The Grizzlies will come out of the West when Rudy Gay proves he is on Kevin Durant's level...... which means they will not come out of the West. Oklahoma has 2-3 players better than anyone on the Grizzlies... The Lakers now have 3 players better than anyone on the Grizzlies.... The Clippers have 2 players better than anyone on the Grizzlies.... The Grizzlies will have their hands full getting out of round 1
I'm going to go ahead and say I have the doubts. Wroten will be a decent replacement for Mayo, but he can't run the point well at all. May be interesting to see how Gay responds to being shopped so openly.
Asik has the potential to impact the game in a more meaningful and consistent way. Plus he's 7-foot. Guys like Speights are common, and think about it, how many teams can Speights even start for?
Dirk has shown us what one incredible player on an unbelievable hot streak can do. I don't think Rudy Gay has that in him. I do, however, think Zach Randolph has it in him. Heck, he did it two playoffs ago, but the team around him wasn't quite good enough. I do believe having Rudy only makes the team better, if he can be managed. I have been impressed in the growth of Conley. But at the end of the day this comes down to Randolph. Can he play like he did two playoffs ago? Again, it's possible, though still unlikely. That was a meaningful injury he had. But even before his injury, he never played like that except for that one stretch. But I do believe he has it in him. He's like a bigger (reach, weight, whatever), more athletic much better rebounding Luis Scola. That's not Hakeem Olajuwon, but it's really pretty good. But even still, even with all of that, even if Zach dominates in the playoffs, the West is STILL strong. OKC is great and the Lakers have improved again. If Griffin ever develops a post game, and the Clippers can stay healthy, they are at least a competitive series. As will San Antonio be, even if I concede that they just don't match up well with the Grizz. Anyway, there's a legitimate reply for you, even though you're effectively just spamming the board with more random overinflated pro-Grizzly threads.
Rockets Thunder Mavs Blazers Hornets Spurs Heat Celtics Hawks Bucks Pistons Raptors Cavs Bobcats Center position is pretty damn weak.
Randolph being healthy is a big difference. I don't see them winning the West, but WCF is possible. They've got 5 solid to very good starters. Decent enough bench.
Sorry the Grizzlies are stuck under the powerhouses. Sure you'll beat the lotto bound teams through the season and might even take a few home games against some playoff teams. But at the end of your season, that is your trophy - playoffs. You don't have enough power to hang with the big boys and you are capped out. Your big 3 are all Tier 2 players which makes them overpaid. Sad that you don't know this and want to start a thread about how Memphis is now serving notice on the Rockets board. I'm not sure if you are really trolling or really ignorant.
Sorry, but Bayless is no replacement for Mayo and Wroten won't be ready for a couple of years. They wanted to upgrade Mayo, but couldn't do it and are now bargain hunting. The Lakers were already better than Memphis last year and have now added Nash. The gap between the two teams has widened considerably. The Grizz are a solid, well coached team, but will be a 4-6 seed that will have tough competition in the first round.
Not sure I would want to trade for Gay, given his salary, however if Martin and fillers is all it would take, then I sure would be tempted. FWIW Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace just said he'll try to make a move to get them under the luxury tax. Also said they're working the phones to "balance the roster". Chris Broussard a few weeks ago reported the Rockets have talk to the Grizzlies about Gay. The Grizzlies apparently also had interest in trading for Toney Douglas, before he got traded to Houston, though they might not be interested anymore after signing Bayless.
We called to offer Luis Scola in return for Rudy Gay. He asked for Lowry back. We laughed. It was wonderful.
WHy would you want Gay? If we laid our hands on him the first time and he got training from top coaches like JVG and RA maybe he would have developed into someone good. As is, he's the SF version of Rashard Lewis, no wonder the Grizz are shopping him around.
