Grizzly 52 Pick-Up

1. Darko, pick up an anger management book. Learn to harness your temper, unlike the Serbia-Greece postgame incident, and put it towards your play on the court.
2. Coach, pick up your pride after last season. Don't listen to those who blasted you, you're a rookie head coach. I've got the faith. There is no I in team, but I want I on the sidelines.
3. Conley, pick up the weights. I heard you have, but pick them up again. And again. Repeat.
4. Hakim, pick up the weights. Ditto the rest of numero tres for you.
5. Lowry, pick up the fact that when you drive through the lane, you need to be a bit more controlled. I love your bulldog-like tenacity, but a little more controlled chaos would be beneficial to the team's overall game.
6. Rudy, pick up a scouting report on yourself. You are a STUD, my man. Teams adjust their gameplans to YOU. Put this team on your shoulders and become the star I believe you can be, the star some have already annointed you, and the star some think you can never be.
7. 'Toine, pick up a health and fitness book, report to camp in shape, and hopefully you can get some playing time. I mean, you do have a ring that isn't breaded with an onion inside of it, so I believe you've still got game. Let's see it, because I don't want us to have to spend our "capspace" bolstering our bench...so you can sit on it without breaking it.
8. OJ, pick up some more bowties for press conferences and post-game reports. GQ.
9. Marc, pick up a mirror. Then you will realize you look like the spawn of Mike Miller and your brother. Of course, if you have a hybrid game of Mike Miller and your brother, then you are going to be worth every bit of your money and then another of your salary on top of that.
10. Marko, pick up a nice dress for Adriana to wear for opening night. That can be your contribution to the team and the fans.
11. Greg, pick up a clipboard. You're going to be a player-coach this season anyway. maybe occasionally spelling Rudy at the 3.
12. Darrell, pick up a head full of steam and barrel through the post using your speed at the 4. I'd like to see you start at the 4, but you will likely have to back up Hakim, so make your minutes count. Use your advantages.
13. Hakim, pick up your dribble after having the ball for a few seconds, then pass. I hate watching you dribble almost as much as I hated watching OJ Mayo play PG in Summer League.
14. Marc, pick up rebounds. That IS why we signed you, or it should have been. We never can seem to rebound worth spit.
15. Kevin O'Neill, pick up Darko's anger management book after he is finished reading it. Turn that book into your Bible.
16. Michael Heisley, pick up the tab on some players, please. Capspace, Shmapspace. You want a winner, let's build one.
17. OJ, pick up games with high profile players = good thing. It gets your name out there, gets the word around that you are the real deal, makes you better, which in turn makes us look good as well.
18. People in the Advertising Dept, pick up on the fact that some of this just isn't cutting it. The "Hello Mayo" poster? Absolutely gorgeous. Where are our billboards, our bus signs, our commercials...something with pizzazz, flash, flair..."just like what the Grizz are going to bring this season."
19. Casey, pick up my car from valet out front. It's the Crossfire, black. Here's three dollars. The first three you made all night.
20. Critt, pick up the ball when youre open from the 3 point line, and jack it like a TV from a New Orleans store display. You, along with Toine, Rudy, Mayo and maybe Jaric are our only credible three-point shooters. Man, losing Mike in that aspect hurts.
21. Coach, pick up your clipboard and draw up some plays this season. Please, no more high-post handoff predictability.
22. Conley, pick up the speed more, if possible. Not because you're doing anything wrong, but because I'd just like to see how fast you really are. Top 5 in the L, in my personal opinion.
23. Kevin O'Neill, pick up some throat lozenges for after the game. I have a feeling you will need them.
24. Rudy, pick up the other team's players (and possibly our own) jaws after you blow past them for a rim-rattling, earth-shattering, mind-altering dunk.
25. Hakim, pick up a pair of clippers and shave that soul patch if you aren't going to go full beard on us. It's all-in or fold, buddy.
26. Darko, pick up your head if you don't make the first shot. It's not the end of the world, get your head back in the game. I'm tired of seeing your first shot not fall and then watch you get your confidence down the rest of the game and it affect your play. Go hard every minute.
27. Darrell, pick up a new hairstyle or something, anything but a headband. If Hak takes my advice and shaves the soul patch, I will have no chance of distinguishing you two lanky post players with headbands and no facial hair from all the way up in my section. Wait...you're the one who can play defense, right?
28. Hak, pick up a defensive scheme once in a while. Wait...no dont...then it would go back to you two being undistinguishable again...noooo....
29. Conley, pick up a Ja Rule cd cover. It's going to be like looking into a mirror for you, seriously.
30. Anyone, pick up a Downtowner magazine or an RSVP Memphis mag so we can stuff it down Phil Jackson's throat the next time he wants to say our downtown looks like Dresden.
31. Marc, pick up a laptop or anything with internet access and read the things that Memphis fans have said about your brother. Learn from it. Play the exact opposite.
32. Lowry, pick up some Air Jordans or some Nikes with heels. 6'0 my left foot. I'm 6 foot tall, and I was taller than you. Can you imagine Lowry with height on him? Man. Those "Trade Conley" advocates might get a vote from this "independent" on that front.
33. Rudy, pick up your teammates when they get down, and get on em when they mess up. That's what a leader of a team does.
34. Michael Heisley, pick up this team and move it, and you will have an entire city chasing you up to Chicago. You don't want that. Crime is already bad enough in Chicago this year without adding angry Memphians in the mix.
35. To Whom It May Concern, pick up the initiative I propose for opening night. The National Anthem shouldnt be done in person, we should all stand while the video of Isaac Hayes singing the Anthem at a Grizzlies game plays over the jumbotron, followed by a moment of silence for a Memphis Soul Icon. It'd be a classy move.
36. Coach, pick up your players and shake them from time to time. Don't make O'Neill do it every time. You can still be the nice guy...you can be the nice father with a stern hand.
37. Critt, pick up your speed. If we do trade Conley, or Lowry, you become the backup PG. If we are going to in fact be a running system, we're going to need speed. If we lose Conley the Ferarri, or Lowry the bulldog, we need speed and toughness at the point. You can be J-Critt the Challenger R/T. Speed and muscle. Speaking of that...
38. Critt, pick up the weights after Conley and Hak are done with them.
39. Darrell, I'll say it again, pick up a distinguishable characteristic. You are similar to the generic "Create-a-Player" on NBA Live 09. Grow some braids, dye your hair like the Rodman Rainbow, change your name to "Cero Cero" a la Chad Johnson...something.
40. Lowry, pick up the foul that ISNT an offensive one when you run into the post.
41. OJ, pick up a local newspaper. There is a buzz for you being here in the M. Take that, seize it, and you and Rudy become a two-headed monster. Maybe one day, the two of you will be ranked on a Dynamic Duo list.
42. Marc, pick up and absorb everything you learned from FIBA, the Olympics, and even at Lausanne. Apply it on the court here, and you will begin to step out of your brother's shadow. Not here, of course. You can drive through Memphis and see tomatoes and arrows thrown at the ground because a shadow that looked like Pau was there at one time.
43. Marko, pick up a GQ magazine, flip past that "Mayo Brings Back the Bowtie" article and find you some fashion tips. That way you can look fly on the bench. I kid, I kid. Not every game.
44. 'Toine, pick up the guts to say No to the Paula Deen Buffet. I know its right past the state line, but resist...RESIST!
45. Michael Heisley, pick up the WSJ and see if we have a trade embargo with Iran. Maybe if we dont, we can explore trade options for Hadadi and expiring contracts for, you know, capspace.
46. Hak, pick up some fattening food. I should have listed that first, but eat Eat EAT before you pick up the weights. Otherwise you will turn into a human strand of sinew, muscle and bone from working out. Sorry for not clarifying. Eat, then work out.
47. Darko, pick up the English language better. That way, if you do go into another tirade, I will be able to understand it without subtitles, and it will give me great entertainment.
48. Scouting team, pick up a report on Blake Griffin. If we have a terrible season, and we still have no answer at the 4 spot, tell the appropriate people to do everything they can to ensure that we get him.
49. Sportswriters and Analysts, pick up on the fact that the Grizzlies ARE NOT GOING ANYWHERE. You can stop with your X-Files conspiracy theories. It isn't going to happen. Las Vegas doesn't have grizzlies, and they aren't going to have ours either.
50. OJ, pick up Rudy before one of your pickup games. Do a little two on two. It will establish chemistry with our duo, and get both of you some great experience in the process. The only thing better than it helping you, is if it helps both of you.
51. Fans, pick up your tickets for the entire season or just a game, whatever you can do. Support the NBA in Memphis.
52. And lastly, Anyone, pick up the habit of being a Grizzly fan.

Comparing to the Celtics (or Ridiculousness to Pass the Time)

Two seasons ago, the Memphis Grizzlies and Boston Celtics "fought" to the wire for the title of "worst team in the NBA" in order to garner the best shot at the two "no doubt future superstars" in the draft in the form of Greg Oden and Kevin Durant. Alas, their "efforts" were all for naught, as both finished outside of the top 3 positions in the draft, slated #4 and #5 respectively. As we all know, the Celtics didn't sit idly by, but were very active, as they traded away their younger assets for the services of two veterans -- Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett. Those moves helped them to surround longtime Celtic Paul Pierce with enough talent to not only make the postseason, but to do so with the best record in the NBA and go on to win the NBA Championship this year. However, there was also another key acquisition that spurred the Celtics on to title aspirations. That was the hiring of a new assistant coach.

Enter Tom Thibodeau. In his 18 seasons of being an assistant coach in the NBA, his team has finished in the Top 10 in overall defense 14 times. He is a defensive specialist -- that is what he does. Of course, at the time of his hiring, many wondered if he was simply the "coach in waiting" for Doc Rivers, who was perceived to be a lame duck by many. Any of this sound familiar yet? It sure does to me, in light of the way that many people received the news that Kevin O'Neill was being hired for the purpose of bolstering the Grizzlies' defense. There was rampant talk of the move "undermining Coach Marc Iavaroni" and that O'Neill was just in place to be "the next head coach" once Ivy was let go. Unfortunately for all those people -- some of whom just love to stir up trouble -- the fact is that O'Neill was brought in with Iavaroni's full endorsement. We've gone over that issue before, but it bears repeating as we gear up for the season. Marc Iavaroni wants Kevin O'Neill on his staff. Period. End of discussion.


With that out of the way, I wondered if there were any parallels to the champs that we could draw, besides the coaching labels: Doc Rivers = Marc Iavaroni in the "Supposed Lame Duck" category (vastly overstated IMO); Tom Thibodeau = Kevin O'Neill in the "Hard-nosed Defensive Specialist/Coach-in-waiting" category. Since the first two examples were in the coaching staff, I decided to look at it from the perspective of leadership/attitude. So the next few comparisons are based upon that idea, not position, game type or skillset.

Kevin Garnett = O.J. Mayo

KG (or Mr. Intensity) is the unquestioned emotional leader of the Celtics. He is the guy that gets everyone else fired up and has no issue with getting in someone's face and screaming like a banshee if they aren't as into the game as he wants them to be. Rudy Gay is not that guy. Mike Conley hasn't shown that he will be that guy. I believe that Ovinton J'Anthony Mayo just might be that guy though. He has that certain presence that defies categorization beyond the label of "born leader". If anyone on this young team is going to take that initial step towards being the unquestioned emotional leader, I think that Mayo is the most likely choice.

Paul Pierce = Mike Conley

The Truth leads by example. He's not big on displays of emotion, preferring to let his actions speak for themselves. While KG is raw emotional intensity, Pierce possesses a quiet fury that bubbles just below the surface. In that same manner, Conley isn't a guy that gets into his teammates faces (not yet, anyways), but he carries himself like someone who knows what needs to be done and then goes out and does it. He could prove to be the on-the-court leader that the Grizzlies need as they mature over the season. Only time will tell.

Ray Allen = Rudy Gay

Jesus Shuttlesworth is one of the best 2nd fiddles in the league. The fact that he is a 3rd option for Boston makes him one of the best #3 men in the history of the NBA. While he's not a leader in terms of emotion or an "on-the-floor coach", he is an absolute assassin when the need arises. He puts up big numbers when the team needs a lift and has no issue with the ball being in his hands as the clock winds down to 0.0 with the game on the line. Rudy Gay is a lot like that to this point in his career. Whether it is scoring in bunches throughout the game or hitting deep 3's late in the 4th quarter to bring his team back from the brink of defeat, he has shown himself to be a clutch performer so far in his young career. Like Ray Allen, he is best suited to be the sidekick due to his approach to the game, but what a talent to have as the #2 option.

I could go on and on, making further comparisons like Kendrick Perkins = Marc Gasol/Darko Milicic, but I think we've covered the important parts. This is not to say that the Grizzlies are going to even come close to making the playoffs next season, much less contend for a title, but the makeup in terms of personality and attitude is there for them to show some improvement. If their talent level can reach even 75% of the players I have compared them to, they might just reach Tsunami Status a lot sooner than anyone expects. Wouldn't that be a nice surprise?

Summer League Review - The Team

Well now that the Rookie league team has completed play I suppose we can look back and try to discern what we learned about our players and the team in general.

It is hard to be too critical of rookie play since the team had two a days on Tuesday and Wednesday, flew to Las Vegas on Thursday and then played four straight games and 5 games in 6 days. Fatigue had to be an issue for everyone on the team. However the few bright spots the team did exhibit were quite bright. Defensively the team held their first opponent to a mere 35.9% shooting for the game. Their second opponent didn't fair much better only hitting 40% of their attempts. The impact of Kevin O'Neill and the defensive focus was readily apparent. The Grizzlies shot respectable as a team those first two games as well.

Then fatigue set in and the defense sagged while the shots stopped falling. It is ridiculous to assume this shouldn't have happened also. Yes these are professional athletes but when you are facing teams who haven't played as many games as you have in such a short period of time fatigue is the enemy you can't defend against. Overall I wasn't displeased with the team's performance.

The team looked about as good as you would expect under the circumstances they were thrown into. The better players on the team didn't play every game including Mike Conley missing the last two games. It seemed the team had found out everything they wanted to know about the veterans on the team and the last games were more about preparing the drafted rookies for the rigors of the NBA and trying to find out if anyone else on the roster was worth a second look.

There is no truth to the rumor, as far as we can find out, that Heisley requested that the team play their 5 games in 6 days so that he wouldn't have to pay for extra days in the hotel.

Interesting Conversations - Post Gasol Press Conference

I tried to tape the entire press conference introducing (or should I say re-introducing) Marc to Memphis but the quality was terrible and you can listen to everything said during the conference over at the Grizzlies web site so why bother?

What I did get that no one else probably has is some private time with Michael Heisley, Kevin O'Neill and Marc Gasol after the press conference where I could fill in some blanks from both this conference and the previous one introducing O J Mayo and Darrell Arthur to town.

First up I wanted to talk to Mr. Heisley. As usual once you get Mr. Heisley talking you know two things. He will answer your question to the best of his ability and he will tell you what he wants you to hear. With that in mind her is what Mr. Heisley and I talked about.

3SOB: Mr. Heisley, a question came up recently about some comments you made at the last press conference about wanting the Grizzlies to be competitive in 2-3 years. What exactly does competitive mean to you.
Mr. Heisley: Well it means to me that hopefully we will be a threat to be in the playoffs or in the playoffs and more importantly we will have the nucleus of the team in place so we can add to it that nucleus to be a championship contending team. We take the young players and they develop that is the basic nucleus of the team. Then when we get into that position and we have the salary cap room we hope to have then we can bring in one or two free agents and we could be a good force. That is my idea. Three years I expect to be in the playoffs. In three years I don't expect to be national champions.

Now maybe I'll be wrong but I would say that if people want to see the Grizzlies come out and I think you are going to see a totally different team. I brought in Kevin O'Neill. Kevin O'Neill is a fantastic defensive coach. He's involved in the practices down here now. He's making a world of difference. I feel we're in a place where we might be young, we might get beat but I want people to not want to come in here and play. That's the kind of team I want. The type of team that Boston was, that Detroit has been for years, that Michael Jordan and the Bulls were, people think of Michael Jordan as a scorer but he was probably as good a defensive player as there was in the NBA. There were two or three guys who were almost as good as he was [defensively], so when they played in the playoffs teams didn't get 80 points. It wasn't hard to beat them.

That's what I'd like to see. I'd like to see a team that first of all starts with a great defense and then has good offense. This idea that you are going to have an offensive team that is going to outscore every team in the NBA is becoming more and more a fallacy. Maybe some fans like it but I think fans enjoy winning a hell of a lot more. Now I don't want to see a dull team. Did you think it was dull watching what Boston did to LA this year? I didn't think it was dull at all. When you saw them shut down Kobe, I didn't think that was dull at all. I thought that was pretty spectacular.

That's the kind of thing I'd like to see. Now you can add scoring to that but if you are going to try and be a winner in the playoffs of the NBA then it's pretty obvious you are going to need to play defense. Phoenix finally recognized that and gave up on it.

So that's my philosophy. I hope 2-3 years from now we are a playoff contending team. One of the younger teams in the league with a nucleus of players that has the ability to go on to get good players.

3SOB: You had a meeting with Iavaroni at the end of the season and basically said you expect to see improvement over the next 12 months. With a 3 yr outlook to becoming competitive, how does that fit with him and his situation?
Mr. Heisley: Marc's going to have to show he can run this team. It's that simple. Last year was not acceptable and Marc will tell you that. I wasn't happy with it. I think Marc understands that. I think with Kevin O'Neill working with Marc on defense, and Marc has a lot of talent, he's got a lot of knowledge, he's just got to put it together. Remember last year was his first year as a head coach ever. At any level. And we had some bad nights. When I met with him I wanted to see what he has absorbed from last year.

My point is that it's 3 years. We aren't there yet. That's not just Marc that's everybody. Period. Now there won't be any decisions in the press. I am committed to this. It's what I said after the draft.

I think this is great. Everybody thinks that Pau Gasol was so terrible. Well now we have Darrell Arthur. Okay? He ain't bad! And if his brother turns out to be as good as we hope he can be...Now I am not going to say he's going to be the best center in the league but I really do hope he can be a contributing center in the league so now you have two pieces. Plus you got the cap room. So we don't look so stupid (as we did a few months ago).

The point is Gasol comes from the same family as his brother did and yet he's a totally different player than his brother but if he can be as good as his brother I would be ecstatic. My point is that he's not going to be. He's a different player. I think his game is rougher. I think he's more of a traditional post up, back to the basket center. I think he's more of a rebounder, more of a defensive player but like his brother he's a good passer and quite frankly he's a good quality kid. He comes over with an advantage Pau did not come over with in that he's been in the United States. He knows the country and the people. He spent two years of high school here plus his family is here.

So I am really intrigued to see what he turns out like. He'll get every opportunity and if Darko doesn't step up then he'll be able to get a lot of minutes.

The talks with Kevin O'Neill and Marc Gasol will be posted later.

Getting Defensive: Grizzlies Set To Hire Kevin O'Neill

According to the Commercial Appeal, the Grizzlies will be hiring Kevin O'Neill to be the new lead assistant to head coach Marc Iavaroni. O'Neill was previously an NBA assistant coach under Jeff Van Gundy and Rick Carlisle, as well as the head coach of the Toronto Raptors for the 2003 season. He also has a lot of head coaching experience in the college ranks, having run the programs at the University of Tennessee, Marquette University and Northwestern University, as well as the interim coach for the University of Arizona last season. His reputation is that of a defensive expert, which is a good thing, since the Grizzlies were one of the worst defensive teams in the NBA last season by every statistic in common usage.

28th in Opponents' PPG
29th in Opponents' FG%
27th in Opponents' FGA
30th in Opponents' FGM
27th in Opponents' APG
27th in Opponents' RPG

In other words, this team doesn't defend well enough to beat much of anyone consistently. If people want to see the Grizzlies run and win, then it will start with defense. Defense creates turnovers, which leads to easy baskets. Defense leads to contested shots and perimeter attempts, which lead to blocks and long rebounds, which lead to fast break opportunities. Defense leads to running, if that is what a team truly wants to do. I realize that the Suns and Warriors don't play much defense and are able to execute a running style and win games. But they aren't able to win against teams that have a committment to run and defend when necessary, like the Spurs or Pistons. Spurs/Pistons = 5 recent titles; Suns/Warriors = 0 recent titles. Guess which one I'm leaning towards...

Back to O'Neill. I remember him well as the coach of both the Vols and Golden Eagles, and saw the job he did with the Wildcats this season, too. His reputation as a screaming tyrant is deserved, but I accept that from an assistant more readily than from the top dog for some reason. Players need a "players coach" as the head man, which means that they need a disciplinarian or two amongst the assistants to help keep order. O'Neill should be that guy, who will help the team develop sound defensive practices, while ripping the youngsters (and maybe a veteran or two) a new one when it is deemed necessary. Welcome aboard K.O.!