Sources confirmed Friday that the Grizzlies weighed numerous deals -- some reasonable while others team officials felt were not worth considering.
The Phoenix Suns, who tried to move Amare Stoudamire to Memphis at last season's trade deadline, were at it again. This time, the Suns wanted Rudy Gay and the No. 2 overall pick for Stoudemire.
Boston tried to entice the Grizzlies twice. The Celtics offered Brian Scalabrine, Tony Allen and a choice of J.R. Giddens or Bill Walker for the Grizzlies' 36th pick and cash considerations.
The Celtics' best offer for the Grizzlies' No. 2 pick only included center Kendrick Perkins.
Miami offered Michael Beasley for the second pick, and served up Mario Chalmers for the 27th selection.
One of Houston's overtures for the second pick included Tracy McGrady. Another attempt by the Rockets to move up involved former Griz Shane Battier and Carl Landry as well as other pieces. But Houston also wanted Gay.
Memphis declined.
The Grizzlies could have picked up San Antonio forward Fabricio Oberto for their 27th pick. Memphis tried to acquire the No. 5 overall pick from Washington by packaging the 27th and 36th selections. The Wizards balked because the Griz wouldn't accept Etan Thomas and Mike James.
Cleveland (via Daniel Gibson and JJ Hickson), Charlotte (via Emeka Okafor and Nazr Mohammed), Dallas (via Josh Howard) and Oklahoma City (via Nick Collison) also made attempts to grab the No. 2 pick.
I would be pretty hesitant about giving up Okafor and Nazr for that 2nd pick. Drafting Thabeet means we lose ALL 12 ppg Okafor gave us. And even though that may not seem like much, we were last in scoring last year with about 94 ppg. With Thabeet in the lineup, he might average 7 ppg.
I would be pretty hesitant about giving up Okafor and Nazr for that 2nd pick. Drafting Thabeet means we lose ALL 12 ppg Okafor gave us. And even though that may not seem like much, we were last in scoring last year with about 94 ppg. With Thabeet in the lineup, he might average 7 ppg.
Thabeet's a legitimate center while Okafor's height is better suited for PF. With Thabeet, Charlotte's defense & rebounding will be phenomenal.
Okafor was the 4th option in scoring or possibly 5th last season, so point differential between Thabeet & Okafor isn't really critical.
Plus the point is to dump Mohammed. With that bench sleeper out, we can sign another veteran.
Thabeet's a legitimate center while Okafor's height is better suited for PF. With Thabeet, Charlotte's defense & rebounding will be phenomenal.
Okafor was the 4th option in scoring or possibly 5th last season, so point differential between Thabeet & Okafor isn't really critical.
Plus the point is to dump Mohammed. With that bench sleeper out, we can sign another veteran.
That's the thing; is Thabeet and (this is the important part) his rookie deal PLUS say McDyess or Rasheed PLUS an LLE guy PLUS around 3 million in salary savings better than Mek and Nazr? Not to mention it'd get rid of the last 2-3 years of Mek's salary which really gets insane...averaging 14 million over the last 2.
That's the thing; is Thabeet and (this is the important part) his rookie deal PLUS say McDyess or Rasheed PLUS an LLE guy PLUS around 3 million in salary savings better than Mek and Nazr? Not to mention it'd get rid of the last 2-3 years of Mek's salary which really gets insane...averaging 14 million over the last 2.
Mek is not worth 14Mil a year. Heck, I don't think he's worth even half of that amount. Thabeet is fresh and new and therefore likely eager to play and to please. We need good players with positive attitudes. Rasheed can hardly be accused of having a good attitude.
I just threw Sheed's name out there to demonstrate what kind of talent and at what cost between the two choices. As we're right up against the luxury limit management has to consider these things.
Mek is not worth 14Mil a year. Heck, I don't think he's worth even half of that amount. Thabeet is fresh and new and therefore likely eager to play and to please. We need good players with positive attitudes. Rasheed can hardly be accused of having a good attitude.
Then why the heck did the Bobcats sign him to a six year deal while not many teams are interested in him? Okafor never has a chance against bigger centers in this league, not even against Horford who are about the same height as Okafor.
I think the goal now should not be to acquire better players, but to simply dump those mid-level exception junk.
Because Okafor's agent was an *******. He demanded a big contract or nothing. The FO, I do believe, was either only going to give him a 1 year offer, or 2 or 3, but Okafor's agent wanted 6. Remember all the nasty things that Okafor "supposedly" said, then went back on once he got the deal? Yeah. Agents can suck sometimes.
Because Okafor's agent was an *******. He demanded a big contract or nothing. The FO, I do believe, was either only going to give him a 1 year offer, or 2 or 3, but Okafor's agent wanted 6. Remember all the nasty things that Okafor "supposedly" said, then went back on once he got the deal? Yeah. Agents can suck sometimes.
Also back when that contract was coerced out of the Cats FO there were many of us still under the spell of the Okafor mystique. Remember all of the hoopla around him in the early years. He was the face of the Bobcats and many of us thought he was the greatest thing since sliced bread. Well, almost. Since he got that contract Mek has shown that he is not quite the Dwight Howard type that we all expected. I do think that Mek is much more capable than we've seen, and man sometimes he really does seem spectacular, but if LB has noticed and commented on Mek's lack of passion for the game then certainly none of us can be faulted for holding the same opinion.
RufusPaul--we should have sold our Okafor bobblehead dolls on eBay while Mek's reputation still had its initial early glow.
I trust you probably more than anyone else on this board. I still have a suspicion that you work for the NBA.
As far as Mek is concerned I am hoping that going through training camp and preseason with Boris will continue to make him a better scorer. Mek's defensive skills are near the top of the league yet he lacks any post moves. That can be overcome if you have a versatile PF like Diaw.
Henderson will start over Bell sooner or later, probably later, but hes got much more upside and hes a better athlete. Not quite the 3 pt. shooter or man to man defender, but Henderson will get better at shooting and his potential defensively is All NBA, there wasnt a better weakside shot blocker in the draft other than Thabeet in the draft, Henderson is a beast defensively and hes got great offensive skills, still a bit raw but hes posses the skills and thats important. Coach Brown will coach him up.
Think it's just me then, but I don't rate Felton THAT high. Sure he's serviceable as a starter but I don't see him ever being top 20 in the league at his position. I'd like to resign him for like 7.5 - 8 million I suppose since he's young and can start / do a job, but if he's gonna be taking 11-12 million I say we let him go.
He seems average as a starter (still a good NBA player just nothing great) but then awfull in the last 2 minutes of a close game (and I mean dire!).
I'd rather see us spend 11-12 on someone like Milsap or sign Iverson to a 2-3 year 8 million or so deal (no1 else will offer 6+ cos of MLE) plus a legit young back-up PF like Toronto's Pop Mensa-Bonsu at say 4-5 a year, than just keep Felts.
Sure we'd only have Augustin backing up AI (or else starting and a 1 year vet min guy taking Milsap) but perhaps we could trade our overpaid back-up bigs for an overpaid 1-2 year PG in that situation. Either way I just think the money would be better spent than on Felton, a view I don't think is shared by many fans from Carolina but maybe the foriegn perspective hasn't got the collage bias, possibly stirred up by selecting a Duke player since I've seen alot of banter the last few days?
Re: 2009-2010 Line up
