Beale Street Link Dump
By Hal Brown
There hasn’t been too much going on in Grizzly land, either in reality or in the blogosphere. So, we decided to send you the thoughts that have been posted about the Grizzlies, plus a few other thoughts from around the league in general.
"At the time he went down, Rudy was shooting a career high 47% from the field and 39% from beyond the arc, and leading the team in scoring at just under 20 points per game. In short, he was everything the Rudy Gay that got traded was not. He was efficient. He was worth his contract. He was playing team basketball…This is the Rudy Gay that anti-stat guys and Scoop Jackson said the Grizzlies traded away."
GBB On Tony Wroten’s difficulties as a ball handler, and why it’s probably not surprising.
"For Tony Wroten, it should have been obvious to NBA GM’s (not just in Memphis) that his affection for shot-taking and one-on-one duels were going to be a problem at the pro level. Sure he’s a lefty and he’s taller/longer than most PGs, but he’s not a point guard."
We at Beale Street Bears did an expansive series statistically breaking down the potential of the young players. Grizzly Bear Cubs Part 1 is here, Part 2 is here, Part 3 is here, and Part 4 is here.
"What I did, then, using the average peak age and experience data, is I plugged the players’ growth from one year to another, along with the probable peak season, into my calculator to get a basic equation describing the players’ growth. Using that equation, I could then do just a little bit of calculus to get a projected career performance arc."
We also had quite a few thoughts on the potential of Ed Davis, and what he needs to work on.
"While Davis could really go anywhere from here, it’s likely that the Grizzlies’ long-term plan for him is to continue to develop and take on a larger and larger role, allowing them to give Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol more rest. In fact, Z-Bo is 32 now with two years (provided he opts in for 2014-15 with his player option, which is very likely). While it’s unlikely that Davis is seen as a likely replacement for him at the moment, he’s certainly in the cards for such a role and at the least, the playing time can be balanced a bit more evenly as Randolph inches closer to his mid-30s."
"My favorite team hasn’t sniffed 30 wins in a season since I joined Twitter or professed my basketball opinions to anyone other than my dad and my friends. Yet, I often remain quite positive about the franchise. Sure, it’s hard not to get down while we grind through the latter parts of these losing seasons, but by that time I’m already looking ahead to the NBA Draft Lottery and the potential superstar that the team will add in the NBA Draft. And that’s intentional."
"First upon cocking his arm back, millions of small gears in his robotic arm spring to life, as the nuclear-powered rockets in his cyborg shoulder begin to propel his arm forward. Let’s pretend for a second that all life in a ten-block area isn’t destroyed by the vacuum created by the force of this motion."
That last one has a twist ending, be sure to check it out.