at best..

I am all for any time you can make an analogy between Butterbean and Zach Randolph.

and close 2nd in the finals to Cleveland. They will take it to game 7 and then Zach will roll his ankle by landing on top of Iverson and they will both go down with career ending injuries. Book it! Count it! FTW! IMO! etc,etc…

Either that or 30 wins and at some point Iverson and Zach will blow up on each other…

I don’t understand how these clowns get jobs, you know fire the entire staff and hire me and any random fan from the grizzlies site and I’m POSITIVE we could have put them in a better situation. They have Rudy Gay and OJ Mayo and Conley and mini-Gasol and their response is to bring in &$% Iverson and Z-Bo.

Nevermind. They are brilliant. I’m sure it’s a 60 win team.

But they may play like the Nugs before the Billups trade; potent on offense, vacant on defense, but still effective enough to win games.

I don’t think they’ll beat the good teams in the league, but they’ll have a chance at being halfway decent against lesser opponents.

I’d do what I did after Patterson reneged on that 25-point pledge surrounding Miles’ actions. I’d stop following the team until either management changed or miraculously pull their collective heads out.
Watching that team is just sad. But not sad in a “Marley and Me” sort of way. More in a “Traffic” sort of way.

So you’re a Memphis fan. You cheer for the team but they’re losing all the time. They’re kind of broke and complaining about ticket sales. You see no prospect of winning any time soon. Conley is constantly getting mentioned in trade talks and he doesn’t seem that good. Gasol seems clumsy. And the one thing you know for certain is that OJ Mayo needs help.

You look over at Portland and realize it took them 3yrs of mgmt discipline and diligence—not to mention some draft-day strokes of luck—to get to the first round of the playoffs. 3yrs of losing.

Then you think to yourself: Dang, self, I just want to have fun watching basketball.

Then, like the conquering dawn after the darkest night, AI and ZBo come on the horizon. No, they’re not going to take you to the championship. Not even the conference finals.

But there are no atheists in a foxhole and baby, you’re in a foxhole.

If nothing else, watching a season of AI driving and ZBo vaccuuming up offensive boards (remember, he is good at that if he can get properly motivated; garbage points were his early specialty) and Mayo out there running and gunning w/ Conley.

Hey, it’ll be a far more entertaining season w/ AI and ZBo then it would’ve been without. Like, 3 standard deviations away from the mean better. So if I’m in Memphis, I’m a lot more likely to buy tickets.

And that’s better for Memphis and the NBA.

If you’re trying for a championship, then the Randolph and Iverson moves are irrelevant or (probably) harmful to that goal. You bury Conley as a developing player, et cetera.

If you’re trying to advance a round in the playoffs, well…. Does anyone think the two of them are likely to manage that this year?

If you’re trying to sneak into the playoffs in the West?

If you’re trying to win five more games, or eight, maybe this works out. Maybe. I’m skeptical, but maybe.

If you’re trying to put a team on the floor that holds some fan interest, well, hey: This is a significant jump. For this week. During the offseason.

(Seriously, though, Iverson for a year at $3.5 million is a pretty small risk. If he acts up, you move on. Z-Bo in what amounts to the same exact space Pau Gasol took up is a harder pill to get down, for me.)

Then he’ll leave when his contract is up.

Memphis is bad at being a good franchise.

That’s all I think about them though.

Iverson is 1 of the worst players in NBA history and well he is only 2nd to maybe… Zach Randolph!- What? They are both on the same team now? They are going to hate the fact they made these moves. These 2 guys are the worst team players in NBA history. Scoring points is only one aspect of bball, and as I have seen, most NBA players can score. Its all the other facets of the game these 2 players lack. That is exactly why Iverson to this long to land on a team, no one wants a selfish player around their team. To me, Iverson and Zach are exactly what is wrong with the NBA.

I can see what the Griz are getting beyond stats.

If the blazers did this, would I be happy? Heck no. No way. I wouldn’t have been happy with turkey glue and when the Blazers got Franchise I said there was no way we’d keep him, but secretly in my gut I was shaking for fear they might. Some players you just know don’t fit.

This makes NO sense. I thought trading Pau for Marc was a good move as it dropped them into the lottery and with a couple of other smart moves could bring them quickly out with some good players and no longer a one and done or almost one and done team. Like Garnett with the wolves, Pau kept the Griz too close to the cusp without taking them over it.

1.) These are not vets that you WANT as mentors
2.) These are not people who win.
3.) These are not people with a work ethic
4.) These are people who have shown issues with authority
5.) These are me first players that work poorly in a team
6.) These are people that hog the ball
7.) Money will come off the books, i suppose, but the damage that their presence will have on other younger players is not even close to worth it.

As a Griz fan I’d be climbing a tree shouting my disgust.

I bashed kemp, but was on board as a blinded homer with Darius signing. I did not like Zbo. I kept stating that his stats were not going to last because he just wasn’t that good. I was right and wrong. he’s not very good for a team that wants to win, but his stats have lasted. I cheered when he was traded for channing Frye simply to have gotten him off the roster. Anything else, in my mind, was bonus. I mention the above because I’m vocal when I’m sure something is a bad move. I would have been hesitant about Turkey-glue but given him a chance if the Blazers were willing to sign him for so much.

Not only that, but the experience of the Jail Blazers and false hope has helped teach me a little in what to look for with good and bad moves. This just reeks of beyond dumb.

So what do I think will happen? Let’s look at Zach’s record with various teams.

08-09 LA Clippers 19 63 (lost four more games when zach joined)
07-08 Knicks 23 59 (improved by 10 games when zach left)
06-07 Blazers 32 50 (improved by 9 games when zach left)

The griz currently are 24 58… I find it almost impossible to imagine that dropping more. Still, should I underestimate Zbo’s ability to tank a team?

WAIT!!! Actually, i think i see the plan. The Griz believe that when zach leaves, he’ll add 10 games to the win column!!! I finally grasp this devious and masterful plan!!~! It’s not about winning today! It’s about winning tomorrow when that sigh of relief is let out and the black hole that is zach leaves.

“…you know you’re working against a doomsday clock before it all gangs agley.”

…pure poetry!

I feel sorry for Lionel Hollins. One of my favorite Blazers ever is going to set a record for ibuprofen consumption this next season.

And +1 for “gangs agley”. Wow.

this is a case where coaching really really really matters.

Portland is on the rise. We expect them to rise far. For every up, there has to be a down. Yin for yang, and the Griz are totally yanged up to the max now.

Well, at least this should be an entertaining season of basketball. It may be for all the wrong reasons, but entertaining none the less.

(Alternate take by Grizzlies fans…….)

I must find a bridge and jump off……..

When the Knicks tried to put those two together, you had the combination of the two players who, IMO, were most likely to put up big statistical numbers with a minimal amount of wins.

But at this point in his career, Iverson will be nearly as bad. Judging by his time in Detroit, he wants to lead by scoring and playing 35 MPG like he did 3-4 years ago, but what the Grizzlies need is for him to lead by encouraging, training and pushing the young talent, not by trying to carry the team himself. I, too, fear that this – combined with Zach’s tendency to do the same – is a combustible combination.

to allow four balls in use during games? Because that’s the only way a lineup of Iverson, Randolph, Gay, and Mayo makes any sense.

Giving away Pau Gasol, signing AI to put butts in the seats, that’s about all I see here. It seems fairly clear to me, and thusly I assume anyone with passable intelligence, Memphis will go NOWHERE this season or next. If I were a fan of Memphis, I’d want a divorce.

First of all the Grizzlies play ball in the western conference. You can’t just be good and make the playoffs here. Mostly I see Memphis’ move as a way to put people in seats. Last year the Grizzlies posted a league worst 69.9% average attendance mark for their arena, down 1.6% from 07/08.

I’ll give the Griz one notch above mediocre status this year. No chance at the playoffs but they won’t be a total doormat. Sure, adding random good players doesn’t mean your team will automatically improve. But it (at the very least) usually means the needle moves positively somewhat. Maybe give em’ another 10 wins with Iverson and Randolph there. Remember that Thabeet while unpolished is a pretty decent big man. He’ll get better as the year drags on. So, I’ll guess 34-48 and somewhere in the 11-12th range in the Western Conference. Better than the Warriors, T-Wolves, Kings and Clippers but not as good as the Suns or Thunder.

Iverson’s been quoted as saying this is a personal year for him— that he wants to prove everyone who says he’s lost a step wrong. Between he and Zbo, there are going to be precious few touches for Mayo and Gay and this will likely lead to those two furthering their bad shoot-first habits. Marc Gasol, who has the most potential to become a highly efficient scorer of the ball, will feel like his teammates think he’s invisible.

There will be games where the Grizz catch fire and outscore teams, but they will be on the bad side of a lot of blowouts.

Or 32 feet/sec^2 if you eschew metric.

I’m not sure what sort of terminal velocity the Grizz will reach, though.

it could be the future right?

a stagnate post offense mixed with a hyper accelerated, yet slow’d by time back court….. it could work.

if they could teach The Z bo the Defensive aspect of the game.

And Iverson some of the “Team” concepts of the game.

And they are able to always have a useless player on the court to imediately foul the opposition on any given play…. play the game to a grind when on offense.. and pray.

I see the future of the NBA being laid in cement ladies and gentelmen.

meh…. they might…MIGHT make the 40 win mark. but I doubt it.

This is amazing! Roy is an All-Star, has scored 24 in a season, has taken teams to the playoffs, and can dish the ball like crazy. LaMarcus Aldridge scores everything he touches from anywhere this side of halfcourt. They’re going to play off of each other incredibly well. And think of this: we STILL have Rudy Fernandez and Travis Outlaw! That’s four potential 20-point scorers in the lineup! Oh, and did I mention Andre Miller? He started for the 76ers last year and is poised to break out. We haven’t talked about centers yet either. Joel Przybilla was one of the biggest surprises of 2008-09 and we have the first overall pick in the draft backing him up! This team is incredibly DEEP! I would put us immediately up there with the San Antonios and Denvers and possibly surpassing the Lakers too…if not this year then certainly next. And I think it could be this year!

• Your team is pretty bad
• The fans know your team is pretty bad, so your tickets only sell at big discounts/promotions
• You would rather want to be in another city, about any other city (like OKC. Yes, he did want to be there). But a long-term arena lease that is too expensive to break keeps you in town
• You just overruled your basketball operations people because you were afraid to draft another guard, and drafted a very raw project center at #2 instead who is in conflict with another player you already have (Marc Gasol) and who is offensively challenged but defensively gifted so he might become the next Mutombo. Only at the moment he is 2 years away from being the next DeSagana Diop.
• You just let your best bench scorer walk away for nothing (Warrick) because $3 million was too much for him
• Your only joy and purpose in the game of basketball is money laundering cap space renting to other teams helping them push trough deals and getting some cash and low draft picks for your trouble
• You have done that so effectively that you are under the minimum salary cap (yes, that also exists), so you move Darko Milicic and his expiring contract out of town and via Quentin Richardson acquire Zach Randolph. Phase 1 is complete. Huzzah, that brings your payroll over the minimum and gives you someone who can score a bit to make your losses look more impressive. Of course you could also have signed David Lee to do so for less money and locker room disruption. Or kept Pau Gasol for about that price, who would happen to be able to play great next to Thabeet. But who is counting. And that would require you actually knew something about basketball, which you don’t.
• You hear that Allen Iverson is available for a fairly good price. You might know that Iverson doesn’t put your team over the top anymore, but you hope he might put your ticket sales over the top until you can break your lease or sell the team. Huzzah, phase 2 is complete
• Phase 3: Profit (You might also think about letting your scorer Rudy Gay walk away for nothing next year to save some more money since you just paid a lot for Randolph and Iverson during this phase)

for signing Miles :)

thanks to poster numba333 on the ESPN story…

Mayo dribbles up the court, looking for his shot…..STOLEN by Allen Iverson. What the heck? Mayo is guarding AI. Iverson looking for his shot. Can’t get it off. Randolph screaming for the ball. STRIPPED by Gay!!!! Gay goes up for the shot. BLOCKED by Randolph. Randolph for layup, misses, rebound, misses, rebound, misses, rebound, misses, rebound….Mayo leaps takes the ball away, dribbles it out, doubleteamed by Gay and AI. Nets just standing around watching in disbelief. Marc Gasol is drinking a Gatorade…..this is embarassing……

I can’t stop laughing….