The Three Major Grizzlies Questions

by Jonathan Kiersky | July 14, 2006

Much has been written and discussed about the events leading up to the draft (hello, Jerry West), the draft itself and now the subsequent moves that the Memphis Grizzlies have made to upgrade the roster. The Griz went into the summer free agent and draft period openly wanting to become a better team through the acquisition of athletes and youth while still maintaining their place among the Western Conference’s playoff picture. While this is a truly tough task at any level of sport, the Griz accomplished just that without sacrificing the future of the franchise and awakening those less than enthusiastic fans from the conclusion of last season seeing progress made through the new players.

Forget for a second that Shane Battier was the role model citizen and (partial) face of the franchise (remember, we still do have Los Beard). Remove yourself from that picture of Shane and you have (at least in terms of pure numbers) an average NBA swingman. In fact, if you look around the league, there aren’t too many starting small forwards that you would trade straight up for Shane Battier. Now, remember the Shane Battier diving on the ground for loose balls, pumping up the crowd and making crucial plays and you should realize that the Grizzlies just traded one huge heart for two (potentially) questionable ones. Before you thought I’d make it through an entire column just glowing about the Grizzlies, I need some questions and thoughts answered.

Athletic: Check. Better: Check. Playoff Series Winners: Uh,…

Look, let’s be honest here. The public backed (sort of) this team when they were terrible. Even though the Tennessee Oilers had just made asses of the city and the Grizzlies weren’t a sure thing in many people’s minds, they got a brand new stadium built. The public fervently supported this team after the FedEx Forum was built and the team started winning and identifying with the city. Then the playoffs happened and everyone in town became a Grizzlies fan. Of course, many times what you wish for can come right back and bite you in the ass. In this case, the city, and especially the casual fans, expected the Grizzlies to build on what they had accomplished and start making noise in the playoffs. We came full circle with the playoffs last season, the boring brand of basketball the Griz played this season and finally hitting the apex with the complete no-show in this year’s playoffs. That leaves the Grizzlies at an astounding 0-12 in the playoff career of this franchise. Why do I bring this little history lesson up? Because the Rudy Gay/ Stro Swift trade is supposed to be the one that makes the team good enough to win in the playoffs. Let’s take a look.

The real question isn’t the one many people are asking, which is while yes this trade makes the Grizzlies better on the court, does it make the Grizzlies a scarier team to face in the post season? I don’t think so. If Rudy Gay were on the team last season, do the Grizzlies get a win against Dallas? I doubt it, but there would have been a much better chance to stay competitive during the series. As Dallas proved, you have to have athletes to finish on the break and get to the basket when the time is winding down on the shot clock. If Gay comes in and becomes an aggressive offensive player, then the Grizzlies are going to be able to win games in April and May. If he doesn’t it will be more of the same next year and I don’t know how long the fans will wait around to watch.

Will Pau Move To Center

This, to me, is where the success of the Grizzlies will be determined. Let’s look at some certainties and why this move will benefit all involved:
1. The days of banging seven footers in the paint or the athletic days of Olajuwon and Ewing are over. It was great while it lasted, but those days are dead- get used to it. Now, you’re looking for a guy who can face the basket and hit the open jumper or the rebounding/ shot blocking machine.
2. Behind Shaq, Yao and Ben Wallace, who in the NBA is a better center? Pau may or may not make another All Star game as a power forward. As a center, he’s a lock every year.
3. Why did the Grizzlies draft Hakim Warrick anyways? Hakim needs to be on the court and next to Pau, Rudy Gay and Mike Miller that’s a pretty exciting and athletic club. That lineup would cause nightmares for opposing offenses, also. 4. It would force the Grizzlies hand into getting out and running on the offensive end. The team needs to start playing exciting, up-tempo ball with the roster as it is currently construed.
Seems like it benefits everyone, right? Pau’s an All Star every season, Memphis gets the recognition and the team is tremendously interchangeable with the ability to go big with Big Jake, Pau and Gay in the front court or go athletic. This move would also mask player’s deficiencies like Stro’s inability to defend premier offensive players.

The Growth of the Young Players

I’ve been harping on the youth development since I started this website two years ago and I’m not going to stop until I see improvement. The Grizzlies have drafted the safe pick time and time again and really the team hasn’t seen improvement on a notable level yet. Can Rudy Gay become that player? Maybe. Regardless, this is the year that Burks, Warrick, Lowry and Gay have to prove their collective worth and meddle.

Hakim Warrick should start. If he has a few Joey Dorsey first halves in him, you know 3 fouls, two points and a rebound, so be it, that’s why you got Stromile.

Lowry needs playing time, too. Damon Stoudamire is a career 40% shooter that likes to get off 15 shots a game. The Griz have scorers, they need someone to get the ball to the scorers in position. There is a reason why Mike Miller’s scoring fluctuated so much last season and it wasn’t because he is a streaky shooter. Granted Stoudamire wasn’t on the floor all season but many times when Damon looks in his basketball mirror, he sees Bobby Jackson.

Antonio Burks is going to be needed this season. His ability to play an up tempo offense will allow the athletes on this team to get out and run and be truly effective. These NBA players are tremendous makers of lay ups. Also, there will be times when Burks and Lowry can be on the floor together and really ratchet up the defense (games versus the Knicks, Bulls, Heat and Celtics come to mind.)

And then there’s Rudy Gay, the dealt for Battier. While he has Bunyan sized shoes to fill, Rudy will immediately become the best all around player not named Pau on the Griz roster. He will, in his first season, eclipse all of the numbers (except blocks) that Shane put up and become an intriguing player for the fans. The key is to keep Gay focused for 82 games and not 52. If Gay plays hard for the entire season, he will be the favorite to win Rookie of the Year. If not, fans will start daydreaming about the halcyon days of Daddy Battier.

Next season will be a watershed year for the Grizzlies and how they construct the roster will show both the fans and the rest of the league where they will be headed over the next five years.