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.

They Like Us! They REALLY Like US!

Quick hit:

In a Yahoo Sports countdown of the best Grizz blogs out there by Kelly Dwyer, guess which blog came in FIRST -- ahead of Tillery at The Memphis Edge and Herrington at the Flyer?

1. 3 Shades of Blue — One of the best team blogs in the game, this is such a good daily read that it leaves you wondering just why some of more prominent teams in the league don’t have blogs that are nearly this good.

The crew behind this gem of a website offer daily analysis, news, polls, links (maybe the best blogroll out there); and if "daily analysis, news, polls, links" sounds like just about every other NBA site on the 'net … yeah, this isn’t like every other site. Give it a read, and compare and contrast.

Nice to be noticed, and nice to be part of the blog team. And the Grizz aren't even a winning team (yet)! What's gonna happen when Iavaroni and the Baby Bears roll?

Be Careful What You Wish For

By MemphisX

It seems that New York Knicks President Donnie Walsh has thrown some cold water on the hot trade rumor sending Zach Randolph to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for the Serbian duo Darko Milicic and Marko Jaric. There have been some strong opinions on this deal within the Grizzlies fanbase and on the Internet in general. The general consensus has been that Zach Randolph is an unstoppable force of basketball horribleness, doomed to infect any team he goes to with some sort of plague. So many among the Grizzlies were happy to read that Walsh considered this deal "dormant". They have been wishing for this deal to hit a snag every since Ron Tillery first mentioned it a month ago. Be careful what you wish for...

I know that acquiring Randolph is not the last or only possible deal out there. That does not change the fact that camp opens in about three weeks. One of the biggest things for a young team is continuity. So making a big trade during camp or midseason that disrupts roles puts a lot of added pressure on a coaching staff that is already on the hot seat. You definitely should not bring in someone like Randolph during the season until roles are clearly established among our core players. So that means that more or less, the Grizz roster now will likely be what we will see on opening night. Be careful what you wish for...

Yes, the Grizzlies should have enough playing time available for all of our young players to develop. However, that is part of our problem. Conley and Lowry both think they should be starting and both of them can make a case for it. Mayo and J Critt at shooting guard but both of them really want to play point guard. Warrick and Arthur at power forward but neither of them like the post or rebounding. Darko, Gasol, and Hadadi at center and all three are either limited, inexperienced, or both. So other than Rudy Gay, there isn't another proven NBA talent on the entire roster. Be careful what you wish for...

So I was up for the trade. I wanted the Grizzlies to acquire a veteran capable of taking some of the scoring pressure off of Gay and Mayo. As is this team is going to be real easy to defend. Most of our scoring will be coming from the perimeter via our guards and Gay. None of the Grizzlies truly require a double team and our point guards and bigs are not experienced enough to utilize the pick and roll. So if you think defense is going to be our biggest problem, I simply can't agree. You can manufacture a decent team defense by scheme or effort but scoring in the NBA takes talent and mismatch advantages. The Grizzlies have very little of either. Be careful what you wish for...

Yes, acquiring Randolph was a risk. However, with a team devoid of low post scoring and really with only one other proven scorer on the entire roster, I think it was a risk worth taking. Randolph has his negatives. He is not a great or willing passer, he is a below average defender, he loves the strip club scene, and he has an entourage that is somewhat menacing. However, his two assets (interior scoring and rebounding) are the two things the Grizzlies need most. So it would seem that he would have to help the Grizzlies right?

...be careful what you wish for...

Arthur Comes Clean...But the Stain Remains

Darrell Arthur was in Memphis immediately after being expelled from the Rookie Transition Camp to face the music and air his side of the story.

Darrell was quoted as saying he didn't use marijuana that night nor has he ever used marijuana in his life. He admitted to making a big mistake by allowing the women into his room but he wants everyone to know he did not partake in any drug use nor does he condone it. In fact he wants to speak to local youth groups about the evils of drug use and how even being associated with them can damage your reputation for life.

The story, written by Ron Tillery in the Commercial Appeal, is not getting near the amount of national exposure the rumor did when it was first released however. This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who understands how the national media feasts on negative news but is less than interested in the truth behind the story. Almost everyone was quick to jump on the idea that Arthur and his college teammate were using drugs at the camp. Hardly a word was wasted in defense of the players suggesting they may not have been using the drugs themselves. I for one appreciate Ron going the extra mile to get the story from Arthur and not simply relying on rumors and hearsay.

The question becomes will anyone believe him? I assume people will use this as a way to distract him when he is on the road but how will the locals respond to Arthur? Will they give him the benefit of the doubt and trust him or will they assume he is another young man living high with the sudden riches he received for his talent at playing basketball? Many people, including someone on this blog, believe the league is full of marijuana smokers. An interesting attitude considering basketball is one of the most physically demanding sports requiring both stamina and quick bursts of speed.

Here's hoping that Memphians give Arthur a second chance to prove he is dedicated to being the best player he can on this team. Arthur is a big part of the youth movement of this team. He is talented and should be able to work his way into the rotation this season barring any roster moves being made by the team. His development will go a long way in determining how well the Grizzlies fared in the Pau Gasol trade. He has made a mistake but if what he says is true then it was only a mistake in judgement not character. A mistake many 20 yr old men could make given similar circumstances. The punishment was swift, public and severe.

Now Arthur needs to show that it was a singular error in judgement and not the first step down a road of poor decisions.

Friday Roundup: Links and such

Well it was not quite as quiet a week on the Grizzlies homefront as most people wanted with the news that Darrell Arthur was expelled from the Rookie Transition Camp. While it hasn't been released whether or not Darrell was actually involved in drug use, the women in the room was enough to ban him from the event. While mostly embarrassing it does cause on court issues to come into question such as his reputation for zoning out. Hopefully the financial penalty will be all that is neccessary to remedy this problem but the league can add on a suspension of indeterminate length and the team can impose their own penalties as well.

Chris Herrington is back from vacation and back being one of the best reporters of Grizzlies news in the business this week. Welcome back Chris and we hope you had a pleasant vacation with the family.

TrueHoop is kind enough to link to us from time to time so when Henry Abbott takes the time to write a full article on the Arthur situation I felt it appropriate to link back to him.

Ron Tillery has also been busy on the Edge Blog lately keeping fans informed on the recent trade rumors involving the team. Ron also wrote an insightful article on the Grizzlies in the paper. See Ron, we can write nice things about you too!

Our friend Tom Ziller over at Fanhouse puts his two cents worth in on the Arthur story as well. I really can't argue with his logic (mainly because it agrees with mine). TZ also ranked Rudy Gay at #39 in his ongoing listing of the Top 50 Players in the NBA.

Final word comes from David at David's Memphis Grizzlies Blog who says that players should only be punished for performance enhancing drugs and he would rather have Darrell high than skateboarding or motorcycling.

Lost in the smoke from the Arthur scandal was the fact that both O.J. Mayo and Marc Gasol were at the Rookie Camp too. It is unclear at this time if Hamed Haddadi was also at the camp. Since Haddidi signed right before the camp was scheduled to begin it is understandable if he didn't make it. There is also the question on his being able to understand anything being said there anyway.

Inside Hoops is confirming Ron Tillery's entry that the Grizzlies and Knicks are in discussions about Zack Randolph. This is interesting since Chris Wallace said on Chris Vernon's radio show that very few trades are done in September and October as most teams are focusing on the getting the team ready for the regular season and he fully expects the current roster to be in training camp on September 30th. I guess you can call him a liar if the deal gets done according to Dr. Zack.

The sad news here is that rumor involves Marko Jaric and Darko. Darko isn't a great loss but would leave us very thin at center. Losing Mr. Adriana Lima before the first pre-season game would be heart-breaking! Come on Grizzlies, at least let us have one game with Adriana in the stands before you ship him off!

Matt over at Hardwood Paroxysm must have seen our back to school series last week and has added his touch of Science to the world of Blogging. He rated us with some impressive blogs so I wanted to make sure everyone sees it.

Notes From Memphis has an interesting view of the Hamed Haddidi signing.

Rumors, Rumors, Rumors

Your main sources for the latest and greatest rumors.

Ron Tillery: Draft Day Musings Includes talk of acquiring Michael Beasley and/or Josh Howard, trading down with Charlotte and the latest word on Marc Gasol.

Chris Herrington: Beyond the Arc Herrington's own proposal to get Beasley, who to pick at #5, who to trade with to move down from #5.

Message Boards: As always, these guys are far more creative than anything I could ever come up with on my own.

A Blogger Among Men

As I mentioned in the draft workout blog, yesterday I was an invited guest at the Grizzlies workouts with Omar Casspi, Devon Jefferson and Charles Rhodes.

I felt like a fish out of water. Like a child among men. I didn't exactly feel comfortable if you get my drift.

Here I was sitting next to Chris Herrington and Chris Vernon, just a few seats away from Ron Tillery, Jarvis Greer and a slew of other well-known journalists and media personalities watching these big, young men getting put through the ringers and thinking "what the heck am I doing here?" I write a blog after all. I am not in these guys league.

I have said many times that I don't really know how to judge talent coming out of college. Well in college at least they are playing the game of basketball. What these guys did looked more like some medieval torture drill or Navy Seal training exercises. What the heck can these people determine from watching someone running up and down the court dribbling a ball as fast as they can? How can they determine who is going to be able to play in the NBA this way? I can dribble the ball up and down the court and not lose control of it with either hand AND I CAN'T PLAY BASKETBALL!

I'm serious. I couldn't make my high school team. I did make the final cut once but these guys are supposed to be slightly better than that yet watching the drills I couldn't tell you who was better among the three men much less whether or not they could make it in the NBA. They were running from drill to drill, alternating from a rapid fire shooting exercise from the perimeter, to one on one 'contact drills' which was an understatement to say the least. Professional wrestlers don't make as much as much contact as these guys did.

And it never really slowed down. One drill ended and another began and I was trying to see something that would make me say 'AHA. That is what I want to see in someone trying to make the Grizzlies.' It never came. Sure I saw some incredible plays by all three of the players but whether that makes them more interesting than a Casey Jacobson or Andre Brown I have no clue.

It really is more art than science. Sure guys took measurements and kept times and supposedly the players took a psychological profile test earlier in the morning but Chris Wallace, Gene Bartow, Tony Barone Jr and Sr were watching these drills intensely. They weren't chatting with the media or talking on the phone. They were watching and looking for clues from how hard the players drove the ball to how hard they charged for a rebound to how many free throws they could hit and I have no idea what they are using as a comparison and how anything I saw could help them make a decision.

Then it got worse.

The workout ended and we were told the players were now available for interviews. What they heck was I going to ask Omar Casspi who plays in Israel? Chris Herrington asked if he had to complete his military service. I didn't know he had military service. Damn what should I ask? I just stood there like a slug on the sidewalk.

What was I doing here?

When Chris Wallace came out to field questions I suddenly found myself surrounded by cameras and microphones. Probably intelligently I stepped out of their way before I was run over. They asked Chris a number of questions about the recent comments from Heisley (Mr. Heisley is free to say what he wants but I am happy with the trade and believe the team got the best deal offered), how he thought the players did (all of them worked hard and showed us a lot. None of these players were being considered for the #5 pick but all could be taken in the draft) and the such.

It was very surreal.

I want to thank Chris Vernon, Chris Herrington, Chris Wallace and especially Dustin Krugel for helping as much as possible to make me feel welcome and at ease. It didn't help a lot but it was nice of them to try. I really am not sure I belong at these events. I have nothing to add. Maybe if MemphisX or Zack were there they could garner something from these workouts but I sure didn't.

Not that I won't be back on Monday watching Kevin Love, DeAndre Jordan, Joey Dorsey and Javale McGee battling it out. I may be a fish out of water but I'm not stupid after all!

Links: Draft News

First up is the Commercial Appeal, where Ron Tillery reports live from Orlando:

What some critics view as nominal compensation in receiving the Los Angeles Lakers' 28th pick in the first round of the June 26 draft, Griz general manager Chris Wallace sees as a calculated risk that can pay high dividends.

He also lists some players that the Grizzlies might be targeting:

Among the players the Griz will consider at 28 are: Wayne Ellington (North Carolina), Shan Foster (Vanderbilt), Darnell Jackson (Kansas), Jeremy Pargo (Gonzaga), Richard Hendrix (Alabama), Joey Dorsey (Memphis), Davon Jefferson (Southern California), Trent Plaisted (Brigham Young) and JR Giddens (New Mexico).

Of course, the name that stands out to most Memphis fans is that of Joey Dorsey, as evidenced by our poll to the right. However, Geoff Calkins says "Now, don't get all sentimental on us, Grizzlies" when it comes time to make the tough choices in the draft. In fact, he outlines a few flawed ideas that many fans have about the draft this year. It is a great read that I highly recommend.

After Chris Herrington posted this blog entry last week, the Grizzlies Messageboards lit up with the idea that new assistant coach Kevin O'Neill was being brought in as a replacement for head coach Marc Iavaroni. I said then that it was nothing more than conjecture (which Chris himself admitted from the beginning) and maintain the same stance now. Fortunately, Pete Pranica rode in just in time to back up what I said upon hearing of the news:

Back now, I’ve been encouraged by the reports of hiring Kevin O’Neill as an assistant coach for Marc Iavaroni’s staff. O’Neill has a track record of putting good defensive teams on the floor. Give credit to the Grizzlies’ front office and coaching staff for considering the move as it underscores their commitment to addressing the Grizz’s most glaring weakness.

This is a great move to shore up an obvious weakness and everyone should leave the conspiracy theories alone for a little while.

There have also been a number of trade rumors floating around, which is not unusual leading up to the draft. Some of the more entertaining ones:

Hoopsworld: PG's for Sale? - "We've heard rumors that the Heat would deal their #2 overall pick to the Grizzlies for #5 and either Mike Conley, Kyle Lowry, Juan Carlos Navarro, or Javaris Crittenton. In fact, basically any team that needs a point guard is rumored to have a trade scenario on the table or at least in discussion with Memphis GM Chris Wallace. The simple truth, however, is that the Grizzlies are not nearly as infatuated with making a deal as the rumor folks would have you believe."

DraftExpress - "There is already some talk that Minnesota will look to make a trade with Memphis GM Chris Wallace, who would then have the option of fortifying his front-court by drafting Brook Lopez at #3, or swinging for the fences and taking O.J. Mayo. Memphis could offer Minnesota the young prospect of their choice in Kyle Lowry, Hakim Warrick or Javaris Crittenton to help facilitate the deal. Wallace only has two more years left on his contract and needs to make as big a splash as possible in this draft to jump-start Memphis’ rebuilding process, meaning he could be leaning more towards taking Mayo, especially if his team is drafting 5th."

Blazers Blog (OregonLive.com) - "It appears the Memphis Grizzlies have interest, offering Mike Miller to Portland for Travis Outlaw and the No. 13. Excuse me? As expected, Kevin Pritchard and the Blazers respectfully declined the offer." Chris Wallace strongly denied this offer ever took place while talking to Chris Vernon on 730 ESPN yesterday afternoon.

Speaking of Mike Miller, he and his wife made the local news recently by donating $200,000 to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. That is the single largest donation to the hospital by an individual Grizzlies player. Good job Mike and Jennifer!

Websites to read while waiting for the draft:
Ridiculous Upside
Wages of Wins Draft Preview
DraftExpress
Yahoo! Sports: Pre-draft camp Day 2
2008 NBA Mock Draft Database (DC Pro Sports)

Grizzlies Coverage In Spain

The Grizzlies are in Spain. No surprise to anyone reading this site.

What some fans might be surprised at is the level of coverage we have to devour.

First, I'd like to praise the blogging Ron Tillery is doing (did I just say that?) over at the Memphis Edge, the blog ran by the Commercial Appeal (go check it out, you'll also find some great posts from Chip there, like this one). I'm happy to see the CA sending Tillery over to Spain. He has photos and even some videos. Here are some highlights from his first few posts from Spain:

--The Grizzlies flew in style.
--Lots of media there to greet the Grizzlies. Ok, ok. Lots of media there to greet Pau and Navarro.
--Mike Conley likes McDonalds.
--Lowry returned to practice and looked 100%.
--Stromile has a sore knee (don't act so surprised).
--A number of Grizzlies along with Kenny Smith met with children at a local hospital.

But that is not all we have from Spain. Grizzlies.com is posting a ton of photos from each day. They have photos getting off the plane and of the first two practices. I especially like the photos from the 2nd practice. It seems the photos posted on the Grizzlies webpage are taken by Joe Murphy for Getty images. Even more of his photos of the Grizzlies are found at Yahoo. There are some cool pics of Mike and Pau at a EA Sports NBA Europe Live Tour event.

(off topic...while I'm writing this post, I just got captivated by one of those new black/white Grizzlies commercials...nicely done, IMO...there are a number of commercials using the phrase "New Game" and all of them are quite good...I have seen a couple of different ones tonight, three I think, and my favorite is of Hakim and Rudy playing one-on-one in an empty gym.)

TrueHoop has a post talking about how Blog Crazy the Warriors are. That got me thinking about how the Grizzlies now having 3 players blogging. Casey Jacobsen is starting up a blog on grizzlies.com. Here is the link to his first post. He thinks the Grizzlies will win a lot of games this year. Hak and Conley both have updated their yardbarker blogs. Does anyone know what team has the most players contributing to some sort of blog on the internet? 3 has to be close to the most I would guess.

Going back Tillery's coverage of the Spanish training camp trip, I got to thinking. Why isn't there this much coverage while the Grizzlies are in Memphis? Why couldn't have Tillery posted blog posts on the Memphis Edge about the training camp practices here in Memphis? The media saw a good amount of the practices here. Chris Herrington wrote a great post about what he saw. I see no reason why Tillery can't provide more Grizzlies coverage by utilizing the blog format on the Memphis Edge like he has for this Spanish trip. I hope he does during this season.

Gasol Interview and Media Madness

Pau Gasol did a conference call interview with NBA.com about international basketball, training camp, teammate Juan Carlos Navarro and the changes and adjustments he expects to see with the team this year. Here's one of the many questions he answered:

Q: You and Dirk Nowitzki are the best basketball players from Europe. Which areas do you need to improve to become an MVP player like Nowitzki?

A: I guess different areas you can always improve. To become an MVP you have to be one of the top five teams in the league to have that kind of respect and recognition from the media and press and the league. There are always things you can improve. I am continuing to work on every aspect of the game. I’m working on becoming a bigger presence on defense, to block more shots and be more consistent with my rebounding, give more consistency to my team. My offensive game is pretty clean. I’m trying to feel more comfortable to shoot a little more from outside and be more versatile; keep working on my low post game.

Reading the question above, I wonder what Tony Parker thinks about being left off the list of best players from Europe? Guess that didn't fit into the Regular Season MVP line of thinking, did it? He was only a Finals MVP, after all.

It also appears that the Memphis Grizzlies will be all over the local airwaves this season.

GM Chris Wallace has a weekly segment on 730 ESPN Radio with Chris Vernon. We here at Shades of Blue are big Chris Wallace fans, so we highly recommend listening to him go back and forth with Verno.

It was announced today in the Commercial Appeal that head coach Marc Iavaroni will have a regular segment on AM 560 WHBQ every Thursday afternoon from 5:30-6:00 PM during the regular season beginning October 18th. It is reported that he'll be have Grizzlies beat writer Ron Tillery and Sports 56 programming director Eli Savoie as co-hosts, which should prove to be interesting, to say the least. You can also go to their website to listen to interviews that Iavaroni and Wallace did earlier this week.

We bid adieu to sideline reporter Tony Luftman, as he has taken over the duties of studio host for the pre-, halftime and post-game TV reports for the Portland Trailblazers. It has been reported that Rob Fischer will be taking his place. Fischer is a local radio co-host who can be heard on AM 560 WHBQ on The Sports Bar.

Finally, when the team goes to Spain for part of training camp this month, don't despair. After all, you'll be able to watch the games on NBA TV on Oct. 9 & 11. Go to the Europe Live 2007 TV schedule to see other games they'll be carrying.