Helllooooo Adriana Lima. Say. Nice pics there. Thanks Sports Crunch. They have more. Some borderline NSFW.
4. And, while we’re here, through another series of deals late in the night, the Grizzlies ended up with green room stooge Darrell Arthur, who apparently plummeted because of some confusion over a kidney test. Turns out he’s fine, and Memphis has a 6′9″ power forward that draws comparisons to Antonio McDyess.
Memphis’ core is now:
Mike Conley
O.J. Mayo
Rudy Gay
Darrell Arthur
Darko Milicic/Marc Gasol
That is not going to the playoffs next year, but it IS moving in the right direction. They also retained their cap room, making them potential players in this years or next years free agent market.
As for the rest of the draft and national thoughs, well, head to:
—Simmons’ draft diary on espn.com
–Mike Kahn with grades on foxsports.com. Note, I could not disagree with him more on Memphis’ grade. And he apparently is unaware the Grizzlies picked up Darrell Arthur. So, fuck him.
For my part, the Grizzlies get an A on draft night for the first time since the Battier/Gasol draft. The franchise desperately needed to try and find a star. They made their play for one, and the price paid was not egregious. No complaints.
Well done. And some redemption for Chris Wallace.