Where Do The Grizzlies Go From Here?
While the game 7 loss at home to the Los Angeles Clippers was frustrating (and rather surprising when you consider how hard it is to lose a game 7 at home) the show must go on for the Memphis Grizzlies. Some time this week, the players and coaches will give their exit interviews and head off to start their off-season, whatever that may mean for each player.
For the franchise, I would not expect to see very much roster upheaval. O.J. Mayo is very likely going to leave town because he’s a good scorer and deserves the opportunity to start somewhere as a shooting guard. If he somehow finds his way back to the Grizzlies, I would be pleasantly surprised.
The most frustrating thing about the first-round exit this year is that the Grizzlies had a very small, precise window to contend in where they had the right players, salary situation and a western conference that has great teams, but teams the Grizzlies felt like they could contend with.
As far as the roster goes, you don’t need me to tell you how integral O.J. Mayo has been for the Grizzlies off the bench. In a lot of ways, Memphis went as Mayo went, which was painstakingly obvious in the Clippers series. If he does leave, whoever the Grizzlies replace him with will likely not be as good as #32.
Granted, Mayo was pretty much overqualified to come off the bench, and was definitely one of the Grizzlies’ best four players, so that was a reality that they were always going to face, but for a team that struggles to score like the Grizzlies, it becomes even more difficult.
The Grizzlies will also have a decision to make about Darrell Arthur, Marreese Speights and Hamed Haddadi.
Arthur kind of became the forgotten man for the Grizzlies this season, as he tore his achilles before the season ever started and didn’t log a single minute of action. Speights was brought in to replace Zach Randolph when he was down and became a crucial performer for the Grizzlies in the regular season and in the playoffs. Can the Grizzlies bring both back and jettison Haddadi? That would leave the Grizzlies with an undersized back-up center but the league has gone smaller and quicker, anyway.
As far as the west, the Grizzlies felt like they could have taken the Spurs down again this season and would have had a western conference finals series against the Oklahoma City Thunder or the Los Angeles Lakers. The Grizzlies know they can hang with the Thunder and felt like they could give the Lakers a run, as well.
It’s easy to laugh at that notion, especially when the Grizzlies couldn’t get past the Clippers, but the playoffs present troublesome match ups in every round. Heading into the series, the Grizzlies felt they had the better overall team from 1-12, and while they may have been right, their role players simply didn’t back up that idea, as the Clippers got huge production from their bench personnel and the Grizzlies’ reserves shied away from the moment.
The Clippers also had the best player in the series in Chris Paul and while Paul wasn’t quite himself in game 6 and 7, he was the reason that the Clippers were up 3-1 entering game 5. If you put him on the Grizzlies, they probably win the series in 5, and with him on the Clips, they won in 7.
The dirty little secret in today’s NBA is that “star ball” usually beats out team ball, in most cases. Boston won it all in 2008 because of their big three and the Lakers won two straight with their core of Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom.
On the way to the 2011 Finals, Miami got hot with it’s big three and rolled through what many assumed to be better “teams” from Boston and Chicago, but they fell down flat when they played the Mavericks and their star, Dirk Nowitzki, one of the best players of all-time. Dallas had the right mix of “star” and “team,” apparently.
Just for giggles, I looked back at the past 20 NBA champions and an interesting fact stood out to me: each title team has had at least one future hall-of-famer on it’s roster, with the exception of the 2004 Detroit Pistons, who in some ways, were the ultimate team.
Think about that for a second. If you’re a fan of a team and you think they can win the championship, your odds go way up if you employ an all-timer. Now, you don’t need me to tell you all of this. The best players are the best players for a reason, and that reason is that they’re better at basketball than most other people and unless their team royally screws up, their team will be better. The cream always rises to the top in the playoffs.
The Grizzlies have never been a team that’s hurt for confidence, and that fact is still true today. Memphis felt like it was the better team, and feels like it should still be playing. Unfortunately, they played their worst game of the season at the worst time and it’s going to be a long off-season for a team that entered the 2012 playoffs with championship dreams.
When asked how he would describe this season, Lionel Hollins said, “A very satisfying season, with a bitter end.” That’s not so bad, really. Only one team can win every year, which means that every team except that one goes home upset, to an extent.
The Grizzlies posted their best regular season in franchise history this season, they had home-court advantage in the first round and had every opportunity to win game 7 at home, and didn’t get it done. That’s frustrating, to be sure, but there’s plenty of time to get ready for next season and start to work on that cohesion that the Grizzlies never really got around to building this season with various injuries.
Should the Grizzlies have advanced further and went further than they did last year? They were certainly capable of doing so, but didn’t get it done. It’s not as though the Clippers dispatched of them in 5 games or anything. In fact, the Grizzlies showed some of that patented grit and grind to even force a game 7 in the first place. It’s not a perfect answer, and the goal is to win championships, but the Grizzlies are closer to that goal today than they’ve been at any point in the past. All of that makes for a bright tomorrow for the Memphis Grizzlies and their fans.