THE "OFFICIAL" AROUND THE NBA 2012-13 THREAD...........

Oh here they come speak of the devils

 

Rubio sucks

 

Rubio two turnovers in last minute. Garbage player.

 

God rjcmg shcms

 

I can't wait to see how he fits in once he learns the system. His post-game interview was very telling. When our sideline guy asked him what he was looking forward to, he said that he was looking forward to not only learning their playbook but also learning the other players' games so that he could be a better facilitator. That's something the Grizzlies have been sorely lacking... an experienced veteran who knows how to win, knows how to play defense, and is going to defer to his teammates when necessary. He's everything that Grizz fans always really wanted out of Rudy Gay...

 

Sorry VooDoo, but I think the Grizz are going to really miss Gay. I was really enjoying watching you guys this year to. I could be wrong, but he is a baller.

 

He's been awful this year. Significantly worse than the last few years. He might very well be a baller, but I think both Gay and the Grizzlies will prosper from this. It wasn't working out great for either of them before.

 

Yeah, maybe I'm being a bit too optimistic, but it's hard not to try to look on the bright side of things when you team makes a major deal like that.

In reality, I wish we got a lot more for Gay. I've wanted to trade him for a long time, but I was picturing getting someone like Andre Iguodala in return, not Tayshaun Prince. I'm also worried about how opposing defenses will approach our offense now. Gay was inefficient, but he drew a lot of defensive attention from opposing teams. Now that teams know we're "vulnerable" on the perimeter offensively, it'll be interesting to see if teams try to test our perimeter guys.

With that said, I'm going to remain optimistic and give this one some time. We're somewhere between the current Denver Nuggets and the mid-2000's Detroit Pistons at the moment...

 

Memphis should have at least asked for Ross.

But I do like their PF/C rotation.

 

I hear ya about trying to stay positive....... I was super down after we traded ZBO. I understand the whole addition by subtraction, but I just thought we could have gotten more in return.

 

I thought so too. KP seemed pretty overeager to pull the trigger in his quest to overhaul the roster and expunge the whole "Jail Blazers" image.

 

Was that really the only reason Z-Bo got dealt? I mean, watching him now, he's one of the most valuable frontcourt players in the league. I know that distractions can sometimes outweigh the output on the court, but was there really anything on the floor that actually made him "addition by subtraction?"

 

It was a bad trade. And the Knicks and Clippers were garbage so he had no chance of succeeding there.

 

Both the Knicks and Clippers gave up on Zach, too. He's the rare case of a guy who actually got his head straight and became a good teammate, an All-Star player, and somebody who helps their team win games after years of messing up. How that happened is something NBA GMs want to bottle and spray on players like Chris Washburn and DeMarcus Cousins.

I can't really blame him, though, because he had Rasheed Wallace, Bonzi Wells, Damon Stoudamire, Ruben Patterson, and a few other fuck-ups as his NBA "mentors" when he was a young player in Portland.

 

The ironic thing about that is that Damon Stoudamire later wound up being his coach in Memphis.

I knew all about Z-Bo's attitude and off-the-court issues. I'm a diehard Michigan State fan, so I've been following him since he came into the program in 2000, but HCP's "addition by subtraction" comment just sorta threw me off and made me think maybe he was hurting the team with his play as well.

BTW - Don't forget Qyntel Woods from Memphis. Z-Bo allegedly beat the shit out of Ruben Patterson in Qyntel Woods' defense. In terms of teammate altercations, that ranks up there with Samaki Walker getting a black eye from Kobe.

 

The new guys had come in. Roy and Aldridge. I don't think Brandon really liked ZBO and I think he is why he got the boot. Old regime vs the New. I will say that knowing Zach personally, he is a genuinely good guy. Nice always cool. When we were on the road at a restaurant, he would pick up our tab. Very chill........ but man did he make some bad decisions. Hung with some bad cats and let them point him in the wrong direction. I think they just wanted to start fresh out here and he was the last man standing that was left of the "Jail Blazers". Love his game though, always have.

 

The grand plan was to elevate LaMarcus to the starting 4 spot, draft Greg Oden and install him as the starting 5 for the next fifteen years and give the ball to B-Roy and let 'em figure it out. So I guess you could say there were some roster related reasons, but what he got back was so paltry (Steve Francis' 20 million dollar corpse which was immediately bought out and Channing "Charmin" Frye) it just didn't seem like he did much with a really productive asset. Who knows, maybe that was the best he could get for Zach at that time?

 

Something that were forgetting because its in hindsight and we all watching Frye under preform and be the softest PF/C in the league was that he was a promising big. Still should have gotten more for ZBO but I was excited about Frye Lots of potential and a good jump shooter, he just never turned into anything on the Blazers.

 

put up 14.2/9.5 per36 his first season in portland