The Memphis Grizzlies: Should West Change His Plans?

[DipSetVC]

After getting destroyed by the Suns tonight and getting posterized twice by Amare, I've discovered that Memphis is the worst playoff team in NBA History at 0-7. Is it me or does anyone else think that West should tamper with his philosophy?

Until Memphis acquires a top of the line player who has a strong impact on a game, they will continue to be stuck in neutral and won't be able to that "the next step".

They will most likely lose Swift and Watson to free agency due to the fact that they have $60 million+ guaranteed for next season as Gasol's extension kicks in, I'm surprised why West hasn't packaged a few of his players in attempt to acquire a star, he could package some of his swingmen (He has a bunch, Battier, Miller, Posey, Wells, Jones) to help take the next step with this team because I don't see them ever winning a playoff series let alone a game against a top seed until they get a "superstar".

[-BHZMAFIA-]

After getting destroyed by the Suns tonight and getting posterized twice by Amare, I've discovered that Memphis is the worst playoff team in NBA History at 0-7. Is it me or does anyone else think that West should tamper with his philosophy?

Until Memphis acquires a top of the line player who has a strong impact on a game, they will continue to be stuck in neutral and won't be able to that "the next step".

They will most likely lose Swift and Watson to free agency due to the fact that they have $60 million+ guaranteed for next season as Gasol's extension kicks in, I'm surprised why West hasn't packaged a few of his players in attempt to acquire a star, he could package some of his swingmen (He has a bunch, Battier, Miller, Posey, Wells, Jones) to help take the next step with this team because I don't see them ever winning a playoff series let alone a game against a top seed until they get a "superstar".

Well I wouldn't consider them as the worse playoff team in NBA history becasue they have only been in the playoffs twice and they still have a chance at winning Game 4. But statistically wise they are the worse playoff team in NBA history.

I agree with what you said about acquring a big-time player. They have to get some star-type player this off-season because Gasol is a good player, but just isn't that dominate at least not yet. Unless he can just put on weight, or just play like he did in the Olympics which is the way he played in Game 2.

Mid-season with Swift was playing good, I was thinking that they would go ahead and resign Stro and West was saying that he would match any offer for Swift in free agency, but I think he might be 2nd thinking that right now. It will either be Jwill leaving through trade and Watson resiging, or Watson just leaving because the Grizzlies don't need 3 PG's with Burks showing signs of emerging into a solid backup from the minutes he has recieved this season. Jerry West had many chances during the season to acquire an all-star like Vince Carter. He claimed that the Nets wanted too much. If I'm correct, they wanted Swift, Miller and I think Battier. He could've worked something out in that deal where it could've been something like Swift, Posey/Bonzi and a PG like Watson. He had the chance of getting Iverson during the season as well. Memphis has too much depth for a coach that doesn't really use depth so West might as well trade 3 players for one star to solidfy the team. They really don't need a big man, because IMO Wright did a great job this season. The first step is getting a superstar before getting a big man.

[Drex]

He had the chance of getting Iverson during the season as well.

He did?? Any links??

[Andrew]

I think West is trying to be patient, but given their standing in the league these days the pieces that will take them to the next level aren't likely to come through the draft. As Mafia pointed out, they do have a lot of depth which is somewhat expendable, they could afford to do some addition by subtraction.

Getting a star player for some of their depth while keeping the rest of their key guys sounds like a good idea. The question is, who do they get rid of and who they can they realistically pursue?

[Ataraxia]

They should go after Ray Allen via S&T....hes prolly the only star player thats available right now.....no one else is gettin on the news demanding trades.

They could give the Sonics Stro + Bonzi/Monkey + Burks for Ray or something like that....

[Andrew]

I'd forgotten about Allen. But given the success the Supersonics have had this season, they might want to keep their current squad intact, and Allen might be more inclined to stay...for the right price.

[Matt]

West should look hard for a deal that's really one sided in the Grizz favour. Theres been an abundance of those lately.

Warriors got Davis for nothing
Nuggets got K-Mart for nothing
Pistons got Rasheed for nothing
Nets got VC for nothing.

[Andrew]

But those teams were either desperate to unload unhappy players, avoid being forced to match a large offer sheet or do whatever it is that Atlanta's doing.

[Matt]

haha. Well, each season there are desperate teams that want to unload players, match contracts or sign offer sheets. Not an easy task but certainly do-able.

[-BHZMAFIA-]

He did?? Any links??

Nope, don't have links from like 3 months ago.

West felt like the Raptors were trying to take advantage of him because if you look what the Raptors wanted from the Nets, compared to what they wanted from the Grizzlies, it was alot more. Ray Allen would be a good player to go after, but it will take West to being committed on getting a star player in the off-season. Redd is another option as well. If Memphis is planning on doing a sign-and-trade for a star player, maybe since Seattle wanted Swift so badly I wonder are you able to do a sign-and-trade with two players since Swift will be a FA. So it would probably be something like Swift, Posey and Burks/Humphrey for Allen.

The main reason why I can see Posey or Bonzi leaving out of all the guards is because Posey didn't live up to what he did last season despite all the injuries he had, he really never got into a groove and I don't know if West would like to take a chance on him again. Bonzi is the Grizzlies only one-on-one perimeter player and they probably wouldn't need him if they did get a star like Allen. Dahntay Jones can definitely be a solid player off the bench as he has shown this season because he made a dramatic improvement from his rookie season to his sophmore season. So that's why I wouldn't mind Memphis giving away a couple of their guards because Dahntay can fill in the void.

[Indy]

But those teams were either desperate to unload unhappy players, avoid being forced to match a large offer sheet or do whatever it is that Atlanta's doing.

Ive said over and over. What Atlanta did was very very smart. They cleared up many many millions of moolah in cap space because they knew walker would be gone, they knew payton wouldnt stay, etc. They are doing the equivilant to tearing down a house that is in awful shape, even though some parts still work its better to just go back to square one and build a new house.

[shadowgrin]

West works in mysterious ways.
I still remember when he was still with the Lakers and let Nick Van Exel go. Some were criticizing him because the Lakers lack a solid pointguard. We all know what the Lakers did after that, 3 straight NBA championships...
I'll give West 2 more years to finally choose that "superstar" for Memphis that he'll build around on. I'm guessing Gasol is more like West's "Kobe" in Memphis. A young player that can be a partner for West's "superstar", like what Kobe was to Shaq in LA.

*happy?

[cklitsie]

like what Kobe is to Shaq in LA.

was?

[furious1]

I don't get why people are surprized to see teams that barely made the 8th seed like NJ or Memphis get their asses kicked by the number one seed.

[cyanide]

I think West did a great job, getting a deep lineup on the court and the bench. He's just missing a superstar, and until he gets a superstar, he doesn't need to build around that superstar, because the "other" pieces are already there.

[Strike Freedom]

you have to admit that Suns is too good for the Memphis..
Not that Memphis.. suck.

[Riot]

Mafia I think I'm going to win our little bet.

[-BHZMAFIA-]

I think West did a great job, getting a deep lineup on the court and the bench. He's just missing a superstar, and until he gets a superstar, he doesn't need to build around that superstar, because the "other" pieces are already there.

Yeah and that would make them very dangerous if they can just get that one superstar. I think one reason why it's so hard for West to trade with certain teams is because other teams feel that West may get the better deal out of it in the long role because it really bothers me that the Raptors asked for basically crap from the Nets, then want to ask for some of our better players for VC. Obviously Memphis will be able to keep Pau via getting a star and since Memphis is 11 to 12 men deep, trading even 4 for 1 player won't hurt the team. The Grizzlies also had a chance of getting Shaq last off-season, but it was a gamble with trading Gasol, Wright, Bonzi and Jwill. I think they wanted Mike Miller as well.

you have to admit that Suns is too good for the Memphis..
Not that Memphis.. suck.

Exactly, that was an idiotic comment made by furious. One of the sports writers in the Commercial Appeal said that the main problem with the series is that the Grizzlies were built to make the playoffs, while the Suns were built to be a championship contender and until the Grizzlies make a big change to their roster it will always be that way. Then he wetn on to mention that the Suns were able to go after Nash and Richardson in the offseason and made that trade to get Joe Johnson from the Celtics. Then he mentioned what West did by signing Posey and Cardinal and getting solid players for the team.

Mafia I think I'm going to win our little bet.

I don't care, it'll be funny if the Grizzlies went on to win two more games.

[Andrew]

Ive said over and over. What Atlanta did was very very smart. They cleared up many many millions of moolah in cap space because they knew walker would be gone, they knew payton wouldnt stay, etc. They are doing the equivilant to tearing down a house that is in awful shape, even though some parts still work its better to just go back to square one and build a new house.

Which is a fine strategy as long as there are star free agents with interest in playing for them. Otherwise that's all they've got; cap space.

[air gordon]

andrew: cap space is a nice bargaining chip to have in trades.

[maes]

What's interesting is that Phoenix was in the same situation as Memphis not that long ago. A team full of talent, with a flashy PG that wasn't really making the team click.

Makes you wonder if what will happen if J-Will gets replaced. It worked well enough for Sac, although they never went all the way they made some impressive playoff runs.

[Andrew]

andrew: cap space is a nice bargaining chip to have in trades.

It is, but they don't have a lot of players they can trade for star players without leaving them with even less than what they have now.

[FendeR`]

This is off-topic, but even though it's not really possible what if the Nets kept K-Mart and got VC, then it's JKidd, Vince, Jefferson and K-Mart. That'd be pretty sick.

[fgrep15]

What's interesting is that Phoenix was in the same situation as Memphis not that long ago. A team full of talent, with a flashy PG that wasn't really making the team click.

Makes you wonder if what will happen if J-Will gets replaced. It worked well enough for Sac, although they never went all the way they made some impressive playoff runs.

I don't know, I don't like the comparison of J-Will to Marbury, they're very different players. Marion and Amare are both Top 20 players in the league, while the Grizzlies struggle to have someone in the Top 30, Gasol is about 30-40 range.

This is off-topic, but even though it's not really possible what if the Nets kept K-Mart and got VC, then it's JKidd, Vince, Jefferson and K-Mart. That'd be pretty sick.

They wouldn't have gotten VC because they wouldn't have the draft picks they got in the Kenyon trade to give to the Raptors, so no, wasn't going to happen.

Yes, they need a star, Gasol can be a 20-8 player for them, but he's not really a star player. They need a 20 PPG guy on the perimeter who can take over games, create their own shot, and make big shots.

[Riot]

Yeah, Memphis needs a guy who demands a double team and can put pressure on the other teams defense. They have so much talent but you need that star to open everything up. They can make shots, attack the basket and play good defense but they need that one guy who can set them up and create the defense to collapse and focus on him.