Grizzlies Open Practice but Close the State of the Franchise

GRIZZLIES TO HOLD FREE OPEN PRACTICE FOR FANS
2008-09 TIP-OFF PARTY TO BE HELD IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING AT FEDEXFORUM ON SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4

The Memphis Grizzlies are opening their doors again for their annual free Open Practice, and this year fans are invited to stick around after practice for a tip-off party to the 2008-09 season on Saturday, October 4 at FedExForum.

Fans attending the practice will get the chance to see O.J. Mayo, fellow 2008 draftee Darrell Arthur and Olympic hero Marc Gasol on the floor of FedExForum for the first time, along with Rudy Gay, Mike Conley and the rest of the 2008-09 Grizzlies squad. Grizzlies Head Coach Marc Iavaroni will run players through multiple drills and scrimmages that fans can watch as they prepare for the 2008-09 season.

After the official practice, the Grizzlies are inviting fans to a party to tip off the 2008-09 season, which will be held at FedExForum immediately following the Open Practice. Fans will be able to get autographs, take photos and ask questions of their favorite Grizzlies players, coaches and front office members. The fun doesn’t stop there though, as fans in attendance will also have the chance to shoot free-throws on FedExForum’s floor, meet the Grizz Girls, enjoy inflatable games, face painters, balloon artists and much more.

Doors for the Open Practice open at 10:30 a.m., with the practice beginning at 11:30 a.m. There will be free parking available in the Ford Parking Garage at FedExForum for the event.

This is the media release from the Grizzlies. What isn't mentioned is the decision to no longer have a State of the Franchise meeting for season ticket holders prior to the open practice. Originally I was only told "They're just not doing one this year." However last night Chris Wallace called me at home to talk about a different question and he explained that Michael Heisley was not expected to be available on October 4th. Honestly there really wouldn't be a reason to do a State of the Franchise if Michael Heisley wasn't there.

I love the open practice. I think it is great that the team is having a party after the practice so people can get caught up in the excitement of the team and the players and what is happening here. It is a bit upsetting however that the people who have paid a lot of money for the right to attend every one of the games aren't going to get the pep talk like they have in years past.

And yes the State of the Franchise meeting was simply a pep talk. They weren't going to open the books, discuss the mechanics of making the trades involving Pau Gasol and O J Mayo or even what enticements they used to get Haddadi or Marc Gasol to sign with the team. In other words, like the State of the Union, the State of the Franchise meeting was more of a way to rally the faithful to the cause as much as anything else but isn't that needed right now?

Open Practice Date Set

The Grizzlies famous Open Practice will be held on October 4th at 11:30 am on the main court at the FedEx Forum. Details of the event will be released very soon.

3 Shades of Blue was fortunate today to also watch a few (very few actually) moments of an informal workout today as well. Present were O.J. Mayo, Darrell Arthur, Hakim Warrick, Mike Conley, Javaris Crittenton, Kyle Lowry and a surprise. Brent Pettway, last seen on this summer's rookie league roster, hasn't been announced as being invited to training camp but his presence would seem to imply that he will be invited. Marc Gasol is scheduled to arrive in town later tonight.

Grizzlies Annual Open Practice

The Grizzlies held their Annual Open Practice today at noon at the FedEx Forum. The team was divided into three teams -- Blue, White and Green.

Blue team: Mike Miller, Kyle Lowry, Stromile Swift, Tarence Kinsey, Hakim Warrick
White team: Damon Stoudamire, Pau Gasol, J.C. Navarro, Andre Brown, Dontell Jefferson
Green team: Mike Conley Jr., Rudy Gay, Darko Milicic, Casey Jacobsen, Brian Cardinal

Honestly, it was hard to keep track of everything while taking pictures and maneuvering around the Forum, but what I did take notice of was the fact that the White team was dominant, winning 6 of the 8 games played, only losing once by my count. You can see Pau and Darko here just after the tipoff of the last game.



Here you see Brian Cardinal going up strong after grabbing an offensive rebound while Stro looks to close out on him defensively.

Andre Brown prepares to shoot a free throw while Pau moves into position for the possible rebound opportunity.

After the practice had concluded, the players threw T-shirts to those gathered in attendance before heading out to tables around the Forum to sign autographs.

The players patiently waited to be introduced to the crowd after the practice, each making sure to acknowledge the applause and cheers each was showered with in appreciation for their efforts.

Overall, this practice was just a brief glimpse at what the Grizzlies could become this season, as I'm sure they were tired from the international flight the previous day and were probably only going at 75% of full speed in this half-hour demonstration. A few quick impressions that I did get from the session:

• Mike Conley has some of the quickest hands I've ever seen. He almost picked Kyle's pocket twice and Lowry isn't exactly a plodding player.
• Darko still might not be comfortable on the offensive side of the court yet, but his defense showed some definite improvement, as he altered the shot attempts of Stro, Hakim and Pau on a few occasions.
• Rudy has to be one of the Top 5 athletes in the NBA today. Words cannot describe what he's capable of on the court.
• Casey Jacobsen only has one clearly defined skill -- shooting -- but he is very, very good at it. If he can continue to come off the bench and hit open jumpers, he could get more than just token minutes this season.
• Kyle Lowry might be the toughest guy on this team. Heck, he might qualify for the Top 10 in the league in that category.

Those were my impressions of the practice. If anyone else went and would like to share your thoughts, feel free to do so in the Comments section.

Links: Kyle Lowry, The Dark One, Golden Generation, Open Practice

Our good friend David Berri has some interesting news regarding Kyle Lowry on his recent post titled "Future NBA Stars". Please read the post in full and then go to the table he has posted here about "Distant Future Stars", where he has Lowry listed as having the highest WP48 stat of guys who have played limited minutes to this point. Of course, we all know that Lowry only played in 10 games last season before suffering a broken wrist. It's a good read, as always, and is yet another encouraging thing to consider going into this pivotal season.

Yahoo! Sports has an article about Darko Milicic on their NBA page. The theme of the missive is "Darko's Resurrection" and it contains some interesting quotes from the Serbian Gangster, teammate Pau Gasol, coach Marc Iavaroni and GM Chris Wallace. It would seem that everyone is being very supportive of Darko in Memphis -- hopefully that will translate into on-the-court success for him and the Grizzlies.

I don't know that we can truly appreciate the level of rock star fame that Pau Gasol and his Spanish teammates enjoy in their home country. This article from globeandmail.com gives a better idea of just how much celebrity status and clout they carry in Spain. Pau is one of the "Golden Generation", which is the group of players born in 1980-81 who have carried Team Spain to worldwide prominence in international basketball.

"Back in the day when we were 16, 17, 18 we won the gold medal in nearly every championship we played," said Pau Gasol, the Memphis Grizzlies forward who some consider the best player in Spanish history.
"We beat the [United] States on different occasions; we were European [junior] champions and world [junior] champions at one time."

As you can see, they are Spain's version of the Dream Team in terms of winning and expectations. Oh yeah, and when it comes to adoring fans as well:

The Spanish players on both NBA teams have been swarmed by media in Madrid. Gasol is featured in an advertisement three storeys tall around the corner from the arena. Everyone wants to touch the players.

"They're like rock stars," Raptors president Bryan Colangelo said. "When we landed there had to be 30 attendants for our airplane wearing these fluorescent vests and as soon as we came off the plane they were just standing there. The second we hit the ground they hit them like a swarm of bees: pictures, autographs, you name it. These guys are larger than life here, and deservedly so."

Don't forget that today's Open Practice starts at noon (doors open at 11 am) and it is free, so you have no excuse not to get your lazy butt down there to see the only professional sport in town ply their trade. I'll have pictures and commentary posted later this weekend about the event. Get out there and support the Grizzlies!

Blue and White Scrimmage Recap

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

I thoroughly enjoyed the Blue and White Scrimmage today. The crowd was larger than I expected and probably more people were there than showed up for the open practice last year.

I think I should say who won, but truthfully, I don't remember looking at the scoreboard more than once or twice. I think the White team won. They played two, 10 minute periods.

Here was how the teams were split up, with an (s) designating who started for each squad.

Blue:
--Mike Conley (s)
--Casey Jacobsen (s)
--Mike Miller (s)
--Hakim Warrick (s)
--Pau Gasol (s)
--Juan Carlos Navarro
--Andre Brown

White:
--Damon Stoudamire (s)
--Tarence Kinsey (s)
--Rudy Gay (s)
--Stromile Swift (s)
--Darko Milicic (s)
--Brian Cardinal
--Dontell Jefferson
--Kyle Lowry (didn't play)

I don't remember seeing the other training camp invitee play (Kasib Powell). Chris Wallace just mentioned on the Chris Vernon Show that he has already been waived.

The most memorable part of the scrimmage was everyone holding their breath when Mike Conley went down. It was only a charlie-horse in his thigh. Here is a picture I took when Conley was getting looked at on the bench after he went down. You can see the trainer messaging the thigh.


Here are some of my random observations. Most Griz fans echo similar thoughts (messageboard thread on scrimmage).

--Neither team really played at full speed.
--Rudy can still dunk.
--Casey can shoot.
--Miller wore sweat pants. yuck!
--Darko has a nice lefty baby hook shot.
--Navarro (called "instant-grits" by his teammates) showed off his running tear drop in the lane...nice.
--Rudy played the 3 and 4.
--With Kyle out, Navarro and Kinsey had to run some point.
--Players were conscious of not trying to hold the ball for very long (one of the points of emphasis from Coach Iavaroni). This unfortunately led to some careless turnovers, but that's alright. This is still a work in progress.
--Kinsey missed Stro for an alley-oop. TK7 (my nickname for him) immediately acknowledged that he missed it, but Stro still pouted and loafed after the fact. Reactions like that are going to get him sat on the bench this year. He needs to just keep playing and not dwell on things like that.

Now I want to talk a bit about Conley vs Damon. Damon looked good physically. Clearly more healthy than last year and could be potentially better than he was when we signed him. But, unlike many of my fellow Griz fans (and probably chip and spartacus too), I still see him as a point guard best suited for a half court team and not what this team needs to ignite a fast paced offense that is spurred using ball-hawking defense. Conley plays the point more like I envision the team needing. When Conley penetrates, he is great at keeping his dribble and leave as many options open as possible. Today Damon picked up his dribble a little earlier than I think he should have a few times. Damon showed off a great stroke today (clearly he is light years ahead of Conley in terms of shooting). While Damon looked healthy physically, I still have my doubts that he will be anything but average on defense. But enough of that. Both point guards looked good. Damon probably surprised people with his health and play. I'm glad Conley only has a thigh bruise and wish we all could have seen Lowry (the soon-to-be fan favorite) play today.

I also want to discuss some of the stuff we are doing on offense for fans that couldn't make it to the scrimmage. We are using more on-ball screens than in the past. In addition, when our bigs are in the high post, they are handing the ball off to a curling point guard often.

Here is a breakdown of one of the common half-court sets we used:

1.) PG passes to the right wing, then goes and picks for the PF on the left lower block.
2.) Either the PF gets the ball on the right lower block, or more likely, the ball is passed to the C at the top of the key.
3.) Then the left wing goes down and picks for the PG who is now on the left lower block.
4.) The PG pops out to the left wing off of that screen, then curls around the C for a hand-off pass.
5.) From there, the PG penetrates and makes something happen.

The Blue team ran that exact play to start the game and Mike Conley penetrated and found a diving Pau for an easy dunk. Nice.

Finishing up, here are some links. Wes at 730ESPN has audio from the scrimmage. Yahoo has pictures from the scrimmage.

Grizzlies Blue/White Scrimmage Tomorrow

Just a quick note...

The Grizzlies will be holding the First Annual Blue and White Scrimmage tomorrow from noon to 1pm at the FedEx Forum.

Here at Shades of Blue, we are excited for this event. I am particularly excited, since this will be the first time since the Vegas Summer League that I can watch the Grizzlies actually play. By the way, I absolutely loved the Summer League this year. Being able to go home early from work to watch Rudy, Lowry, TK7, and Conley play during the middle of the summer was a great way to keep the excitement from the draft going strong. Kudos to the Grizzlies Front Office for getting the Summer League games on broadcast TV. Since then, blogging/discussing about player movements, season predictions and Grizzlies articles in the mainstream media is fine and dandy, but actually being able to blog/discuss the Grizzlies playing basketball is much more enjoyable.

I hope as many Griz fans as possible can make it out to the scrimmage tomorrow. Check back tomorrow for our take on the inaugural event.