Transitions

Last night, the Grizzlies drafted Kevin Love at #5, and then Donte Green at #28. I posted my thoughts on the blog below, and then went to bed like most Memphis fans, thinking the Grizz roster just got two iffy players and no real sparkle.

Waking up Christmas morning is nice, but this morning was darn close. During the night (at about 1145pm last night) the Grizz traded Kevin Love to the Timberwolves for OJ Mayo (drafted #3), among other players. And right before that deal, the Grizz traded Donte Greene to Houston for Darrell Arthur (drafted at #27, power forward from Kansas). The Mayo trade also helped us by getting rid of Brian Cardinal and, unfortunately, Mike Miller. We got some solid veterans though in return in Marko Jaric, Antoine Walker, and Greg Buckner. Read about the deals in short articles here, here, and here. That first headline in the Sacramento paper is awesome!

My dad wears transitions. You know, the glasses that transition to a darker tint, like sunglasses, when the sun shines upon them. I couldn't help but think of them and laugh, as I read the postings on the Grizzlies draft article on Commercial Appeal.com, the Memphis newspaper. 173 comments from 4pm yesterday until right now (~10am Friday). My father would be proud of the transition that I spotted in these posts, which went from hopeful to excited to angry to denial to absolute joy. These comments, along with their time stamps, tell a better story than I ever could. Its a bit long, but incredibly entertaining. I have even given my subtitles in red to guide you through the emotions:

Optimism

Posted by Sandman35739 on June 26, 2008 at 5:08 p.m. (Suggest removal)
If the Grizzlies end up picking Kevin Love I think I will vomit.
Make a deal, any deal, but don't sign Love.

Posted by Rees901 on June 26, 2008 at 5:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)
no trade rumor i have read involving the grizz has been favorable for us. is wallace really that stupid??!!

Posted by ricksiders on June 26, 2008 at 5:15 p.m. (Suggest removal)
There is absolutely nothing wrong with Love; and in fact, the guy fits a VERY big need for the Grizzlies...Power Forward. In addition, the guy is ready to contribute, and there is no doubt in my mind that he will put up 16ppg and 10rpg NEXT year! The Grizzlies need to get tough, and they need to play defense. What better way to do this than with the 19 year old from UCLA that has always been, and will continue to be, a winner!

Anger

Posted by Sandman35739 on June 26, 2008 at 7:07 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I can't believe they took Love.
Remind me not to order season tickets next year.

Posted by sputnik7 on June 26, 2008 at 7:23 p.m. (Suggest removal)
For the second year in a row Wallace plays it safe and boring. No guts no glory. This will be a super boring team. Seattle makes the gutsy pick and it will pay off. What a frigging let down!!! Go from the best player in the draft to the most boring! So much for trying to win fans!! Man, will this organization ever get it right???CW for dog catcher!!!

Posted by tigerlegacy on June 26, 2008 at 7:35 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Kevin "Big Country" Love? What a joke. Dorsey exposed him like every athlete in the NBA will. Didn't we just get rid of a big soft guy with "great" basketball skills that was a few inches taller than Love.
I can't wait to hear Ron Tillery try and spin another terrible move by the Griz.
Heisley needs to sell to the local ownership or take this terrible franchise to the Chicago suburbs so that they can be the Clippers of the Midwest.
What a joke!

A little bit of hope . . .

Posted by Sandman35739 on June 26, 2008 at 8:40 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Eight picks to go in the First Round and CDR is still available. Somebody is going to get a steal.

Posted by Sandman35739 on June 26, 2008 at 9:09 p.m. (

Suggest removal)
Pick #28 is up and CDR is still available!
If the Grizzlies don't blow this pick I might even forgive them for taking Love.

Posted by dwcoyote on June 26, 2008 at 9:12 p.m. (

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CDR, CDR, CDR, CDR, come on Grizzlies!!!!!

More Anger

Posted by lcsteven on June 26, 2008 at 9:17 p.m. (Suggest removal)
They scr*wed the pooch by not taking CDR.

Posted by brad on June 26, 2008 at 9:26 p.m. (Suggest removal)
UN ........ REALDo the Griz NEVER WANT TO SELL ANOTHER TICKET???
I can't BELIEVE the stupidity of this organization.
You pass on CDR at #28?You take that BLEEPING pick just to get a**es in that building!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What an embarrassment.Clearly there are no intelligent decision makers in our front offices.
HEY GRIZ - YOU JUST DROVE THE NAILS IN YOUR OWN COFFIN.

Posted by dafranchise1 on June 26, 2008 at 9:27 p.m. (

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F*** The Memphis Grizzlies. How in the hell do you not select Chris Douglass Roberts ? Now i'm thinking CDR coming out early was a bad move. It is a shame how some of the garbage in the drafte are getting drafted before him.

Posted by krc00d on June 26, 2008 at 9:28 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Folks, wait for the trade. This is called snagging an extra piece. Greene was rated much higher than CDR, however silly that may be. Now the Griz can use him as trade bait to get 2 picks later in the draft or an extra player instead of just 1 overrated rookie (Greene).

Posted by starforce on June 26, 2008 at 11:15 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I now see why Boston could never do much with Chris Wallace running the show. Why oh why did the Grizzlies hire this idiot!

The Tide begins to turn . . .

Posted by krc00d on June 26, 2008 at 11:30 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Darrell Arthur is on the way to Memphis in exchange for Greene and a 2nd round pick next year. Given he was rated much higher than Greene on most charts, he could be a steal for the Grizzlies.

Posted by l_cbrown on June 26, 2008 at 11:44 p.m. (Suggest removal)
ESPN just reported OJ, Antione Walker to Memphis for Love, Miller, Cardinal

Posted by Memphis_Hotboy36 on June 26, 2008 at 11:45 p.m. (

Suggest removal)
ESPN just reported that we traded Kevin Love, Mike Miller, Brian Cardinal and Jason Collins to Minnesota for OJ Mayo, Marco Jarric (sp), Greg Buckner and Antonie Walker...not sure if I like this deal or not!

Kool-Aid Time . . . Jump for Joy

Posted by l_cbrown on June 26, 2008 at 11:46 p.m. (

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Future best backcourt in the league

Posted by krc00d on June 26, 2008 at 11:46 p.m. (

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Grizzlies have traded Kevin Love, Mike Miller, Brian Cardinal, and Jason Collins to the Timberwolves for OJ Mayo, Marko Jaric, Antoine Walker, and Greg Buckner.

Posted by xds4life on June 26, 2008 at 11:49 p.m. (

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O.J. Mayo!!!!

Posted by l_cbrown on June 27, 2008 at midnight (Suggest removal)
Awesome trade, Cardinal's (what is it 9mill salary is gone) and they get a future Allstar in Mayo.....and yes he will be an Allstar!!!!!!

Posted by XYZMemphis on June 27, 2008 at 1:15 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Chris Wallace proved his expertise with this trade. Are all the morons out there still trying to wake up and smell the coffee! Starting line up of Conley, O.J. Mayo, Rudy Gay, Darrell Arthur and Darko/Marc Gasol. Plus the 6th Man of the Year with Hakeem off the bench for instant buckets.
Remember, people, O.J. plays some hard-nosed defense, too. I am SOOO glad to get rid of Miller, who freezes up in the playoffs. Ha-ha, Minnesota, did you not know that? Oh, well, you won't be in the playoffs before the Grizzlies anyway!
We won't make the playoffs next year, but only because we will be so ridiculously young. But we will be exciting to watch and by the end of the year we will be beating a lot of playoff-bound teams! GIve this nucleus two or three years, plugging holes along the way, and we will finally win a playoff game and even a playoff series!

Posted by karma8 on June 27, 2008 at 7:13 a.m. (Suggest removal)
OMG!!! YESSSSSSS!!!! CW you're a genius!!!! Great great Deal!!!! Dude you rock!!! Mayo!! I cant believe it!! And they got rid to the albatross, Cardinal!!!!! Yes!!!!!!

More Drama coming?

Posted by Stbrjones on June 27, 2008 at 7:29 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I bet this isnt the end, I see a trade with Mayo going to Miami for Beasley.
Be on the lookout for it to happen any moment

Sorry if that was a bit long for you, but I was incredibly entertained.

More to come on the trade specifics later. But right now, a big kudos to Chris Wallace for taking a great chance on some talent. As I said in earlier posts, the Grizz have two major problems - a need for a perimeter player and defender to compliment Rudy Gay - and a power forward rebounder. I think we addressed both in OJ Mayo and Darrell Arthur.

And yes, there is a chance the Grizz will trade Mayo to Miami for Beasley. I don't know how much of a chance, but I'm sure they are talking/have talked. So stay tuned . . .

Greene Gay Love

Get your mind out of the gutter. The Grizzlies have strapped their short term future to the back of Gay - Love, the most deadly combination of talent since George Michael and Boy George toured the world in the summer of '88. The Grizzlies drafted Kevin Love with the #5 pick, and German born Donte Greene from Syracuse with the #27 pick. Check out their profiles in the attached links.

I feel disappointed somewhat, although the Grizzlies appeared to have gotten who they wanted all along. From day 1, the word was Grizzlies would get Kevin Love. After about 50 trade rumors, 7 mock drafts by Chad Ford, 4 blog posts by yours truly, hours of sports talk radio debate, and lots of rambling emails between my friends and myself, the result is simply where we started - Kevin Love.

There will be many Grizzlies fans that are disappointed in this pick. Many will be informed and intelligent supporters. Others will be ignorant Tiger fans that will take out their bitterness on Kevin Love. To the haters, I say this: lets let these kids prove it on the court. Lets give them a chance. I am not going to waste energy on what doesn't matter. The picks have been made, the outcome is yet to be determined. Here are 5 big reasons why Memphis Grizzlies fans should be excited about the two incoming 6 foot 9inch 20 year olds:

• 6 ft 9 guys that can shoot 3s never hurt an offense - Both guys shot 35% from beyond the arc. Green will play 3, while Love will play more 4. Each will have opportunities to shoot over much smaller or slower opponents. Big guys that can shoot = versatility = dynamic = more offensive options.
  
• Donte Greene has been compared to Rashard Lewis. Kevin Love has been compared to Kevin McHale. Both are very legitimate and hopefully accurate analogies.
  
• Kevin Love has good basketball instincts - Sometimes athleticism and measurables are overrated when faced with ball handling, shooting, and passing skills. The ability to put a good pump or head fake on a defender is just as effective as blowing by the guy with speed and quickness. Kevin Love has great instincts for pass fakes, pump fakes, and lots of other "tricks" to get his defender off balance or to create an opening. Love is just like CDR - unorthodox but just plain productive. Basketball fans will appreciate a great pass fake then backdoor alley-oop to Rudy. Thats pure Kevin Love.
• Donte Greene has athleticism - Athleticism is not overrated when you are simply faster, taller, quicker, and bigger, creating a mismatch. Donte Greene has the ability to be that mismatch at some point. 6 foot 9 guys that can create shots off the dribble and shoot the 3 do not come around often. I see him as a solid backup to Rudy Gay, and possibly another asset we can develop and maybe trade.
  
• The most important reason - Kevin Love wants to be a Grizzlie. How refreshing is that? Knowing that our city is more renown for murder and losing than our basketball team gets old. Hearing about players not coming to workouts for the Grizzlies or not wanting to play here gets old too. This kid was genuinely excited when he was drafted - and I believe he wants to bring excitement, passion, and winning attitude with him to Memphis full bore.
  

Just like I said previously in my Pau Gasol Trade Justification post, things cant be judged immediately. Tomorrow morning there will be grades all over the internet rating the Grizzlies as solid or whatever. The real grade occurs 3 years from now. Lets get our butts in the stands and give these kids a chance. I'm hopeful that Kevin Love will be the Anti-Pau - energetic, a rebounder, a good passer, and most importantly - a winner. More notes on the draft tomorrow.

Draft Day

"And now, with the 5th pick in the NBA Draft . . . there has been a trade. The Memphis Grizzlies have traded the 5th pick, along with Mike Miller and Kyle Lowery, to the Miami Heat for the rights to Michael Beasley"

How awesome would that be? More tomorrow once we process what actually went down.

Who said trouble?

In my most recent post last Friday, I was pulling a Randy Quaid on the Cardinals road trip to Fenway this past weekend. After getting swept by the Royals at home, and having 4 key players on the DL, I figured a trip to Fenway would send us reeling. Instead, we won 2 out of 3 in dominating fashion, and took the third game into extra innings, before losing in the bottom of the 13th. This team will just not give up and has yet to stop surprising everyone.

The Cardinals currently sit at 3.5 games back in the Central, with the 2nd best record in the National League, 5th best in all of baseball. The Cubs are still winning to of course, as they swept the cross town Chicago White Sox this past weekend. As I have mentioned before, the Cards and Cubs have lots of big series in late August that will determine the division crown. The Cardinals just need to hang in there and stay within striking distance, and then see what happens. Certainly the Cubs cannot continue all summer at this pace. Zambrano and Soriano are hurt, so maybe they are coming back down to earth.

Interesting Tribune article about the Cubs having success with former Cardinals. I praised the day we got rid of Jim Edmonds, because he is just too old to be effective and stay healthy. Sticking with the theme of the Cardinals season, Jimmy is proving me wrong, at least so far in Chicago. Getting younger and developing minor league talent has been a huge organizational goal since the Cardinals won the World Series in 2006. An overview of a few of the Cardinals top prospects is here, including a few Memphis Redbirds players.

Developing talent through the farm system is not only the best way to get young players, but also the best way to get cheap players. In baseball, players have no ability to be a free agent until they have given 6 years of service. If you draft well, then develop well, you can have 3 years or so of super cheap production. Ryan Ludwick, for instance, makes $411,000 this season . . . yet he is batting .300, with 16 home runs and 57 RBI, putting him easily as one of the top 5 outfielders in the national league, production wise, so far this year. He cannot sign with another team I believe for one more year. There certainly won't be many players with that much value, but at least 2 or 3 on your team at all times is definitely needed to win a championship.

The Cards won last night in Detroit, again in dominating fashion, 8-4. Next weekend, the Cards host the Cubs in a big July 4th series. With Pujols coming back, it would be nice to take advantage, since the Cubs may still have Zambrano and Soriano out. Lets go Cards

Trouble in St. Louis

The St. Louis Cardinals are definitely in trouble. After getting swept this week by the Kansas City Royals, the Cards head up to unfriendly Fenway Park to Boston for a 3 game set this weekend. With all the injuries that the Cardinals are dealing with (Wellemeyer, Pujols, Molina, Brad Thompson, Carpenter), the lack of depth and lack of starting pitching is beginning to show. Somehow, the Cardinals are tied with Philadelphia for the 2nd best record in the National League, at 42-32, luckily sitting only 3.5 games behind the Cubs, who were swept by Tampa Bay this week as well.

The Cardinals need to grind out a few wins and try to play at least .500 ball for the next two weeks. All season they have been consistently winning 2/3 in nearly every series, until this week's sweep by the lowly Royals. Every team hits a rough patch over a 162 game stretch, but its avoiding the prolonged bad run that separates good teams from bad.

There is a feeling that this team has played over its head so far this year, and might be regressing a bit. Injuries make it difficult to determine if the Cardinals slide is related to injuries or simply baseball's law of averages catching up to a team playing too well. Likely its a bit of both. The Cardinals have surprised me all year, because they seem to get going when the going get tough, as they say. I hope I continue to be surprised.

As I said recently, the Cardinals have a big July 4th series with the Cubs. This will be important, because the two teams won't meet again until a bevy of games in late August and early September. Pujols hopefully will be back by that series. Molina and some of the pitchers should be back this weekend or early next week from the DL. If the Cardinals can just stay within striking distance, the season will be much more entertaining come late August.