The Memphis Grizzlies are the worse team in the NBA. But from looking at the roster, and not the record, nobody can honestly say Memphis is that bad. There are several reasons the Grizzlies season has been terrible, but there are three major reasons that has really hurt us this season.

 1. Coaching-On the 2006 NBA Draft, we took Rudy Gay and traded away Shane Battier, Mike Fratellos dream player. Then, in the Summer Championships, the Grizzlies best player, Pau Gasol, was injured. This injury would eventually sit him out for majority of the seasons first half. After the injury, it was clear that Jerry West wanted to see an uptempo game with players such as Mike Miller, Rudy Gay, Hakim Warrick and Dahntey Jones getting more playing time. But Mike Fratello never changed the style of the team and it resulted in a horrible beginning. Several players were noted of coming to Jerry West asking for a immediate change. This is when the Memphis Grizzlies released Mike Fratello and interim coach Tony Barone, who helped build the team, came in to make a quick change. So within a week, the Memphis Grizzlies switched from a slow grind-out team to a fast paced, shoot when open game. If you havent noticed, it took Phoenix three years to develop a good defense in this system. It is apparent that you cant, in the middle of the season, just switch to a pace like that. Since, Memphis has been averaging 110+ppg, but giving up just as much. If we can bring in a young and experience coach this off-season, he will be able to develop a efficient defense in the off-seasons training camp. With this, the Grizzlies can go into the 07-08 season knowing how to play defense, while still be a high-paced team.

2. The second reason is injuries. The biggest of course being Pau Gasols injury. When people say the Grizzlies offense ran through him, they were being literal. 90% of our first two passes ended up in Gasols hands. And it work, he truly is a player who makes his teammates better. He would do much of what Chris Webber and Shaquille O’Neal does, he will look at the defense, read it and usually make the right decision, if it was to pass it out or go for his own shot. When he went down, the Grizzlies lost their identity, lost they way they knew how to play, and it was kindve hectic to see them play. Although Hakim Warrick flourished while Gasol was out, Warrick isnt the offensive machine Gasol is. The Grizzlies took a outside-shooting system, relying mostly on 3’s, and some dunks. Other injuries such as Eddie Jones and Kyle Lowry also hurt us. Eddie Jones was our best defender, and when if he wasnt out with the sore Achilles injury, he wouldve helped the poor defensive team Memphis stop opposing stars. Kyle Lowry, the Grizzlies 2006 draft pick showed he was something special. In his first NBA game, the 6′0 guard pulled down 10 rebounds in a thriller against New York. He showed he could run a fast-paced offense behind Damon Stoudamire. Stoudamire, suffering a season ending injury last season against former-team Portland Trailblazers, came back this season strong. But in about 10 game, you could see the injury and age wearing Stoudamire down. He went on a bad shooting streak, where he lost his starting spot to back-up Chucky Atkins. All these injuries took a serious toll on the Grizzlies, and hopefully we can come back next season alot more healthy.

3. The third and final reason is youth. Memphis traded away its smartest and hardworking player, Battier, for a youthful, athletic kid outve college. When Gasol went down, we replaced his starting spot with 2nd year man Hakim Warrick. We also started 2nd rnd draft pick Alexander Johnson, and also had the inexperienced Dahntey Jones start as shooting guard in place of Eddie Jones. With Miller and Stoudamire/Atkins being the only starters with real NBA experience, the Grizzlies lost several games on rookie mistakes and bad decisions. Memphis suddenly became a very young team who majority were still learning the NBA life. We looked at Warrick and Gay for much of the scoring, and the pressure was simply too much for the younger players. But after a off-season and a training camp, these young players will soon learn to grow into smart and efficient players.

  Outve all the losses, and heart-breakers, there are some good things to come outve this. Hakim Warrick was given an golden opportunity to show what hes got. And hes is now a starter along with Gasol, and is constantly in the Grizzlies rotation. Rudy Gay has been given many opportunites and responsibilties most rookies do not recieve. In return, Rudy, post all-star break, has had excellent numbers for rookies. And there is something the Grizzlies are bitter-sweet about, an extremely high daft pick. Although the Grizzlies are not proud of the horrible record, you cant help but think about that 2007 Draft Class. Players like Julian Wright, Kevin Durant, Al Horford, Brandon Wright and Greg Oden in it, theres several players the Grizzlies could use. If Memphis were to get the first pick in the draft, and a certain two players came out, Memphis could make alotve history on draft night for the Grizzlies.

These are three, of several reasons, the Grizzlies are not up-to-par with previous Grizzly teams, and if the Grizzlies play their cards right, this record could be flipped this time next season.                        

                                                                                                                     -Austin