::MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES SEASON THREAD: Grizzlies Waiting Before Offering Z-Bo Extension::

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what the hell was the point of drafting Wes if they're gonna go hard for Rudy.. Love & Brewer or Jefferson & Brewer and Rudy can go
 
Originally Posted by henz0

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what the hell was the point of drafting Wes if they're gonna go hard for Rudy.. Love & Brewer or Jefferson & Brewer and Rudy can go
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Said this in the Off-Season Thread:
Originally Posted by JPZx

But where's the guarantee that we will get Rudy Gay?

Lets rewind back to June 24 and say David Kahn took Cousins instead of Wes, because Rudy Gay was their target in FA. Then FA comes, and Rudy Gay signs with the Clippers, or whoever, despite us throwing truck loads of money at him. What do you do then? You're without a talented wing player, which was a position of monumental struggle on this team last year.

I get what both of you are saying, but it's not like the fact that we're "targeting him" means he automatically will come here.
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Originally Posted by I NaSmatic I

He was one of the safer prospects in the Draft if you ask me. At the very least he'll knock down threes, play defense and put the team over himself. A Shane Battier type if you will, albeit not quite the defender but more potential overall.
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Word. Exactly what the Warriors need, too.  Just unfortunately, not at #6.
 
Anybody think going after Cleveland (if they lose Lebron) to get a guy like Varejao?

He would compliment both Zach and Marc very well and may come cheap if Cleveland is desperate to get rid of salary.
 
They are either clearing room to add another player or they want to take care of their higher priority items:

Gay
Combo guard off the bench
Backup PF
Veteran Leadership to help us take the next step

I knew that somebody on the perimeter had to go, but I wouldn't expected them for it to be Brewer. I guess since Sam is cheaper, they would prefer him. They may still try to re-sign him, but there's no telling. I think this kinda defeats the trouble of selling the 25th pick if we were just going to let him go.
 
Originally Posted by JPZx

Originally Posted by henz0

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what the hell was the point of drafting Wes if they're gonna go hard for Rudy.. Love & Brewer or Jefferson & Brewer and Rudy can go
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Said this in the Off-Season Thread:
Originally Posted by JPZx

But where's the guarantee that we will get Rudy Gay?

Lets rewind back to June 24 and say David Kahn took Cousins instead of Wes, because Rudy Gay was their target in FA. Then FA comes, and Rudy Gay signs with the Clippers, or whoever, despite us throwing truck loads of money at him. What do you do then? You're without a talented wing player, which was a position of monumental struggle on this team last year.

I get what both of you are saying, but it's not like the fact that we're "targeting him" means he automatically will come here.
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Well... Why do you even still want him?...
 
Gay will be appreciated... in Seattle after Heisley sells the Griz to Steve Ballmer!

Cheering on Gay in Seattle is already a celebrated past time, ha.
 
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[h2]Wednesday, June 30, 2010[/h2] [h3] Making Sense of the Ronnie Brewer Decision [/h3] [h4] Posted by Chris Herrington on Wed, Jun 30, 2010 at 11:31 PM [/h4]
This morning, ESPN.com published a piece in which a group of eight "experts" offered predictions on where the top NBA free agents will land. On the subject of Rudy Gay,not a single ESPN prognosticator predicted he would remain with theGrizzlies. Four chose the Los Angeles Clippers as Gay's destination.Two tabbed the New Jersey Nets. And the New York Knicks and MinnesotaTimberwolves got one vote each.



It's been an article of faith — or perhaps just a reflexiveassumption — from the national NBA media that Gay will be moving on,and thus anything the Grizzlies do is fashioned into evidence of this.Draft Xavier Henry? No, not because the team needs outside shooting offthe bench but because the team needs a Rudy Gay replacement. Sell alate first-round pick for $3 million? Not mitigating the cost ofkeeping Gay but evidence that the team is too cheap to keep him.

Well, I thought months ago that the inevitable selling of a draftpick was a financial precursor to retaining Gay — a trade-off owner Michael Heisleyconsidered necessary whether fans did or not. And I'm almost certainthat the team's unexpected decision today to not extend a $3.7 millionqualifying offer to free agent Ronnie Brewer — thusmaking him an unrestricted free agent and removing the team's matchingrights — is directly connected to the team's intentions to retain Gay.

This morning, I would have pegged the odds of Gay being in aGrizzlies uniform next season at about 65 percent. Now, I'd bump thatup to about 85 percent.
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The Financial Rationale:The only reason you don't extend a qualifying offer to one of your ownfree agents and make them restricted is if you're worried about havingto pay it. Unlike last season, when the team — really, just Heisley,over the objections of his basketball staff — simply didn't want torisk having to pay the roughly $3 million qualifying offer to HakimWarrick, the decision on Brewer is somewhat more complicated.

Setting aside Gay and Brewer for the moment, the Grizzlies enternext season with roughly $49 million in salary commitments to 12players — one of whom, Marko Jaric, is not on the roster but is stillon the books. Assuming the team retains Gay at a starting salary in the$10-$13 million range — and they seem to be operating on thatassumption — then the team's payroll would be in the $59-$62 millionrange with 12 roster players. If Brewer didn't get any free agentoffers and merely accepted the $3.7 million qualifying offer, then thatcould push the payroll to something approaching $66 million. Theleague's luxury tax — a threshold this team will not cross, at leastnot under the current circumstances — has been estimated at $68million, but could come in a little lower than that. So, if Gay's dealcomes in at the high end and the luxury tax were to come in at the lowend, then merely retaining Brewer on the seemingly cheapish qualifyingoffer could have the team bumping up against the luxury tax, making itdifficult to add one more player to the roster and removing much rosterflexibility to respond to in-season injuries.

The luxury tax concerns are paramount and so far under-recognized inregard to the Brewer decision, but even without that I suspect theGrizzlies — even if only at the owner's insistence — might have madethis move as well, for the same reason they sold that draft pick: Toattempt to meet two conflicting goals — retaining Rudy Gay whilecontaining costs generally.

The Fit, or Lack Thereof: I was curious about whatthe endgame with Brewer was going to be. On one hand, he's suddenly nota great or necessary fit on the roster. On the other hand, the factthat the team gave away a future first round pick to acquire himsuggested that they couldn't rationally let him walk. But apparentlythey decided otherwise despite relatively recent public declarationsthat he would return. (Not to mention several public appearances Brewerhas made on the team's behalf since the end of the season.)

Brewer had proven to be a useful rotation player in Utah, but thatwas in one of the league's most distinctive systems and one especiallyattuned to Brewer's strengths (athleticism, movement off the ball) andweaknesses (shooting, ball-handling).

In Utah's motion offense, Brewer was able to get his points on cutsaway from the ball. Memphis runs more isolation and pick-and-roll styleoffenses and even though Brewer played only 80 minutes for theGrizzlies last season — and very little of that in optimum condition —it was apparent that he was not an easy fit.

Not adept enough with the ball to create consistently and with tooshaky a jumpshot to spot up off the ball, Brewer looked lost with theGrizzlies. Compounding these questions, the team added a couple ofsimilarly sized perimeter players in the draft in Henry and GreivisVasquez to go with returning rookies Sam Young and DeMarre Carroll.With Mayo and a presumably returning Gay slotted for 35+ minutes eachon the perimeter, it was hard to see how all the pieces fit together.The addition of Henry in particular raised questions about Brewer'spotential role: Henry plays the same two positions while providing theoutside shooting the team desperately needed.

The Real Cost: For the reasons outlined above, Idon't really mind losing Ronnie Brewer. What I do mind is the teamhaving given up a future (lottery protected) first round pick for whathas amounted to nothing. (Essentially, the team waited too long toacquire Brewer last season and then had the horrible misfortune ofwatching him suffer a significant injury in his first game.) Andperhaps more importantly going forward, the team is now looking at apredicament similar to last season: Going into the year with a benchpopulated only by unproven young players.

As of right now, the Grizzlies bench consists of two rookies (Henry,Vasquez), three rookies coming off middling-at-best initial campaigns(Young, Carroll, Hasheem Thabeet), and two entirely unproven third-yearplayers (Darrell Arthur, Hamed Haddadi). The Grizzlies can feel as goodabout the talent of this crew as they want, but until a player producesat a particular level in the NBA you can never be certain that they cando so. If the Grizzlies want to make a playoff push next season, theyreally need at least one proven bench contributor that they know theycan rely on. Brewer could have given them that.

Could He Still Return?: Unlike last season, whenhappy talk about Hakim Warrick possibly still being signed even afterthe team pulled his qualifying offer was never realistic, I do thinkthere could be a slim chance of Brewer still returning.

Since I think the primary — though not only — impetus for notextending a qualifying offer to Brewer is to guard against a potentialsqueeze of Rudy Gay extension and luxury tax threshold, then theopposite outcomes could lead back to Brewer. If the tax line comes in alittle higher and/or Gay's deal is a little more reasonable, resultingin more breathing room than expected under the luxury tax, theGrizzlies might be more willing to spend a few million on a veteranbench player, be it Brewer or someone else. And despite losing a pickto acquire Brewer, "someone else" could make more sense, as, right now,the Grizzlies probably need more additional help on the frontline thanon the wings.

It should be noted that although the Grizzlies did not extend aqualifying offer to Brewer, they also did not renounce his rights.Essentially, the Grizzlies have given up their matching rights forBrewer, but have retained their right to exceed the salary cap inre-signing him.

Relative Worth: Pretty much any NBA fan wouldacknowledge that Rudy Gay is better than Ronnie Brewer. But if theGrizzlies end up overpaying for Gay at the expense of not retainingBrewer at what would potentially be a third of the per-season cost, isthat really a smart allocation of resources? I'm torn on that.

In the NBA, top talent wins out and, in general, I think it'sprobably more worthwhile to overpay good players than to pay marketvalue for mediocre ones. The other issue in any Gay vs. Brewercomparison is that they don't quite play the same position. Brewer canplay small forward, but shooting guard is his more natural position,and the Grizzlies already have Mayo, Young, and now Henry as optionsthere.

Cliff notes:
- didn't want to go over the luxury tax by giving Brewer the QO
- they wanted to keep Gay, while retaining cost
- Brewer really didn't fit our team due to the system we play
- He wouldn't be used as much with our current depth
- retaining our core player was more important than risking that for a role player

Meh...makes sense, but we shouldn't have went after Brewer at all last season if this was going to be the case.

As I mentioned before, I'm not comfortable with having all of these young bench guys. I want at least one proven veteran off the bench.

I also found this:

I think Heisley deserves some credit here (yes, I'm typing this).

By us making the move we did, regardless of the reason, the organization showed a few things:

1) When they make a commitment to a player they follow through with it.
2)We are not a "cheap" organization. Heisley is committed to a lowpayroll, yes. We're going to continue to look for money-making andmoney-saving moves, yes. But we also reward good return on investment.
3)By moving quickly, we showed Rudy we were all in with him. For a playerlike Gay, that's going to be very important. Much better than if we hadlet the process force our hand. He has no questions as to theorganization's commitment to him.

Dance with who brung ya.That's what we're doing. And it has to be viewed in somewhat of avacuum, and strictly as keeping our core intact. The idea that we paidthe guy what we paid him is a positive. You can't look at it as lessmoney for everybody else. That's not how this game is played. By thetime it is said and done, we will have shaken this down to a 2 to 3player core that the organization is saying is good enough to take usplaces. And right now, Rudy is certainly no worse than our 2nd bestplayer.

And any comparisons to the Gasol situation areridiculous. Stop thinking that the best player on a team isautomatically the highest paid player. Joe Johnson is about to provethat. There are tons of bad, north of $10m contracts in this leaguefrom players who don't even start.

To say that everyone else isgoing to expect a max deal now is ludicrous. And it doesn't matteranyway, because this is just a step forward. This starting 5 probablywon't even be together as early as next season. We have to look furtherdown the road. And we just locked in one of the most important piecesto the puzzle. Gay would already have been an all-star if he were in alarger market.
When you think about it in that way, it actually makes sense. Were looking to build around OJ, Gay and Marc so retaining Gay was a must. Unfortunately, it cost us $20mil more than we should've paid him, but you can't really cry over that. It seems like the Thunder will build around Westbrook, Durant and Green. If they have to overpay Green, I'm sure they will keep him if its in the best interest of their team.

I'm just glad to see us sticking with a plan and I want to see where it goes. More fans would've been pissed to see Rudy leave for nothing or get get scraps for him. We won 40 games last season, so I'm sure they want to see where this team can go in the next year or two before trading away one of their core guys.
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The Grizzlies' summer league roster will almost read like a program for a regular--season game.

O.J. Mayo wants to experiment at point guard.

Darrell Arthur missed most of last season so he'll participate justto find his groove again. And with Hasheem Thabeet, Hamed Haddadi, SamYoung and DeMarre Carroll joining rookies Xavier Henry and GreivisVasquez, the Griz will have more than half their players under contractin Las Vegas for summer league games.

A pair of undrafted rookies, Connecticut forward Jeff Adrien andSoutheastern Louisiana's Patrick Sullivan, round out the Grizzlies'roster.

The Grizzlies tip off a schedule of five games in seven days July 12against the Atlanta Hawks on the campus of the University of Nevada-LasVegas. Every Memphis game will be shown on NBA-TV, which plans to carrylive broadcasts of the Grizzlies' July 13 game against the MilwaukeeBucks and a July 16 contest with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Griz assistant coaches David Joerger and Damon Stoudamire will coachthe team with help from director of pro personnel Mitchell Anderson andadvance scout Gary Schmidt.

The staff will conduct a four-day mini-camp in Las Vegas before the start of summer league play.

Memphis finished 5-0 in Las Vegas last summer.

Tip-in: Caja Laboral Baskonia, a Spanish Leagueteam, will face the Grizzlies October 14 in an exhibition game duringthe annual Euroleague American Tour. No other details about theGrizzlies' preseason schedule have been made available.

Grizzlies Summer League Schedule

July 12 -- Atlanta, 9:30 p.m. CDT

July 13 -- Milwaukee, 7 p.m.

July 15 -- NBA D-League Select, 9:30 p.m.

July 16 -- Minnesota, 9 p.m.

July 18 -- San Antonio, 3:30 p.m.

Our summer league team is about to murder everybody in Vegas.
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Hopefully this is the start of some good things for OJ. Even though summer league performances don't mean much, he should be able to play very well at PG. At least this would be a start for him. If he plays terrible, then that may be the end of all the PG talk in Memphis.

What the organization will be looking at will be his decision making, turnovers and see if he can truly run a team. Conley contract is up after this season too.
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I don't know if anybody noticed, but we could possibly have around $30+mil in salaries next season.

Zach's expiring (17M), Jaric's expiring (7M), not extending Carroll's team option (1.M), Haddadi's QO (2M) and whether or not we want to extend Arthur (2M) and Thabeet (5M). I'm sure we would keep the last two though. I actually think we can decline Thabeet's team option and re construction it if he doesn't perform up to part again. But, if he doesn't perform well this season I expect him to be packaged in a deal anyway.

With the new CBA coming, we have some big decisions to make and I believe we can easily keep OJ, Marc and even Zach if we wanted to and was confident enough in our starters. Of course, this year will have a lot to do with whether we keep everybody around.

I would love for us to throw two big deals at Marc/OJ, then throw big money at RFA Horford, whom I think the Hawks will let go. Maybe even a sign and trade with Thabeet for him. Knowing our front office, they probably not even thinking that far ahead though.
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Hopefully OJ can prove to them he's somewhat capable of running PG.. I wanna see him & Henry out there together
 
He could dominate if he limited his 3PT/Long 2 attempts and went down in the post more often like Carmelo.. Whenever I seen him do that he was damn near unstoppable
 
Originally Posted by henz0

He could dominate if he limited his 3PT/Long 2 attempts and went down in the post more often like Carmelo.. Whenever I seen him do that he was damn near unstoppable
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co-sign, there's only a handful in the entire league that can match up with his physical tools. but his fade away from the low/mid-post is
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