Upon considering the Memphis Grizzlies, I'm a little fascinated.
Take Zach Randolph, OJ Mayo and Rudy Gay and you're inclined to think "offense." But that's not necessarily the case with this bunch. Memphis doesn't shoot the ball particularly well and while I've seen about as much Memphis basketball as I've seen "Memphis Beat" (sorry, Jason Lee... and I suppose you too, skinny guy from "Road Trip"), I can only picture the trio as a poor man's Ted Williams' version of the Heatles. Each of these guys can play, but none of them stands out, and at the end of the day you're not particularly sure how to blend their talents together because they don't seem to fit into the blender anyway. I'm also itching for Mayo to be traded to the Hawks so he can begin the second part of his career as The Next Jason Terry.
It's not like Memphis is in Milwaukee range on offense. I just expected them to be better before taking a look at the numbers.
I guess I consider Memphis to be a team of nicheless players. Seems like they're all floating around like in those simulations you see of how particles float inside an atom. We're really not sure why they're all together, but it all manages to run properly. I suppose this is my really confusing way of stating my belief that Memphis can be a dangerous team. They've got some good players who are starting to mold themselves to actually fit into that blender (I normally hate extended metaphors, but I also have a headache).
Where to go if the offense isn't clicking as it could? Defense, of course. Marc Gasol, Tony Allen and others have placed the Grizzlies in the top half of the league in defensive efficiency. Aside from this, they're pretty average in just about everything and thus have a near-average record at 27-24. I'd expect them to shoot more free throws than they do, but that's not the case either.
In other words, this is a really uneven, mostly crappy preview and I would like to thank you, Memphis, for handing us Kyle Lowry. Expect a big game from him tonight -- he loves to bash on his old team. I think we win this one, too.