The more things change, the more they stay the same. Everyone is familiar with that old cliché. It’s one the Grizzlies understand well after the 2012-13 season. Over the past year, there has been a complete changing of the guard in the Bluff City. An ownership swap was the first domino to fall when Michael Heisley officially completed the sale of the team to tech mogul Robert Pera right before the regular season began. From there, the rest of the hierarchy was
It’s a simple, yet complex decision for the Washington Wizards. John Wall is the team’s unquestioned franchise player. It would be incredibly difficult to replace him and build around someone else. From that standpoint, it makes sense that Washington is locking him up for five years and the maximum $80 million it can give the former top overall pick. The problem? Wall is nowhere near as good as other point guards given max contracts in recent years. He has to sound confident when he
It’s July 23, and a vast majority of the free agents have found homes, meaning that the player movement portion of the offseason has nearly come to a close. So most fans would love to see where their team stacks up, right? Right. [Read more…]
There is, of course, the old adage that titles are not won in July (the Heat in 2010 being the clear exception) but several moves were made on Tuesday that could quietly alter the regular season standings out west next season. We’ve also seen shooters get large contracts this week like, it seems, never before. Those are the main two storylines from the July 2, but there’s a whole lot to get to before we all take a nice break for the
Let’s preface this scouting report with some harsh realities for Trey Burke: A point guard renaissance has taken over the NBA. The point guards whom we typically think of as “league average,” and who probably would have been considered league average several years ago, are actually something quite different these days. Take a player like Jrue Holiday as a prime example of how deep the position has become. I wrote a raving column about Holiday’s development in late March and prematurely anointed him as
The Memphis Grizzlies undoubtedly had a successful season, but a sweep at the hands of the Spurs in the Western Conference Finals leaves at least several questions that need to be answered and addressed. Should Memphis do anything with Zach Randolph? His playoff numbers declined pretty dramatic over Memphis’ three postseason rounds, leaving the team with an incredibly sour taste about ZBo going into the future. Randolph Min FG % Points Rebounds FTA FT % 1st Round vs LAC 33.7 56.8 20.8 8 5.7 73.5 2nd Round vs OKC 39.6 44.6 18.4 10.8 7.2 72.2 Conf. Finals vs SA 38.5 30.2 11 12 6 50 How can a shooting slump like
Nothing great has ever been accomplished without enthusiasm. And for Paul Pierce, leader of the “old man’s pick-up game,” that adage will define his career as one of the greatest Boston Celtics in its storied history. This is not to begin mourning the death of his Celtics life, but to understand what it all meant if reports today from Greg Dickerson are true. [Read more…]
It’s no fun to talk about the struggled of the hurting, reeling, futile Chicago Bulls. They shot roughly 25 percent and scored 65 points without three leading players (if you include Derrick Rose). It almost seems like the Heat feel bad for the Bulls. A more interesting story is of a long-overlooked franchise seizing its window of opportunity to advance further than it ever has before: the hard-nosed Memphis Grizzlies. With Russell Westbrook out for Oklahoma City, Memphis knows it can move on