| How Badly Does Memphis Need Some Home Cooking? Authored by Andrew Perna - June 25, 2008 - 3:12 pm
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They stumbled out of the gate, setting the table their dismal 22-60 record – exactly how they faired the season before. Somewhere inbetween the beginning and end of the disappointing campaign, they traded Pau Gasol for perhaps the worst number one overall pick in NBA history and a few pieces of dirty laundry.
Never a booming market, Memphis fell to 29th in attendance this season (ahead of only Indiana) without any first-rate star power to put butts in the seats.
Over the last six seasons their highest finish in terms of league attendance was nineteenth, and they sat at the bottom for the 2006-07 season – well before Gasol was shipped out to Hollywood for a feature role on a championship-caliber team.
They have compiled forty-four wins combined in the last two seasons, this after winning more than forty-five a season during a three-year run of moderate success.
While the Grizzles do inhabit one of the league’s smaller markets, the numbers show that neither above-average records nor international star power have been good enough to get Tennesseans to shell out the cash to see the team play basketball at least forty-one times a year at the FedEx Forum.
Memphis has some of the lowest ticket prices in the league, so it’s not a glaring economic issue of the team charging too much for tickets that already aren’t in demand.
What the Griz lack is a household name. Someone that your grandmother knows about even if she can’t tell the difference between a pick on the hardwood and an interception on the gridiron.
Memphis has a handful of very good, young players. However, guys like Mike Miller, Rudy Gay, Hakim Warrick and Mike Conley aren’t front-page news. Sure, hoopheads like myself and anyone taking the time to read these words know all about them, but what about the casual fan in Tennessee looking for something to do on a Friday or Saturday night?
I’m not saying GM Chris Wallace should get rid of guys like Miller, Gay and Conley – but rather get someone with star power to play alongside them.
Miller, Warrick and Conley all appear to be introverts, which is fine, especially when they are producing on the court. And while Gay seems to have a touch of Hollywood in him (see his YouTube submissions) he isn’t the kind of player that will make Memphis residents realize basketball is being played at a high level downtown – at least not yet.
What the Grizzles need is some home cooking. Perhaps a Memphis Tiger or two to help reverse their fortunes on the court and put more people in the stands.
There is absolutely no way the Griz will have the opportunity to take Memphis freshman phenom Derrick Rose with the fifth overall pick, but the No. 28 selection could very well be used to grab a nice public relations catch.
Chris Douglas-Roberts and Joey Dorsey are leaving the University of Memphis as well, and could be there when the Grizzles use the twenty-eighth pick on Thursday night.
Dorsey would help provide an inside presence, something the team sorely needs, but he certainly wouldn’t make them a much better team right off the bat. Douglas-Roberts, a tremendous perimeter player, would Memphis yet another spot-up shooter to either give Miller a rest or draw attention away from the established gunner.
However, both Tigers would without-a-doubt provide the Grizzles with a touch of home cooking, something that this struggling franchise could desperately use.
Trading Gasol may have caused a stir this winter as many pundits called the deal ‘an absolute steal’ for the Lakers, but it did open up quite a few possibilities for the Grizzles this summer. Not only do they have a pair of picks in this year’s first round, but they will also have a good amount of cap space after the contract of Kwame Brown comes off the books.
No matter what Chris Wallace does this offseason, there doesn’t seem to be room for the Grizzles to sink much lower – in the standings and the stands themselves.
Grabbing a top-flight prospect with the fifth pick and making a few key free agent signings will help put this team on the right path, but adding a familiar face that is also used to wearing a ‘Memphis’ jersey might not be a bad idea either.
Andrew Perna is a Senior Writer for RealGM.com. Please feel free to contact him with comments or questions via e-mail – Andrew.Perna@RealGM.com |
