i think the difference would be him coming back after being out, as oppose to never going out. If he never goes out, then yes i can see how being "rudy gay" could hurt memphis against the spurs...but if he was coming back after seeing their success without him, i'd hope he would have enough pressure to adjust his game to fit them. It'll be interesting to see what happens next year.
Interesting tidbit: When the Pau trade happened, Popovich whined about that deal being one sided. Well 2 years later, the Grizz punk his team in the postseason and Marc Gasol (who was involved in that deal) came up huge (like 2 17 rebound games). AHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
I think it's a combination of a lot of things. To me it all started when Linonel Hollins set Allen Iverson straight in front of the entire Grizzlies locker room. Ever since the players seemed to "buy in". Zach Randolph started maturing. Mike Conley and Marc Gasol started coming into their own. Arthur started showing flashes. Then this season, I felt like the Grizzlies caught a break when Mayo was suspended. Due to the suuspension Tony Allen got to play and instead of chucking up contested jumpers, he played lock down D and was force-feeding their bigs. As a result of all those things the Grizzlies went from 19th in defense efficiency to 9th. Once Gay went out, their bigs got even more touches, which transformed their team from really a with no identity to a team that was playing through their bigs night in and night out. Trading for Battier was the cherry on top of the cake.
http://www.spotrac.com/nba/memphis-grizzlies/zach-randolph/ http://hoopshype.com/salaries/memphis.htm 2011/12 - 52M 2012/13 - 43.5M 2013/14 - 42M 2014/15 - 44.5M They better win it all this year cause their future doesnt look too bright due in full to overpaying in the future. 2011/12 - That 52M doesnt include Gasol, Jaric, Battier, Williams, Powe, or Law. Assuming their willing to spend 70M again next year, dont see them replacing all that for 18M. By the time you get to 2014/15, you got about 44M committed to 3 guys (Gay, Conley and Randolph). And Randolph will almost be 34 yrs old playoff time.
For next year, at least, those guys are irrelevant...they, minus Battier, werent contributing anyway. Gay would step in for Battier. All other spots are already covered once they resign Gasol. They'd just need to pick up a PF/C in the draft to get some depth at C. Gasol is playing 40 mins a game in the playoffs.
The reason for the recent Grizz success IMHO is very simple. You start 5 players who are competent on the offensive end...and not extremely lacking in any one of height, athleticism, quickness or transition capabilities... and you get them to buy into playing some half-court D. Add in some reasonably priced rotational players...and use them situationally as to whether O or D is needed... Beyond CBA junk...the game is very simple. It's always been about matchups. Height has been a factor back to the 70's and athleticism has been a factor since the signing of the current CBA when putting butts in the seats is what pays the big salaries. Most Rockets fans will struggle with it. Likely hate what I'm about to say. But the Grizz have done a pretty good job of understanding balancing O and D.
LOL like you aren't saying anything that the Roxs don't know. Furthermore, good fortune and a good a plan are needed to win. Whether or not the basketball gods bestow that good fortune on you is anther.
Why would they struggle with it? We all know that's what we needed/need. The only reason we got stuck with so many one sided players is because we lost two very important two-way players, and then reloaded without moving up to the top in the draft for a few years. Morey looking for players he could flip took it to an extreme, but it's not like they or fans dont know having more two sided players is better. The problem is getting them. Gasol-acquired for an all-star who was a 3rd pick Mayo- 3rd pick Conley- 4th pick Gay- 8th pick We just haven't sucked enough, for long enough, to get that many shots at high picks.
