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.

Interview with the Enemy: Sactown Royalty

Sactown Royalty's Tom Ziller is considered one of the best bloggers around the internet. He is a blogger for AOL Sports' Fanhouse as well as Sactown Royalty. I was most interested in this interview not only for Tom's well earned reputation but in the similarities between the two teams. Sacramento has been revuilding after a string of playoff appearances, has owners who seemed to want to move the team and are coached by a former player in his first season as a head coach in the NBA. Tom also asked me some questions that I answered (hopefully not as poorly as I answered Ryan Shwan at Hornets 24/7). Anyway, if you want to read the answers to Tom's questions, here is the link .

1) In the last few years Sacramento has lost Peja Stojakovic, Bonzi Wells, Mike Bibby and rumors are that Ron Artest is on the way out as well. Is Sacramento closer to the end of the rebuilding stage or the beginning?

Closer to the beginning, unfortunately. Trading Bibby was a huge step, though, in freeing up some backcourt minutes (for Udrih and Douby) and getting enough under the luxury tax to sign Udrih this summer. The team's still about a season from playoff contention, though.

2) The Kings seem to be putting together some nice pieces with Spencer Hawes, Quincy Douby, Kevin Martin, Francisco Garcia and Beano Udrih. They've accomplished this without the benefit of a top 3 draft pick and the supposed superstar status that comes with those picks. Do you believe that Sacramento can attract a Superstar or that one is needed on this team?

This team needs Martin to continue to improve, Hawes to become a 18/8 big man... and one more top-flight player to contend, along with keeping good defensive roleplayers who can score (like Salmons and Garcia) and adding a banger power forward/center to make up for Hawes's athletic deficiencies. Beno is an above-average offensive point guard, for suffers on defense and doesn't quite have that star-scorer streak. If they can get under the cap, they can attract a superstar. It's all ca$h in this game.


3) The Maloof Brothers, owners of the Kings, have been rumored to be moving the team to Las Vegas or some other more lucrative city. Have the rumors been detrimental to the cities support of the Kings?

The rumors have stopped as the league stepped in to take over negotiations. This team won't be moving in the next two years, I imagine, if at all. Honestly, we as fans are maybe half as worried as we were over the last several years.

4) What are you thoughts on Reggie's first season and do you believe he is the right coach to turn things around in Sacramento?

I think Theus has had a certain degree of difficulty involved, that being Ron Artest. The defense under Theus has been much worse than it should be, but his game tactics seem good. He's a decent coach at worst, I think.


I had to throw that picture in for our female readers!