Sure, we’re not going to know the true winners and losers of tonight’s NBA Draft for another couple years. After all, even the can’t-miss guys like Derrick Rose and Michael Beasley have yet to dribble a basketball in an NBA game. But before the dust is settled, here’s who I feel came out on top in tonight’s craziness.

Portland Trail Blazers: On the last three NBA Draft nights, I’ve watched the Trail Blazers build what will eventually become an NBA Champion. Tonight was no exception, as the Blazers dealt and dealt their way into some favorable spots in the draft. The Blazers made four initial selections in the draft and just a couple of hours later, they had a completely different list of players to show for it. Brandon Rush, Joey Dorsey, Omer Asik and Mike Taylor have transformed into the talented Jerryd Bayless, Donte Green, Sonny Weems, Nicolas Batum and even more picks for next year’s draft. General Manager Kevin Pritchard has worked the draft so well, he could probably assemble two competent NBA rosters.

New Jersey Nets: Since the Jason Kidd deal, this franchise has gone a long way in reinventing itself. While losing the scoring prowess of Richard Jefferson will hurt, the Nets can finally say they have the makings of a very good frontcourt in newly acquired Yi Jianlian and Stanford’s Brook Lopez, whom the Nets stole with the 10th overall pick. I had Lopez going 4th overall, so for the Nets to get him at #10, they must be happy. With another 1st round pick from Dallas (Thanks Cuban!), Jersey landed California’s Ryan Anderson, who can score from anywhere on the court. In the 2nd round, they found some more value in Memphis legend Chris Douglas-Roberts. One of the more complete scorers in college basketball, CDR should compliment Vince Carter nicely out on the perimeter. Hell, he might even compliment Mr. LeBron James in a few years…

Memphis Grizzlies: The night started in typical Grizzlies fashion, with a couple of uninspiring picks. But it ended with a bang, as the Grizz shipped off Kevin Love and Mike Miller for O.J. Mayo, considered the 3rd best player in the draft. Lets be real, here. Love is a solid prospect, but he doesn’t have the superstar potential you look for with a top five pick. Mayo does. And yes, the Grizzlies now inherit a couple of Minnesota’s god-awful contracts. But Mayo is a far better player than the combination of Love and Miller. The Grizz also appear to have won the Darrell Arthur sweepstakes.

Jerry West has announced that he will step down from the Grizzlies on July 1st. To be honest, I can’t blame him at all. West is 69 years old, and said that his age did play a part in his decision. I would say that the 21-60 record the Grizzlies posted this year would probably be part of the reason he is stepping down as well.

I also have a hard time seeing West in charge of the Grizzlies. He’s a Lakers man through and through, and that should be his organization from now until forever. He has eight championships with them as a player and in management so it was hard to see him running the Grizzlies. It was also shocking when he announced that he would be working for them. Even though he will step back from his current job, West didn’t give any indication either way if we planned on making a return for a different team. I don’t foresee West coming back, so the NBA will have to say goodbye to West, one of the greatest of all time, forever immortalized in the NBA logo.

Luckily for the Grizzlies, West is a decent enough man to announce in advance that he will be stepping down. This should give the Grizzlies time to bring in a new man and get things settled down. Plus it will see the Grizzlies through the deadline that current owner Michael Heisley has laid out for his attempts to sell the team. This should give the Grizzlies a better chance of making a smooth transition, or if the sale falls through maintaining stability. This is just another testament to the great man Jerry West and he will certainly be missed by the Grizzlies.

When a 6-24 team fires their coach, they usually have some good reasoning behind it. In the case of the Memphis Grizzlies, it’s a moronic decision. Then again, this is the Grizzlies we’re talking about. They’ve made a number of poor choices in the past year and firing Fratello is near the top of it.

Here’s a big reason for the Grizzlies struggles: the injury to their star player Pau Gasol. Gasol was injured during this summer’s FIBA World Basketball Championships and missed the first 22 games of the year. Everybody knew the Grizzlies would struggles mightily without their best player. Why is this a surprise? I called this in the preseason and I’m pretty sure most NBA analysts did as well. Gasol made that team into a fringe playoff team the past couple of years so without him, they’re simply not playoff caliber. Apparently Jerry West didn’t get that memo.

Without Gasol, who in the hell was going to score? Mike Miller was leading the team in scoring before Gasol returned. The Spaniard is now scoring 16 a game and maybe the Grizzlies will soon be improved as a result.

Mike Fratello wasn’t the one that traded Shane Battier, that was Jerry West. Battier was one of the team’s most popular players and one of the best perimeter defenders in the league. How big of a loss is he? Considering the Rockets are 17-12 and Battier has been a lockdown defender, I’d say his departure has been a big impact. Have I mentioned they traded him for Stromile Swift? Swift was garbage in his first stint and Memphis and isn’t doing much better this time around. That’s a terrible trade anyway you look at it.

I understand that Fratello’s deliberate coaching style isn’t best suited for the guys Memphis drafted. Memphis preached getting younger and athletic in the offseason and I understand that. But why don’t you wait and see how this style pans out with Gasol actually in the lineup? Making a move this early in the season is a bit shady, especially when the Grizzlies are coming off consecutive playoff appearances with Fratello at the helm.

Maybe Memphis management should decide which direction this franchise wants to go. They’ve gone through veteran movements by adding guys like Eddie Jones and Damon Stoudamire and now they’ve gone the youth route with Rudy Gay, Kyle Lowry and Hakim Warrick. Youth movements usually mean struggles so maybe West is the one that should be fired.

Over the next month until opening night on October 31, I?ll be previewing one NBA team a day. Starting in the Eastern Conference, I?ll be starting with my lowest ranked team and continuing to the best, then switching conferences. Enjoy.

Grizzlies’ Season Over Before it Starts?

The Grizzlies have made the playoffs in three consecutive seasons. The problem is they’ve been swept out of the first round each time. Lucky for them, the Grizzlies probably won’t be swept in the playoffs this year. The bad news is they won’t be in the playoffs to begin with. The Grizzlies play in a very difficult division and will have to play the first half of the season without Pau Gasol, their star player. How important is the Spaniard to the Grizzlies? He led the team in points, rebounds, and assists last season. His broken foot suffered in the World Basketball Championships suddenly makes the roster very thin. Gasol’s return for the second half won’t be enough to take Memphis to the playoffs again.

Overview

Now that Gasol is injured, it’s going to be nearly impossible to find scoring out of this lineup. The next best scoring option is probably Mike Miller, who has now become the worst #1 scorer in the league. The backcourt is pretty ancient, with Damon Stoudamire and Eddie Jones likely getting the starting nods. That’d be a better backcourt if it was 1996 and not 2006. It may be the season for a youth movement in Memphis. Rudy Gay and Hakim Warrick should get lots of minutes. Gay was acquired from the Houston Rockets on draft day in exchange for Shane Battier, arguably the Grizzlies’ most popular player. Read the rest of this entry »