Linksplosion

We're overdue for a Links post, so let's dive right in with a couple of interviews!

Yahoo! (Sean Deveney - Sporting News) - Rudy Gay talked with Deveney at Chris Paul's charity event last weekend about a variety of topics. Deveney asked some rather provocative questions, many of which seemed to be designed to get a reaction from the young SF, but Rudy enhanced his calm and comported himself quite well. He answered questions about leadership and why the fans should show up this season, too.

The Sporting News (Stan McNeal) interviewed rookie Darrell Arthur yesterday via phone. Among the topics discussed was his involvement in the happenings at the Rookie Transistion Camp and how he had to face his mother afterwards. Solid interview for a player we hope is a solid presence in the post.

Ron Tillery checks in with two solid articles in the past couple of days. The first one, found on the Commercial Appeal, discusses the likelihood that the team is done making moves for the time being and will go into preseason with the 13 players already under contract. The second (and far more enlightening, IMO) is on the Memphis Edge, and gives fans something to be excited about: This Grizzlies team has fire and intensity! Reports of O.J. Mayo and Darko Milicic getting in each others' faces during practice makes me all tingly inside.

Speaking of Darko, over on FOXSports.com, my least favorite MSM NBA scribe, Mike Kahn, has a column about The Dark One and whether or not he'll ever live up to his hype and potential. Given what Marc Iavaroni told us in his interview posted earlier this week about Milicic moving over to the PF spot more this upcoming season, I think we could see some interesting things from him this year.

In an interesting interview that Chuck Klosterman did with Michael Rand (StarTribune.com), there was the following question and answer:

RB: Kevin Love or O.J. Mayo?

CK: This is actually pretty close. I think Love has the potential to be better, but only if he’s the third option on a very good team (and that will never happen in Minnesota). Mayo is more complex. He’ll either be awesome or useless. There is something strange about his attitude; he seems detached in a way I cannot define. He might end up being a version of Vernon Maxwell who passes well, or a [redacted] sociopath.

The Grizzlies are now short a shooting coach. Mark Price has joined the staff of the Atlanta Hawks.

Hoopsworld is reporting that even though the Zach Randolph trade is dead (can I get an Amen???), the Grizzlies are still more than willing to listen to trade proposals from around the league. Does that classify as breaking news given their imbalanced roster and overwhelming amount of young guards? No? Just checking. They also check in by listing Mike Conley as one of the Top Six Players in Need of a Trade. Ummm....yeah....right.

Kornheiser's Cartel seems to think that the Grizzlies' problems lie at the feet of GM Chris Wallace. I disagree and will explain why in an interview with the mastermind of this great new blog in the very near future.

Upside and Motor has a note for fans around the league that complain about ticket prices: Be glad you aren't a Laker fan.

For the stat geeks out there, check out this post from Bucks Diary that calculates the Win Profiles for each NBA team. This is some Dave Berri-level stuff, so it isn't for the faint of heart.

Think that all NBA referees suck and that you could do better? Henry Abbott (TrueHoop) says, "Not so fast". More often than not, these guys make the correct call.

Would you like to know more about defensive principles? Then read this excellent post by Dave on Blazer's Edge. Truly a great read.

Would you like to know more about basketball -- and sports in general? Then read Eric Musselman's blog every single day. What a great mind!

Former (Vancouver) Grizzlies forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim retired this week. Most fans in Memphis never got to see him suit up for the franchise, but I'm sure that many of the fans in the Great Northwest remember his remarkable consistency as a 20/10 player, night after night.

Finally, don't forget about the Tip-Off Luncheon. There are still a few seats available at the 2nd table that we here at 3 Shades of Blue will be sponsoring, so shoot us an email if you're interested.

PE: Working Out to Play the Game

Class is back in session. Earlier in the week we had Civics, Science and Math if you want to read up on the other classes. And you don't want to start the school year falling behind in class do you???

So we finish up our back to school week blogs with the most people's favorite class Physical Education (unless you are one of those Bill Gates types who abhor sweat and prefer to make jokes about computer codes). No homework and you usually were allowed to scream, run and create mayhem without getting into trouble. Try doing that in English class! Along this theme I wanted to find out what NBA players in general, and Grizzlies players in particular, do to stay in shape during the off-season. What I found out was quite different than I expected.

There is no 'typical day' per se for NBA players. Some players use the off-season to work on particular weaknesses in their game. Other players continue to work on the strengths of their games. Some work harder on conditioning while others opt to rest their bodies to prepare for the upcoming 82 game marathon season. And of course some players choose to use their summer free time representing their country in the Olympics or other national competitions. Memphis has Marc Gasol (Spain), Darko Milicic (Serbia) and O J Mayo (USA Select team) who all contributed at least part of their summers helping out on the home front.

While working out against the Redemption Team isn't going to put a player at too much additional risk of injury, sometimes the International team workouts can be very detrimental to a players NBA career. Stories about 7 ft players running along rocky trails in mountains are not uncommon. It is not a big surprise that Darko hurt his Achilles tendon while training with Serbia, a country and a team not reputed to be among the leaders in modern training techniques or medicine.

I did talk to Mike Procopio at Attack Athletics about his group's program. Some of you may remember Mike from Chris Wallace's press conference after the O.J. Mayo trade. Mike was the person who pestered Chris into acquiring O.J., saying he was going to be a big star in the league. Hopefully Mike knows what he is talking about.

Attack Athletics program is based on working out 5 days a week for about 6 hours a day. A typical day begins around 9:00 am with an hour and half skills workout including shooting (200-250 shots during that time). Next is another hour and a half of strength and conditioning work. After a short break for a snack the players start scrimmaging. Not just some backyard, pick-up game scrimmaging either. The scrimmages are limited to their NBA players (20 right now, including O.J. Mayo and Antoine Walker) and are officiated by actual NBA and college referees.



Down at Suwanee Sports Academy in Atlanta things are done a little differently. SSA is the home of the Mark Price Basketball Academy for NBA Players. None other than Rudy Gay is quoted saying:

“To learn from one of the most fundamental players of all-time has made a major difference for me on the court. Mark Price knows the game so well and has helped me become a more well-rounded player.”

Mark's program focuses on footwork not shooting actually which Mark believes is 'the lost art of the game.' Javaris Crittenton has been working with Bruce Kreutzer and Mark Price this summer and Bruce said that he has made big strides this summer. Judging from the fact that JCritt's team won the competitive Atlanta Summer Pro League I would say that is an understatement.

A typical day at Mark Price's camp is not a full day affair however. Their schedule is 2 hours a day, 5 days a week. Occasionally they will do two a day workouts but that is not the normal routine. They offer individualized instruction from Mark Price, instruction in the state-of-the-art Mark Price Shooting Lab, pre and post video Analysis of shot mechanics and footwork, follow-up and communication with player’s and player’s coaching staffs with weights and fitness equipment available.

While these are only two examples of the type of summer workouts available to players there are many other camps around doing similar types of routines. I am sure everyone remembers the video of Mike Conley working on his dribbling skills last summer. That is just another example of a summer league workout routine.



One thing is for certain. Players need to come to training camp in shape. The days of playing yourself into shape during camp are a thing of the past. Kind of like my days in PE class.

Blogging at the Forum

Well tonight I finally got to see what the media sees all the time when covering the Grizzlies. I was got to see the inside of the Don Poier Media Center. It was a very interesting and informative experience. And like any rookie put on the big stage I started off with a fumble. When we were called into the media room to hear Chris Wallace and Marc Iavaroni's comments about the drafting of Kevin Love I forget my pen and failed to hit the record button on my recorder. Boy did I feel stupid.

Of course no one is interested in what I thought of the media center or how I made a fool of myself. Well some people may like reading that but most people want to know about the draft picks and what the Grizzlies thought about their night.

First off Chris Wallace wasn't high fiving anyone when he came into the media center. He was rather subdued in fact. He spoke matter of factly about the selection of Love and what he means for the team. Wallace feels Memphis has a player that is going to be a great rebounder, an excellent outlet passer and who has a lot to learn about playing defense in the NBA. While he did say Love has to learn a lot he also made a very intriguing comment which really stuck in my head. Wallace said that Love is ready to function in a team defense philosophy. He will be where he is supposed to be on defense and not just 50% of the time but every time. That says a lot about Love's basketball intelligence and also a lot about what he felt about some of the people who were supposed to be playing defense for the Grizzlies last season.

Next Wallace left to return to the draft room as Marc Iavaroni took the mike. Iavaroni was clearly excited about the selection of Love. He talked about his strength of charecter, his desire to be great and his intelligence. Marc is clearly thrilled to be having a leader like Kevin Love with the team.

That isn't to say that Wallace isn't excited. Wallace just looked like he had more work to do. Judging from his selection of Donte Green at 28 I think Wallace knew someone was going to slide in the draft and he wanted to make sure the Grizzlies were ready to pounce when that opportunity came up. Wallace also dealt with the trade rumors about attempting to move up to get Beasley and why Memphis wasn't interested. Miami wasn't asking for Mike Miller plus the pick and point guard. They wanted Rudy Gay! Beasley may be a star in the making but there is no way Memphis should give up that much for the right to find out.

My personal feelings are that Love was the smart pick and the right pick. Love will be contributing right away. He has a learning curve of course but he won't be the type of player who hurts the team when he is on the court. Love will immediately improve the team's pick and roll plays as he can set a mean pick and hit the perimeter shot if his man tries to cover the cutter. He will be the best rebounder Memphis has ever had and will ignite the running game with his outlet passes. There may be other players who have better careers but there won't be many and Memphis couldn't afford to miss with this pick. He should team up well with Rudy Gay and Mike Miller to make the team stronger both physically and mentally.

Donte Green is nothing short of a steal. No one expected, myself included, to find a player with this much potential that late in the draft. Green will step right into the hole that was Casey Jacobsen last season and should be a huge improvement immediately. Unlike Love however Green will need much more maturing to reach his full potential. He has a long way to go on defense (don't all Syracuse players) and his shot selection needs to improve but he should have time to do that backing up Rudy Gay. Most importantly he will need to get stronger.

Speaking of stronger, Mike Conley has developed guns. He is ripped. I got a chance to talk to him as the draft was starting and Conley admitted that he had been lifting a lot of weights while taking a class at Ohio State. I asked Mike about his newfound muscles and he said that he worked for a week with Mike Curtis, the strength and conditioning coach and also Kevin O'Neill. That means Mike realizes he needs to improve his strength and defense and is working on it. He also has been playing phone tag with shooting coach Mark Price and is planning on getting together with Mark to work on his shot in Atlanta during the summer. Mike also admitted being a little concerned about all the trade rumors about him but was very grateful to hear Chris Wallace say Conley was not being discussed in a trade. He likes being with the Grizzlies and doesn't want to go anywhere.

Kyle Lowry was there and he told me that he was planning on spending most of the summer in Philadelphia but he too is going to be working on his shot with Mark Price. Kyle didn't get the trade assurance that Conley did and he said he understands this. It's a business and it wasn't harder this year than it was last year hearing the Grizzlies wanted Conley in the draft. I got the impression that Kyle isn't going to let these things bother him and he will come to camp ready to win the starting job. He just seems to have the attitude that he is using these things as motivation.

Last season started with a front line of Gasol, Gay and Milicic. Backing that line up was Stromile Swift, Casey Jacobsen and Hakim Warrick. Next season it looks to be Gay, Love and Milicic with Donte Green, Hakim Warrick and Marc Gasol backing up. That is a huge improvement on paper. Now it will be wait and see if the paper translates onto the court.

ADDENDUM: Learned another lesson tonight. Don't leave before the Grizzlies tell you the night is over. I left before the news of the Mayo-Love trade and the Greene-Arthur deal was announced. Instead of being in the meeting with the team hearing how they feel about the deal I am lying in bed wondering why I thought it was so important to get home and get some sleep! I guess this shows you are never to old to stop learning.

News and Notes

Over on Grizzlies.com they have a write-up about Media Day, which was held yesterday. There are also plenty of photos and player portraits to peruse, including the one shown here. Rudy Gay caught a fish "this big".

(Copyright 2007 NBAE. Photo by Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images)

The Grizzlies announced that they signed two free agents to the training camp roster yesterday -- Kasib Powell and Dontell Jefferson.

Dontell Jefferson is a 23-year old 6'4", 195-pound guard who played two seasons with Atlanta Metropolitan College, then transferred to the University of Arkansas for his final two seasons. He then played professionally last season with the NBADL champion Dakota Wizards, where he averaged 9.3 ppg, 3.4 rpg and 3.7 apg and 1.37 spg. He was coached there by David Joerger, who was recently hired as a Grizzlies assistant.

Kasib Powell is a 26-year old 6'7', 215-pound forward who attended Texas Tech for 4 years. Powell played professionally overseas in Bosnia, Greece, Russia and Greece. Last year, Powell averaged 9.3 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 2.0 apg and 1.4 spg for Spartak (St. Petersburg, Russia) in the Russian Superleague. He attended the training camps of three different teams the past three years: Orlando Magic (2006), Chicago Bulls (2005) and Minnesota Timberwolves (2004).

In other news, it looks like the rest of the sports world has caught on to the story we reported here on Shades of Blue four days ago -- Mark Price is the shooting coach for the Memphis Grizzlies. When news breaks, we're first on the scene with the duct tape.

Marlon Morgan has a nice column in the Commercial Appeal, detailing the fact that the team is actually healthy for this season's training camp -- a big difference from last year's disastrous start. He's got quotes from Brian Cardinal, Damon Stoudamire, Marc Iavaroni and Tarence Kinsey, all of whom are ready to prove that last season was an aberration and that this team was a lot better than their record indicated. Damon, in particular, seems to have a chip on his shoulder going into this season, which could result in him playing a lot more minutes than many fans would have expected after the selection of Mike Conley Jr. on draft night.

Finally, I urge all of you to read Geoff Calkins' column in this morning's Commercial Appeal titled "There's nothing hopeless about the Grizzlies this season". In it, Calkins details just how much things have changed from the standoffish, keep-at-arm's-length approach the organization had employed for the previous few seasons when dealing with its fanbase. The column is highlighted by President of Business Operations Andy Dolich offering his parking space so that a longtime season ticket holder would renew for this season. It is a new era in Memphis for the Grizzlies, so I think everyone should be willing to give them a chance to prove themselves to the community at large.

Mark Price Shoots Straight

Marc Iavaroni said in his WHBQ56 Radio that Mark Price was working out with our point guards this off-season.

My first thought was GREAT! Mark Price was a damn good shooter and is considered the best point guard the Cleveland Cavaliers ever had in their history (unless you want to consider LeBron James a point guard of course). He was part of the highly successful Cavs teams of the 90s that included Brad Daughtery, John 'Hot Rod' Williams, Craig Ehlo and Larry Nance. They were generally recognized as one of the best teams in the league during the Chicago Bulls run and Mark Price was among the best point guards in the league. Why shouldn't we hire Mark to work with our guys?

Then I remembered that not every ex-player is a great coach. Is this just a publicity stunt or what? I am usually a little skeptical after all. So I did a little digging.

Mark is currently partnered up with Suwanee Sports Academy in Atlanta, Ga where he has the Mark Price Basketball School. The premises have 100,000 sq ft of area and 7 full sized basketball courts. Mark has a special program he runs called the Mark Price Shooting School where he holds clinics for high school players to teach them fundamentals. He utilizes the NOAH Shooting System that measures the arc of shots. That combined with the DartFish Technology system can really break down a shot for a player and show him what he is doing wrong and how he can improve.

Does it work? I don't know. I was told that 5 NBA teams utilize the Suwanee Sports Academy to help them so someone thinks it does.

Mike and Kyle didn't actually go down to the SSA campus however. I was told that Mark Price came up to Memphis to work with them here instead. I don't know if he brought the machine or the computer program with him.

So what do I know?

I know that Mark Price learned to shoot from his father. That is the same father who taught Gary Bowen how to shoot free throws. Who is Gary Bowen you ask? Gary Bowen was the first, and as far as I know, only coach in the NBA who is specifically charged with teaching players how to shoot free throws. Dallas has finished in the tops of the league in FT shooting since he was hired. I don't think that is just a coincidence. I know that Mark Price wants to increase his representation with the NBA and so wants to make a good impression every chance he gets. The people I talked with in Atlanta said that while their emphasis is on younger players Mark wants to focus on the pros. His work with Lowry and Conley is important for him to build his reputation.

And his work with Conley and Lowry is very important to the team. If our players can improve their perimeter shooting then the team will be far more dangerous than expected. Apparently Rudy Gay just missed the practice because of a scheduling conflict but the idea that the team is taking a professional approach to improving their shooting is very encouraging.

I don't know who to thank for bringing Mark Price to Memphis but I sure do like the way that person is thinking.