I never said the Clippers didn't have a bright future. Both teams have bright futures and are built to compete for the next several years. Both of them trail the Thunder when it comes to the West. As for the East, the Heat pretty much have it on lock, especially after what happened to D Rose. The Clippers-Grizzlies series was a wash and honestly it could have gone either way. I like the make up of the Grizzlies more than I like the Clippers. The Clippers are incredibly reliant on CP3 and time and time again he bailed them out. You act as if the Clippers kicked their asses...which was NOT the case.
This is the biggest load of bull****. The Clippers were without a better player in Chauncey Billips. Randolph was banged up, but so was Paul and Griffin... It was a toss up series
Bill Simmons mentioned that Tony Allen was not at full strength. What do you think about this as a factor in the series loss? For the record, after the Mavericks won last year, I think it is pretty silly to write off teams with great front line talent. I think the Grizzlies will be fine with the return of Arthur and better play from the backcourt.
The Clippers-Grizzlies series was as good of a matchup as you could have possibly had. On paper, their rosters stack up quite nicely and this series honestly could have gone either way. With that being said, it also goes to show you just how far from contention the Rockets really are.
I still can't believe they gave Z-Bo all that money. That contract is going to kill them in a couple of years when the cap/tax system becomes more strict.
I honestly think that the grizzlies were never in sync the whole year and a lot of it had to do with injuries which steamed by from the year before when Shane replaced Rudy in the lineup. Shane is a glue guy, you can pretty much integrate him in the lineup without much thought. Rudy isn't. So we had that as a problem. Then obviously the lack of a real training camp set us back because the grizzlies really needed time to get everybody on the same page. Then Darrell gets hurt, so the grizzlies had to go out and get somebody, Dante Cunningham. Then 4 games in Zach tears a ligament in his knee. And so the grizzlies make two trades: one to get Pondexter and the other to get Spieghts. If your counting that's 5 players of change. We never really did get back to where we were. Plus, Conley had no backup. Gasol was playing 40 minutes a game. None of this showed up until the 4th quarter of the first game and the comeback. We had better execution last year, but I think that the grizzlies best basketball is ahead of them. Once we get a full year to adjust to all of the new players. This, for example, is Rudy's first playoffs. He's got a taste of it. So we'll see if he gets better next year.
Injuries and roster turnovers are part of the game. Grizzlies had them, but really no worse than the Clippers-- traded multiple guys for CP, Billups out for season, getting Martin and Evans to patch up a thin front line, trading for Nick Young at the deadline, CP/Griffin getting hurt in the series, etc.
I'm not saying that's why they lost to the clippers. I'm saying that that's why they didn't play as well as last year. I'm saying that the grizzlies weren't as good as people expected them to be in the playoffs after last year, was actually an on-going extension of the whole year. Nobody can overstate the fact however that that 27 point lost took a lot out of the grizzlies. But they still might of beat us because our record was terrible against top team all year. Most of our wins were against under .500 teams. So we weren't as good as people think.
I think Grizzlies were a better team when a healthy Z-Bo was their number 1 option. Not a knock on Rudy Gay.
I'm always here my friend. Me personally, id rather have their future than the rockets future. For them to do what the did despite having rudy missed the last half of last yr and z-bo to miss 60% of this yr is pretty good I would say. Not to mention they lost randolphs best backup and probably their best bench player. I don't give rudy a pass for his 1st playoffs,but I want to see how he shoots in his next playoffs. Just as important as hitting shots in the playoffs is having the ability to get a shot. When you can't even get a shot up because u need a perfect and clear look at the rim, that does nothing for ur team either. Kd shot 35% in his 1st playoffs on. Like 20+ shots. You're not. Going to get easy looks at the rim in the playoffs. In terms of memphis, gasol and conley are getting better while randolph and gay are steady. To me, they have 3 yrs in this window. They will probably lose mayo, but they can replace him with a guy like nick young or marcus thornton. They need a combo guard,but the have good depth on the fly. Next yr, they will be a mid 50 win team if they don't lose a lot of games to injury. Jmo
It's kind of sad that this is the best thing one can say about the Grizzlies when they've had FOUR top-5 picks in the past five years. That they have a better future than a team who lost 2 stars to injuries just three years ago.
Talking about semantics. Losing in the first round to a 5th seed with the highest win percentage in their team history of this year. As opposed to last year where they only advanced one more round with a worse win percentage. Semantics and very little difference seeing as they came in with the 4th seed but just couldnt capitalize.
This guy is really hurting and/or hating on the Clippers. Billups out for the season happened long ago and the fact that CP/Griffin got hurt didn't matter cuz they still beat your sorry Grizz. smh
This is not about comparing the Grizzlies&Rockets. The question is: Did Memphis already peak/are they chanpionship caliber? No sour grapes here, just plain&simple discussing it. I think they are at the top of their game and a healthy Z-Bo won't help them beat OKC or San Antonio. They need to semi-rebuild and focus on Conley&Gasol.
Grizzlies last playoffs beat the team that was 1 win from the best record in the league and they did so decisively. They then took the Thunder to 7 games pushing them to the brink, remember? Zach was outstanding. Grizzlies looked like a broken team against the Clippers compared to last year. Big difference.
Only a select few teams can have a Durant, or LeBron, or Rose on it. This Grizzlies team doesn’t have any superstars, but I still think they're a dark horse out West, especially if Z-Bo can return to his prior form. Perhaps that ship has sailed, but we’ll see. As others have said, I can see Conley and Gasol continuing to get better and Gay becoming a better playoff performer too. I really think people are overreacting to this one playoff series loss, without remembering what they just did last year or taking into account how they got the fourth seed without their best player most of this season…They desperately need some consistent outside shooting though. Looks like they're already after their new OJ Mayo replacement, a combo guard from overseas: Jonathan Givony @DraftExpress Most active pursuers for Alexey Shved's services: Minnesota, Memphis, OKC. Asking price: 3 years, 10 mil USD. CSKA doesn't expect him back.
