Add in point guard Mike Conley and shooting guard Tony Allen, and it's as feisty and balanced a starting five as you'll find. His versatility is his calling card, that ability to decide every time out which part of his game – playmaking, scoring, defense, rebounding – is needed on that night.īecause he's more than happy to play a small offensive role so long as the wins keep coming, the inside-out directive that works so well with Randolph and center Marc Gasol is more clear and effective than ever. Prince's presence has been huge, as he clearly has a few good years left after winning a title with the Detroit Pistons in 2004, a gold medal in Beijing with Team USA in 2008 and playing in 118 playoff games and all.
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Memphis is 16-5 (.761) since getting its new players from the trade, this after they went 29-15 (.659) before the deal went down. Sure enough, with new Grizzlies CEO and former agent/Sacramento Kings assistant general manager Jason Levien heading the group that also includes former analyst John Hollinger (vice president of basketball operations), former agent Stu Lash (director of player personnel) and incumbent general manager Chris Wallace, the move that was widely seen as a business decision has worked out quite well on the basketball front. Yet amid all that chatter, key parts of the process were overlooked, specifically the Grizzlies' view of Gay's inefficient game and the perceived merits of adding a champion like Prince and young players on rookie contracts that are more valuable than ever under the new deal. Was this - much like Oklahoma City's decision to trade James Harden to Houston in October - the sort of cost-cutting spurred by the new, more-restrictive collective bargaining agreement that would gut small-market teams and dash the championship dreams of the players and their fans? Gay was owed a combined $37 million on his contract if he played out his next two seasons, meaning the books simply had to be balanced if the Grizzlies were going to survive financially. When 34-year-old Grizzlies owner Robert Pera approved the move just three months after buying the team and putting a new front-office group in place, the trade was seen by some as the dawn of a new day in the NBA. POWER RANKINGS: Where do Grizzlies belong? You wouldn't think it would be this way now, but it is." "When it first happened, everybody was down about it, especially because Rudy was like a brother to us. It's a lot better – a better mindset – playing like that. "You're (getting) the whole team playing one way, and guys sticking to what they do and playing together, playing for each other and playing defense and playing inside-out basketball. "I think we're a better team, man," Grizzlies All-Star forward Zach Randolph told USA TODAY Sports. 30 deal that sent Gay to Toronto and brought back veteran small forward Tayshaun Prince and young players Ed Davis and Austin Daye. Strange though it may seem that one of the Western Conference's best teams could trade its longtime leading scorer and manage to improve, that has been the case since the Jan. And their new owner and management team, as it turns out, may not have sacrificed this season after all.
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The Memphis Grizzlies may be better off without Rudy Gay.
RUDY GAY JERSEY NUMBER IN MEMPHIS FULL
In an NBA season full of surprises – from the Lakers' desperate push to make the playoffs to Miami's march toward the all-time winning streak of 33 games and everything in between – there's one more worth noting.