Can someone edit the end of the Lakers game where Gay bricked his shot and add the "oh no, it's Rudy Gay, not this guy" audio clip on it. I think it'll work.
So Kwame now we've had a much larger sample size and despite what you and The Cat argued, Memphis doesn't appear to have lost anything (not unlike when he was injured a few years ago)...and most likely have improved with Prince, Daye et al, given that they are 15-4 since the trade Even if you adjust that for strength of schedule - it's significantly better than they were with him.
Actually they started the season 12-2 against a much stronger schedule than the recent one. Memphis ups and downs have been very steep. Their next 10 games will be much tougher, i'd like to see them go through that before i form my expectations going forward. It's still a great trade for them, they can keep Tony Allen and build a good bench now. But i don't know that they are a better team right now than they were at the start of the season.
They just cut 16M off their books, even if they played at exactly the same level now then they'd still be better.
Down 0-3 to the Spurs. Their victories over the Clippers and Thunder were fool's gold, because both of those teams had injured all-stars. The Grizzlies still haven't beaten a fully healthy team once in these playoffs. Tonight marks the third time this post-season where the Griz have greatly missed Rudy Gay's abilities as a closer. Their end of game plays are just horrible without him. They also miss his perimeter scoring. When you have to rely on Pondexter and Bayless, your team is in trouble. You also can't play 3 vs 5 on offense with Tony Allen and the carcass of Tayshaun Prince out there either, because that allows teams to collapse and make life miserable for Gasol and Z-Bo. The Griz could have been legitimate title contenders this year, but as it currently stands they're a Rudy Gay type player aka a multi-dimensional wing away from being just that. OJ Mayo would even be a huge upgrade over what they have. Unfortunately for them they're more or less stuck with what they have. By the time they can make significant changes the window will have closed. It's clear that the new ownership and management are concerned with saving money and not winning a championship, and that's why they're on the verge of being swept by San Antonio.
Rudy Gay is the closer now? what's next? OJ Simpson is the idol of justice? Mike Tyson is the model husband?
I don't have the stat. I'm sure what could provide it. But Rudy Gay has hit quite a few game winners in his time.
Whether people think Gay is clutch or not there is no way in hell anyone can believe that Tayshaun Prince gives them a better shot than Rudy Gay. But of course this is said to be a financial move though.
umm..rudy gay has some eye sight problem and he wont even use goggles or some special type of glasses to help him. terrible shooter.
Well, it's impossible to disprove the notion that trading Gay screwed the Grizzlies. For example: Memphis getting to the 2nd round with Battier instead of Gay? Would've gone further with him. Memphis getting to the conferencei finals with Prince instead of Gay? Would've gone further with him. I bet if Memphis makes a comeback and then win the championship in 6 games? Would've swept the finals with him. Two losses came because they lacked closer. Rudy Gay unable to make Toronto better nor able to help Memphis get out the first round? Still on Durant's level though.
They never went anywhere with Rudy Gay. Without him, they made the conference finals. Gasol and Randolph have been brutal offensively.
IMO, the Grizz had a big 3 in Gay, Gasol & Zbo. They felt Conley could become a big 3 player & replace Gay in that sense. So they shipped out Gay's 16M for Conley's 7M. IMO, the ideal "big 3" is 1 or 2, 2 or 3 & 4 or 5 (which is what Miami has). That combo gives you a ball handler, an outside threat & an inside force. The Grizz's big 3 is still flawed in they have a 1, 4 & 5. The middle is still clogged without the outside shot threat, so SA's been able to double Zbo. It's gonna be fun to watch Miami's 3 against SA's 3!:grin:
there are two sides to every trade, the financial and the basketball sides. everyone's arguing over the basketball side of it when in reality this was a financial trade. so lets argue that side. did they save a lot of money? yes. that was the point. did they get less talented? yes. they traded talent for cap flexibility, that much is obvious. no sense comparing prince to gay, prince was acquired to plug the hole, not to replace or improve. the team knows it, but they can't sell fans on a money saving move so they hide behind hollinger's analytics saying they're getting the more efficient players or whatever the press release said. the owners wanted to do 2 things. 1) save money 2) make money saving money by dumping gay is an easy move but it would hurt your chances of making money. it would directly hurt their chances of making a playoff run which will earn lots of sold out home court playoff games with jacked up ticket prices. so hollinger had a tough task. dump gay's contract and remain competitive. he didn't make this move because he thought they'd be a better basketball team, but rather that they'd be close enough to the same without getting too much worse. again, financial trade, not basketball trade. i think he did a great job.
Rudy Gay is an overhyped, overrated anti clutch chucker. He single handedly bombed the raptors out of that lakers game. it was SHOCKING to watch. The issue Memphis is facing atm is that lack of a real outside orientated threat. The balance of their team is just a bit off. Too much pressure was on Conley to create in those closing moments
