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Overall
Win/Loss Record (as of November 30th): 8-7, fourth place Southwest
Division
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17
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This Month:
20
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Team
Statistics and League Rank
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Individual
Statistical Leaders
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SDH’s Worst of the Month: Tayshaun Prince
 Most folks in Memphis are probably thinking the same thing that I have had floating in my head since the start of the regular season: the Grizzlies gave up +Rudy Gay for this guy? Sure, Gay had his flaws being paid a superstar's salary while not producing at a superstar level in the eyes of fans and the media, but as we watch the season progress, it can certainly be seen that the Grizzlies, not Gay, would get the short end of the stick on this deal. After providing a solid perimeter presence helping Memphis to its first ever appearance in the Western Conference, Prince has come into the season ice cold only averaging six points per game while shooting a rather abysmal .125 from beyond the three point line--an asset that was supposed to be his greatest strength and the reason why the Grizzlies brought him there in the first place. At the same time, it has become painfully apparent that Prince can no longer provide the perimeter scoring presence that his predecessor had once provided as father time has caught up with him which can be seen by his declining numbers and abilities. Now the Grizzlies are stuck with a player who has two years and 15$ million left on his his deal with no chance of ever being traded because of his over valued contract and diminishing return which cannot be said about guy, who although on his third team in two years, still manages to put up big numbers and provide the production on both ends of the floor that Memphis misses so much. |
SDH’s First of the Month: Mike Conley
 The 2013/2014 season has certainly been a coming out party for the Grizzlies' sixth year starting point guard as he has simply exploded posting a career best in scoring while leading the team in both points and assists per game. Not only has Mike Conley posted a career milestone 18.6 points per game, but has done so at a rather efficient rate shooting nearly .500 percent from the field. Conley's emergence could not come at a better time as the Grizzlies severely lacked a solid perimeter scoring presence to balance their low post attack after trading away the team's top perimeter scorer Rudy Gay last season for next to nothing. Unfortunately his boost in scoring production has taken away much of his ability to set his teammates up and facilitate the offense; however, since there is very little if nothing to speak of in terms of perimeter scoring. Nonetheless, if he continues posting the big scoring numbers he has thus far, Conley might have a chance to earn his first NBA All Star selection as he certainly deserves recognition for his phenomenal play and even be a contender for the league's Most Improved Player Award upon season's end. |
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After an impressive three year run which saw them post fifty plus seasons, three playoff appearances which include two firsts in franchise history winning its first playoff series in 2012 along with reaching the Western Conference Finals for the first time as well, it seems as if the Memphis Grizzlies have started to crash back to earth after such a meteoric rise. Once praised for being one of the hot, young up and coming teams in the league, it looks as if after spending three short years in the upper echelons of the league Memphis has sadly reached its peak and look to be tipped off their pedestal and sent tumbling down to the bottom. This once proud and powerful franchise has found itself from being among the top dogs in their Conference to becoming a spectator on the outside looking in as team's that were once their inferiors have now surpassed them thus leaving this once shining star hurdling into the cold void of space. Despite finishing the first month of the regular season rathjer respectably at a game over the .500, the Grizzlies are no where near to being the force it once was as they have been upstaged by two teams for whom they had comfortably remained on top over the last couple seasons' in the +Dallas Mavericks and the +Houston Rockets with the Mavericks bouncing back from their less than spectacular season to surprise their doubters and naysayers while Houston has emerged as a front runner to win the West with a combo that consists of the league top big man and shooting guard. With a Western Conference which has all but been decided, it looks as if sadly this one time up and coming team who fans loved for their ability to grind down the opponents on the defensive end and looked to have a bright future ahead of it will be heading to the lottery at season's end and on the long hard road to rebuilding.
For those who have followed the team closely, it was already a forgone conclusion that the Grizzlies had hit the end of the road upon the end of last season as the team had essentially hit its peak last season and there was nowhere else for it to go but down. The writing was already on the wall when the Grizzlies came into the regular season with essentially the same team that was led by an aging Zach Randolph and had not done anything really Earth shattering during the off season to ensure that Z-Bo would have the support he needed to lead the team to the post season once again. Their biggest off season move was signing a washed up has-been in Mike Miller, who had been waived from his previous team, the two time NBA Champion +Miami HEAT, expecting him to provide the scoring punch that the team so desperately needed after shipping of last season's leading scorer Rudy Gay for pennies to the dollar. The Grizzlies also acquired a young, athletic and talented big man +Kosta Koufos via trade with the +Denver Nuggets and although he does provide additional depth and strength to an already stacked front court consisting of All Star big men in Randolph and Marc Gasol. Unfortunately, such a move did not help the Grizzlies as they would soon find themselves with an extremely crowded front court thus limiting the impact of Koufos while still remaining without a legitimate scoring presence on the perimeter; nonetheless, that was not even the worst off season move as Memphis would simply discard a player that could have possibly been the answer to solve all its offensive woes. Last season, +Tony Wroten, whom the Grizzlies picked in the 25th in the 2012 NBA Draft, was expected to be one of the top sleepers in the draft with his size, skills, athleticism and high basketball I.Q; unfortunately, however, he had a less than stellar rookie campaign for Memphis playing in just 35 games while averaging less than three points per game and shooting a woeful .384 from the field. His performance left little to be desired and gave both the fans and front office of Memphis Grizzlies such a bad taste in their mouth that the team chose to simply cast him aside trading him to the +Philadelphia 76ers for nothing more than a protected second round pick in next year's draft. That callous move proved to be costly as Wroten would emerge as one of the top comeback stories of the early season coming off the bench to explode onto the court with averages of nearly 14 points per game in just under 26 minutes of playing time giving Philly a potential diamond in the rough leaving Memphis with egg on its face for pulling off such a short sighted deal. Had the Grizzlies been patient with Wroten, who had only turned 20 this season, and kept him instead of casually just throwing him away, they could have had an exciting young player who will certainly be in the running for the Most Valuable Player Award at season's end; however, now both the team and its fans are stuck wondering "what if" as they both struggle to hold on and remain relevant in an already hotly contested Western Conference in which they have little or no chance of breaking through. This move can be considered as just as thoughtless as when they discarded another player who would have maintained a healthy inside/outside balance on the offensive end while providing the team with one of the best on the ball perimeter defenders in the league. While in Memphis, despite leading the team in scoring all of his seasons playing for the Grizzlies and statistically being one of the most potent small forwards in the league on both ends of the court, Rudy Gay was never given the respect and admiration he deserved by either the fans, the press, or the media. He was often unjustly criticized and judged for his inability to get selected to the NBA All Star team--something that he had absolutely no control over-- despite being signed to a max contract extension of six year at approximately 120$ million. Nonetheless he still lived up to his end of his contract posting All Star like numbers of around 20 points, 6 boards, three assists, two steals and nearly a blocked shot per game in the six years he played as a member of the Grizzlies, which many sports reporters and analysts have often overlooked or disregarded when they go about disparaging Gay's contributions as a player. What is most unfortunate is in their ongoing onslaughts of harsh insults and baseless judgments that many of his critics failed to realize how important he was to that team as he provided Memphis with a perimeter presence that kept opposing teams honest defensively keeping their eyes on Gay while trying to handle Randolph and Gasol in the paint. With Gay no longer in the picture, opposing teams have no reason to really guard the perimeter as there is virtually no threat whatsoever thus leading them to focus their defensive pressure on Randolph and Gasol leading to both players to get the brunt of the punishment and little space to work in the paint. Hypothetically, had Rudy Gay remained in Memphis, not only the Grizzlies still probably would have beaten the +Los Angeles Clippers in the first round of last year's NBA Playoffs and still managed to upset the +Oklahoma City Thunder to reach the Western Conference Final, but they would have had enough to probably maintain their standing as one of the league's top teams for at least another year or two; however, that is no longer the case as last season's epic run would become a distant memory with the Grizzlies looking to crash and burn once the season comes to a close. One can consider such a demise of a team as tragic and bittersweet because it all could have been prevented had the Grizzlies stood firm with the roster it had instead of shortsightedly unloading valuable assets and replacing them with cheaper lower quality spare parts in return. Now the team struggles to stay afloat in the bloodthirsty shark infested waters of the Western Conference and it is only a matter of time until this lame and weakened NBA franchise sinks to the bottom and drown under its own weight or get torn apart and devoured before they even get a chance to even reach under the water. Although there may be some fans in Memphis who have hope that things can turn around as it is just a month into the regular season, but with the way the West has been shaping up and looking at their numbers, the chances of a comeback are slim at best. Here is a team that so far has allowed their opponents to outscore it despite leading the league in points allowed per game while at the same time allow them to shoot just a well as its players do and force as many turnovers as they commit themselves. Had they been situated in the far more diluted and geographically appropriate Eastern Conference, the Grizzlies would be among the top four teams in the east; however, both fate and that unwise action of its front office has left this team from being one of the league's elite to becoming one of the sad tragic stories of the 2014 NBA season. |
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Friday, January 10, 2014
SDH Presents the NBA's Worst to First for November: 20. Memphis Grizzlies
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