Memphis Grizzlies Blog – Page 30 – NBA Blog

Grizzlies re-sign Marc Gasol

Memphis Grizzlies General Manager Chris Wallace announced today that the team has re-signed center Marc Gasol to a multi-year contract. According to the Associated Press, it is “a five-year maximum contract worth more than $100 million.”

“Re-signing Marc Gasol was the No. 1 priority for our organization this offseason,” General Manager Chris Wallace said. “For many years, Marc has been a pillar of our franchise and in a Memphis community that has watched him become one of the best basketball players in the world, so this is a great day for our team, our city and our fans across the Mid-South and worldwide.”

Last season, Gasol (7-1, 255) averaged a career-high 17.4 points on 49.4 percent shooting, 7.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.62 blocks in 33.2 minutes in 81 games (all starts), guiding Memphis to 55 wins and a fifth consecutive appearance in the NBA Playoffs. He averaged 19.7 points, 10.3 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.73 blocks in 11 postseason games in leading Memphis to the Western Conference Semifinals for the third time in franchise history.

The 30-year-old scored 30-or-more points five times, including a career-high 33 points in the regular season finale on April 15 vs. Indiana, after doing so just once in his first six NBA seasons. Gasol continued to display his all-around versatility and was the only player in the league with at least 1,300 points, 600 rebounds and 300 assists.

During his career year, Gasol was named a starter in the 2015 NBA All-Star Game and was selected to the 2015 All-NBA First Team, becoming the first player in franchise history to be honored as either an All-Star starter or a member of the All-NBA First Team. He became one of just three second round draft picks since the NBA-ABA merger to make an All-NBA First Team (Dennis Johnson in 1981; Mark Price in 1993).

Gasol has accumulated many “firsts” over his first seven years with the Grizzlies organization. Gasol was named the NBA Defensive Player of the Year and selected to the All-NBA Second Team in 2013. He is the only player in club history to be recognized on either the All-NBA First Team or Second Team or to be named to multiple All-NBA Teams. Among his accolades, he is a two-time All-Star (2012, 2015) and one of just two Grizzlies (Zach Randolph in 2010 and 2013) to appear in multiple All-Star Games. In addition, he has been named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team (2013) and NBA All-Rookie Second Team (2009) as well as Western Conference Player of the Week in January 2012.

Originally drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers with the 48th overall pick in the second round in the 2007 NBA Draft, Gasol owns career averages of 14.1 points on 50.9 percent shooting, 7.9 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.55 blocks in 33.7 minutes in 517 games (510 starts) over seven seasons with the Grizzlies. Memphis acquired his draft rights from Los Angeles in a package for his older brother Pau Gasol on Feb. 1, 2008. The Barcelona native played high school ball in Memphis for Lausanne while Pau played for the Grizzlies and was named the MVP of the Spanish ACB league as a member of Akasvayu Girona before signing with Memphis prior to the 2008-09 season.

In the Grizzlies’ career record books, Gasol ranks first in defensive rebounds (3,003); second in games played (517), games started (510), minutes played (17,399), field goal percentage (.509) and blocks (802); third in free throws made (1,787) and attempted (2,359), offensive rebounds (1,066) and total rebounds (4,069); fourth in assists (1,552); and fifth in points (7,285) and steals (477). He set the single-season franchise record for field goal percentage by shooting 58.1 percent in 2009-10.

Grizzlies sign rookie forward Jarell Martin

Memphis Grizzlies General Manager Chris Wallace today announced the team has signed rookie forward Jarell Martin.

All players selected in the first round of the NBA draft are guaranteed to receive a contract, assuming they want to enter the league right away. This signing was expected, and is standard.

Martin (6-10, 235) was drafted by Memphis with the 25th overall pick in the first round of the 2015 NBA Draft after a two-year collegiate career at Louisiana State University (LSU), where he guided the Tigers to the 2014 National Invitation Tournament as a freshman and the 2015 NCAA Tournament as a sophomore. Named All-American Honorable Mention by The Associated Press last season, Martin left LSU with career averages of 13.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 30.7 minutes in 65 games (57 starts) for the Tigers.

A consensus First Team All-SEC selection last season, Martin posted 16.9 points, 9.2 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 35.1 minutes in 33 games (32 starts) as a sophomore, ranking third in the Southeastern Conference in scoring, rebounding and field goal percentage (.509) and fourth in minutes per game. The 21-year-old recorded 15 double-doubles, including five in the final seven games of the season, and led the Tigers in free throws made (140).

Martin was named to the SEC All-Freshman team after averaging 10.4 points and 4.6 rebounds in 26.2 minutes in 32 games (25 starts) in his first year with the Tigers. The Baton Rouge, La. native was the winner of the 2013 Mr. Basketball award given by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association to the top player in the state of Louisiana after leading Madison Prep to the school’s first state title in Class B in 2013.

Grizzlies sign Brandan Wright

Memphis Grizzlies General Manager Chris Wallace announced today that the team has signed free agent forward/center Brandan Wright to a multi-year contract.

This gives the Grizzlies some nice depth in the frontcourt.

Wright (6-10, 210) averaged 7.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.25 blocks in 19.3 minutes in 75 games (seven starts) for the Dallas Mavericks, Boston Celtics and Phoenix Suns last season. He recorded 8.8 points on 74.8 percent shooting in 18.7 minutes in 27 games for the Mavericks to start the season before midseason trades from Dallas to Boston on Dec. 18 and from Boston to Phoenix on Jan. 9. The 27-year-old registered 3.11 blocks per 48 minutes last season, ranking 12th among players that qualified for the blocks per game leaderboard.

The eighth overall pick in the 2007 NBA Draft from the University of North Carolina, Wright owns career averages of 7.1 points on 60.6 percent shooting, 3.7 rebounds and 1.01 blocks in 16.4 minutes in 360 games (54 starts) over seven seasons for Golden State, New Jersey, Dallas, Boston and Phoenix.

Along with DeAndre Jordan, Wright is one of two players in NBA history to convert over 1,000 field goals and maintain a career shooting percentage of at least 60 percent. His 67.7 percent mark in 2013-14 as a member of the Mavericks led all players with at least 100 field goal attempts.

In his lone collegiate season, Wright averaged 14.7 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.76 blocks in 37 games (all starts) for the University of North Carolina, earning 2007 Atlantic Coast Conference Rookie of the Year and All-ACC Second Team honors. He was recognized as the MVP of the ACC Tournament, becoming just the fifth freshman in conference history to win the award. His 64.6 field goal percentage led the conference and was the best ever by an ACC freshman.

A native of Nashville, Tenn., Wright led Brentwood Academy to four consecutive Tennessee state championships, a first in Tennessee high school basketball history, and was a four-time MVP of the Tennessee Division II private school state championship tournament. He earned Tennessee’s Division II Mr. Basketball title in 2004, 2005 and 2006, becoming the first three-time recipient of the award on any level of Tennessee high school basketball.

2015 Grizzlies summer league roster

The Memphis Grizzlies’ today announced that second-year players Jordan Adams, JaMychal Green, Russ Smith and Jarnell Stokes will join 2015 second round draft pick Andrew Harrison (No. 44 overall) in headlining the Grizzlies’ roster for the 2015 Orlando Pro Summer League.

Grizzlies assistant coach/advance scout Jason March will serve as head coach during the 2015 Orlando Pro Summer League with Grizzlies assistant coach Jeff Bzdelik, Grizzlies basketball operations assistant/scout Glynn Cyprien, Iowa Energy head coach Bob Donewald and Grizzlies video coordinator Dan Hartfield also coaching the summer league squad. In addition, Grizzlies assistant video coordinator Colin Schneider will serve as the lead video coordinator during the summer league.

Full roster is here: http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showthread.php?t=381363

Jazz hire Igor Kokoskov as assistant coach

The Utah Jazz announced today that Igor Kokoskov (kuh-KOS-kov) was hired as assistant coach, joining Head Coach Quin Snyder’s staff. In addition, Andrae Patterson has been named as player personnel/player programs coordinator.

Kokoskov has spent 15 seasons as an assistant coach in the NBA, most recently with the Orlando Magic during the 2014-15 season. His previous NBA experience includes, one season with the Cleveland Cavaliers (2013-14), five seasons with the Phoenix Suns (2008-13), five seasons with the Detroit Pistons (2003-08) and three seasons with the Los Angeles Clippers (2000-03). He reached the Conference Finals in each campaign with Detroit and captured an NBA title in 2004, becoming the first non-American assistant to win an NBA championship and the first to serve on an NBA All-Star Game coaching staff.

As a member of Alvin Gentry’s Los Angeles Clippers staff in 2000, Kokoskov became the first full-time non-American assistant coach in NBA History.

Kokoskov rejoins Coach Snyder after having also served as an assistant to him at the University of Missouri during the 1999-00 season, where Kokoskov became the first European coach to hold a full-time position with an NCAA Division I school.

In 2004, Kokoskov served as an assistant with the Serbia National Team at the Athens Olympic Games under renowned European coach Zeljko Obradovic. He has also served as head coach of the Republic of Georgia National Team for seven summers (2008-14), qualifying for the European Championships twice for the first time in team history. In 2012, he earned the Order of Honour, Georgia’s highest civilian honor, for his success with the team.

A native, of Belgrade, Serbia, Kokoskov became a United States citizen in 2010.

Patterson joins the Jazz front office staff after serving as an assistant coach for the NBA Development League’s Idaho Stampede, the Jazz’s exclusively owned and operated D-League team, during the 2014-15 season. Prior to the Stampede, he spent two seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Texas at Arlington after two years as the school’s director of basketball operations/video coordinator and one as a student assistant.

He enjoyed a successful professional playing career that began when he was selected by the Minnesota Timberwolves with the 46th overall pick of the 1998 NBA Draft, where he played from 1998-2001. Following his NBA career, he played nine seasons internationally for clubs in the top European leagues, including both CB Estudiantes (2001-05) and Bàsquet Manresa (2005-06) of the premier Spanish ACB League, as well as KK Zadar (Croatia-A1) and Panellinios BC (Greece-A1) in 2006, Ironi Ashkelon (Israel) in 2007, before finishing his playing career with Egaleo AO (Greece-A1) from 2007-09.

As a collegian, the Abilene, Texas, native played for Hall of Fame coach Bob Knight for four seasons at Indiana University (1994-98), where he was an All-American and four-time All-Big Ten selection and led the Hoosiers to four NCAA Tournament appearances while earning a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice.

Grizzlies extend qualifying offer to Nick Calathes

The Memphis Grizzlies have extended a qualifying offer to guard Nick Calathes, General Manager Chris Wallace announced today.

By extending a qualifying offer to Calathes prior to the June 30 deadline, Memphis holds the right to match any offer sheet he may sign with another team after becoming a restricted free agent on July 1.

Calathes (6-6, 213) averaged 4.2 points, 1.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.09 steals in 14.4 minutes in 58 games (zero starts) for Memphis last season. The 26-year-old posted a 92.2 defensive rating, leading all NBA players who appeared in at least 55 contests.

Drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the second round (45th overall) of the 2009 NBA Draft following a two-year collegiate career at the University of Florida, Calathes owns NBA career averages of 4.6 points, 1.9 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.00 steals in 15.6 minutes in 129 games (seven starts) in two seasons, both with the Grizzlies.

Grizzlies trade Jon Leuer to Suns for Andrew Harrison

The Memphis Grizzlies acquired the draft rights to Kentucky guard Andrew Harrison, who was selected with the No. 44 overall pick in the second round of the 2015 NBA Draft, from the Phoenix Suns for forward Jon Leuer, General Manager Chris Wallace announced tonight.

Harrison (6-6, 210) played two seasons (2013-15) at the University of Kentucky, averaging 10.1 points, 2.7 rebounds and 3.8 assists in 28.6 minutes in 79 games and starting in all but one game in his tenure. His 298 assists rank 16th in the Wildcats’ record books and are the most for a two-year player in program history.

Playing alongside his twin brother Aaron Harrison, the 20-year-old averaged 9.3 points, 2.2 rebounds and 3.6 assists in 25.5 minutes in 39 games (all starts) while shooting .383 from three-point range as a sophomore last season, helping Kentucky become the first team ever to post a 38-0 record before falling to Wisconsin in the 2015 NCAA Final Four. The Wildcats’ win total tied the most in NCAA history.

As a freshman, the San Antonio native recorded 10.9 points, 3.2 rebounds and 4.0 assists in 31.7 minutes in 40 games (39 starts), ranking third in UK freshman single-season history with 159 assists. He averaged 15.8 points, 7.0 rebounds and 7.0 assists as a senior at Travis High School where he directed the squad to a state title in 2013.

Harrison is one of six Wildcats to be drafted in the 2015 NBA Draft, joining Karl-Anthony Towns (No. 1 overall), Willie Cauley-Stein (No. 6), Trey Lyles (No. 12), Devin Booker (No. 13) and Dakari Johnson (No. 48).

Leuer (6-10, 228) holds career averages of 4.6 points and 2.8 rebounds in 11.9 minutes in 186 games (18 starts) over four seasons (2011-15) with the Milwaukee Bucks, Cleveland Cavaliers and Memphis Grizzlies. The 26-year-old registered 4.7 points, 3.0 rebounds and 0.5 assists in 11.9 minutes in 131 games (six starts) during his tenure in Memphis.

The Long Lake, Minn. native was selected by Milwaukee in the second round (40th overall) of the 2011 NBA Draft after a four-year career at the University of Wisconsin.

Hornets trade Matt Barnes to Grizzlies for Luke Ridnour

The Memphis Grizzlies acquired forward Matt Barnes from the Charlotte Hornets in exchange for guard Luke Ridnour, General Manager Chris Wallace announced today.

Barnes (6-7, 226) holds career averages of 8.1 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 779 games (296 starts) over 12 seasons (2003-15) with the Los Angeles Clippers, Sacramento Kings, New York Knicks, Philadelphia 76ers, Golden State Warriors, Phoenix Suns, Orlando Magic and Los Angeles Lakers. He owns career postseason averages of 7.4 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 79 playoff games (44 starts) with the Warriors, Magic, Lakers and Clippers.

A key member of the Los Angeles Clippers over the past three years, Barnes averaged 10.1 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.5 assists in a career-high 29.9 minutes in 76 games (74 starts) last season. The 35-year-old shot .362 from three-point range and set personal bests for three-point makes (136) and attempts (376). He was traded by Los Angeles with Spencer Hawes to Charlotte for Lance Stephenson on June 16.

The Santa Clara, Calif. native originally was drafted by Memphis in the second round (46th overall) of the 2002 NBA Draft following a four-year collegiate career at UCLA and traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers on draft night.

Ridnour (6-2, 175) owns career averages of 9.3 points, 2.3 rebounds and 4.5 assists in 26.1 minutes in 830 games (493 starts) over 12 seasons (2003-15) with the Seattle SuperSonics, Milwaukee Bucks, Minnesota Timberwolves, Charlotte and Orlando. The 34-year-old was drafted by Seattle in the first round (14th overall) of the 2003 NBA Draft after a three-year collegiate career at the University of Oregon.

The Blaine, Wash. native was acquired by Memphis yesterday from Orlando, where he averaged 4.0 points in 47 appearances last season, in exchange for the draft rights to Janis Timma.

Jeff Green exercises contract option to stay with Grizzlies

Grizzlies forward Jeff Green will stick with team for 2015-16 season

Memphis Grizzlies General Manager Chris Wallace announced today that Grizzlies forward Jeff Green has exercised his player option for the 2015-16 season.

Green (6-9, 235) averaged 15.0 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 31.5 minutes in 78 games (70 starts) last season with the Grizzlies and Boston Celtics. Acquired by Memphis from Boston in a three-team trade on Jan. 12, he recorded 13.1 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 30.3 minutes in 45 games (37 starts) with the Grizzlies. Green shot a team-high .398 from three-point range after the All-Star Break and increased his three-point percentage to .438 over the final 20 games of the regular season.

The 28-year-old posted 8.9 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 27.1 minutes in 11 games (two starts) for Memphis during the 2015 NBA Playoffs.

Drafted by Boston in the first round (fifth overall) of the 2007 NBA Draft, Green holds career averages of 14.3 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 32.6 minutes in 556 games (432 starts) for the Seattle SuperSonics/Oklahoma City Thunder, Boston and Memphis. The Hyattsville, Md. native starred for three seasons at Georgetown University (2004-07), earning 2007 Big East Player of the Year honors as a junior and leading the Hoyas to the 2006 NCAA Final Four as a sophomore, the program’s first NCAA Final Four appearance since 1985.

With Tony Allen out, Grizzlies lose Game 5 to Warriors

Without Tony Allen, Grizzlies lose Game 5 to Warriors

Here’s the San Francisco Chronicle reporting on Wednesday’s Warriors-Grizzlies second round playoff game, which went quite badly for Memphis:

Much like the last playoff game in Oakland, Game 5 came down to a key Grizzlies player who was a game-time decision because of injury. While Mike Conley put on a face mask and cape in Memphis’ win in Game 2 at Oracle Arena, Tony Allen was not able to play with a bad hamstring Wednesday night.

The defensive repercussions were obvious, but the Grizzlies were actually somehow worse offensively without their jump shot-challenged tough guy.

“It’s huge, being without Tony,” Grizzlies guard Courtney Lee said. “We can’t replace his energy or his defensive intensity. We needed to step up tonight and we didn’t.” Memphis shot 5-of-25 in a 12:35 span over the end of the first quarter and most of the second quarter, turning a 25-15 lead into a 49-37 deficit.

Memphis shot 5-of-25 in a 12:35 span over the end of the first quarter and most of the second quarter, turning a 25-15 lead into a 49-37 deficit.

And a 12-point deficit might as well be 24 — which it grew to — for a big, physical team that can’t get out on the fastbreak (six points all night) or shoot threes (they made four).