I doubt it. For one thing, as much as I love the grizzlies they have huddles in this playoffs that I am not sure they will be able to overcome. 1. They will most likely have to overcome the lakers mystic. I think that the grizzlies are more hungry than the lakers but the mind can play tricks on you. So if the grizzlies lose to the lakers, or OKC (doubtful, but could happen) gay will be seen as the missing piece to take them all the way. 2. They most likely can't beat any team that comes out of the east. Again, Gay will be seen as the guy that can get them over the hump. I don't believe the grizzlies will use this playoffs as the OP suggests as proof that Gay isn't needed, or to save money.
glimmertwins, LongTimeFan, cyntil8ing... Solid posts. If I could rep I would... Might be time to open my PayPal account. Thanks for the insight on the cap as well. I knew with the looming CBA changes that no moves were feasible until afterwards. Under the current CBA I still think Gay would be worth overpaying if he could continue to play at the level he was playing prior to the injury. Not as a rookie, sophomore... or even last year, but THIS year, prior to the injury. I agree, that is a lot of "ifs" which I prefer to stay away from. Overpaying for a B player to bring in an A isn't always a terrible idea though. The extra cap space is preferable should the tighten up the soft cap as glimmertwins said, but if they don't, this is still a scenario worth considering.
Pretty much spot on. The Rockets' biggest need is at the 5 spot. Gasol is not available unless the CBA does away with Bird Rights. Highly unlikely IMHO. Rudy Gay at this point in their careers is a huge upgrade over Teflon Shane. Forget Rudy Gay. Battier doesn't even start ahead of the $3M/year Tony Allen. Which is what the Rocket's should have paid instead of a #8 Lottery pick in a deep draft. As much as I regret trading away the rights to Rudy Gay...everything now begins with an upgrade at the 5. And the Rockets have little the Grizz want for either Gay or Gasol.
I agree. I don't want to make anyone think that I believe Gay's contract is even close to being equal to his value. He's overpaid right now. Not a grossly as some posting in this thread may think, but he is overpaid none the less. That aside, I would look at him as a very risky investment. I think he was showed a good amount of improvement early on this year. He's young enough to expect continued improved as well, and would attract another player should the soft cap not be changed.
The Grizzlies do not need to "Move Gay To Pay Gasol". They needed to move Thabeet to make room to pay Randolph and Gasol. This has already been done.
The trade was made assuming they would just let Battier walk at the end of the season. Possibly sign him on the cheap with leftover money after resigning Gasol. Gasol's value will be MUCH higher if they win this series, than it was when that trade was made. My question was hypothetical. If Memphis keeps winning, Gasol keeps getting more expensive. Do still let Battier walk, or move Gay to retain Gasol. No matter what offers they have to match. All in order to keep this succesful playoff team together.
It's already taken into account. Moving Thabeet allows the Grizzlies to easily match or re-sign Gasol up to the max (c.$14M). Heisley has a reputation for being cheap but he's spent as much as the Rockets when they've been a playoff team, ie up to the LT threshold.
After further checking on the the Grizzlies team salary, it appears as though they will have enough to sign M. Gasol to the max. I had completely forgotten that they still had Mr. Adriana Lima (aka Marko Jaric) coming off their books this off season. Worzel Gummidge is right in that they only had to get rid of Thabeet to give them enough to sign M. Gasol. If they don't resign Ish, their salary obligation for next season is only ~$36.7M pre-Gasol signing (correct me if I'm wrong with my figures). That's a nice chunk of wiggle room. It looks like any team would have to offer max to even stand a chance at getting Gasol. Random thoughts: Where does that place Mayo after the 2011/12 season and why was Battier traded to a division rival that really could use him + frees up a good chunk of their salary cap in the trade? It seems the FO really had no intention of even making him an offer and was desperate enough to bolster a division rival in all the right ways to get something in return.
The Gay train has sailed. He's a great individual talent, but never made Memphis a team you mark on the calender. He's no Kevin Durant, he has to be paired with a big guy to be successful.
The Rockets were right in trading Gay for Shane...not as sure about trading Shane back but that is another topic....move on, Rudy is not a good fit here.
This is incorrect. Assuming Randolph's extension is as low as it could be in the first year (around 15.5 mil) Memphis' payroll is up to 52 mil. So basically they're capped out and will have to wait for the new CBA rules to see what they can do with Gasol. If there's a hard cap of say 60 million or something, then that would have a major impact. Nobody really knows at this point but it's far from a foregone conclusion that they will be the only team that can sign him.
Watching both players? I also watched both players, and I'm saying Martin outperformed Gay all season long. See, the problem with using the "watching both players" excuse is my opinion is just as equally valid as yours. Rudy has compiled better stats, but that's mostly because he played 40 minutes a night while Martin only played for 32 mins a game. If you averaged both of them down to 36 minutes a game, Gay will give you 2 more rebounds a night and a block, but Kevin Martin will score 26 points on just 18 shots while Rudy Gay will score 18 pts on 15 shots. Yes, basketball is more than just offense but just because you're more well rounded doesn't mean you're already the better player. You keep referring to Gay as some sort of defensive God but the truth for quite a long time he was one of the worst defenders in the league, he only became decent recently, and I'm not sure he's any better than Martin because unlike Martin he actually has a 7 footer patrolling the paint. Also for someone who is 10x more clutch than Kevin Martin the Memphis Grizzlies only won 1 more game overall than the Rockets. I'm not sure where his clutch powers went if they only had 1 more won game than the team with the 4rth quarter choker. Those last 14 games coincided with Tony Allen getting an increase in minutes and coming into his own. In fact, Gay's performances during his last 14 games wasn't anything to write home about, he had a couple of 2-11, 5-15, 8-20 shooting nights.
This isn't true anymore as Rudy Gay has matured and started putting out effort on defense. It was true for quite a while though: http://www.nba.com/2009/news/featur...umbersgame.battier/index.html?ls=iref:nbahpt1
Rudy Gay's clutch points per 48: 23.6 Ke Martin's clutch points per 48: 36.9 Rudy Gay's clutch TS%: .602 Ke Martin's clutch TS%: .700 Now I'm not saying that's amazing for KMart because it's worse than Kobe or Durant or Rose or LBJ. Just saying please don't put Gay in any of these guys' category, including KMart.
And at the end of the day, after all those words, we still don't want Kevin Martin over Rudy Gay. Feelings mutual?
