How many remember the last time a California native bought a Memphis pro basketball team? Charlie O gutted the team and Pera seems to be following in his foot steps.

Let's see how this works out before we start throwing stones.

Yea he is gutting the team by getting rid of players first that this group never would have resigned/signed in Speights, Ellington, and Hamed. Then he helps free up some money by getting rid of guy who is way overpaid. That sure sounds like a guy trying to gut a team.

We can now resign Tony Allen because of this trade. If we hadnt traded Gay, the Grindfather would be playing elsewhere next year.

(01-30-2013 07:39 PM)aTxTIGER Wrote:  We can now resign Tony Allen because of this trade. If we hadnt traded Gay, the Grindfather would be playing elsewhere next year.

That's true....I overlooked that part. Grizz need TA and TA needs the Grizz.

Rudy's play wasn't making us any better and his contract was absolutely crippling us. With Gay, we are a first/second round playoff team with severe financial issues. We now have a solid prospect to eventually replace Z-Bo, can keep Tony Allen (if we want to), and have some cap space to add more depth.

I don't really think we got any better with this trade. But, Rudy was not a max-contract player and he was doing little to make us better. We can, at least, look a little more optimistically toward the future now.

(01-30-2013 07:18 PM)anothertigerfan Wrote:  Let's see how this works out before we start throwing stones.

that doesn't fit OP's MO

TA is the heart and soul of the team as it works now. TA gave the Grizz this identity that didn't exist before he got here. The front office needs to get his deal done this offseason, or he may likely end up in Chicago next year (another team that identifies itself with defense, coached by Thibodeau who was in Boston when Tony was there, and it's his hometown, just speculation).

Rudy also clogged the lane by driving and trying to post up smaller SFs. That'll be an asset to Toronto, but it was crippling our offense from time to time here. You've already got 2 bigs who can control the paint, we don't need more people in the paint. Prince will give us more of a pure, spot-up shooter and hopefully help floor spacing. I don't particularly like the trade, but it's not all that bad. I don't think we became necessarily a better or worse team, but perhaps a restructured team that has the opportunity to play to its strengths more, rather than forcing the issue with Rudy. All in all, we just have to wait and see.