Memphis is 7-3 in their last 10 with wins over Portland and Phoenix on the road, 16-9 in their last 25 with wins over Cleveland, Dallas and Portland (again). Is it time to start taking them seriously? Zach Randolph seems to be emerging with OJ Mayo and Rudy Gay contributing big. Not only that, but they have Marc Gasol emerging at center (MIP candidate) with rookie Sam Young providing some competitive fire off the bench. Yet... I still have trouble taking them seriously. How about you?
OJ Mayo Rudy Gay Marc Gasol Zach Randolph AND Hasheeb Thabeet improving on the sidelines. This team should be taken very seriously. They have some potent weapons and growing All-Stars on that team. Becoming very balanced as well.
I don't think they really care about winning or being competitive. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see them try to dump Z-Bo or make some sort of crippling trade to save a few bucks. They're pretty notorious for that.
... You don't think a roster full of young studs looking to prove themselves to the league doesn't want to win.... Have you not seen their record as of late ? They are closing in on the Rockets.
Of course i've seen their record. I've also seen a track history of ownership that seemingly cares more about their bottom lines than they do about winning. The Z-Bo trade that subsequently boosted them was almost made by accident. They made that trade in order to meet the league's minimum salary requirements -- THAT was their primary motivation for trading for him. Not because they thought he could give them a significant boost and have them floating around .500. That was all by surprise.
They are pretty good offensive team, but still they are young and unexperienced, I wouldn't worry about them
You really don't know WTF you are talking about. They dumped Pau because he quit on the organization and the team was sucking with him. The history of the organization is paying the luxury tax for a winning team. And that is not even a contending team. To say they took on 3 years/$48 million to meet minimum payroll for one year is a dip**** thought process. We could have simply used their Capspace in money deals and by seasons end they would have been over the minimum with $6-$12 extra million and no longterm obligation to Randolph. To the OT, no, do not take them seriously until they are at least 4 games over .500.
With a 3 game losing streak and around the 7th seed currently, everyone should be taken seriously. This team is not that good to take anyone lightly. The real concern should be Utah and New Orleans. NO is playing better. And I'm not sold that we can handle Utah just yet.
http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=171362&highlight=zach+randolph Amazing, that you had nothing to say when this thread popped up. Looks like your Memphis Grizzlies radar is fixed now, though. Get through this one first then get back to me. I'll enjoy hearing how wrong I am.
They should be taken very seriously. As a matter of fact so should the Clippers while were having this discussion. Memphis has all the talent to get to the playoffs and their coach knows what he's doing. As for the Clippers.... I think Blake Griffin is going to play a huge role when he comes back in terms of morale and production. There's a strong chance that at least one if not both (Grizz and Clips) could make the playoffs at the expense of the Rockets. Both teams are much more talented, have the stars, depth, size and fire power to be a legit threat.
^I'll believe it when I see it. The Clips and Grizz like fat kids running in a marathon. Sometimes they just can't resist that lotto cake.
Unfortunately Rox management has that incentive too, Morey wants to build a contender, not first rounder.
It depends on what you mean by taken seriously. Should they be considered a legit playoff contender? Yes. Should they be considered anything more than that? No.
Too bad all the moves made so far were for financial purposes...it just happened to work out. With that owner though I can't see him spending the paper to keep this squad together, that's the sad part.
Oh come on, it's THE CLIPPERS. Even when they made the playoffs a few years ago, I didn't take them seriously. It took Dallas several seasons of making the playoffs before I begun taking them seriously since I was so used to them being the worst team in our division.
