Now if that headline doesn't grab your attention.... well maybe not. But I just got done watching the Grizzlies lose in OT to the Kings. Here's my take on the Grizzlies.
The Grizzlies may be the most awkward team to watch. It's blatantly evident that they are full of "score first" guys. The looks on the faces of the Grizzles after (take your pick) throws up an awful forced shot with :16 still left on the shot clock are priceless. Between O.J. Mayo, Rudy Gay, Allen Iverson, and Zack Randolph, it's pretty much a competition as to who can throw up the most shots without getting an assist. It's like whoever gets the ball first will drible the air out of it until they get the minimun amount of space needed to chuck up a shot. Z-Bo is absolutely the most obvious with it, and that is saying alot when he has to contend with O.J and A.I.-
The egos in that lockerroom must be enormous, and I would venture to guess that after any game at least two of those four are pissed off because they think they should be getting more shots. Rudy looked frustrated in the fourth, and Allen couldn't have been happy that he sat from the 4:58 mark in the fourth quarter in a game that was still very much up for grabs (he only logged 17 minutes). I think you'll see A.I think score first even more becase he'll feel he has to justify getting some burn. Rudy will be looking around saying, "I better get mine, because I'm in a walk year and if I pass the ball I'll end up taking 10 shots a night and averaging 10 points!"
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O.J. really looks like he just wants to play offense and score. (Quick Note: In OT, Mayo drives after driblling the air out of the ball hoping to get room for the shot, forces his way into the paint amongst the trees and smartly drops a no-look bounce pass to a wide open Gasol. Only problem? Gasol is so used to O.J. just forcing crap shots up, he was getting in position for the offensive rebound and didn't even see the pass until the whistle blew and it was a turnover. Comical.) Z-Bo is hard to watch. I'm not exagerating when I say that when he touches the ball it will either be a shot or a turnover, he is just hell bent on putting up the rock. He's showing signs so far that he has gotten to be more of a ball hog than he was during his time in New York in D'Antoni's system. And the scary part is, through four games Z-Bo is averaging a 2.5 attempts less that he did the last two years, and Rudy 3 less from his average the last two years. O.J is on pace to throw up 3 more than he did as a rook (from 15 to 18), and A.I. is going to get 15 up a game when he gets his legs back.
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So not only does this have the makings of your quintessential NBA 1-on-1 Offense that basketball purists hate and what many college hoops fan say makes the NBA is unwatchable, but it has all the ingredients to stunt the growth of the very promising looking Marc Gasol, their future point gaurd Mike Conley, and contributing rookies DeMarre Carroll, Hasheem Thabeet, and Sam Young. Just when the Grizzlies have stock-piled some young talent and actually could have a bright outlook with just a couple more years of patience (and really what's a couple more years at this point), they decide to go for broke (going broke for them is going for the 8 seed), not worrying about the development of their impressionable young squad and bring in 2 characters with a detailed past of disrupting locker rooms and guys that look for their shot and their shot alone. Hopefully it pans out for them and they contend this year. If they aren't whiffing the 8 seed come the All-Star break, expect GM Chris Wallace to try to get something for Rudy Gay in February after he failed to reach an extension with Gay by today's deadline. And Grizzlies fans can't be too optomistic that he'll make a good deal consdiering his track record.
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All this talk about the offense and I haven't even gotten to the defense. Oh yeah, that's right. There's none to speak of. Case in point tonight. With the game tied and a one second difference on the game clock to shot clock, the ball goes to Z-Bo. You guessed it, he doesn't pass. But he does make some kind of fat man dribble move that you would be more likely to see at the Y than an NBA court, gets a half inch of space, those up a very difficult high arching fadeaway, and..... he tickles the twine. Only problem? 6 seconds left on the clock. Not a smart shot, and not smart basketball. This gave the Kings just enough time to draw up a backdoor play to beat Mike Conley for the game tying lay-up and take the game into O.T. I have a feeling that the Grizzlies are going to make alot of coaches look like geniuses this year with the last second shots that they fail to defend as the opposing coaches play is executed to perfection.
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