First up was a 96-93 defeat at the hands of the “re-tooled” Houston Rockets (and by “re-tooled” I mean they stayed the same and added Ron Artest).  The game was eerily similar to last season in almost every way.  First of all it was a close contest throughout, with the Grizzlies even taking the lead in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter before not being able to seal the deal late.  Secondly, Memphis got little-to-no scoring help from it’s bench beyond Kyle Lowry’s 12 points, as the rest of the bench shot 6-of-23 from the floor (26%) from the court.

O.J. Mayo had an unspectacular start to his pro career, playing a game-high 30 minutes, scoring 14 points on 6-of-13 shooting from the floor.  Mayo also looked like a rookie out there, turning the ball over thrice, committing four personal fouls, and missing two of his three free throw attempts.

Hakim Warrick led the team with 15 points, while showing off an improved defensive game with 4 blocks and 8 rebounds.  Rudy Gay added 14 points even though he struggled guarding Ron Artest, committing five personal fouls.

The most impressive thing about that night was the solid young point guard combination of Lowry and Mike Conley Jr, as they combined for 25 points, 8 assists, 8 rebounds, and a single turnover.

The second contest was the Grizzlies’ first contest on the home court at the FedEx Forum tonight, as they took on the Washington Wizards without their three best players in Caron Butler, Antawn Jamison, and Gilbert Arenas.  Memphis fell again in a close contest, 89-80, shooting only 34.7% from the field and missing 15 of their 17 three-point attempts.

The oddest thing about tonight’s contest was how much the starters played, as all five starters played 30+ minutes, with Mayo and Marc Gasol playing 30, Conley 34, and Gay and Warrick playing 38).  Those are the type of minutes you would expect your starters to be playing in the regular season, not the second preseason game and that came as a surprise.

I would’ve though that Coach Iavaroni would’ve used a game like this to get his completely retooled bench not only used to his system, but to see each player has to offer and define a roll for each player off the bench.  Instead he rode his starters, as only Greg Buckner (16 minutes), Lowry (13 minutes), and Antoine Walker (11 minutes) got more than 8 minutes of playing time in the the entire contest.  Lowry and Walker were both very uneffective, but Buckner made the most of his opportunity, scoring 11 points.

The Grizzlies as a whole struggled, seemingly relying on Gay and Warrick.  Both went to the charity stripe 14 times apiece and their points off these free throws accounted for nearly 30% of the Grizzlies total offensive production.  Gay struggled shooting from the field, going 5-for-19, and the only other Memphis player that had a semi-solid night was Gasol, who added 10 points and 9 rebounds on an efficient 4-of-5 shooting night.

Mayo’s FedEx Forum debut was forgettable, as he was 3-of-11 from the floor and managed only 7 points in his over 30 minutes of play.

Don’t get me wrong, I know this is only the first two games of the preseason, but this year’s team looks very similar to last year’s with it’s reliance on starters and defeats in close games.

Injuries: Also, there are a few Grizzlies who have already gotten a little dinged up, as rookie F Darell Arthur (strained right hamstring), C Darko Milicic (strained back), and G Marko Jaric (broken nose) all sat out the first two preseason games.

I really like this signing for Memphis, as it gives them badly needed depth behind Rudy Gay at the small forward position, which is something the Grizzlies lacked heading into training camp, with Greg Buckner being the only other player behind Rudy on the depth chart.

Ross also gives Memphis a fairly young, solid NBA player who has averaged over 21 minutes per game in his four seasons in the league and has playoff experience.  Ross also could set a good defense example on this very young Memphis team, and teach players like Rudy Gay the importance of defense in the league.

Another positive in this signing is that Ross is actually Grizzlies rookie F Darrell Arthur’s cousin, which means Arthur will have a familiar face around him all season long to help him transition to life in the league and life on his own.  That can only help make Arthur more comfortable adjusting this season.

Other than this signing news, there’s really not a whole lot going on in training camp, as it seems to be business as usual throughout the first week of training camp with nagging injuries having occured yet (knock on wood).

First off, I’ll pick up where I left off, talking about the proposed Grizzlies-Knicks trade that would’ve sent F Zach Randolph to Memphis in exchange for G Marko Jaric and C Darko Milicic.  It’d been pretty much all quiet on the Western front since then, but we finally have an update and it appears that we finally have one and that the deal is dead.

Apparently, the Grizzlies wanted the Knicks to pay some of Randolph’s contract, as well as throw in a first round pick.  New York apparently wasn’t biting on that deal though, so it appears the deal is dead.

All I can say to that is thank goodness, because Randolph was not the right building block to add to this team.  Sure, he fills a big need at the power forward position and can put up 20 points, 10 rebounds every night, but his poor attitude and bloated contract are not what this team needed.  Randolph would pretty much be our big money addition to help this young team, and bringing in a guy with a bad attitude to lead a young team would prove to be disastrous.

http://www.newsday.com/sports/basketball/knicks/ny-spknix0920,0,2206682.story

There was some more news concerning the incident at the NBA Rookie Transition Program incident that kicked Grizzlies F Darrell Arthur along with Heat G Mario Chalmers out of the program and fined them both $20,000 apiece.

Apparently, Chalmers’ Miami teammate F Michael Beasley was also involved in the incident and fined $50,000.  Beasley originally failed to cooperate with the NBA in their investigation, but eventually admitted to his involvement in the incident.

What’s interesting here is that Beasley’s fine was $30,000 more than either Arthur or Chalmers’ fine, and I have to believe there are a few reasons for that.  Foremost being that he originally didn’t cooperate in the investigation, which I’m sure drew the ire of league higher-ups.  Secondly, Beasley was a much higher draft pick (2nd overall) than either Arthur (27th) or Chalmers (34th), and thus could afford the heftier fine.  I think a third reason that might be overlooked is the fact that no details of Beasley’s involvement were included in any report I’ve read, so maybe he agreed to a larger fine if his involvement in the incident wasn’t included.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-newswire19-2008sep19,0,7352630.story

And finally, the Grizzlies start training next Tuesday, September 30 at the FedEx Forum in Memphis.  Below you can see the training camp schedule.

http://www.nba.com/grizzlies/news/grizzlies_announce_2008_traning_camp_schedule-080917.html

http://www.nypost.com/seven/09072008/sports/knicks/randolph_to_grizzlies_heating_up_127943.htm

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/knicks/2008/09/06/2008-09-06_knicks_shopping_zach_randolph_to_grizzli-2.html

Donnie Walsh, the Knicks president, has confirmed these discussions but nothing is imminent.  Initially this looks like a good deal because it would help to clear up Memphis’ logjams at both the point guard and center positions and give them a legitimate power forward in Randolph.

However, the bigger deal in this is the enigma that has become Zach Randolph and the fact that he is owed $48 million over the next three years.  Sure, Randolph posts great stats (17.6 points, 10.6 rebounds in a bad season last year) but under the spotlight of the New York media it was really evident how much of an enigma and bad team player he really is.  Add this to the fact that Portland became a contending team after getting rid of him last season and all the evidence is there suggest that Randolph is a guy you want to stay away from at all costs if you want to contend.

The biggest thing to me is his contract, though, and even though we would be getting rid of Jaric’s bad contract (3 years, $21 million) that, along with giving up on Milicic would not be enough for me to justify taking on Randolph.  But I also really think that we didn’t see the real Darko last season and we will see a better, healthier Darko put up better offensive numbers this season.  That, to go along with the fact that we would have two rookie centers on our roster without Darko are the main reasons I don’t like this trade.

That could change if the Knicks were to take on Antoine Walker along with Jaric, along with adding a young, cheap SG/SF such as Wilson Chandler into the picture.  But I don’t see that happening because it would be a landslide win for the Grizzlies, but in my opinion a landslide win for the Grizzlies is what it would take for them to take on the huge contract of Zach Randolph and all the controversy that comes along with the talented big man.

Arthur Apologizes Profusely: In my last post I talked about the trouble that Grizzlies rookie F Darrell Arthur had gotten himself into at the NBA Transition Camp.

I was very hard on Arthur, but after seeing the below story  in the Memphis Commercial-Appeal I might have to change my tone.

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2008/sep/05/arthur-says-he-learned-lesson/

Most athletes simply release a written statement that is written for them to read and don’t sound apologetic.  But the quotes are different and actually seem sincere.  He takes the blame for the incident and apologizes profusely for embarrassing himself and the Grizzlies organization.

Also, while he denies using the marijuana, he does admit to breaking the rules and bring the girls up into the room.  Arthur also is planning on talking at a local YMCA and visiting inner-city youths at several schools.  There’s even a quote from his mama thrown in there for good measure.

This is exactly the response that Arthur needed to have and I’m very impressed that in addition to apologizing profusely and admitting he broke the rules he also intends to meet with youths to make sure they don’t make the same mistake he did.

According to multiple reports, both players will be fined $20,000 and potentially be placed on the suspended list to start the season.  A Grizzlies spokesman also added that Arthur will have to repeat the rookie transition program next season.

Now, in case you were wondering what the suspended list was and the answer comes straight from the NBA’s website: http://www.nba.com/analysis/00421026.html:

“Any player may be placed on the Suspended List by his team or by the Commissioner for failure to fulfill his contractual obligations, or for failure to comply with training schedules or other disciplinary rules or procedures. Any player placed on the Suspended List who is replaced by another player on his team’s Active List must sit out at least five of his team’s regular season games before he may be restored to the Active List.”

So it appears that if Arthur is placed on the suspended list, which would appear to be the most severe of the penalties, then he would be out for at least five games.

Now back to the story, which is exactly the type of story that you don’t want to be your first when entering the league.  Honestly, you would think it would just be common sense to not bring marijuana to, not only an NBA-run program, but one that is focused on transitioning college players into the real, professional world.  I mean did they not hear all the buzz about Josh Howard’s confession?

But anyways, this big lapse in judgement and the negative headlines it brings is definitely not the type of thanks the Grizzlies wanted to see from Arthur, whom they paid a hefty price for in a 2009 2nd round pick and Syracuse F Donte Greene (who just tore up the Las Vegas Summer League and was picked by Memphis just one pick after Arthur).

Sure, those health rumors that were abuzz on draft night were blamed for Arthur’s draft status falling, but maybe there was something else not mentioned, the dreaded “character” that was what really caused Arthur’s big fall on draft night. 

This incident also comes on the heels of allegations by Arthur’s former teacher at South Oak Cliff High School in Dallas that school administrators changed Arthur’s grade in math when he was a junior so he could ‘pass and play.’  Now, these allegations were cleared up and Arthur’s grade was cleared by the Dallas Independent School District, but never the less these are not the kind of rumors you want to hear about a player who is suppossed to be one of the young cornerstones of your franchise.

The Grizzlies were considered the leader in the clubhouse in signing Haddadi during his breakout Olympics performance where he averaged 16.6 points, 11.2 rebounds, and 2.6 blocks in five game and was the only player in the Olympics to average a double-double.

Haddadi first started to open some eyes this summer when the Iranian National Team was invited to participate in the Rocky Mountian Revue, an NBA summer league hosted by the Utah Jazz.  In the two games the Iranian National Team competed in he averaged 14 points, 11.5 rebounds, and 2.5 turnovers.  That performance started to open some eyes around the league to the 7′2″ center and his Olympic performance backed up his solid showing in the Rocky Mountain Revue and now there was real interest by NBA teams to sign him.

But as I posted earlier when the rumor that the Grizzlies were the leader in the clubhouse in signing Haddadi I was very skeptical and still am.   First of all, Haddadi put up these numbers as the best player on a bad team, and as such was the focus of the Iranian offense.

Secondly, beyond playing on the Iranian National Team he has no significant international experience, as, excluding a brief sting in 2003 with a Dubai team, he has been playing in the Iranian Super League for the last 9 seasons since turning pro at the tender age of 14.  I would’ve liked to have seen some experience playing in some tougher European Leagues to help him transition from the Iranian league to the NBA, as beyond his participation in international tournaments with the Iranian National Team he has really nothing even closely comparable to the level competition he’s going to see in the NBA.

My third and main concern is when he is going to get playing time at the center position this season and beyond, as you would have to believe he is behind both Darko Milicic and Marc Gasol on the Grizzlies depth chart.

I actually like the idea of playing Haddadi in the D-League for the majority, if not the entire, year simply to give him ample time to transition to North American basketball.  This will help in two reasons, as it will help ease the transition to the competition he will be facing in the NBA, as even though it’s not the NBA, the D-League is still a few notches up from the Iranian Super League.  Secondly, giving him playing time in the D-League is a lot better than having him sit at the end of the bench and play maybe five minutes/game in the NBA, which is something he definitely wouldn’t be used to after really being the focus of his Iranian National Team.

The other thing that this signing sort of said to me is that maybe the Grizzlies have had enough after one season of the Darko Milicic experiment and would be willing to move him along with one of their point guards (from the rumors this off-season most likely Javaris Crittenton) for either a more defensive PF or a solid back-up SG/SF.

Memphis really has an insanely unbalanced roster, as they now have five PGs in Mayo, Conley, Lowry, Jaric, Crittenton and three Cs in Milicic, Gasol, and Haddadi.  The craziest thing about this unbalanced roster is this off-season they added two PGs and two Cs.  Now, while Mayo is considered a combo-guard and will likely be the Grizzlies starting SG for years to come, the front office has still done nothing to clear up the PG-log-jam the Grizzlies have and have now added to it by signing their second back-up C of the off-season.  This team still has no defense at the PF position and no solid back-up to either O.J. Mayo or Rudy Gay at the SG or SF positions- two needs the team needed to address and still hasn’t.

But it’s hard to find equal value when you’re not trading from a position of strength, which the Grizzlies definitely aren’t since the other 29 teams in the league all know that Memphis has a PG and now C-log-jam, which gives them a clear advantage over the Grizzlies in any negotiations.

But, we’ll see if this is GM Chris Wallace’s final move this off-season or if he will finally deal away a PG this off-season.

Overall though, I’m not the biggest fan of this signing (especially for mid-1st round pick money) as it seems like he was signed on potential and the old saying “you can’t teach size” alone.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see Haddadi have little-to-no impact as an at best back-up center for the Grizzlies in what will most likely be a brief three-year stint for Haddadi in the NBA and something most NBA GMs will look back at and say “I’m glad we didn’t sign him.”

But it wasn’t easy for Spain to get into the gold medal game, as they faced a tough challenge from Croatia in the quarter-final round, coming away with a 72-59 victory.  The Spainiards key was actually a 12-o run in the first quarter, where they built a 22-11 lead, which was key in a game that was pretty much equal over the final three quarters.

Pau Gasol led the Spaniards with 20 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 blocks, while Marc added 3 points and 6 rebounds in 14 minutes off the bench.  Meanwhile, Navarro struggled again- as he didn’t score in his 10 minutes of play in the contest.

Pau would again lead his team in the semi-finals, scoring 19 points and grabbing 5 rebounds in their 91-86 victory over Lithuania.  Marc and Juan Carlos would struggle coming off the bench though, as Navarro was 0-for-3 in his 12 minutes of playing time, while Marc added 6 points and 4 fouls in his 14 minutes of play.

But now Team Espana looks to win the gold against a team that absolutely throttled them earlier this tournament in pool play.  I think the Spanish team will be hard-pressed to beat Team U.S.A. in the gold medal game, but think they could if all their players played up to their potential.

Juan Carlos Navarro, Marc Gasol, Jorge Garbajosa, and Jose Calderon- all current or former NBA players have really struggled so far in these Olympics, but the Spaniards are still playing in the gold medal game.  Calderon will be out with an injury, but if these other three can step up and play up to their potential this very well could be a close game, but only if Pau Gasol and Rudy Fernandez continue their solid play.

Otherwise, I see a game a little (but not much) closer than these two teams earlier meetings in this Olympics, with ‘Team Redeem’ living up to their name and winning gold in these Olympics.

First, I’ll start off with the Gasols and Marc, who is coming off the bench to back-up big brother Pau.  In the four games Marc has played in (he was the only player not to play in yesterday’s 98-50 throttling of Angola) he has averaged 7.5 points and 5 rebounds in an average of 19 minutes/game.

He’s also been solidly consistent from game-to-game, with the only real concern being the fact that he fouled out in the game against Team USA in only 17 minutes of playing-time.  But even so, the younger Gasol brother grew great praise from Team USA players, with Kobe Bryant going as far as saying that the Lakers shouldn’t have included Marc in the trade. 

That’s some pretty high praise from Kobe, and overall Team USA’s praise was actually quite surprising, including the Kobe quote.  But most of their praise was what we already knew- he’s big and can shoot the ball well for a big man.  Also this is still international ball and it will still be very interesting to see how Gasol’s game translates to the NBA, as well as how the minutes are divied up among Marc Gasol and incumbent C Darko Milicic, who is in the second year of a 3-year, $21 million contract.

But now I’ll talk about Team Espana’s two former Grizzlies: Pau and Juan Carlos. 

Pau overall has had a disappointing Olympics so far, as even though his stats are solid- 2nd at Olympics in scoring (averaging 19.4 points/game), 5th in rebounding (7 rebounds/game)- he overall hasn’t been Spain’s” go-to guy.”  This is evidenced by the fact that even though Pau is shooting a crazy 75.5% from the field, 60 of his 97 points came in two games against China and Angola.  In the other three games against Greece, Germany, and the USA he never scored over 13 points and only put up a combined 23 shots.

Navarro, meanwhile starts for the team just like Pau and has struggled, shooting only 22.7% from beyond the arch and only 32% from two-point range.  Before yesterday’s 12 point game against Angola, Navarro had averaged only 5.5 points/game in 17.75 minutes/game.

But that’s in pool play and now it gets down to the quarterfinals, with Spain kicking off action against Croatia today.  Will have an update on Team Spain and Gasol’s play in final rounds coming up.

Also, the other interesting tidbit from the Olympics was the fact that the Grizzlies are interested in yet another international big man, as Iran’s 7′2″ C Hamed Ehadadi seems to have caught Memphis and coach Marc Iavaroni’s attention.  Ehadadi was quoted as saying that he has spoken to Iavaroni via the telephone and expects to play for Memphis sometime during the upcoming season.

Ehadadi has played well in these Olympics after first catching the attention of the NBA during the Iranian team’s play during the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.  Ehadadi has averaged 16.6 points and and Olympic-leading 11.2 rebounds during his team’s play in Beijing, to go along with 2.6 blocks/game.  Add this to the fact that over his last four games Ehadadi averaged 18.5 points and he was a surprise to many.

But right now all of this is talk, as the NBA has sent a letter to teams saying that before teams can begin discussing a contract with Ehadadi, as the NBA must first apply for a license to allow its’ teams to negotiate with Ehadadi, an Iranian national.

But my main question regarding the possibility of Ehadadi joining the Grizzlies is when would he play?  We already have Darko and Marc, two above-average NBA centers on our roster and they’re around (barring a trade) for two and three more years respectively.  The only playing time Ehadadi would see would be either in the D-League or very limited minutes in third string and being that he is a major project him sitting on the bench would not be good for his development.

His size does make him an intriguing prospect, but Memphis just doesn’t have the room right now to give him enough playing time so I think this is just a case of ’we saw him first’ with Ehadadi and the Grizzlies. 

Smith averaged 17.2 points, 8.2 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 2.8 blocks, and 1.5 steals last season and was widely believed to be the top restricted free agent (RFA) on the market.  Smith was also one of the leaders last season on the young Atlanta team that made the playoffs and pushed the eventual champion Boston Celtics to the max in the first round.

Smith was courted by both the 76ers and Nuggets before both those teams passed and chose different options, in part because the Hawks said they would any offer sheet that Smith was signed to.

But the Grizzlies decided to take a shot on Smith and signed him to an offer sheet, as they went against their off-season plans of standing pat and signed Smith to an offer sheet, as they were really the only team left at this point who had the cap space to make and offer like this.

This was actually a very wise move by the Memphis front office, as it is a win-win situation either way.  Smith is a very, very good young player who would have filled the void the Grizzlies have at the PF spot for years to come.

If the Hawks hadn’t matched the offer sheet Memphis would’ve gotten another key piece of its’ young nucleus, to go along with Rudy Gay, O.J. Mayo, and Conley/Lowry/Crittenton.

On the other hand, if the Hawks do match the offer, it still gives fans the perception that the Grizzlies are still trying to improve their team, without actually having to spend a penny.  So the next time someone pulls out the ‘this team is trying to cut costs’ argument GM Chris Wallace and Owner Michael Heisley can point to the Smith signing to refute the claim.

Either way this was a smart move, as Smith is really one of the league’s up and coming stars, a la Rudy Gay.  Smith also plays defense, as evidenced by his rebounds, blocks, and steals, and that is something this team could definitely use.  He also got playoff experience last season, which is something lacking among our young nucleus.

But the Hawks quickly matched the offer sheet to Smith, which means Grizzlies fans were disappointed…again, but then again, would you expect anything else.

The signing of Marc Gasol will actually give Memphis one of the better center tandems in the league, to go along with Darko Milicic, who played much of last season battling various injuries.

The only question now appears to be who will get the starting nod and the majority of the playing time.

Darko, the incumbent, battled through injuries last season, is still only 23 years old and is heading into the second year of a 3-year deal of his own, this one worth $21-million.  Darko battled through injuries last season, playing in 70 games while putting up averages of 7.2 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 1.6 blocks.  I still would give the nod to a healthy Darko, as he was solid defensively while showing flashes of some offense last season.

Marc Gasol is really a wild card because no one really knows what he can do in the NBA.  Gasol was one of, if not the best young player in the European leagues last year, as he was the MVP of the Spanish League, averaging 16.2 points and 8.3 rebounds.

Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace has publicly said that Gasol would have been a lottery pick in last week’s draft.  Now, while I’m pretty sure that this is a little over-hyped on Wallace’s part, I think Gasol can definitely be a solid center in the NBA, putting up compatible numbers to Darko last season.

Regardless, this is a very solid pick-up for Memphis, as it gives them a couple of legitimate NBA centers, something that most NBA teams can’t say.

It also gives them more ammo to say that the Pau Gasol trade last season wasn’t so bad, as they now have three young, promising players on the team from that trade in Gasol, Javaris Crittenton, and Darrell Arthur.