Grizzed by Vanjulio

Grizzlies 100 vs Nuggets 97

2012-02-01T12:19:00.002-05:00

Well, I'm sad to admit I did not tune into this game until there were 30 seconds left in regulation. So I caught the final seconds of those heroics and then the extra period where the Grizz pulled off the miracle come-from-behind upset once again. That's the Grindhouse for ya!

Since I pretty much did not watch this game my only other comment will be, keep winning baby!

Marc Gasol and Andrew Bynum's winning performances on Tuesday solely account for the positive upswing in the center position this week. Point guard is actually best to stay behind the shadows for the win. If your point guard is your main scorer something is wrong. Mike Conley, Jr. (4 steals) and O.J. Mayo both delivered last night in the victory and Mayo's immense contributions were overshadowed by the scoring numbers of Al Harrington and Andre Miller from the Denver bench. No matter, we get the win with grit and grind hustle. Gasol and Rudy Gay demolished the opposition. Tony Allen played heroically once again ( 4 blocked shots!) . See you Thursday in Atlanta!

Grizzlies in Game 21:

Player	eStat	μ = mean difference
Mike Conley	-1	μ = +2.250
Tony Allen	+9	μ = +5.0
Rudy Gay	+12	μ = +6.50
Marreese Speights	-9	μ = -13.063
Marc Gasol	+19	μ = +17.187
6^th (O.J. Mayo*)	-5	μ = -7.688

*14^st 6th Man

Go Grizz!

Grizzlies 73 vs Spurs 83

2012-01-31T11:02:00.003-05:00

The score might as well have been 103 to 73. The Spurs totally walked all over the Grizzlies in their most disappointing home loss this season. Especially given that the Spurs had played a grueling match in Dallas the previous night while the Grizz had a day off, this stinker came at a very inopportune time. Now tonight the Grizzlies face a far greater opponent that will punish them mercilessly if they don't right the ship immediately. It's a down time right now since the leader, Rudy Gay, has put such a bad number on the board. They simply have to perform as a unit again.

Mentally and emotionally you can see there is a gap with this team right now and they have to get across it. In the first 9 games this week, my "eStats" show the 4 position off to the races again with the 3 right behind. This exposes how terrible Rudy Gay played against a much more inferior opponent (Richard Jefferson) on Monday night. Meanwhile O.J. Mayo needs more burn and the bench itself has fallen out of step with the flow of the team.

I believe our offense and team is too chaotic. One night Pondexter/Young/Pargo/Selby/Haddadi don't play and the next they get 15 minutes. Weird if you ask me. Where was Dante Cunningham last night by the way?

ROTATION IDEAS

Play OJ + Haddadi more . The Darko/Gasol twin towers worked occasionally, bring it back.
If you start Speights don't play him for 8 minutes and then bench him the rest of the way.
Don't play Pargo or Sam Young for now. They don't look like they belong. I love Sam Young and he can contribute but not on this team right now.
I think Tony Allen should sub in for Rudy Gay and OJ Mayo.

Grizzlies in Game 20:

Player	eStat	μ = mean difference
Mike Conley	+10	μ = +7.778
Tony Allen	-3	μ = -1.556
Rudy Gay	-12	μ = -15.889
Marreese Speights	-4	μ = -10.778
Marc Gasol	-2	μ = -3.778
6^th (O.J. Mayo*)	+2	μ = -2.0

*13^st 6th Man

Rudy played another terrible game like this against Oklahoma City when they lost and then we went on to a 7 game winning streak. He's the furthest off the mean we've ever seen him. Let's see that MVP play again Rudy! "Make your own luck", brother!

Go Grizz!

Grizzlies 84 @ Phoenix 86

2012-01-30T13:26:00.000-05:00

Not only did Jared Dudley kill the Grizzlies with free throws in the final minute of the game, he dominated Tony Allen in points. The Suns guards won the battle off of hustle and terrible shooting by the Grizzlies.

They have to bounce back at home and return to winning ways to be a factor in the West going forward.

Grizzlies in Game 19:

Player	eStat	μ = mean difference
Mike Conley	-6	μ = -4.649
Tony Allen	-10	μ = -13.404
Rudy Gay	+9	μ = +5.211
Marreese Speights	+6	μ = +0.912
Marc Gasol	+5	μ = +7.386
6^th (O.J. Mayo/Dante Cunningham)	-4	μ = -5.842

Graphical chart of the above Average Differences:

The 5 weeks of NBA and 289 games have been played. Small-forward holds an edge over the power-forward. Shooting guard is a bit further behind after a terrific week5. Also in week 5 the center and point guard fell off the map and overall their contribution is low. The margin of victory by average has been going down each week.

Go Grizz!

Grizzlies 91 @ Clippers 98

2012-01-27T09:21:00.003-05:00

What a hideous game - with hideous jerseys. They might work with the correct socks but with these NBA players they look ridiculous. The big men especially. The guards looked ok in them but the big, oh no. I failed to watch this match again as I failed to stay up even for the amazing comeback of the Celtics in the early game against the Magic. How do you give up 21 point halftime lead and only manage to score 25 the rest of the way? Eight points in the 4th by the Magic. Epic fail.

The Grizzlies appeared to have lost their shooting touch in this one by the look of the box score.

"None of it was their defense," Rudy Gay said. "It was us. I mean, they do have some long athletic big men that alter a couple of shots. But for the most part, we were getting good shots and just weren't knocking them down."

It's no time for freaking out over this loss as the Clippers needed one at home after losing the night before. They absolutely have to take care of business in Phoenix Saturday night now though.

This is funny:

Concerning the stats after 30 games this week, the Grizzlies have to get better production from the power forward position. If not they have to dominate with their guards, which, because of Mike Conley's allstar level play over the win streak, they could rely on. When Mike and Tony are going against Chris Paul, Chauncey Billups, and Mo Williams – game over man. Either they have to build inside with more bodies or knock down the outside shots. What is their character going to be?

Grizzlies in Game 18:

Player	eStat	μ = mean difference
Mike Conley	-4	μ = -3.933
Tony Allen	-5	μ = -6.567
Rudy Gay	+4	μ = +0.967
Marreese Speights	-18	μ = -24.833
Marc Gasol	+9	μ = +11.633
6^th (O.J. Mayo*)	-4	μ = -5.30

*12^st 6th Man

Game Recap Link

This season is too short for 3 game losing streaks on the road. Handle those Suns! It might be time to consider starting Cunningham or Pondexter over Speights. Speights is playing less than 10 minutes a game, then why start him?

Go Grizz!

Grizzlies 84 @ Portland 97

2012-01-25T13:37:00.000-05:00

The 7 game winstreak of 2 weeks comes to a close on this deadly road trip. Let's hope they give the Clippers hell Thursday night on TNT! Lordy, we missed ZBO in this one. Aldridge and Camby went batshit on the boards!

This week we have had 15 games in 2 days. The Grizzlies played 2 of those. The Power Forward is going insane so far. It went against us in this one for 19 points. Luckily Rudy Gay and O.J. Mayo are hanging tough for the Grizzlies. Centers are not faring well. Let's hope that trend reverses the rest of the week with a win Thursday and a mighty shutdown of DeAndre Jordan.

Grizzlies in Game 17:

Player	eStat	μ = mean difference
Mike Conley	-4	μ = -2.277
Tony Allen	-5	μ = -7.533
Rudy Gay	+4	μ = +0.277
Marreese Speights	-19	μ = -28.80
Marc Gasol	+4	μ = +7.600
6^th (O.J. Mayo*)	+5	μ = +3.666

*11^st 6th Man

Go Grizz!

Grizzlies 91 @ Golden State 90

2012-01-24T09:35:00.003-05:00

I only saw the highlights of this game cuz I don't have cable/NBATV and this game started 30 minutes after my bedtime on Monday night! I likely won't see any games this week because of the late night games. Tonight they face Portland who also is 2nd game on back-to-back so chances are good to extend the win streak tying the franchise record if they win. Can you believe the Grizzlies scored 39 points in the final quarter to win by 1???

After the first night's 10 games we see the 2,3,and 4 dominating. Center has reversed from last week and 6th man is a strong contributor so far! Rudy Gay certainly helped the SF cause and Marc Gasol reduced 1/3rd of the center deficit with his +15 over Biedrins! Where was the rest of our bench though? I'm glad to see Haddadi got some stats at least. Portland will be tough with Gerald Wallace back in the lineup.

Grizzlies in Game 16:

Player	eStat	μ = mean difference
Mike Conley	+0	μ = -1.70
Tony Allen	-6	μ = -9.50
Rudy Gay	+10	μ = +5.10
Marreese Speights	-5	μ = -9.50
Marc Gasol	+15	μ = +18.40
6^th (O.J. Mayo*)	+1	μ = -0.60

*10^st 6th Man

Rudy with the "Dirk-esque" game winner

Go Grizz!

4 Weeks of NBA: 232 games

2012-01-23T15:30:00.005-05:00

Your 4 weeks of NBA Grizzlies:

Grizz at top of SW division
Gasol, OJ, Rudy, and Conley playing extremely well for their fourth year together.
Marc Gasol having Allstar season
Defeated the #1 team at the time, Chicago Bulls. Lost to the #1 team in the West, OKC Thunder by point margins of 3 and 5.
Haddadi is back. The rest of the newcomers are getting it.
The defense is winning!

I am collecting numbers from every single NBA game played this season. It's not a sophisticated model at all, but I have fun comparing the Grizzlies starters and best 6th man to get a view of how they are shaping up to the rest of the league each night. Stats chart of each position's contributing factor to their team's final score:

Average stats after 232 games

Power-forward remains a vital figure along with center. Luckily the Marreese Speights is fitting in nicely. Small-forward is most vital position by these metrics. Now that makes me feel comfortable Rudy Gay is maxed. Just behind PF is the Shooting Guard position. Not surprisingly the 2 and 3 positions take the majority of shots so they will score more. However, this shows their contribution to not just scoring, but winning.

UPDATE!!!!: MARC GASOL PLAYER OF THE WEEK - NBA.com

Jan. 16 vs. Chicago: Posted 19 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and two blocks in a 102-86 win over the Bulls.
Jan. 18 @ New Orleans: Tallied 22 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists in a 93-87 victory over the Hornets.
Jan. 21 vs. Sacramento: Scored 20 points and added 11 rebounds, six blocks and five assists as the Grizzlies upended the Kings 128-95.

Congrats to Gasol! ZBO had many of these last season. He's filling those shoes!

Go Grizz!

Grizzlies 128 vs Kings 95

2012-01-22T09:56:00.001-05:00

Dante Block on Cousins

WINSTREAK

FIRST!

Grizzlies in Game 15:

Player	eStat	μ = mean difference
Mike Conley	+9	μ = +8.453
Tony Allen	+6	μ = +4.226
Rudy Gay	+20	μ = +18.755
Marreese Speights	+5	μ = +0.981
Marc Gasol	+1	μ = -1.264
6^th (O.J. Mayo*)	+2	μ = +1.906

*9^st 6th Man

Go Grizz!

Grizzlies 98 @ Detroit 81

2012-01-21T09:53:00.000-05:00

Brandon Knight has the keys but there's no gas in the car. Grizzlies blew this game up with physical and determined play throughout. They let up a little in the 3rd but the pesky defense locked down again and the lead climbed back up again. The first unit was like watching Globetrotters vs Wash Generals. What really impressed me was the poise of the Grizzlies' second unit. Not only are they playing tough road and home, the Grizzlies look solid enough for a post-season run again. They are playing through adversity right now and shining!

Grizzlies in Game 14:

Player	eStat	μ = mean difference
Mike Conley	-8	μ = -9.209
Tony Allen	+3	μ = +2.535
Rudy Gay	+10	μ = +9.698
Marreese Speights	+6	μ = +1.698
Marc Gasol	+7	μ = +4.651
6^th (OJ Mayo)	+1	μ = +0.488

*8^st 6th Man

That's how the Grizzlies fared in game 14, relative to the stats of the other 43 games in the NBA up to this point this week. As you can see the Grizzlies starters all outperformed strongly except Conley because Knight was the primary offense for Detroit and Conley was just one piece of the puzzle for us. Rudy Gay and Gasol totally outclassed their opponent. Tonight at home the Grizz must play as a solid unit to overcome the Kings. I think they can especially attack with Rudy Gay and company inside quicker than John Salmons, Demerkus Cousins, Jason Thompson, and JJ Hickson. Here are the stats for the week so far:

The DEFENSE too much!

Go Grizz!

Grizzlies 93 @ New Orleans 87

2012-01-20T09:01:00.000-05:00

A day late on this one. Marc Gasol should be an All-Star this year. O.J. Mayo proved very valuable in this match. I think he will get more minutes as the season progresses and start some games as people get sore and nagging injuries pile up. I really like the Juice Man this year. You need one Allstar to really splash in the playoffs and with Zach Randolph out this year it is Marc Gasol!

For some strange reason Power Forward is killing it this week in the NBA after 29 games played. The Small Forward has dominated every other week but this one. Chris Bosh, Ryan Anderson, Kevin Love, Blake Griffin, Carlos Boozer, and Paul Millsap are going nuts. Even David Lee had a hell of a game on Tuesday in Cleveland. Pau Gasol went for 26 last night. Look for Marreese Speights to bring it in Detroit tonight!!!

Grizzlies in Game 13:

Player	eStat	μ = mean difference
Mike Conley	-9	μ = -9.996
Tony Allen	+2	μ = +0.621
Rudy Gay	-6	μ = -7.345
Marreese Speights	-10	μ = -16.034
Marc Gasol	+18	μ = +16.379
6^th (OJ Mayo)	+12	μ = +12.069

*7^st 6th Man

Pau on Marc:

Go Grizz!

Grizzlies 102 vs Bulls 86

2012-01-17T15:42:00.001-05:00

Some clown in a bear costume

Grizzlies looking silly good on ESPN yesterday. Chicago Bulls? Every dog has his day. Big day for this dog pound!

And before the game, Mike Conley made sure of it: "I said, 'Let's not forget what happened. That was the last thing I said to them: 'That was an embarrassing loss. Let's go out there and just play hard and leave it all out there on the court.' I thought guys really took that to heart, especially in the first 6-7 minutes of the game."

Worst of MLK Day - Basketbawful. "Grizzlies' Offensive Rebounding Rate was unbelievable 41.7." Wow.

The numbers are as ugly as the bugs you find under a rock.

Yeah, they really are. For some reason PF dominated Monday's wins. Ryan Anderson, Scola, Alridge, Kevin Love, Blake Griffin, and Dirk did their thing. Unfortunate for the Celtics, Kevin Garnett did not do any serious damage against Ibaka. And Westbrook + Sefolosha destroyed Rondo and Ray Allen.

Grizzlies in Game 12:

Player	eStat	μ = mean difference
Mike Conley	+12	μ = +11.273
Tony Allen	+0	μ = -6.636
Rudy Gay	+4	μ = +2.545
Marreese Speights	+3	μ = -6.727
Marc Gasol	+17	μ = +16.091
6^th (Josh Selby)	-12	μ = -8.091

*1^st 6th Man

Go Grizz!

MLK DAY GAME PREVIEW: BULLS @ GRIZZ

2012-01-16T10:25:00.001-05:00

This video is still sick:

"This is how they do it, red, white, and blue style". Rose to Gay:

Discuss the game live with other sports nuts:

RealGM Game Thread
The Grizzlies.com Message Boards
Straight Out of Vancouver - These Canadian guys usually have a game thread up - they might be at work today though instead since MLK is an American holiday only.

Now I present my accumulated stats through the first 174 games of the season from December 25 until January 15.

Here is a graphic of these results showing the average numbers for each position:

As you can see, the Small Forward position is the most significant contributor to the winning margin of NBA teams this season. Surprisingly the Power Forward and Center have remained below the margin of the Guard positions. For each game I have totaled the difference between the starters' scoring numbers to obtain a number either positive or negative depending on who won the game. If Lebron James outscores his counterpart by 20 points in a winning effort +20 gets added to the total. Conversely, if Rudy Gay outscores his counterpart by 10 points and the Grizzlies lose, -10 points are added to the totals seen here. For each game I run the total and the average gets computed by the number of games played. You can see here that 6th man is a weak factor. During weeks 1 and 3 this factor was negative but in week 2 6th man was actually a positive contributor. I believe this was due to a "hang-over" effect from the initial shock to the starters and where teams had to rely more on their bench for wins.

What does this tell us today against the Bulls? Rudy Gay has to have a monster game but also we can't get punked by the Derrick Rose show! Both guards and bench (O.J. MAYO) need to rock it today. Tony Allen needs to keep up the great play he has had recently. Those are the edge factors we need to seal a win. The fundamental component is up to the entire team, which is to play at the highest level possible they can just to maintain the elite game of the Chicago Bulls. As long as that occurs then we get a chance for nosing out a victory!

MLK DAY!

Go Grizz!

Grizzlies 108 vs Hornets 99

2012-01-15T12:18:00.000-05:00

Did not catch much of this game besides the garbage time in the 3rd and 4th quarters once the Patriots were up 42-7 on the Denver Broncos. Ayon has gotten a lot of production in the past 2 games - I have no idea who he is but he could be a decent player. Vasquez is underrated by majority of Grizzlies fans still. Although he's not good enough to displace Bellineli from the starting lineup yet and move Jack to his natural position at the 2 spot. I think that is a mistake by the Hornets although it probably wouldn't help their problems anyway. He's good off the bench too.

There are some really great photos from the game on Yahoo.com:

After 55 games played in week3 we have this chart:

Point guard has stepped up the claim to the throne here but nothing close to what small forward provides in these contests. Nothing to worry about Mike Conley's production here when Gasol and Rudy Gay are blowing away the competition so handily. Speights also is coming into a groove.

Grizzlies in Game 11:

Player	eStat	μ = mean difference
Mike Conley	-6	μ = -9.291
Tony Allen	+2	μ = +0.455
Rudy Gay	+22	μ = +16.418
Marreese Speights	+5	μ = +3.436
Marc Gasol	+14	μ = +11.909
6^th (OJ Mayo/Quincy Pondexter*)	-6	μ = -5.418

*6^th 6th Man for OJ, 2^nd for QPon

Go Grizz!

Exposure - January 16 on ESPN

2012-01-13T15:02:00.001-05:00

PAYBACK TO THE BULLS

- for what they did to us on opening night - a 40 point disaster and loss of Zach Randolph.

A fine Rudy Gay article:
- “I just told Rudy Gay: ‘That’s the best I’ve seen you play overall,’” Hollins said.

Ronald Tillery: Grizzlies' MLK Day game against Bulls is sold out

MLK GAME 2012 - Monday - to honor Clyde the Glyde Drexler and George Gervin.

Go Grizz!

Grizzlies 94 vs Knicks 83

2012-01-13T09:35:00.000-05:00

I was so happy to see them get this win on TNT! I went to yoga class Wednesday night, and this happens Thursday night. Coincidence? I think not!

The game ended in the second half as the Grizzlies carried a 25 point lead. In garbage time the Knicks bench cut the lead down to what you see as the final score, but this was never close. After Melo departed their offense languished. Mike Bibby looked terrible. Anytime the Knicks brought it into the Grindhouse the Grizzlies forced a turnover. They ripped the ball from the Knicks players hands half the time, blocked, or had them finish at the foul line. There was a spectucular finish by Iman Shumpert in the first half as he was fouled by Pondexter. Harrelson got a little hot from downtown, hitting 2 of 4. But other than that they were contained and Amaré Stoudamire remained frustrated in early foul trouble. The man only had 6 points. Are you kidding me? WELCOME TO THE GRINDHOUSE!!

Grizzlies had many positives to speak about. I really focused on the defense. The game was 75% great defense and 25% great execution on offense. They were a step ahead of the Knicks, who looked relatively slow compared to the OKC Thunder and the young Jazzhands. Each time we swatted a lazy pass in the back court, or turned back an errant drive, the fast break was on and we converted many easy buckets. That's how you build a large home lead my friends! I enjoyed cheering on Josh Selby again tonight. Cunningham also looked particularly focused and relevant out there in this contest.

Week3 has now had 33 games played. Funny results so far are the 6th man role dropping out from Week2. Center has been more pivotal this week. Small forward still dominates by the largest margin = RUDY GAY = WINNING.

Here are your Grizzlies stats from the 4th win! We are likely going to see a team right around .500 this year get into the playoffs as 8th seed so a 0.400 record right now is no problem! Especially having missed Conley, Arthur, and ZBO.

Grizzlies in Game 10:

Player	eStat	μ = mean difference
Mike Conley	-3	μ = -5.333
Tony Allen	+3	μ = +1.485
Rudy Gay	+12	μ = +5.970
Marreese Speights	-4	μ = -5.333
Marc Gasol	+8	μ = +5.576
6^th (OJ Mayo*)	+4	μ = +5.242

*5^th 6th Man

Go Grizz!

Grizzlies 95 vs Thunder 100

2012-01-11T11:57:00.002-05:00

COME ON RUDY!

A 2 point difference between home games against the Thunder with the most significant differences being Mike Conley in and ZBO out. I suppose that is a positive way to look at it. We only gave 2 more points to the Thunder with ZBO out but our offense stayed exactly the same number of production. Now the Grizzlies should have had this win but for our inability to stop Russell Westbrook when it mattered most and the inability for Rudy Gay to play at an elite NBA level. I liked the Grizzlies effort all around other than that.

I finally got my stats to show up on this blog in larger font. Sorry if anyone in the world is actually trying to follow this and read it - much better now. Well, this 3rd week of the NBA is continuing the trend already of small forward dominance, and then last night Kobe went off at shooting guard again so those numbers are high again. 6th man so far is contributing not at all to the wider margin wins this week. The starters are leading the charge so far. In week2 it was the exact opposite. Power Forward is also off to a strong start.

Grizzlies in Game 9:

Player	eStat	μ = mean difference
Mike Conley	-15	μ = -15.176
Tony Allen	-4	μ = -8.412
Rudy Gay	-6	μ = -10.294
Marreese Speights	+4	μ = +1
Marc Gasol	+12	μ = +9.529
6^th (OJ Mayo*)	+2	μ = +3.176

*4^th 6th Man

Interesting to see Speights get the first positive game contribution at power-forward (offensively of course) since ZBO went down. I don't need to tell you who hurt us in this one by showing Conley's and Gay's appalling point disparity with Westbrook and Durant. They torched us. Marc Gasol has been perhaps the only reason we're not at the very bottom of the league right now. Mayo and company have been legit. We are very dependent on our bench right now and this shortened lockout season that is a vital component to success. Now the other starters in minus territory (Conley, Allen, Gay) - gotta get it going. We need easier buckets and better plays.

Go Grizz!

Weekend Recap

2012-01-09T12:32:00.002-05:00

I was out of town for most of the weekend. I did manage to watch the Utah game Friday, although it was not a great game. I completely missed the Lakers game Sunday night. Honestly I didn't have any sports left in me after that Denver Broncos overtime victory.

Shout out to Bebe Thomas! GT alums Calivn Johnson and Thomas combined for over 400 yards receiving this weekend!

I believe the Grizzlies experiencing growth pains with so many new players as well as introducing Rudy Gay as the focal point of the offense. Marc has been struggling a bit. OJ hasn't been playing the stellar sixth man role we need from him quite yet, though we know he is capable of it. Either Sam Young or OJ has to have a spark off the bench each game we play. The Utah game should have been a win and from what I gather the Lakers should have been beatable too. They are old and banged up. During the winning games Tony Allen was playing extremely well along with Sam Young. Hopefully they all bounce back after this road trip.

Grzzlies 85 at Utah 94

Through 44 games on Friday night small forward is back on top again. The interesting thing so far is that 6th man role continues to be a factor and the guards a relative non-factor. My gut feeling with the shortened season is that depth and youth are going to rule the standings come this spring.

Grizzlies in Game 7:

Player	eStat	u = mean difference
Mike Conley	+0	u = +0.250
Tony Allen	+18	u = +16.750
Rudy Gay	+12	u = +8.023
Dante Cunningham	-10	u = -12.660
Marc Gasol	+1	u = +0.971
6^th (OJ Mayo*)	-6	u = -7.165

*3^rd 6th Man

Observe from the above table that OJ Mayo had a really pathetic 6th man contribution. I'm really counting on Speights replacing Cunningham in this lineup. I'm also really counting on our bench getting bolstered by Hamed Haddadi. His value to the team and his ability in general is severely underrated.

Grzzlies 82 at Lakers 90

Here are the final stats for Week2:

The Grizz struggled and Dante Cunningham especially turned out another goose egg against a worn down Pau Gasol. Speights took one shot less than Rudy Gay off the bench. That's a lot of shots for him to take and he was below 50%. That's not Grizz ball. Obviously Kobe had his way and we were embarrassed by Matt Barnes. A real team wouldn't allow him to score in double figures on any night.

Grizzlies in Game 8:

Player	eStat	u = mean difference
Mike Conley	+11	u = +11.967
Tony Allen	-22	u = -24.567
Rudy Gay	+4	u = -0.533
Dante Cunningham	-13	u = -16.067
Marc Gasol	-13	u = -13.300
6^th (Marreese Speights)	+4	u = +1.883

Go Grizz!

Grizzlies 90 at Minnesota 86

2012-01-05T11:54:00.002-05:00

The Grizzlies returned to a .500 record along with the Cavs, Jazz, and Raptors last night. Mike Conley truly makes a difference out there in the past 2 games back from injury. Now the Grizzlies' mettle will be tested with ZBO out for possibly 8 weeks. I believe they have all the weapons needed to stay afloat long enough for the Big Dog to heal and get back into playoff action. Easier said than done though!

Game against Minnesota was terrific. The Timberwolves are still a few cards short of a deck, but they have their King and Queen (or Ace, I admit) in Love and Rubio. They really have 2 of the best young players in the league now and will be a playoff team in the future as long as they surround them with capable players (not Wesley Johnson, Darko, Beasly, Tolliver, Ridnour, etc). I like some of those players but only as "scrub love".

Here are the stats updated through 28 games this week 2:

Tony Allen stepped up and had a monster game. Mayo and Sam Young looked sharp as well. I expect a rough time for the guys like Cunningham, Pondexter, Speights, and Josh Davis to get used to this team. Josh Davis actually did not look like a complete boner out there when he played in Minnesota though. Cunningham has to improve if he wants to stay on the starting lineup. I think sometimes Coach Hollins starts guys more to challenge the bench than to reward the starter sometimes. I'm thinking he likes Cunningham but as we saw with Sam Young, pulling a guy out has the reverse effect to motivate him rather than soften his skills. Don't expect Speights to come in and start for the Grizz any time soon. But hopefully they all battle, the top dog comes out with the lead role with ZBO out, and the team is better for it.

Grizzlies in Game 6:

Player	eStat	u = mean difference
Mike Conley	-1	u = +0.643
Tony Allen	+20	u = +18
Rudy Gay	+8	u = +6.322
Dante Cunningham	-25	u = -28.07
Marc Gasol	+2	u = -0.429
6th (OJ Mayo*)	+2	u = +0.286

*2^nd 6th Man

Go Grizz!

A New Number 16

2012-01-04T16:09:00.001-05:00

Jersey #16

Pau Gasol 2002-2008

Marreese Speights 2012-?

Grizzlies Acquire Speights - Official announcement!

Zach Randolph is out up to 8 weeks! We need more pounds down low so bring it on. Can't wait to have Haddadi and Speights in uniform next Tuesday against the Thunder...

Go Grizz!

Speights?

2012-01-04T12:13:00.002-05:00

Looks like the Grizz may have gotten that last piece to put them over the top! Stay tuned. He looks like he belongs in the Grindhouse.

ESPN drops the trade rumor - Hope this goes down. It's been funny that Speights has yet to play for Philly this season. These talks must have been going on. I hope he just hasn't been the odd man out there. Hoping they left him out cuz they knew he'd be moved. Ditto for Xavier Henry. Hope he can jump right into the Hornets lineup with General Greivis and Jack. Guess they wanted insurance on Gordon.

Rocking the lockout league

Go Grizz!

UPDATE: Introducing your new starting power-forward???? Marreese Speights???? ZBO OUT UP TO 8 WEEKS! There would be 30 games remaining in the season if he is out all 8 weeks. They play 30 games in March in April! WOW!

Grizzlies 113 vs Kings 96

2012-01-04T09:40:00.000-05:00

Call back the hounds! This team can dish out its own blowout victory without ZBO and with Dante Cunningham starting at PF and without Haddadi. What a difference a home game makes. What a difference Mike Conley, Jr. makes. Having Tony Allen, Sam Young, Rudy, and OJ all playing focused team ball is something special as well. My hat goes off to those fellas. Grizzlies also played an inspired game for the late Gene Bartow, what a fantastic tribute!

Grizzlies win over Sacramento - Grizzlies.com coverage with post-game quotes, etc.

This is what we want to see - a smiling Grizzlies Rudy Gay!

The stats I am computing are more descriptive than normative. They just reflect what happened on average throughout the games being played. Week2 has 16 games completed with 2 notable reversals from week 1. The Knicks and Heat both lost their games and Kobe switched to SG from SF in the starting lineup. Therefore the domination of the small forward is gone in week2. Instead we see the Shooting Guard dominating by a significant margin. Trailing behind it are the Power-forward position, with Center and 6th man following.

What does this mean for our Grizzlies? Well, teams are playing better offense and shooting higher percentage than last week. .549 and .562 in 2 wins for Grizz. .310, .391, and .466 in 3 losses. That's to be expected (you shoot better, you win) but it's the differential shoot % that tells the story for the Grizz to contend. I believe that at least so far. How do they get that? Points in the paint. That's why I freaked out when Zach Randolph fell out of the Bulls game the other day and we lost by 40 points… Still we are going to really struggle with Dante Cunningham as the starter rather than Darrell Arthur.

Own the Paint!

Grizzlies in Game 5:

Player	eStat	u = mean difference
Jeremy Pargo	-4	u = - 0.750
Tony Allen	+5	u = -0.188
Rudy Gay	+21	u = +22.0
Dante Cunningham	-5	u = -8.5
Marc Gasol	+6	u = +4.188
6th (Sam Young)	+3	u = +1.375

Go Grizz!

Grizzlies 64 at Bulls 104

2012-01-03T10:29:00.002-05:00

WEEK ONE is DONE. The Grizz are in the last place of the conference unfortunately. Nowhere to go now but up! Right now I'd say our main deficiency is the 2 and the 3. Rudy Gay and Tony Allen / OJ Mayo / the rest of the bench need to improve for the Grizzlies to stay competitive this season.

Updated Stats through week 1 = 56 games played:

The contest against the Bulls was a sad one. It looked initially like our boys were ready to take on the champs (after a glitzy home opening ceremony to start the festivities). However, the Bulls took charge and never looked back. It was a Rose and Boozer show. Without Mike Conley and Zach Randolph on the court our team stood zero chance. Pargo was just humiliated. Rudy Gay and company also looked particularly substandard.

Grizzlies in Game 4:

Player	eStat	u = mean difference
Jeremy Pargo	-12	u = -13.911
Tony Allen	-15	u = -19.607
Rudy Gay	-6	u = -7.633
Zach Randolph	-15	u = -16.089
Marc Gasol	+0	u = -0.321
6th (Josh Davis)	+2	u = +3.875

We are S.O.L. without Zach Randolph. The team has no backup power forward and no backup center until Hamed Haddadi gets on the court. It's very disappointing after the gradual improvement of the past 2 seasons to see the team mismanaged this way. Yes, they got core locked in for the future but we entered the short season here without a complete team. That weakness has been exposed each time Josh Davis has taken the court, and the times Rudy Gay has been forced to play the 4 position.

Go Grizz!

Grizzlies 113 vs Houston 93

2011-12-31T10:01:00.001-05:00

Grizzlies Win! - emphatic, dominating performance all-around.

All the new guys looked like they belong. Zach was nailing his rainbow shots and doing fancy sweeping hooks over Dalembert. Both he and Marc Gasol are in playoff form, as the announcers remarked.

AND THIS GUY!!!!!!!! → → → → →

The Grizzlies play like this and there's nothing to worry about. Bring on Haddadi. Bring back Conley. Bring back Xavier Henry. We got more firepower than we know what to do with then?!

<a href='http://msn.foxsports.com/video?videoid=555e2ef5-98cc-4383-9bd9-b83f990261c7&src=v5:embed::' target='_new' title='Grizzlies on good night' >Video: Grizzlies on good night</a>

Updated stats thru 49 games:

Grizzlies in Game 3:

Player	eStat	u = mean difference
Jeremy Pargo	-1	u = -3.102
Tony Allen	-16	u = -20.204
Rudy Gay	-1	u = -7.633
Zach Randolph	+19	u = +18.286
Marc Gasol	+18	u = +18.449
6th (Quincy Pondexter)	+0	u = +1.490

Hmmm, Grizzlies stats prove one obvious fact. The whole team succeeds in their role and then the bigs get fed. This isn't just the fact that ZBO and Gasol dominate one-on-one against the Rockets bigs. When the other guys run the offense well it results in easy baskets for them. The Rockets only chance was to jack it up with KMartin and allow Lowry to shoot 45 free throws. So the disparity in the guard numbers only shows the weakness in the Rockets strategy. We won the battle, undeniably!

Quincy Pondexter and company played hard hat ball. Cunningham, Selby, and Mayo got it done.

But hey that Chandler Parsons rookie can shoot the friggin'ball!

Go Grizz!

Grizzlies 95 vs Thunder 98

2011-12-29T11:27:00.004-05:00

Grizzlies dropped their home opener as usual, but the significance here is that it's only the 2nd Thunder win in Memphis outside of the triple overtime playoff match. Things could have gone really far south though if the Grizzlies hadn't pulled it together and rallied back from a sizable deficit in the fourth quarter. When Mike Conley went down in the first possession of the game for the Grizzlies you might expect the team to fall into the turnover happy mode it was in San Antonio. Instead we saw them buckle down and both the big men, ZBO and Gasol, had spectacular games. They rode Perkins, Collins, and Aldrich down to the mat. Nazr Mohammed contributed nothing but failures as usual.

Despite the loss, it was an admirable effort from the Grizz and both Jeremy Pargo and Josh Selby looked promising. The rest of the bench isn't worth writing home about yet.

Here are my league-wide stats after 32 games played through December 28th, 2011:

You can see that Small Forward continues to dominate (LBJ, Granger, Melo, Durant, and an impressive performance from Gerald Wallace Tuesday night). Somehow the center position and power forwards fall off the map. I expect this to change as the season progresses. Shooting percentages are low and possessions high. The value of each possession is low and the offense just isn't coming through the big guys yet. These are generalizations of course. Since I last compiled these figures though you will notice a decline in the contributions from the guards. Bench production is also surprisingly unimportant. Again, like the big man factor, the negative bench impact will likely reverse as the season grinds on!

Grizzlies in Game 2:

Player	eStat	u = mean difference
Jeremy Pargo	+11	u = +8.125
Tony Allen	+1	u = -2.969
Rudy Gay	-13	u = -21.375
Zach Randolph	+20	u = +19.656
Marc Gasol	+6	u = +7.438
6th (O.J. Mayo)	-13	u = -10.844

It's clear the Grizzlies need firepower off the bench still. Although hoping Conley comes back, Pargo can provide a lift off the bench and he proved it in a critical game last night. He did more than that; he showed he can lead an NBA team, which definitely exceeded my expectations!

Nothing to worry about here as the Grizzlies really got their mojo working in my opinion, which is all we can ask for at this stage of the season. It wasn't the stinkbomb effort we saw in San Antonio. The wins will come. To think beyond playoffs as a goal right now is a fantasy however. Right now the goal is emerge about a .500 record and start jockeying for a playoff seeding.

Go Grizz!

Grizzlies 82 at Spurs 95

2011-12-27T10:19:00.004-05:00

Grizzlies lose to Spurs in blowout fashion - Carrying a one-point lead into the half the Grizz collapsed in the third barely managing to score double figures in the 3rd. They had only 5 points until a sudden onslaught with a minute left in the quarter, which kept the Spurs lead down under the 20 point mark. But the Spurs were pretty much in cruise control from that point on.

This is definitely a preseason level of play we're seeing so far across the league. The Grizzlies probably just played for the first time with their new acquisitions, Dante Cunningham (#44) and Quincy "QPon" Pondexter (#20). Also it was the first action Marc Gasol has seen since he played for the Spanish national team earlier in 2011. No need to get bent out of shape but there are some immediate questions:

Why did Tony Allen only play 15 minutes when clearly we needed him with Manu running free on us?
Why didn't OJ play more too?
Why isn't ZBO being ZBO?
Why so many stinking turnovers? We got killed in that department. We were outrebounding and outscoring the Spurs like crazy in the first half. Without the turnovers we would have been blowing them out. Once they caught fire, it was all over for us.

I have begun a new experiment this year and will post the results after each Grizzlies game. I am tracking the scoring production of all 5 starters from every single game and comparing against the average. I also include the highest scoring 6th man from each team. If you've analyzed the games so far in the first 2 days of this season you will probably observe that the Small Forward has dominated (Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Lebron James, Hedo Turkoglu, and even Rudy Gay). Anthony was like +35 on the Celtics Christmas Day due party to Paul Pierce's absence. Here are the result thus far:

You will see the total for SF contributes highest to the winnings so far. The guards have emerged as significant players in the determination of the winning team. A surprise from these sloppy contests is the negative impact power forwards, centers, and sixth men have had on their teams' success. This is not good for Memphis! Hopefully this trend reverses as the season progresses and defense gets tighter, I predict.

Grizzlies in Game1:

Player	eStat	u = mean difference
Mike Conley	-4	u = -8.765
Tony Allen	-22	u = -26.882
Rudy Gay	+5	u = -4.118
Zach Randolph	+0	u = +0.353
Marc Gasol	+7	u = +5
6th (Dante Cunningham)	-1	u = +2.824

And so far I am happy with my metric here because it clearly shows where we were dominated (Manu Ginobli) but is a somewhat misleading category because Tony Allen only played 15 minutes!

Let's get those Thunder on Wednesday Grizz!

Put it in the basket chief

2011-12-22T11:37:00.000-05:00

BJ Mullens Prison Ball - The former OSU joker that never got court time at OKC and is now on the Charlotte Bobcats, apparently played prison ball over the lockout to get tougher. That's pretty freaking hessian, dude.

Will the Bobcats match the contract that Dante Cunningham signed with the Grizzlies? Are we going to trade for someone like Speights? Will the return of Joey Dorsey, Earl Barron, or Jake Tsakilidis come to fruition?

We need a tough guy who isn't afraid of playing in jail like Mr. Mullens. Someone crazy that is talented enough for NBA but hasn't been picked up yet would be just the right fit.

I KNOW!

Wait, no, tried that already.

YES! All I want for Christmas is my Haddadi.

Once Bitten, Twice Shy

2011-12-19T13:56:00.000-05:00

Darrell Arthur is out for the season it appears! Maybe a miracle happens and he's ready for late April or playoffs, but sounds doubtful. We already had a gaping hole behind Marc Gasol, as Hamed Haddadi has yet to actually make an appearance in Memphis, although he says he is on his way. That need existed before losing King Arthur. Now apparently the Grizz only have summer camp invites to backup Ga-ZBO (Marc Gasol = Ursa Major, ZBO = Ursa Minor).

There's no question that the value of Arthur on this team was huge. He can play the 4 and the 5. He is a threat anywhere inside the 3pt line to score on a variety of moves. He can hang defensively with any of the big guys.

Now a lot of the guys I was coveting have been signed already: Jonas Jerebko (GOD HE'D BE THE PERFECT REPLACEMENT NOW!), Carl Landry, Ersan Ilyasova, Nikola Pekovic (Europe), Chuck Hayes, Glen Davis, and Craig Smith. But there are still a few guys left we should consider.

Samual Dalembert should be top of the list now because we are one injury away from having to start Brian Skinner. Do you think Gasol is going to start all 66 games this year? I wouldn't count on it. Dalembert would be a reach, not sure how we make cap room but he'd be a godsend.

Steve Novak. I think he is available for a vet min salary and he provides needed 3pt shooting as well. This is really a guy I wanted to shore up our bench originally. He can't fill 00's (Arthur's) shoes but I'd like to see him on the Grizz. He shot over 50% last season from downtown…

This guy needs to get out of the spotlight and return to basketball. What better town than Memphis? He can go clear under the radar and continue right where he left off as a double-double machine as the main backup behind ZBO this season. The question is salary. Also it would help him to find a real woman in Memphis that can cook for him and treat him right instead of some celebuttante bitch. Win-win for everyone!

The other obvious candidates that we missed out on were Jeff Adrien, Troy Murphy, and Josh McRoberts. My intuition says we just bring in Leon Powe, keep Walter Sharpe, and Josh Davis. Keep Skinner until Haddadi shows up.

I just wonder if there's someone else out there of suitable quality that's available for a trade scenario that also allows O.J. Mayo to command another playoff team in the East. In that case we might look at bringing in Taj Gibson from the Chicago Bulls. He played with Marc Gasol at the 2009 Rookie All_Star Challenge in Phoenix.

Other names I've seen float around are Mareese Speights and Dan Gadzuric.

Grizz named NBA Mascot of the Year

2011-12-16T16:09:00.000-05:00

GRIZZLIES: Grizz named NBA Mascot of the Year

Somehow I missed this. GO GRIZZ!!

What do ya think about the West Conference? Blazers added Jamal Crawford - A. Clippers trade - B. Dallas adds Odom - A+. Hornets add Eric Gordon, Kaman, and Aminu - A+. Jazz add Josh Howard - C-.

Couple interesting amnesties: Billups (picked up by Clips), BRoy, Travis Outlaw. The Celtics might have to amnesty Jeff Green. Stay Tuned!

What do I think about the division for the Grizzlies? Well, I think Houston, Dallas, and New Orleans all got better. The Spurs are going to slide back a bit. Definitely won't be number one seed again this year. That's our Southwest division.

Grizz got nothing to fear though. They should be the #2 behind Dallas and could rival them for the top if all goes well. As far as the Clippers are concerned, I don't think they pose a threat to contenders this year. Go Grizz!

The Chris Paul Veto

2011-12-10T09:06:00.002-05:00

Regarding the Chris Paul trade, last minute about-face, I have 2 words for the NBA executives: Karma and Serendipity.

Karma

In this case I believe the Lakers would have maintained mediocrity with Chris Paul. By the time they could build up a team again Kobe Bryant will either be retired or relegated to a veteran support role, which we've already seen begin to take shape this past season. The Lakers would not be in a "win now" situation with this trade, which I think is karma's way of balancing out whatever disservice was done to the Hornets after fostering the CP3 all these years.

On the flipside, the Hornets should be rewarded by karma for doing the right thing with the disgruntled CP3, and getting him to a "contender". This looked to be the case as they were obtaining a world class post player in Luis Scola, the 2011 FIBA Americas MVP, who averaged over 20 points per game and legitimately would become the best player in a Hornets uniform outside of Chris Paul and Alonzo Mourning perhaps of all-time.

Am I forgetting any other Hornets legends?

Serendipity

As a Memphis Grizzlies fan all I can think about is the Pau Gasol trade. Pau would end up in Houston after this trade, which would be interesting as the Grizzlies and little brother Marc would face him 4 times a year instead of twice. The Memphis Grizzlies franchise became a running joke to casual fans and expert analysts alike after they moved Pau to the Lakers in 2008. This was the culmination of 3 years of misery in Memphis, in which we barely eked out 20-win seasons.

I won't belabor the details, but from that trade we know what happened. We swapped a bunch of players and ended up with Marc Gasol and extra cap space to absorb the fat ZBO contract from the Darko Milicic trade. Michael Heisley himself said it's just plain luck, IIRC. "The best laid plans of mice and men, often go awry." These guys need to reread that book. The best thing, as an objective sports fan, to see is the New York Yankees falling on their faces. The best thing to watch is the NBA Finals, Miami Heat getting their tails whipped by the Dallas Mavericks. No, the BEST thing to watch would be the Memphis Grizzlies NBA Finals whipping the Heat or the Knicks, or maybe even the Brooklyn Nets with DWill & D12.

Yes, us small markets drink that Haterade deeply. 10 teams are featured on the NBA's opening day of Christmas. 6 of the 8 final playoff teams will be represented.

Can you guess which second-round playoff team is not playing that day?

Do you care about the small market teams so much NBA? Or was this really about protecting your brand and sheltering the Lakers? Or have you even thought it out that far? Teams with superstars and marketing contracts (Clippers, Knicks, Magic) trump far superior teams without superstars from smaller markets (Hawks, Grizzlies, and Spurs). There's too much at stake for this to have been a petty backlash to Chris Paul for personal grudges. I think we will see the trade and it will reward the Lakers even further because they have all the television contracts and they are the supreme cash cow. Casual fans still think Kobe is the best player in the NBA I'm sure. Remember the two words though: karma and serendipity. I can't wait to see the Hornets play them. I can't wait to see the Lakers fall on their face again… but I have a hard time watching the games on Christmas knowing this league is still operating under lip service and still a slave to the almighty greenback – which trumps any and all "basketball" decisions.

NBA Lockout Redux Slideshow

2011-12-02T15:29:00.000-05:00

"You'll remember the quality long after you forget the price." —Ed Sabol

Gentlemen Start Yer Engines!

2011-12-01T09:04:00.002-05:00

Marc Gasol in Memphis - Two story-lines to consider here: 1) Marc Gasol is the number one available free agent this month. He is top of most experts' lists. 2) Grizzlies and Gasol both express confidence that he will remain with the team. In many ways he is the heart and soul of this reformed Grizzlies' basketball squad.

Recall that statistically in season 2010 the Grizzlies starting 5 was significantly more productive than any other 5 man starting unit in the league. Their problem had been their bench production. The ability to retain that core and continue to build around it with guys like Tony Allen, Shane Battier, Greivis, Josh Selby, and Xavier Henry; undoubtedly pushes them deeper and makes them a perennial competitor.

Let the Games Begin!

"People close to Gasol are convinced that his desire is to remain in Memphis." -CA

UPDATE: NBA screws the pooch - choose Orlando, Golden State, and the Clippers over the Grizzlies. Memphis can continue the chip on the shoulder syndrome for the foreseeable future. Terrible news for the Grizzlies faithful.

I am quite glad this lockout ended. I was in Miami last week and on November 27th they were originally scheduled to play Memphis Grizzlies, by pure coincidence I would have been free to attend this game. Oh, cruel fate! We walked around American Airlines Arena and something felt missing. I realized they had taken down all images and advertisements, banners, posters, etc. around the building because of the lockout. I saw about 25 people with #6 jerseys and about 5 guys with Wade jerseys so you can tell they are there but it felt like I wasn't in an NBA town other than that because I never saw an image of Lebron anywhere. Even on gameday with the Miami Dolphins playing nearby I still saw more fans with Heat jerseys on than any sight of a Dolphins fan. These fans might not have even known there was a lockout though. I did see an ad with Chris Bosh in it somewhere in my hotel I think though.

LONG LIVE THE NBA

2011-11-16T21:04:00.003-05:00

Check out this exclusive from the TrueHoopNetwork Grizzlies Blog, 3 Shades of Blue:

Kevin Durant does not miss "the game"?
I believe this would be his first time back to Memphis area since they lost GAME 6 at the FedEx Forum. http://espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=310513029
Should you take deal by Nov.10, 2011?
NO. ouch...
What do you think about decertification?
Have to look that up. Well, it's sad seeing this 'hypothetical' discussion in the video because now it's happening.

I was glad that Rudy Gay had his Flight22 charity game at the DeSoto Center in Southaven. I haven't lived in Memphis now in almost 9 years, and it's a relatively new facility, but I have had the pleasure to see the Riverkings play hockey there when they were champions to some degree. I have a championship shirt from later in the season still in my closet somewhere!

It's crazy to think that in that little off the beaten track venue all these superstars gathered. I think that's the one silver lining to this work stoppage of the NBA. Never before have your heroes been this accessible and down to earth. That's really the tactic they are playing - we are totally keeping it real, and staying legit, down to earth, word.

At any rate, this whole situation is FUBAR'd.

U R I - RHODY !!!!!

My sports money so far this fall has gone to Georgia Tech Football and University of Rhode Island basketball! STING 'EM JACKETS! GO RAMS!

Grizzlies' #NBARank - Final 5

2011-10-21T09:21:00.002-04:00

Grizzlies 2011 Roster Rankings - The Final 5

ESPN Rank Top 50

Had to finish this up with the final 5 starters of the Grizz and their rankings. Of course you know the Grizzlies over-performed and their rankings reflect that. With what I am sure is the lowest salary of any other playoff team, the Grizzlies were 5 wins away from the NBA Championship last season. In the 5-on-5 discussions after these rankings Tony Allen was called out as the most underranked. Zach Randolph was completely insulted by his ranking but that's the Memphis Grizzlies' way - stay off the radar and just keep doin your damn thing ZBO. Forget about who they select in the Allstar game to sell merchandise or jump over cars.

72

Tony Allen SG | Age: 29 | 6.01

Mike Conley Jr. PG | Age: 23| 6.09

Rudy Gay SF | Age: 25 | 7.48

Marc Gasol C | Age: 26 | 7.51

Zach Randolph PF | Age: 30 | 8.12

If I was to edit their list I would put ZBO at #10 where they have Blake Griffin for so many reasons I won't even try to list them. Regardless of that fuck up on the voters' part, this is an incredible list not just because we have as many guys in the top 100 as only 2 other teams, and perhaps the highest ranked top 5 of any team - this is incredible looking at the age of our players. The oldest guy is 30! And their is no downward trend of NBA Rank and Age on the Grizzlies either. Conley is the 4th lowest ranked and is the youngest. The only limiting factors are ZBO and Marc Gasol who are two of the oldest but Marc isn't the 2nd oldest - that would be the 5th guy, Tony Allen.

My point is that the Grizzlies have a window about as long as Zach Randolph's contract extension to do some serious dynasty building around. When Zach is trending down at the end of his contract Mike Conley will be the same age as Deron Williams today! The Nets are just now trying to figure out how to build around that guy - whereas we hopefully have won some rings by the time our floor general reaches the old age of 27. I'm not even getting into our uber-talent, Rudy Gay, who has yet to really hit his plateau in the NBA thus far. His career arc could surpass those prima-donas we're used to having stuffed down our throats by the media such as Allen Iverson and King James. Easy to love, easy to hate. But let's see where these young Grizzlies will go - IF WE CAN GET THE SEASON GOING PLEASE!!!!

Grizzlies' #NBARank - Part 4

2011-09-29T10:19:00.001-04:00

Grizzlies 2011 Roster rankings

From the ESPN.com/NBA website:
ESPN.com and the TrueHoop Network are ranking every NBA player -- and counting them down on Twitter (@NBAonESPN), from No. 500 to No. 1. As the rankings are announced, you can also find them here on the pages of ESPN.com.

Continuing with part 4. Now this is the final 100. These are the fantasy players and starters on quality teams finally. Yet we haven't gotten to a single Memphis Grizzlies starter! Will it be Mike Conley or Tony Allen first?

nba-player-rankings-91-100

Shane battier SF | Age: 33 | 5.66

O.J. Mayo SG | Age: 23| 5.68

Shane likely won't be back on the Grizzlies roster this year if we have a season. Don't expect O.J. to get traded for nothing either. We're more likely to bring in a cheap big man than to trade O.J. in a fire sale because right now he's still underrated. The man is poised to be a star in this league still and he will be. For now he's what we wanted out of Allen Iverson and what Mike Miller used to do when he was 6th man of the Year with the Hubie Grizz.

RUDY IS BACK

2011-09-22T15:42:00.002-04:00

EVERYONE SCREAMIN, "RUDY'S BACK YALL"

It's been fun watching the amateur/hoopmix/AND1 tournament style matchups with Josh Selby absolutely killing it and making a name for himself and the Grizzlies' future. Now OJ Mayo is showing up with Rudy Gay and Tony Allen in Las Vegas impact league.

Never has the Internet been such a vital tool, for NBA geeks, as the Lockout has forced all regular corporate sponsored channels shut-down for the hiatus. 20 years ago we'd simply be watching other sports in the mean time, but now we have all the tools at our fingertips to watch like giddy school children in the local YMCA as the best of the best throw up off the backboard alleyoops to themselves and half-court 360 alley-oops at the buzzer. People will say about the lockout, "remember when Durant scored like 100 points at Rucker Park?!?" instead of, "remember how that lockout in 2011 sucked and all we could do was watch college football?"

In other news - Marc Gasol and Pau Gasol are repeat EuroBasket champions for the first time in some decades. Pau Gasol had said recently on twitter how it's now been 10 years ago since he came to the Grizzlies as a rookie. I can't believe it because I too came from Barcelona 10 years ago, except I was there for only 10 weeks on a study abroad program, to return to Memphis and Atlanta to wrap up my last semester of college. Personal Diatribe: With 9 years under my belt in the work force with my "High Honor's" degree, I have found it incredibly hard to stay positive at times and achieve the "American Dream".

Enough about me though right? Well, things haven't changed that much for either the NBA players or myself. The economy is in real bad shape as it was when I graduated from school during the September 11 aftermath and the "Tech Bubble" burst. Now we've had the housing bubble and the economic system meltdown which has no doubt intensified the severity of this NBA lockout. Despite increased revenue they are fighting tooth and nail for the division of the pie, which undoubtedly will grow slower as a result.

The theme I will leave with is that despite all the adversities and setbacks that we face throughout life at all times, if you do continue to persevere, things usually do work out. Any other action is only going to worsen the circumstances, so keep up the good fight, and let's get on with the show!

Grizzlies' #NBARank - Part 3

2011-09-12T10:47:00.003-04:00

Grizzlies 2011 Roster rankings

From the ESPN.com/NBA website:
ESPN.com and the TrueHoop Network are ranking every NBA player -- and counting them down on Twitter (@NBAonESPN), from No. 500 to No. 1. As the rankings are announced, you can also find them here on the pages of ESPN.com.

Continuing with part 3 as we finally see some starters and quality bench players.

nba-player-rankings-201-250

224

Sam Young SF | Age: 26 | 4.16

135

Darrell Arthur PF/C | Age: 23 | 5.03

Grizzlies' #NBARank - Part 2

2011-08-30T09:28:00.003-04:00

Grizzlies 2011 Roster rankings

From the ESPN.com/NBA website:
ESPN.com and the TrueHoop Network are ranking every NBA player -- and counting them down on Twitter (@NBAonESPN), from No. 500 to No. 1. As the rankings are announced, you can also find them here on the pages of ESPN.com.

here is part two. It's been a long time since Carney was called and we got another Grizzly on the list:

nba-player-rankings-401-500

308

Leon Powe PF | Age: 27 | 3.18
Free Agent

299

Xavier Henry SG| Age: 20 | 3.26

270

Greivis Vasquez G| Age: 24 | 3.58

Grizzlies' #NBARank

2011-08-22T14:19:00.005-04:00

Grizzlies 2011 Roster rankings

From the ESPN.com/NBA website:
ESPN.com and the TrueHoop Network are ranking every NBA player -- and counting them down on Twitter (@NBAonESPN), from No. 500 to No. 1. As the rankings are announced, you can also find them here on the pages of ESPN.com.

I will keep track of all the Grizzlies here and update this post as they become unveiled.

nba-player-rankings-401-500

424

Ish Smith PG | Age: 23 | 2.20

411

Josh Selby G | Age: 20 | 2.27

nba-player-rankings-351-400

397

DeMarre Carroll F | Age: 25 | 2.37

*traded to Houston

384

Hamed Haddadi C | Age: 26 | 2.47

376

Hasheem Thabeet C | Age: 24 | 2.56

*traded to Houston

375

Dominique Jones SG | Age: 22 | 2.56

*traded to Dallas

354

Rodney Carney SF | Age: 27| 2.70

*signed 10-day contract

DAYS OF NBA LOCKOUT v3

2011-07-25T13:01:00.000-04:00

Grizzlies summer lockup report here.

Shane Battier wants to go to a contender and has been mentioned to be on the Miami Heat radar. Mike Miller and Battier reunion would be Hubie-tastic. I don't know how serious I can take these reports though as they focus equally on Eddy Curry. Fail. Battier has very good things to say about our Grizz:

"From a talent standpoint, Memphis is going to be a force to deal with for a few years," he said. "Talent wins. You can have all the rah-rah you can muster, but at the end of the day in the NBA, talent wins."

— Shane Battier

Josh Selby is looking like one of the best 2nd round draft picks of all-time, as long as exhibition showboating translates to NBA quality performance.

Selby and Jennings trading fancy moves:

Selby dunking:

Selby has the distinction of being one of the few players in the upcoming Goodman League vs Drew League competition. I think this will be televised too so we get some NBA fix after all.

Goodman League vs Drew League Details - game date and roster here. Both Josh Selby and Grizzlies' Sam Young are on the A-Team. Get hyped!

Some players, such as the Los Angeles Clippers' Al-Farouq Aminu and the Memphis Grizzlies' Zach Randolph, arranged to have their 2010-11 salary paid over 18 or 24 months.

- USA Today

Zach Randolph is smart with his money - Pretty good for a guy with an extra "Punk" chromosome. What Would Scottie Pippen Do?

Rudy Gay loses Black Ops match to Jason Terry - Ok this is what lockout means... and slow injury recovery. Meanwhile Rudy Gay's contract was picked as the Grizzlies "worst" by a Bleacher Report article that surveyed all 30 teams for the albatross of each executive backroom. Fact is the Grizz don't have any bad contracts so they had to pick our max franchise player's.

Haddadi moving forward - Grizz extended the Qualifying Offer to him, which means he isn't being let go to free agency but other teams can still try to sign him, though Grizzlies would have the chance to match it. Let's hope he gets past these dumb legal troubles though. How embarrassing is it to be arrested for having rough sex? "Conditions of his bail also prohibit him from using alcohol or any controlled substances." Now if I read it correctly he's not allowed to have alcohol while out on bail. The guy is 26 years old - isn't that a little ridiculous? And furthermore, aren't Muslims not allowed to drink anyway?

DAYS OF NBA LOCKOUT v2

2011-07-07T11:54:00.003-04:00

Apparently former Clipper and Wizard Al Thornton is running out of top tier travel destinations. It's going to be a long summer and you want to be by the beach and out of the crowds so Delaware can't be the worst destination choice. We certainly can't blame him for his enthusiasm. Via twitter:

Al Thornton: "Loving it out here in Delaware.." yesterday

Homer: "The Simpsons are goin' to Delaware!"
Lisa: "I wanna see Wilmington!"
Bart: "I wanna visit a screen door factory!"
Marge: "Yup - Delaware has it all!"

Beats the hell out of going to Turkey (Deron Williams!? and ZaZa Pachulia) or Minnetonka, Minnesota. SuperCoolBees is up to it again driving high speed high high high on the mary jane again. Summer lovin'! Enjoy the jailtime.

DAYS OF NBA LOCKOUT v1

2011-07-05T10:17:00.000-04:00

Andrew Bynum preparing for his new career. At least he's not going into Ultimate Fighting like Glen Davis. Get some head gear at least son.

NBA LOCKOUT

2011-07-01T14:08:00.000-04:00

Official July 1st --- I'll be out for a while. Thanks for reading,

Baltimore Rip Score

2011-06-24T09:02:00.003-04:00

With the 49^th pick in the 2011 draft, Memphis Grizzlies select Baltimore, Maryland homeboy, Josh Selby. This guy looks like a skilled, though less athletic DeMar Derozen (dunk contest champion).

In high school he was a top recruit. He was bound for Tennessee but their program flamed out so he went to Kansas. This makes 3 Grizzlies drafts out of the last 4 having landed a Kansas Jayhawk player (Darrell Arthur 00, Xavier Henry 13, Josh Selby 32).

Have to wonder where this 32 wearing Magic man puts Grizzlies' #32 OJ Mayo. For now I think OJ's job is secure. Selby will be an end of the bench guy to develop unless he just comes out totally ripping. Since he fell all the way to 49 in the draft it's very unlikely he's going to leap over Mayo, Henry, Tony Allen, for playing time on the Grizz. He barely could get playing time at Kansas because of injury, suspension, and who knows what else. Grizzlies will simply take him in, mold, and mentor him. Rudy Gay, Sam Young, and Greivis Vasquez all have strong ties to the Baltimore area. And he's someone we can stash in the D-League for a while too.

This is a great situation for the Grizzlies because a player like this is high risk, high reward, but the position taken in the draft is a non-guaranteed rookie contract. Therefore, if he pays off, he'll pay off big time. If not, they part ways without really losing any substantial investment. The only guy I like picked after him was Isaiah Thomas, who is one of the shortest players ever drafted.

It's good to not have to care about the draft this year, and yet feel a bit of fortune coming our way down the road. Let's hope they work out those salaries and keep this game rolling next fall!

NBA Finals Update: Mavs 3, Heat 2

2011-06-10T13:12:00.001-04:00

Why the Mavs should be Favored – breakdown on the team stats leading up to the Finals. I wonder now if Miami was actually overachieving early in the series? Especially their role players have "come back down to earth" it feels like.

The King vs The Custodian – great article with some quotes by Brian Cardinal

I have some observations to share on this finals. I have missed the entire conference finals and only watched the 4th quarter of 2 of the 5 finals games so my perspective is a little murky. But the last 3 games have been very, very good. And since I'm cheering the Mavs I have liked the outcomes too.

I found it amusing how much was made from LeBrandon's posture that Game 5 was the most important game of his life. JVG and Mark Jackson said you know every game is the most important so it's a tautology. It really doesn't need to be said. It reminded me about what was written prior to every single Grizzlies playoff game this summer. "Most important Grizzlies game of all time for the franchise!" That's true, but shouldn't it always be true? Think if you lived your life that way, like today is going to be the best day of my life. It may not be when you look back but having that attitude is great! It's like living each day like a newborn puppy.

Speaking of puppies. These Miami puppies got stomped on.

Have absolutely LOVED watching Brian Cardinal out there. For the last 5 years? every time I see him I have anxiety and think of breaking things. But now he's actually playing really well and doing what he's always supposed to do. He knocked down a beautiful three last night. Give it up for the Custodian! There's a place in heaven for all of the God's children, even the Puerto Rican midgets.

I set myself so against the Heat that I had to start trying to like them, just so I could enjoy watching the rest of this basketball season. I had to stop hating.

Now I love Mike Miller and I used to be a Chris Bosh fan until that funky breakup he had with Toronto, which has been the poor ugly stepsister ever since Tracy McGrady left town. So, I have them as an entry-point to cheering.

You go down the line, and it's Eddie House, Mario Chalmers, Udonis Haslem. These are great ballers and you gotta give it up man. Dallas has just been incredible though. Here's the deal. Miami was assembled not by basketball genius like the Dallas team, but by friendships and alliances. Juwan Howard, Erick Dampier, and BIGZ are garbage. Joel Anthony is having to play all the minutes at center. That's pathetic. Mike Bibby = FAIL. Worse than Gary Payton with the Lakers.

Favorite quote from JVG last night: Do you think Rick Carlile ever had any idea back in training camp that he'd be playing Ian Mahinmi and Brian Cardinal right now in the finals? (paraphrased from my wacky memory).

Just to make this picture complete, "momma, there goes that man!"

Remember the Roar

2011-05-16T09:49:00.002-04:00

I see 7 playoff wins and the All-Time Grizzlies playoff record goes from 0-12 to 7-18. That's like a 40% improvement with this squad. Very good things can be expected from this team down the road. I'm ready to cogitate on this for the summer. No summer league, no Olympics, no FIBA, no draft (Grizzlies have just 1 second round pick this year, unless they do a trade). Time to just relax and dream about the excitement we just witnessed over the last 7 months.

Thanks for 2010-2011!

Game 6: Post-Mortem (cont.)

2011-05-14T17:14:00.004-04:00

Zach Randolph

I can't tell anything you don't already know about this dude. He is a Grizzly Bear. Just look at him in the paint. My favorite quote is by Kevin Garnett this year when the Grizzlies beat them in Boston again. He said, "I felt like I was wrestling with a grizzly bear the whole game."

Tony Allen

ALL HEART, GRIT GRIND! The Tony Allen's of the world make it a joy to be alive. Do you know someone like him? He's the guy that is always up. Even when he's down you know a joke or something and he's back to his old self. On the other hand, there is a dark side to the guy. He's a competitor. He wants to win. And he's going to hurt you if you come between him and that goal. Tony hit an awesome 3 last night and redeems himself with some good finishes at the rim. Tony Allen #9 had full size cutouts all over the Memphis Airport when I visited last week. The town has embraced his tenacity and emotional display. We know he has an NBA Championship ring so that stuff isn't just him being cute. He's serious about winning. He's a Memphis Grizzly!

O.J. Mayo

JUICE. This guy has come up huge. He's been through it all this year, but finally has put it together. He's in there at the end of all the games. He hits unconscious shots in pressure situations when a normal person would freeze like a deer in headlights. The thing that separates him from other scorers this post-season however, is the terrific defense he's played against the Thunder. He's forced strategic adjustments on either side. OJ is going to be sought after when his contract comes up. Everyone has seen the potential for him to be a leader, and now he's been through the bumps of life and had success at the highest level.

Sam Young

Obviously coaches like what Sam brings to the starting lineups. He's had some brilliant dunks in the playoffs. He plays good defense. He gets it. Sam Young plays at full speed and will be a great player returning next year for his third year.

Shane Battier

I freaked out big time when Shane hit the buzzer beater 3pt at the end of the first half in last night's game. It cut the lead down to 10 points (54-44). Shane represents a lot for this franchise and for this team. Redemption. Grit. Hustle.
Shane is glue between this city and the original triumph of the Grizzlies. And he's back. Can you believe it? Gasol 2.0 and now Shane 2.0.

Mike Conley

Mike Conley is the fearless floor general. Problem this series is his shots are not falling. Besides the miracle shot at the end of regulation in Game 4 - he's been a horrible shot. But the guy has done well against Westbrook and company. And he's instrumental in running the offense. Conley at this point is underrated and I really expect him to establish himself as a top 10 point guard in the next season or two. The quintessential point guard is becoming a rare thing in the NBA anyway.

Marc Gasol

To set up Conley's game-tying 3 at the end of Game 4 - Marc Gasol had to block Westbrook coming down the lane. He's the anchor and what I like to call URSA MAJOR next to ZBO (Ursa Minor). The dive to the floor last night was incredible. The big man hitting the deck and making a play you only see in the Olympics, seldom seen from spoiled NBA stars. The little brother just ended up in Memphis by a stroke of cosmic irony. Sometimes you have to wonder though if things are just meant to be!!! Memphis has really been bless with the Gasols.

Darrell "King" Arthur - a force to reckon with. Sweet shot that goes in from 18 feet.

Hamed Haddadi - clearly has the talent but working to put it all together and when he does he will be a starter in the NBA somewhere.

Greivis Vasquez - reminds me of Steve Nash with the shot. but he can hit it! He did it in Overtime! You can't teach champion instinct. You can't teach exuberance. He's a great piece of this playoff team!

Shout out to Leon Powe, Ish, Demarre Carroll, Thabeet, JWill, Xavier Henry, and especially Rudy Gay ...

I love the super slowed down videos.
Watch this video or skip to the 3minutes mark. Just great stuff. You can see the power and ferocity of the game only at this level.

Game 6: Post-Mortem

2011-05-14T14:09:00.001-04:00

The team that never quit, from the city that still believes, the Grizzlies are headed back to Oklahoma City to face the final game of series to decide who will advance.

This has been one heck of a ride for the Grizzlies faithful. I don't think I'll have a hard time remembering this year of my life either. Not only did I get to travel home to Memphis and be with my grandmothers and mom on Mother's Day, but I got to be there for 4 Overtime periods through Games 3 and 4 at the FedEx Forum!

It all started on May Day, which happened to also be my 30^th birthday. Game 1 of the Western Conference Semi-Finals between the Grizzlies and Thunder, and I got to spend it celebrating with ice cream cake and my homemade dandelion wine (which I had bottled the year before). The Grizzlies are the lowest seed of the playoffs, even though they were in a three-way tie just a week before the season ended. They jockeyed for position but ended up in a favorable match against the elderly Spurs team. So, because of that seeding they had to play game 1 on the road in Oklahoma City, and they close the critical elimination Game 7 there as well.

If you're reading this you already know how my birthday went. The series opened with an unlikely win. Can the Grizzlies steal another road win to finish off the Thunder?

I said it many times after Game 3, a game that the Thunder wanted to win in order to take back home court advantage due to the loss in Game 1, the monumental come from behind victory was just short of a miracle. I felt like I had seen a miracle. The emotions from expecting the superior team to take care of business, to seeing the underdog come clawing back, are what make following this team so special.

Yes, the Thunder were supposed to win Game 6 last night. Yes, of course they will be heavy favorites again for Game 7. But they were supposed to win Game 1 too and look what happened. Despite the 3OT loss and then the beatdown in Oklahoma City, the Grizz came back on a Friday night and Took Care of Business! The Grizzlies nation has one thing in common: HOPE. Talent and hope is what you need to reach your goals. We know we got talented players. I think the most disappointing and regrettable aspect of the previous seasons was not the lack of talent but the lack of hope, grit, and grind.

Now let me try to briefly discuss some of the other surrounding context on this May Grizzlies Playoff extravaganza. We already have Memphis on the front of the Wall Street Journal and 24x7 on the CNN News as I flew home Tuesday May 10^th. This is due to the worst flooding of the Mississippi since 1937. What people have already forgotten is that on April 27^th the Midsouth experienced deadly tornadoes that already wrought devastation and death throughout the area. The venue for the International Memphis in May BBQ Fest is currently under water. President Barrack Obama is/was in Memphis to honor the Booker T Washington High School for their "Race to the Top" selection.

I know he's a basketball fan; I wonder if he was there?

I don't want to use the flooding and the storms as a excuse for why Memphis is getting a break. That's ridiculous. We certainly wouldn't have lost Game 4 after three overtimes if somehow the Thunder or the referees were conspiring to allow the Grizzlies to keep playing because we deserve it somehow. We deserved this long before any of this happened. Memphis has been hated by the media and laughed at so many times. The organization was crucified for trading away Pau Gasol to the Lakers. Looking back, that deal wasn't bad at all, and has been imitated at least 3 times since then! (Deron Williams, Gerald Wallace, and Gilbert Arenas were all traded for "nothing")

Memphis has been a laughing stock. And let's face it - we were short changed by Calipari and the University of Memphis Tigers. We got our money's worth from the amazing C-USA runs and the incredible NCAA Final Four of 2008, but there weren't the miracles we've been seeing from the Grizzlies this year. When you have the future youngest MVP in the league ever on your team (Derrick Rose) you would expect to do some serious damage, especially being surrounded by 2 current NBA players and 2 other guys that almost made it.

This is why I really love the Grizzlies players. Because they were on Memphis they were forgotten. Even though Mike Conley, OJ Mayo, Rudy Gay, and Shane Battier were top lottery picks, the nationwide audience largely had forgotten them. Battier not so much, he does command a lot of respect, but his style of game doesn't translate into flashy commercial endorsements in the way that a young Brandon Jennings does. I like the Grizzlies because they are humble and they do their job because they are professionals, not because it is fun or because a bunch of drug dealers in Miami are betting on their games, but because it's in their DNA. They put in the extra effort because it's their passion.

Next post, going in depth about the players...

Game 6: TCB

2011-05-12T13:28:00.000-04:00

Detroit was down 3-0... Game 7 is tonight. Grizz need to force a game 7 with a win Friday night. TCB = Taking Care of Business. I heard someone say TCG when I was at game 3. Taking Care of Grizzlies?

Don't Stop Believin'!

NO SLEEP TIL BROOKLYN!!!

I CAN'T LET A DAY GO BY, WITHOUT BEIN' FLY!

The Best Men in the World

2011-05-11T21:15:00.000-04:00

"Now, an Army is a team. It lives, eats, sleeps, fights as a team. This individuality stuff is a bunch of crap. The bilious bastards who wrote that stuff about individuality for the Saturday Evening Post don’t know anything more about real battle than they do about fornicating."

"I don’t want to get any messages saying that we are holding our position. We’re not holding anything. Let the tHUNder do that. We are advancing constantly and we’re not interested in holding onto anything except the enemy. We're going to hold onto him by the nose and we're going to kick him in the ass. We're going to kick the hell out of him all the time and we're gonna go through him like crap through a goose."

SIRIUS!

ALL DEFENSE

2011-05-09T16:03:00.001-04:00

My son, my son, what have ye done?

Memphis Grizzles' Tony Allen - NBA 2010-2011 All NBA Defense Team 2

Spotlight: Memphis

2011-05-05T14:15:00.002-04:00

Can't Help Falling in Love – with the grizzzz

Another fantastic video from Grizzlies.com:

Up with the White and Gold

2011-05-05T12:00:00.002-04:00

play dis:

N.W.A. – Appetite for Destruction

Grizzlies set to whiteout the GrindHouse – white shirt and gold growl towels!

All fans attending any Second Round Playoff games at FedExForum will also receive a Round Two Gold Grizzlies Growl Towel

bonus vid: GT cheerleaders doing the white & gold

So then it's up with the White and Gold
Down with the Blue and Orange
Memphis is out for a victory
We'll drop our battle axe on Westbrook's head, CHOP!
When we meet her our team will surely beat her
Down on old Bennett's farm there'll be no sound
When our Growl Towels rip through the air
When the battle is over Okie's team will be found
With the Memphis Grizzlies stomping around.

if you build it...

2011-05-03T08:00:00.006-04:00

Suddenly everyone ♥ the Grizzlies – they will come.

I am more or less speechless about the Grizzlies playoff run. I went to 5 Grizzlies games on 3 different cross-country flights a couple seasons ago and they lost all of them, but I had a blast. Now I'm going to see them play in 2 home playoff games this weekend and Monday....!?!? And, depending how tonight goes, they might even be... the favorites!?

How did we get here?

Hollins -
He's old school. He calls reporters "son". He checks ego at the door (Allen Iverson lasted days on the calendar). He doesn't coddle rookies. When he said some choice comments about the new officiating styles this year in preseason, the league fined him. He never commented on them again. "Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me."

The Infamous Three Year Plan -
The words were what every fan wanted to hear, but almost none could believe. In three years we would not just be out of the lottery, winning some home games, no longer a league embarrassment. No, the promise was in three years we'd be in the playoffs again and poised to compete for championship. It sounded delusional given the roster at the time and the recent draft history of guys yet to become complete players: Lowry, Warrick, Gay, and Conley.

Pau Gasol -
Another proclamation heard after our third playoff sweep was that the organization was going to quit trying to add more arms to the octopus. Instead of just going out and getting more talent they would rebuild around Pau in a systematic way with complementary players. With injuries to Gasol, false start with Coach Iavaroni, and inconsistent play by guys like Darko this plan tanked. A do-over was commissioned in the hands of Chris Wallace. The rest is history.

Zach Randolph -
Every great sports team must have a star. In a message board survey for nicknames of Marc Gasol and ZBo I came up with my favorite. Because they truly are extraordinary star players and they combine so many talents I name them for a constellation. One second they are hauling down rebounds and making putbacks, then they knock down 15 foot jumpshots.

Ursa Major :: Ursa Minor

Unstoppable Force

2011-04-30T15:55:00.001-04:00

The Grizzlies were an unstoppable force at home in this series, and that's why they're moving on to Oklahoma City today!

HISTORY

Game 6 replay
Zach Randolph and Memphis – great article on Zach and Memphis.
"Z-Bo and the Grizzlies, sitting in a tree: W-I-N-N-I-N-G."
The computer picks Grizzlies win game 1

I will go to Memphis next weekend for games 3 and 4 at their home. I cut a deal where I would only travel to watch the Grizzlies in the playoffs if they make it to round 2 and beyond. And because it's my birthday that wish has been honored and my flight itinerary is sealed and done. ROAR!

If anyone out there wants to help me with some tickets to Game 4 I need 2 good ones. I'll pay I just am worried of the potential sellout… Cheers,

Arriba Grizzlies!

2011-04-24T06:52:00.000-04:00

Grinding this series to a 2-1 lead at home.

"as Zach goes, the Grizzlies go". They went for the first Grizzlies home playoff win after 6 straight losses from 2003 until 2006. There were no more playoff games until last night.

The ender ender

.goosebumps.

Playoff Round 1 - Jefferson vs Young

2011-04-20T10:07:00.001-04:00

Sam Young has to be the Grizzlies best 2nd round pick ever. (Sorry Lawrence Roberts). It wasn't hard to make a good pick at that spot in 2009 though, with DeJuan Blair and Chase Budinger still on the board (both All Rookie team players). Sam has not hit any kind of sophomore slump though and has established himself as the starting SF without question. He filled in at SG for a bit but moved to the 3 with Tony Allen inserted into the lineup.

Sam can hit big shots. He has wily ball fakes. He's a mature player that used all his NCAA eligibility before turning pro. And he's pretty darn talented:

Now to RJ.

I have to admit I've never liked the Nets until they got Anthony Morrow.
And I certainly did not appreciate his efforts with the Milwaukee Bucks. So, of all the Spurs players he's definitely my least favorite. But it don't mean he's not a good player.

Too bad the Vince Carter Nets thing didn't work out. If it did you might have the Nets with Melo actually competing with the Celtics instead of watching the pathetic Knicks getting swept?

Here's a nice slammy:

Like all my breakdowns here, the players I have highlighted haven't actually faced off much in the Game 1. Marc Gasol really went up against Duncan. ZBO went against McDyess, and Ginobli ain't even played. In fact it's never really 1 on 1 in any way shape or form.

Now Sam Young will guard Jefferson some but you might see Tony on him as well. It's kind of stupid to break it down this way. But I like to think Sam Young is prettier than Jefferson so we still win this matchup:

Maybe not!

But Sam Young and Grizz all have something on these jaded, estranged Spurs players: potential, hope, and youth. The Spurs approach is that this is their job to do. I think Sam's approach is that the sky is the limit and "I can go as high as I will go". Not just because today is 4/20 either!

Advantage: Grizzlies

GOIN GRIZZ!

2011-04-19T21:50:00.001-04:00

Le'go!!
super nice track,

no days off!

Playoff Round 1 - Allen vs Ginobli

2011-04-19T10:37:00.003-04:00

"We ain't here just to be here, we here to win."

This video about the Grizzlies playoff clench is the way to start the Tony Allen story. His first year in Memphis has been foremost about the team because he's always been an outstanding bench player. Those guys don't get the spotlight but they are critical for success of the team.

Well they took the above video down for some reason. Try this one instead:

http://www.nba.com/grizzlies/video/2011/04/19/the10grizzseasonreview11mp4-1653558

Tony has been in the starting lineup since around the time Xavier Henry was injured and then Rudy Gay went down. They say around the time of the inflight scuffle between Mayo and Allen the team came together and cleared the air. The team then resolved all the personal stuff and got it together. His leadership qualities, albeit unconventional, have turned this team into a league-leading force on defense, tenacity, Ubuntu, grit, grind, and heart.

Manu has resurrected the Spurs this year. He's nearly an MVP candidate, and certainly has played allstar level. The Spurs changed philosophy this season and basically have outshot all their opponents. This style of play has been great for Manu, and he's become their go-to scorer. For the Spurs to maintain their number one record throughout the post-season they must get Ginobli back on the floor healthy. I'm sure we will see him a lot in this series even though he missed game one. Tony Allen will have to give him hell for the Grizzlies to keep up!

Don't mess with batman,

The question is whether the 6th highest "impact" player (from Mathletics blog) in NBA is in form. The Spurs point differential has gone to hell since they were the bonafide #1 team before the allstar break. Now they are just upper-tier since then and hence that crazy losing streak. Until Manu proves himself and shows he's 100%, you can't deny the impact Tony Allen has on the defensive side. The Grizzlies hold them from scoring on so many possessions. Where will they make up for that presence?

Advantage: Grizzlies

Advantage: Grizzlies

Playoff Round 1 - ZBO vs Timmy

2011-04-16T08:45:00.001-04:00

"I ain't won since Portland, you know"

People in media still calling Zach a punk and shit like that. They better watch some film and listen to their elders.

"We feel that Zach is a good guy. He's well liked in Memphis. And, quite frankly, since he's been with us, he's been nothing but cooperative and nothing but a model citizen.''

— Grizzlies owner
Michael Heisley

He was a top 5 big man in the West this year - and a huge allstar snub. Don't matter. Last year he made all-star but it's far important this year that we're playing at least 4 extra games. This is big.

Tim Duncan is a proven legend. Guys like Shaq crowned themselves. Duncan just does it, without the pomp.

But no one's perfect. He can get under folks skin. Apparently NBA Ref Joey Crawford isn't a fan.

My first memory of Tim Duncan is his spoiler role with Wake Forest against Georgia Tech in the ACC tournament finals in 1996 (a 27 point and 22 rebound performance). But I found this gem of GT actually beating a very young Tim Duncan with Stephon Marbury and Matt Harpring.

Can you believe guys actually stayed in college all 4 years back then even though he was a guarantee #1 draft pick his sophomore year? Randolph, a 1 and done at MSU, does not have the intellectual edge on Duncan, we know, but a one-on-one physical battle, you gotta believe, belongs to ZBO.

Watch out though,

Advantage: Grizzlies

Playoff Round 1 - Gasol vs McDyess

2011-04-15T13:41:00.001-04:00

Vintage 34 year old scoring clinic

Here lies the question, can the Grizzlies youth compare with the Spurs veteran savvy? The elder Gasol is now two-time champion. Marc and company have avoided that tough draw against the champs in order to meet the Spurs, where they surely think they have an advantage. Marc is physically much larger, stronger, and comelier than the Spurs bigs:

Gasol also thinks he's Emeka Okafor (No idea?)

Advantage: Grizzlies

Playoff Round 1 - Parker vs Conley

2011-04-15T10:51:00.002-04:00

His sham celebrity marriage lasted about 8 months if I recall. 7/7/7 wasn't so lucky. Now he's going up against the man I like to call "Ferrari". Let's take it to 7 games for him! And win it!

Forget about it!

Conley got some skills.

ADVANTAGE: Grizzlies

Remember the Grindhouse?

2011-04-15T06:57:00.000-04:00

The Memphis Grizzlies are revving it up, assuredly, for the second season, also known as the NBA playoffs. After locking up their playoff birth with cakewalk wins over Minnesota, New Orleans, and Sacramento the Grizzlies entered into a preseason incubation period. Many fans, including myself, were puzzled and frustrated that they did not go all out in the last week of action to try and secure a lower seed. We know the Grizzlies players are extremely pumped though. The players that were pulled from the final stretch games, such as Tony Allen, were probably more upset than any of the fans. Their focus will be razor sharp as they advance & vanquish the number one seeded San Antonio Spurs.

Remember the Grindhouse?

It wasn’t just the turnovers, it was the offensive boards along with the lack of focus,” Popovich said in his brief postgame appearance before closing with: “It was a disappointing night, and that’s not something to be proud of.”

Grizzlies beat the Spurs twice in March. Game 1 they were without Tony Parker. Game 2 they were without Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobli injured himself. This Sunday the Spurs advertise that Manu is doubtful for the first game at the Texas border outpost town. To be fair, the Grizzlies have endured the loss of their leading scorer, Rudy Gay, since the All-Star break in early February. The Spurs system works even without their big name players because they preach a philosophy that everyone buys into and it gets results. They plug in guys that play certain roles, which is very successful.

Remember the Alamo?

On the other hand, the Spurs have beaten the Grizzlies two times at their adobe. The first game went to OT with an OJ Mayo miracle buzzer beater. Then in overtime period, Tony Parker cut them up to cap a 37 point performance. Not too shabby for the Grizz while the #1 NBA team, Spurs, was kicking on full effect in the middle of their largest win streak of the season. That game had no Rudy Gay because he was suspended for a shove to Luis Scola the night before. So, ironically, Rudy has not suited up against the Spurs in any of the matches with San Antonio this year.

My next posts will break down the player-by-player match-ups. I will be coming from the Grizzlies point of view but it will be interesting to see how these teams have compared before and what we can expect in this series.

Playoff Picture

2011-04-12T10:32:00.003-04:00

NBA.com Playoff Picture

Keep this going tonight in Portland. 2 games left. One last funky West coast road trip to Portland tonight and LAClippers at the notorious Staples Center tomorrow night. I sure would love the Grizzlies to play Portland on the road in the second round so I could have a great excuse to go visit there & see a game. I can perceive a roguish sojourn to light the fires.

Grizzlies win their first article - But haters still gonna hate.

"Simply making the playoffs is about as good as it's going to get in Graceland for the foreseeable future."

-Believe dis

Go get game 1 and then the series will fall. We ain't got much of a realistic chance to take a series, but attitude is everything. Go for it and see what happens.

Look for a full analysis here when it's determined who we gonna play first round. I plan to do a position by position breakdown of the player matchups.

UNA MAS

2011-04-07T10:33:00.002-04:00

Grizz AP Story – Playoffs clencher is one game away.

play dis:

1 Life 2 Live

Track by C BO, Maniac

TOO BIG FOR PUBLIC USE. ONE LIFE TO LIVE

Grizzlies Win Win Win

2011-03-31T11:10:00.003-04:00

THROW IT DOWN!

Grizzlies win over Warriors - 4th winning season in history of the fledgling franchise.
Commercial Appeal

Cheers!

#42 is Smiling Down right now!

Grizz sitting pretty at 42 wins now (Tony Allen also wore #42 for Celtics).

Felt like I was Wrestling with a Grizzly Bear the whole game

2011-03-24T09:23:00.000-04:00

“Wrestling with Zach, it felt like I was wrestling with a grizzly bear the whole game,’’ Garnett said.

Boston.com - Boston's take
Tillery Article - Memphis's take
Video link

“Leon Powe was the baddest man on the planet tonight,’’ Rivers said. “It’s not like they tricked us with Leon’s sets. They gave him the ball and said, ‘Just go drive through somebody and score on them.’ That’s basically what he did.’’

"Sweet child, where do we go now?" That's what the one-man acoustic crooner sang last night as I watched the Grizzlies at the local watering hole in late March. This is definitely the time of year when NBA action cranks up. March Madness is in full effect with the sweet16 getting underway tonight, and the NCAA field reduces to the Final Four by the end of this weekend. Only this time of year folks are hitting it full steam in preparation for the end the school year, the end of a long season, or the beginning of a new season of work in my case. Sweet child of mine, it's game time!

Many are called, few are chosen. It was never going to be an easy road. The elite teams are usually in the big markets, like Boston. That's why hundreds of girls lined up for cheerleading tryouts yesterday: Now the Grizzlies are full of champs. They have a dog in the fight now. They got a runner-up national champ at point guard (Mike Conley, Ohio State). They got a Silver Medal Olympic Basketball player at center (Marc Gasol, España). At power-forward you have another NCAA Final Four leader who's also tasted the playoffs his rookie year in the NBA (Zach Randolph, Michigan State). The current starting shooting guard is a 2008 NBA Champion (Tony Allen, Boston Celtics). The small-forward was MVP of the BigEast Championship in 2008, as he lead his team to win that contest (Sam Young, Pittsburgh).

Where do we go? We going to play this game. And yes, it's going to be so sweet!

Grizz Girls Vote

2011-03-22T13:49:00.000-04:00

Dance Contest 2011 - Vote today for these beautiful Memphis women!

It is not growing like a tree

2011-03-22T13:45:00.000-04:00

It is not growing like a tree
In bulk doth make Man better be;
Or standing long an oak, three hundred year,
To fall a log at last, dry, bald, and sere:
A lily of a day
Is fairer far in May,
Although it fall and die that night—
It was the plant and flower of light.
In small proportions we just beauties see;
And in short measures life may perfect be.

—Ben Jonson

Rudy Gay is out - expected to be out 6 months with surgery. I hope they rebuild him. Stronger. Faster. All that jazz.

Get well mister Rudy!........Big shoes to fill, fellas,

Saint Grizzlides

2011-03-17T14:42:00.000-04:00

Carmelo Anthony yelled "I do this"

The shot Carmelo Anthony hit against Memphis might only be a sign of things to come as the Knicks head into the postseason. As a Knicks fan, it is a great feeling knowing that you have someone on your team that is as comfortable as Carmelo is with having the ball in his hands with the game on the line. Who would you rather have the ball in his hands with the game on the line, Carmelo or Lebron?

Knicks Fan Reaction

Yea, but Knicks rally for the postseason stopped there. Since the win against Memphis the Knicks and Anthony Haven't Been Doin' This..

Grizzlies will get it done tonight in New York City, MSG. I feel it. They got a chip on their shoulder and will kick the Knicks while they are down (3 game losin streak). For Vasquez it is his first trip as a pro to the Big Apple. For others they have many reasons. ZBO always wants to show off what they are missing. Tony Allen, Leon Powe, and Jason Williams have scores to settle there. Shane Battier has to show off for the New York hipster women who love him. (bet you didn't know that). Marc Gasol and Haddadi - I can't even comment on their impact here. Let's just say they had to turn down private rooms at Trump Tower.

Wish you a happy day. Warm clear skies here in New England. Go Grizz!

THE BIG Z-BOWSKI

2011-03-11T10:47:00.000-05:00

If you have not ever seen it, and you are a Grizzlies fanatic like me, you have to check out the Grizzlies game notes:

Grizzlies Team Notes

I believe these are put out for the talking heads and media personnel to read so they don't come across sounding ignorant when calling the games or discussing the Grizzlies in public, etc. Someone puts a lot of work into it! I tend to steal a lot of ideas from here myself so I definitely want to give it up for them! The title of this post is from there - go read it.

One fine excerpt:

TONY ALLEN‟S CRAZY NUMBERSTony Allen has been a game-changer for Memphis this season, wreaking havoc on defense and subsequently creating more opportunities for the Grizzlies on offense… Long regarded as one of the league’s best defenders, Allen has topped himself this year, posting the 21st-highest steals-per-48-minute average (4.25) in NBA history (min. 1,000 minutes played)… That’s over one steal ahead of second-place Chris Paul this season and the highest number the NBA has seen since Randy Brown in 1994-95… Only one other active NBA player has ever had a single season averaging at least four steals per 48 minutes – Ron Artest (4.12 in 2001-02).

Grizzlies news: We are bad ass!!!!!Ranked #5 on March 7th - this was before the Knicks loss but still bodes well. Look out Miami!Prediction for Saturday night's game in Miami:

W I N N I N G. Ninja style.

Spring has SPRUNG Yall

2011-03-08T10:10:00.000-05:00

Grizzlies are Growing it out - "The Grizzlies are growing out playoff beards. The deal was struck amongst the team prior to the San Antonio game. As I understand it, you were allowed to shave before the Spurs game if you chose to and will not be allowed to shave your beard until the Grizzlies have officially clinched a playoff spot."

ESPN: YOUNG GRIZZ ROAR

The Grizzlies came up short in the "Grizzlies Honor the Return of Shane Battier" game which I attended with my family in my only Grizzlies game of the season. But that was sandwiched between wins against San Antonio, Dallas, and OKC. Ok that's 3 of the best 4 teams in the west… And ZBO isn't an allstar? How many game winners has Kevin Love hit lately? What about Blake Griffin?

The Grizz are right in there! It's probably better that none of the Grizzlies players were in Los Angeles for the allstar game actually. They instead took the time to focus as a team and focus on their training. You can see a remarkable improvement despite the fact that Rudy Gay is out with an injury. The NBA TV guys said it at halftime last night, they thought the young Grizz could be written off when Gay went out. Instead the guys stepped up and the result is 7 wins out of their last 10 games!

March Madness in the NBA

2011-03-01T08:48:00.002-05:00

The nation will be focused on NCAA until the tournament is over, and then the real basketball junkies take over as the NBA playoffs start creeping around the corner. Although most moronic sports fans will then be glued to MLB spring training, the rest of us will be engaged in the battle of the Titans between the super-friends and super-fiends. The new-look Celtics, Magic, Heat, Knicks, Lakers, Spurs, Mavericks, and Bulls will be vying for that title. Behind those superstar, megamarket teams lie the "better than average underdogs". These teams have some star power and maybe one superstar, and play pretty good team basketball. In this 2nd tier you have the Blazers, Hawks, Thunder, Hornets, Bucks, and the Memphis Grizzlies.

Here's the buzz on the Grizzlies:

Shane Battier - NY Times article from 2009.
Playoff Tested - Tony Allen, ZBO, Battier, and JWill have played more than 82 games a few times.

March 1st 2011 Spurs Grizzlies preview

For the FANS

The Grizzlies have also gone the way of Antonio Burks, Lorenzen Wright, and Eliot Perry by picking up former University of Memphis wingman Rodney Carney. The last time I saw him he was in the Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island burying three after three, quickly turning the local crowd against me and my Memphis Tiger gear. I had to quiet down as the Providence Friars were blown out in the 2nd half. He had a long career in Memphis because he wasn't a blue chip recruit but his talents have kept him employed in the NBA at least as an end of the bench guy. It doesn't hurt to roll the dice with someone like that, especially if you really intend to splash into the "second season" of the NBA!! But wait there's more help coming. Leon Powe?

If the Griz add forward Leon Powe, that would give them 28 more games of playoff experience. Powe is expected to clear waivers today after Cleveland released him last week, and Memphis is one of the teams he's seriously considering.

Commercial Appeal

NY Times Article on the Value of Leon Power
The making of Leon Power - If you are curious about his sad background check this link.

Rubio's Poot Shoot

2011-02-10T12:55:00.001-05:00

Well that's a relief. I thought his poot was going to keep him overseas.

In other news.

How about them GRIZZZZZLIES!?!??!!?

Jason Williams - PG #2

Jason Williams was kind of a rogue agent in Memphis. He was starting point guard but he still played like he was the backup energy guy. He had more skills than anyone on the court each night but he didn't always follow team concepts. He was a showboater and a deadly wild card. At times we could not buy a bucket and he'd knock down a trey at the beginning of the shot clock to get us back in the game, then next possession he'd throw the ball out of bounds or something. What can you say, a love-hate relationship? I always thought he needed to be replaced for us to go further in the playoffs, but today is many years past then. We're a different team and he's a different player.

He's older than Star Wars! The original!

"But that dont make it junk." -Leonard Cohen.

ZBO GRIZZ ALLSTARS

2011-02-02T22:21:00.002-05:00

RIDING ON YOU FOOLS

10 Great Sports Movies

2011-02-01T12:04:00.001-05:00

this list goes to eleven

Grizzlies' Randolph named Player of the Week

2011-01-31T16:24:00.000-05:00

Grizzlies' Randolph named Player of Week

Zach Randolph, Memphis Grizzlies
Jan. 24 @ Toronto: Posted a double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds in a 100-98 win over the Raptors.
Jan. 26 @ New Jersey: Scored 20 points and grabbed 16 rebounds in a 93-88 loss to the Nets.
Jan. 28 @ Philadelphia: Totaled 22 points and 12 rebounds in a 99-94 victory over the 76ers.
Jan. 29 vs. Washington: Recorded 24 points and 20 rebounds in a 107-93 win over the Wizards.

NBA.com

Bitch don't hate me hate the bank, or snatch the G's that I take
Or hate my shiny wristband, and big ass rims I rotate
See people flip when I'm comin', got some of 'em sick at the stomach
They wonder what I brought in, they wonder what I got comin'

Transactions versus Wins

2011-01-27T16:57:00.001-05:00

Lately the Grizzlies have been so up and down it's led me to question the meaning of life itself. One day we're a playoff team, the next we're not. One day we can beat anyone, the next day we look like we should blow up the roster and fire Coach Hollins.

A lot of this unpredictability stems from the weak bench and lack of maturity. Fans constantly dream up crazy scenarios for their team to get out of the current reality and magically bring them immortal powers. I often have wondered if it's better to stand pat or wheel and deal, potentially bolstering the bench with more mature veterans (Tony Allen?).

So today I took the current NBA standings for January 27th, 2011 and tallied the number of roster transactions for each team. You can see the results are somewhat telling of this season. There are a variety of reasons for the transactions we seen this year, the least of which is the summer of Lebron.

CLICK TO OPEN LARGE

1. Check out Dallas, New Jersey, Minnesota, and Indiana. These are some of the extreme outliers. But in general you find that the top top teams made a lot of roster moves as well as the bottom bottom teams.
2. Most of the movements on the top teams were free agent signs.
3. Most of the movements on the mid-low tier teams were rookie contract and journeymen 10-day contract signs and waives, but some teams like New Jersey buck that trend as they were busy in all avenues.
4. The average teams seem to be happy where they are in terms of wins and transactions. I guess in this economy you don't want to make unnecessary risks, do you agree?
5. OKC is happy where they are because they are the kings of the future apparently - they didn't need to tweak much. Utah and Portland have struggled, and we can maybe see why they fail to keep up with the Western elite. We see the same observation for Orlando.
etc.

Rather than speculate any more I'll leave you to analyze the data yourself and make your own conclusions. For the Grizzlies I would say they are doing about as much as they could without being to rash this season, relative to other franchises in their position. So my fanatical instinct to do something radical mid-season is probably very irrational, as original suspected.

NOT THIS GUY!!!!

2011-01-25T13:44:00.001-05:00

As a Toronto fan said after the game on RealGM, Toronto needs more sombreros.

S w a g22g e R

2011-01-25T09:35:00.000-05:00

AP 2011-01-24
Memphis Grizzlies' Rudy Gay(notes) reacts after scoring the game winning point during the Grizzlies' 100-98 win over the Toronto Raptors in an NBA basketball game Monday, Jan. 24, 2011, in Toronto.

UH OH! Another 3 game win streak for the Grizzzzzzlies! Time to handle your business in New Jersey kids! You know, the team that beat the NBA worst by like 1 point last night and has 9 less wins than us. We have to whip them. We need an annihilation victory, promulgated by a rabid Marc Gasol if you please.

And then – the elusive .500 record, with playoff dreams, is in the bag.

Days of NBA Lives - Wherein I steal Ball Don't Lie's Idea

2011-01-20T15:09:00.000-05:00

I think this stuff is hilarious so I'm going to be ripping it off for now and doing it my own way. Enjoy.

Marcin Gortat: The best QB in NFL....... For me as a europen guy who doesnt know shit about football I pick M.Vick???? Am i wrong?
Larry Sanders:The planes came to take over the buildings..
Marcin Gortat:Woman..... We will never understand them!:(
Evan Turner:North Carolina has waffle house so you already know where I'm going
Daniel Gibson: Some ppl come into our lives & leave footprints on our hearts.. Others come into our lives & make us wanna leave footprints on there face
Bobby Brown:Look into my closet then u kno I love couture, even more my shoe collection 2 fly for the fu$$in floor..Shelves, Louis V in shelves
DeJuan Blair:IM BORED AS EVER!! BOUT TA GO 2 sleep!!!

S H A M E

2011-01-11T11:44:00.000-05:00

Grizzlies did it again. Losing to New Jersey at home after a nice 4 win streak last month was upsetting. Now losing to Charlotte on the road in front of a YMCA church game crowd (2,500 fans only) with playoff aspirations in the air is enough to make ya real mad.

"Told ya I coulda played tonight, Jack. "

R E S P E C T

2011-01-10T16:24:00.000-05:00

ZBO Earns Player of the Week Honors – First week of the year 2011 goes to Memphis Grizzlies' Zach Randolph!

Zach Randolph, Memphis Grizzlies
Jan. 4 vs. Oklahoma City: Recorded 31 points and 16 rebounds during a 110-105 win over the Thunder.
Jan. 7 vs. Utah: Poured in 26 points and 11 rebounds in a 110-99 victory over the Jazz.
Jan. 8 @ Oklahoma City: Netted 27 points and added 16 rebounds and two blocks during a 109-100 loss to the Thunder.

The Grizz went 2-1 against playoff teams this week and Randolph had both 4th highest point and rebound averages in the league over that span.

Don't celebrate too much now. Season is just getting warmed up. Long way to go. But we're in the hunt!

Dunk Contest?

2011-01-05T13:21:00.000-05:00

I was kind of excited to hear rumor of Blake Griffin in the dunk contest.
Allegedly this guy will be in the contest this year too:

Another name that came up was Serge Ibaka. Yes his name is cool and would be a great spokesman for Surge drink if it was still around. He can dunk

Give back, have a big heart, and care

2010-12-23T15:18:00.001-05:00

The Grizzlies aren't tearing up the standings right now. There's discontent in Round Town right now. It's not looking great for the Memphis Tigers to win against Georgetown tonight either... Who cares?

It's entertaining. It's fun. We're all in this together in some way. The Republican Party of the United States may not want you to think that way or believe it. But we are all in it together. We can be a strong nation and have progress. There is still the possibility that tomorrow is better than today. Let's get after it Nation of Grizzlam!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!
GO GRIZZLIES!

Hide or Seek?

2010-12-17T11:53:00.000-05:00

Yao Ming career is over - time to move on. Right through them Rockets tonight.

"You only exist out here because of me!"

"Then the BAD THING happened..." -Yao on being posterized by Dhantay Jones

Grizzlies have a little win streak going on. Let's roll it into 2011 and blow this shit up. Having a BLUE BLUE BLUE Christmas in New Orleans, San Antonio, Dallas, and Houston most of all. Look for me running down your street in my blue Grizzlies Santa Hat.

Cheers,

What would you do?

2010-12-16T13:18:00.000-05:00

sink or swim?

fight or flight?

play or be played?

hero or zero?

tied down or let loose?

put up or shut up?

go big or go home?

kill or be killed?

Unbelievable video of Metrodome collapse from inside stadium

2010-12-13T16:35:00.000-05:00

Unbelievable video of Metrodome collapse from inside stadium: -That is some crazy shite

Still Smokin

2010-12-03T11:48:00.000-05:00

Rabbit Rabbit Hump Day

2010-12-01T14:39:00.001-05:00

Wednesday, December 1^st

Don't tase me bro

My predictions were true. Grizz win at home and Lakers go home 3x losers. Give me a cookie!

"The sky is the limit" - Rudy Gay after beating Lakers.

Now tonight it's an excellent face off: a track meet. ATL just slammed Toronto Sunday and had all these days off. The Raptors. But remember these Hawks have been flaky - they were 8-7 in Nov. They lost to New Jersey. They have malcontents on their bench. Grizz need to steal a win here. They're due for it.

Losers Row

Perfect Storm – Lakers @ Grizzzzzz

2010-11-30T14:47:00.002-05:00

Nov. 30^th - FedEx Forum
Lakers come to town in wintry Memphis.

Right now it's getting blanketed, at least it appears that way from the viewpoint of the heavens:

Grizzlies RealGM game thread – come talk with us about the game

3 SOB's pregame analysis - Phil JAckson, the man who once described Memphis as "Dresden after the war". What the hell?

Lakers blog Links across the interwebs.

My predictions for this game are joyous winning for Grizzlies, coupled with a harrowing episode of anger and disdainful losing by the Lakers.

OJ Mayo for 6th man of year. :D
Mike Conley Jr Most Improved.
Rudy Gay + ZBO Allstars.
Hollins Coach of the Year. :D
Xavier Henry Rookie of the Year.

We got it covered! Am I wrong?

Statistics Avators for 2009-2010

2010-11-22T15:54:00.001-05:00

2009-2010 Player Profiles Design Visualizer This is really awesome. I just wish you could enter anyone's name to see instead of scrolling through all the players one by one. Pretty cool!

Garnett, Gasol, Gasol. How true.

Bloodshed

2010-11-22T11:32:00.003-05:00

Grizzlies are slow out of hibernation this season, especially OJ Mayo. On the bright side Rudy Gay and Mike Conley are earning their new contracts. There have been a lot of very close games that should have been won, including a devastating OT against Boston and a 2OT in Phoenix. The Grizzlies can right this ship and we'll get back to amazing things.

Kevin Garnett on the loss to league low Toronto Raptors on Sunday, "On paper they might not be whatever but as far as talent, this league has a lot of talent and you’ve got to respect that.” I think the Grizzlies have won respect since 2008. Now it's about going out there and competing.

The three year plan by Michael Heisely is somewhat laughable and frustrating because we obviously are not where they told us we'd be. We're a team that would only get to the playoffs by luck and would get completely blown away in a 4 game series. The silver lining is that they are a team that's exciting and does compete on most nights.

As a fan, it's soul crushing to think "what if?". Our offseason consisted of resign of Rudy Gay (keeping the course), haggling over the rookie contracts (good for the future but non-factor for present season success), and the signing of Tony Allen (an end of the bench guy, role-player, not going to move into starting lineup probably ever). It's a shame a team like this could have all the success they have with their stars (Mayo, ZBO, Gasol, Gay), but then have nothing but knuckleheads on the bench. There just isn't enough firepower on the team and it boils down to MONEY, the true evil of modern society, which is sickening. "It is what it is"… Every team has to manage salary be successful, but obviously the teams that really truly compete for playoffs in the league SPEND MONEY to do so. Trust me, I rather make smart decisions than throw more money at overpaid grown-ups to play a kids game.

Oh well! If we're still good enough to beat a top team 25% of the time, it's still worth watching all 4 games to see that one out of 4 that results in a spectacular win! I will hope to actually watch the next one!

Bear Claw in my Soup

2010-11-09T09:28:00.001-05:00

ACIE CLAW

How art thou Bear Claws, in my soup?

Rudy Gay

He's setting franchise records in scoring. He's becoming a leader. He's playing great defense!

Marc Gasol

He's playing grande. He exerts the soul of the bear. Pau is having an MVP year. Marc's the great little hermano.

O.J. Mayo

This little Grizzly hit the money ball when they kicked it out. Now they won't sleep on him anymore. "I've started every game of my career and blasting nearly 50% from yonder." He knows each meal begins with defense.

Zach Randolph

20 and 20. Contusion? Grizzlies should be undefeated with ZBO's return. All but 4 seconds worth of 1 game.

Mike Conley

The bear claw is like the cat claw, only bigger. And it tastes great! Allstars?

Goodbye, Oberto!

2010-11-05T10:18:00.001-04:00

How we hardly knew ye…
Oberto announces retirement

At least we'll see more late night dance parties with a bunch of awkward white guys trying to do the Dougie:

They may not try to rely on a Steven Hill.

No, I don't know what I'm talking about.
But the starting center of 2007 Champions San Antonio Spurs, and 2004 Argentine Olympic gold medal winner is hanging it up.

Back to Grizz:

Conley is the man now, dog.

They have to ride this new core out even with a haggard front court and abysmal bench. A win in Phoenix this Friday night would be a huge bounce back from a disappointing display at Golden State Wednesday night.

Phoenix has had as rough a schedule as Memphis, maybe worse. They easily can put up as many points as Memphis has allowed Atlanta, Lakers, and Warriors to score in their losses.

Grizz need to channel the power of Fabricio tonight. Gasol needs to channel the power... I must channel the power!

Grizzlies Roar

2010-11-01T10:27:00.000-04:00

Grizz have blasted the Wolves at home after sneaking a win by the Mavericks on the road. OJ Mayo is reawakened. Darrell Arthur is filling some big shoes. Marc Gasol is back in black and blue.

The team travels to the city of devils in California for an NBA TV game at the Staples. It's always nice seeing the Gasol brothers going head to head.

When a player goes down the silver lining is that it creates an opportunity for others to step up. The Grizzlies were said to have overachieved last season. In order to meet the mild expectations of some, and reach a playoff birth this season, they will have to overachieve again.

No one is saying they are "young" anymore though. It's an exciting time in this upcoming 4 game road trip out West. Do the players on this squad have what it takes to go 50/50 against the NBA elite and continue to manhandle inferior competition such as the Wolves?

My other biggest concern is how General Greivis and the X-Man settle into their roles. Do they ace it? Do they flail around? Or do they fail?

Rising Sun: Hakim Warrick

2010-10-29T13:58:00.001-04:00

Not only does Millsap get posterized, he gets the ball spiked right in his face!

Grizz Fall in Season Opener

2010-10-28T14:36:00.003-04:00

Long season ahead. October is still warmup time. Before long we'll be on fire!

The Good

Hawks offense. Al Kapone. Xavier Henry debut. Mike Conley taking it to the hole. Rudy Gay in the post looking like Pau retro. Sam Young. Darrell Arthur doing ZBO impressions. Brevin Knight. Grizz girls.

The Bad

New uniforms. New officiating rules. OJ Mayo. No Haddadi? Dubious rotations.

The Ugly

Thabeet's presence. Zaza beasting ←→ Grizzlies D. Tony Allen. Acie Law IV. Demarre Carroll. Grizzlies in suits. Super-Grizz: ugly in a fun-loving way.

I forgot about SuperGrizz until I read this inspired blog post: I Love Memphis/

Fantasy Preview - Small Forwards

2010-10-25T14:02:00.000-04:00

Who's ready to BREAKOUT?

Lebron James
Let's face it. Despite what all the haters say, there won't be any slow down to the Lebron-train this season. KD might be a lock for the #1 overall pick, but having this guy as consolation prize at #2 ain't shabby.
Rudy Gay
Grizz maxed him out. He's been officially crowned as their number one option on offense. Hopefully he silences his critics.
Linus Kleiza
This is how bad the Raptors will be this season. Kleiza may become their MVP.
Danilo Gallinari
Entering the third season of his NBA career, Gallinari should step up another level. He'll get more open looks with STAT down low.
Chase Budinger
Rockets' Red Glare. I gotta throw out a wildcard just to see if it'll pay off.

Who to avoid

Trevor Ariza
Overrated.
Michael Beasly
No one can get over being sent from Miami, Florida to Minneapolis, Minnesota in a year. I hope they have the suicide watch on him (superCOOLbeas, alright, SuperFreezing-my-ass-offBeas).
Ryan Gomes
Clippers have too many weapons of greater or equal value.
Boris Diaw
Remember Diaw for the Atlanta Hawks? Then he was like most improved a year later? That's because he really stinks - unless he's motivated by being on a good team. For him it's been too long away from a good team.
Mike Miller
He's out until January or longer.

Miller is one of a cast of about a dozen SF you should avoid: Posey, Sam Young, Paul Pierce, Jamario Moon, Dorell Wright, Luol Deng, Josh Childress, Richard Jefferson, Vince Carter, Tayshaun Prince, Austin Daye, and Travis Outlaw.
Guys you might look over though include Ron Artest, Marvin Williams, Carl Landry (PF?), Corey Maggott, Jared Dudley, Udonis Haslem, Shawn Marion, Kelena Azuibukake, Marquis Daniels, and Nicolas Batum (he's overrated though).

Fantasy Preview - Power Forwards

2010-10-19T17:20:00.000-04:00

I've all but run out of time on this preview series. Let's just beat this out.

Who's ready to BREAKOUT?

Tim Duncan
Calling it a breakout is wrong. I just have a feeling he is going to slip off the radar this year. My only good team last year was lead primarily by Duncan's steady performance.
LaMarcus Aldridge
Have a look at his season averages. I think they'll improve. 18 ppg / 8 rbg / 2 apg. He played as much minutes as anyone too.
Elton Brand
He has fallen off of everyone's list. This year he should come back to life.
Lamar Odom
Pau probably will play the 5 with Theo Ratliff backing him up. That leaves the 4 position to Odom!
Troy Murphy
Next to Brook Lopez and Travis Outlaw, dude should put up solid numbers.

Who to avoid

Antawn Jamison
He's lost starting role to JJ Hickson.
David Lee
I'm not sold on this guy.
Yi Jinlian
Al Thornton is pissed to come off the bench behind him and Yi has been a disappointment since day one. Not looking good.
Andrea Bargnani
Every year I end up disappointed by him.
Kenyon Martin
Bad tattoos and all.

Bear trap confirmed

2010-10-14T13:11:00.006-04:00

The poll indicated that 62 percent of those polled support the Rebel Black Bear. The Rebel Land Shark drew 56 percent support, and Hotty Toddy drew 42 percent.

WTF. The survey must have asked to choose which of the 3 you approve of, multi-select style. So dumb. The quote is hilarious though because it appears they can't add percents up to 100.

This demonstrates how stupid people really are. You can't allow them to pick the school mascot because they are too dumb to make a good choice. They picked the worst choice first and the best choice last. The Montana Grizzlies and UCLA Bruins will destory Ole Miss. Hell, Brown University has a better bear!

Whoa, ok, maybe not. Shouldn't have gone there.

Plus it's a stupid ripoff of Memphis Grizzlies. It's a moot point since the 3 choices for mascot are beyond horrible. Sad day for all.

Lunacy like this makes me embarrassed to even say I am from the South…

~~A BEAR~~

~~A BEAR~~

A BEAR