2012-2013 Finish:  43-39

 

Season Highlight: Making the playoffs as the 6^th seed, especially since their last appearance was the 09/10 season before that.  Memphis looked like a dangerous opponent

 

Season Lowlight: Getting knocked out of the playoffs in the 1^st round by the upstart Clippers.  Memphis HAD lost Gallo, one of their top players before the playoffs, so that was a huge blow to their post season hopes.

 

Best Trade: The Memphis Grizzlies send Beno Udrih, Thaddeus Young and Gerald Henderson to the Orlando Magic. The Orlando Magic send Zach Randolph, Marco Belinelli and Anthony Tolliver to the Memphis Grizzlies. The Memphis Grizzlies trade -5 GM points.The Orlando Magic receive 5 GM points.

 

Great trade for the Grizz!  Yeah, they gave up a lot in Henderson, Young and Udrih, but Thad is a tweener 3-4 and in the NLL, those players don’t seem to always translate to wins, for some reason.  In their place, Memphis got Z-Bo, perhaps one of the most dangerous PF in the NLL.  Beli and Tolliver were throw ins, but Beli was still a great player to bring off the bench.

 

Worst Trade: No bad trades for Memphis

 

Other Notable Trades: The Memphis Grizzlies send Enes Kanter and Austin Rivers to the Milwaukee Bucks. The Milwaukee Bucks send Gerald Henderson, Markieff Morris and Marquis Teague to the Memphis Grizzlies. The Memphis Grizzlies send a 1st-Rounder (Mem) to the Milwaukee Bucks. The Memphis Grizzlies receive 10 GM points. The Milwaukee Bucks trade -10 GM points.

 

This was another solid trade for Memphis, as Rivers doesn’t seem ready for the NBA.  Morris is an average player, Teague has potential and Henderson helped to reel in Z-Bo!  The 2 reasons that this wasn’t their best trade was the losing of the 1^st round pick and the early surrender of Kanter.  Kanter may become a really great big, especially now that Al Jeff and Millsap aren’t hurting his minutes in the NBA Utah team.

 

Best FA Signing: Danilo Gallinari.  Yeah, he was a QO, but he was still one of the best players on the team this past year.

 

Worst FA Signing: Tyler Honeycutt.  Really was not any type of factor for Memphis.  He played in only 12 games and made a bucket a game.

 

Star: Zach Randolph – 19.6 PPG and 8.4 Rebs.  Z-Bo single handedly kept Memphis in some games and outright won some for them.  Once Gallo went down with the injury, Randolph helped pick up the slack.  Memphis may have had an early exit, but they definitely figured out that who their workhorse was last year.

 

Surprise: Ben Gordon - Posting his highest PPG since the 08/09 season, Gordon was a great scorer for Memphis.  His long range shooting helped open up the paint so Z-Bo could go to work!

 

Goat: Bernard James – There was a lot of hype surrounding James as he was drafted in the 2^nd round.  He was expected to be the defensive specialist off the bench, giving Noah the ability to get some rest, but James really was a non factor.  In fact, it was the lack of any big man depth that ultimately doomed the Grizz last year.

 

Draft Report Card: No drafted players.

 

Looking to the Future: GM Rasho has seemed frustrated with his defensive stalwart, Joakim Noah, so much so that he put Noah on the trade block last year.  There hasn’t been any news about moving him now, but once the season kicks off, Noah may start to hear the suitors come calling.  With both Teagues, Z-Bo, Gallo, and Noah, it looks like the Grizz are a solid Western conference team.  However, they haven’t gained enough ground on the top teams out West.  Dal, Sac, and shockingly SA all seem to have stronger lineups coming into this season.  Rasho needs to find a stopgap to fill in for Gallo early on.  He’s got some good young talent, but aside from Jeff Teague, there’s no guarantee that the rest of them will pan out. I expect to see GM Rasho make some early trades, so his team has the makeup and identity he is searching for.

 

 

Upcoming Free Agents:

           

Jeff Teague– Starting PG for Memphis, who placed a QO on him.  He wasn’t a S&T in the NBA, so 100% that he’s back as a Grizz.

 

Marco Belinelli –  Streaky shooter off the bench.  However, with Gallo out for at least half the season, could be a good returning player for Memphis.  Looks more like Beli wants to test the FA market tho.

           

Ben Gordon – Aging wing scorer in a league where the wing scorers are key.  The biggest problem is his contract, over 13 Mil.  Memphis could get a comparable SG in FA, but there’s no guarantee there, so it’s probable that Gordon stays in Memphis

           

Luke Babbitt – role player that is up in the air about returning.

           

Anthony Tolliver – A stretch 4 that is under utilized, mostly because he’s very inconsistent.  Could be cheap player to keep on the bench.