Memphis Grizzlies: 15 players who defined Grit and Grind

Rudy Gay was mentioned a good bit on the previous slide. His first 6.5 years of his NBA career were played in Memphis. While an adept scoring small forward, Gay often got his buckets in a manner that didn’t always translate to winning.

Gay was originally drafted by the Houston Rockets in 2008 out of UConn. His rights, along with Stromile Swift, were shipped to Memphis for popular team-player in forward Shane Battier. Battier would spend a good bit of his prime with the Rockets, while Gay had his best years in the NBA in Memphis uniform.

Gay was a lottery pick after a dominating college career at UConn. It should come as a surprise to no one that he made the All-Rookie First Team in 2006-07. He averaged 10.8 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game in 27.0 minutes per contest. Gay shot 42.2 percent from the floor as a rookie and 36.4 percent from beyond the arc.

By his second year in the league, Gay was a no-doubt starter for the Grizzlies at small forward. For the next five seasons, Gay never averaged fewer than 18.9 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game. He would take his 16 shots per game and make somewhere above seven field goals in about every contest during this five-year window.

In essence, Gay was a model of consistency that the Grizzlies offense needed to eventually become a viable playoff threat in the deep Western Conference. However, with the addition of shooting guard O.J. Mayo in 2008, it became clear that both wings needed the ball in their hands to be an effective offensive player. Too bad there was only one ball to share between them.

Memphis had missed the NBA playoffs in each of Gay’s first four seasons with the team. While the Grizzlies would qualify for the first time since 2006 in 2011, Gay had to watch Memphis win its first-ever playoff series from sidelines due to a shoulder injury suffered in February. Memphis upset the top-seeded San Antonio Spurs before taking the Oklahoma City Thunder to seven games as a No. 8 seed in the conference semifinals.

Gay would finally get his first taste of playoff basketball in 2012, as the Grizzlies would qualify for the second straight season. While he averaged 19.0 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game in those NBA playoffs, Memphis was eliminated by the Los Angeles Clippers in seven games in their first round series.

The next season, Gay would be traded to the Toronto Raptors in a three-team deal with the Detroit Pistons that brought Tayshaun Prince to Memphis. The Grizzlies achieved new heights with Prince at the three over Gay. Gay’s stint in Toronto was short-lived, as he was dealt to the Sacramento Kings less than a year later. He spent a few years in Sacramento before becoming a sixth man with the Spurs last season. Simply put, his Memphis departure brought out peak “Grit and Grind”.