Month: April 2013

Categories
News The Fly-By

Bike de Triomphe

When a Memphis couple’s home burned to the ground several months ago, all that was left were a couple of charred bikes that had been hanging in the garage. Now their only remaining possessions will be immortalized in the gateway leading into Overton Park from a bike path along Sam Cooper and Broad Avenue.

Those bikes and about 163 others will make up a massive archway created by Memphis sculptor Tylur French that will greet cyclists as they enter the East Parkway side of Overton Park from the soon-to-be-constructed Overton-Broad bike path. The Overton-Broad path will take cyclists from Overton Park’s Old Forest, down Sam Cooper, Broad Avenue, and Tillman Street to the Shelby Farms Greenline.

“One guy gave me three bikes from his childhood, and one is a tricycle he got when he was 2 years old,” French said. “I have a picture of him riding that tricycle in his diaper on Christmas morning.”

Not every bike has such a compelling story. Some were donated by parents whose kids outgrew their pint-sized cycles, and others were worse-for-the-wear bikes donated by Revolutions Bicycle Co-op. French plans to add a few skateboards and wheelchairs as well.

The bikes are being fashioned into an arch inside French’s workshop inside Memphis Defense Depot Park. Once the shape is just right, French will begin sandblasting rusted and burned bikes. He’s also removing parts that will rot over time, such as brake pads, and he’s filling tires with spray foam to make them last. Then the sculpture will be painted with a palette of three or four colors.

“One of the challenges is figuring out how to create continuity because it’s such a jumble of shapes and colors,” French said.

The gateway, which French hopes to complete by mid-May, will be the focal point of Overton Park’s portion of the connector trail.

“You’ll pass through the gate into the park, and you’ll land on a concrete plaza that’s shaped to look like a bike sprocket,” said Tina Sullivan, director of the Overton Park Conservancy. “There will be benches and a water fountain, and there’s a [paved] surface that connects to the [Old Forest’s existing] internal paved road.”

Currently, cyclists who wish to cross from the Old Forest’s paved trails to Sam Cooper must bike through a grassy area, but once this project is complete, a paved trail will lead cyclists to the East Parkway/Sam Cooper intersection. Sullivan said the conservancy’s portion of the connector project doesn’t have a set timeline for completion yet.

French, who has created sculpture for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the Cancer Survivors Park, and the Memphis Skate Park, hopes his gateway will serve as a visual icon for the city’s burgeoning bike-friendly reputation.

“This big bike movement, with the greenline, happened so fast, and a lot of times, a big movement needs an iconic image to identify it,” French said. “I would love for this [gateway] to bring more city integration into the greenline.”

Categories
News The Fly-By

Future Planning

After a decade as CEO of Planned Parenthood Greater Memphis Region (PPGMR), Barry Chase left his office this month, handing over the reins to former board member and longtime Planned Parenthood supporter Ashley Coffield.

Previously a project director for the Washington, D.C.-based organization Partnership for Prevention, Coffield brings a career of public health experience to the job, as well as nine years serving on PPGMR’s board of directors.

Coffield is inheriting a state-level political climate that has been openly antagonistic to Planned Parenthood. Chase’s tenure saw the election of self-proclaimed Planned Parenthood adversary Governor Bill Haslam, as well as the state legislature’s warpath against the family-planning organization.

“Haslam made the statement when he was running for governor that he was going to put Planned Parenthood out of business,” Chase said. “Because of that, we ran into a problem with the state and our family-planning funding.”

Chase is referring to the Title X funding showdown that took place last year, in which state legislators attempted to divert federal family-planning dollars away from Planned Parenthood, first foisting the dollars on an unprepared county health department and then agreeing to let counties subcontract with other health-care providers. The Shelby County Commission selected Christ Community Health Services, an organization that does not perform abortions, to receive the Title X subcontract.

In a display of tit-for-tat political strategy, Planned Parenthood Greater Memphis Region then bypassed the state and applied for and received Title X funding directly from the federal government. Though the grant amount was lower than they were accustomed to, PPGMR made up for the reduced amount with donations from supporters.

By the time the Title X showdown took place, Chase was well-accustomed to the challenges of running a polarizing nonprofit. When he took the helm of Planned Parenthood, the organization was saddled with debt and uncertainty about its lease. Over the next three years, Chase used his business background to nudge the nonprofit’s ledger from red to black. Then he tackled the organization’s real estate problem, securing its current location at 2430 Poplar.

“When we lost our lease at the [former Union Avenue] building, no one would rent to us,” Chase said. “We were 60 days from when we had to be out of the Union location, and we had nowhere to go.”

The country’s recession provided some fortuitous help in that regard. A bank eager to get a foreclosed Midtown office building off its books sold the Poplar Avenue location to PPGMR, where it has been housed for the past three years.

Coffield now sits in the corner office of that centrally located building off of one of Memphis’ busiest arterial roadways and looks ahead to the opposition and opportunities that await.

“Our number-one priority is to make sure patients get high-quality health care and they have a positive, satisfying experience,” Coffield said. “Of course, we’re paying attention to what’s going on in Nashville, and of course, it’s threatening to us, so that also has to be a focus.”

She points outside to the space where protesters regularly camp out, including one particularly vocal anti-abortion activist they have dubbed “megaphone man.”

“The sidewalk bullying is the least of our concerns,” Coffield said. “It’s the bullies in Nashville that we’re worried about.”

Categories
News The Fly-By

What They Said

About “Senate Blocks Campfield’s ‘Starve the Children’ Bill, Sends It Off to ‘Summer Study'”:

“The Tennessee legislature — our very own homegrown Fagins, Monks, and Sikes. ‘May I have more, sir?'” — jrgolden

About “A (Verbal) Shootout at the Agricenter Gun Show”:

“By 2015, the deaths from gun violence are expected to EXCEED the number of ALL traffic fatalities (DUI or other). Universal background checks for all gun purchases, renewal of the assault weapons ban, and eliminating high-capacity magazines (anything more than 10 rounds) will not eliminate all gun violence. But it WILL reduce it. Just as effective drunk driving laws and enforcement have reduced the deaths from DUI by 40 percent, these proposed measures will reduce gun violence in this country.” — Molly MacLeod-Roberts

About “Mall Plan Would Give Raleigh ‘a Fighting Chance'”:

“It’s just more throwing good money after bad. Nothing’s improved in that area since the mall anchors and national retailers threw in their towels and left. Between the out-of-control shoplifting and employee thievery and the reluctance of shoppers to patronize the mall for fear of their own safety getting from their car to the stores, it made turning a profit next to impossible. What’s changed in that area? Answer: Nothing.” — JuliusJones

Comment of the Week:

About “Letter from the Editor” and “the alternate universe inhabited by the Tennessee General Assembly”:

“In a nutshell, we have the leadership that we deserve. A confederacy of dunces.”— jrgolden

Categories
News The Fly-By

Q&A With James Alexander,

From the soulful sounds of the Bar-Kays to the pop and R&B tunes of Justin Timberlake, Memphis’ music scene has a lot to offer.

Last Tuesday, some of the area’s most notable artists displayed their musical talents for President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama during the 10th installment of the In Performance at the White House series.

The event paid tribute to “Memphis Soul” through the performances of Timberlake and the Bar-Kays, along with Sam Moore of Sam & Dave, Charlie Musselwhite, Mavis Staples, Cyndi Lauper, Booker T and the MGs, and many more.

Since its launch in 2009, the In Performance series has celebrated the music of artists such as Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, Motown Records, and the blues and country genres.

James Alexander of the Bar-Kays (who also played at Obama’s 2012 inauguration) took time to speak about his experience playing the concert, meeting the president and first lady, and what it’s like inside the White House.

Flyer: How was it performing in this concert series?

James Alexander: Unbelievable. How many times do you get the chance to be in the White House and perform for the president?

Why do you think the concert organizers selected Memphis Soul to be celebrated?

Memphis is where it all started. It’s the birthplace of rock-and-roll and the home of the blues. Popular music as we know it pretty much originated from Memphis. There are other cities that might take claim, but actually, man, it all originated in Memphis.

What do you feel Memphis’ music scene offers to the world?

If you’re trying to do music with a feeling, Memphis is the place that you need to come. Most of the [city’s artists], no matter what kind of music they create, all of it has a feeling, and that’s very important in music. Music is emotional, but there’s a lot of music out there now that doesn’t have feeling. But the people who make music around this area, they all put feeling in it.

Grammy Award-winning musician Booker T. Jones served as music director during the event. How was it working with him?

It was like a family reunion. A lot of people don’t know, but Booker T. played on our first record. Back then, on the 45s, they had the A- and B-side. On the B-side, we had a song called “Knucklehead.” Booker played harmonica on that song.

Was there a particular artist you most enjoyed playing with?

It was very special to perform behind Mavis Staples and Sam Moore. Mavis Staples, William Bell, and Sam Moore, we all were on the same label together at Stax [Records]. You know, everybody was really special.

How was it being inside the White House and meeting the president and first lady?

[The White House] is pretty secured. You can’t move around freely like you would want to. You have to have an escort wherever you go. When you meet the president, the Secret Service puts you in groups of five, and they call you. You go up, and you have about 30 seconds to shake his hand, take your picture and have whatever conversation you’re going to have with him. They say, 15 minutes of fame, I had 30 seconds of fame, and it was all right with me, man. It was all good.

Categories
News The Fly-By

Broad Reach

Art won’t be the only thing on display at the Broad Avenue Art Walk this Friday, as three MEMShop-sponsored pop-up storefronts will open their doors for the first time.

 Five-in-One Social Club, NJ Woods Gallery and Design, and My Heavenly Creations will open their doors on Friday evening. Fitting with the overall theme of Broad Street as an arts district, each new business will sell locally made products, ranging from sculptures and paintings to bath bombs and T-shirts. The shops will remain open until September 30th.

MEMShop is the retail initiative of the Mayor’s Innovation Delivery Team’s broader MEMFix campaign, which serves as a vehicle for revitalizing three target neighborhoods. One of those neighborhoods is the Broad Avenue/Binghampton area.

Broad Avenue actually served as a bit of inspiration for MEMFix, which was partially modeled after “New Face for an Old Broad,” a two-day festival hosted by Broad business owners in 2010.

Since MEMFix kicked off last November, it has been responsible for setting the stage for the Crosstown neighborhood’s revitalization and, earlier this month, promoting local business around the University of Memphis. While MEMFix helps revitalize neighborhoods, MEMShop provides consumers with a new place to shop while supporting local small business owners.

Abby Miller, program director for the Mayor’s Innovation Delivery Team, said the idea of what MEMshop can do for a neighborhood has grown significantly since the first MEMShop event in Overton Square in December.

“MEMFix is more about looking at how to activate a neighborhood. We look at things like street design and what’s possible as more of a one-day or one-weekend event,” Miller said. “MEMShop started as pop-up retail, and now it’s morphed into a retail incubator where businesses will be here [on Broad Avenue] for six months.”

 Miller said she was surprised that more than 30 local businesses applied for the three MEMShop spaces available on Broad, in part because it was the first long-term project that MEMShop has done.

But it’s not hard to see how the perks of being a MEMShop retailer would attract local business owners. Owners sign a six-month lease, and the first three months of rent are free. Then they’re only responsible for paying a portion of the rent during the last three months. Those picked for a MEMShop on Broad Avenue also receive free business advice from Alt Consulting on topics ranging from marketing training to financial projection.

“These businesses get a lot of additional customized business support services that many of them can’t afford otherwise. Many small businesses can’t afford to have a consultant to work one-on-one with them, but we’re giving them access to all these things to hopefully make them more successful in the long run,” said Cynthia Norwood, managing director for Alt Consulting. “Even if, when the six-month lease is up, they decide to move on, the property owner has an increased value of space and extra foot traffic coming by.”

Historic Broad Business Association board member and T Clifton Gallery owner Tom Clifton said he’s thrilled to be a part of MEMShop’s latest project.

“We are very excited to have the [new] businesses on this street,” Clifton said. “I’ve been on this street for four years, and there were people on this street for many years who have been hanging on by their nails. Things have slowly started to improve around here.”

As for the new businesses on Broad Avenue, Clifton joked, “We’re not letting them leave.”

Categories
Politics Politics Feature

Mike Ritz: It Ain’t Over Yet

CREDIT: Jackson Baker

Shelby County Commission chairman Mike Ritz, the man who has been at the center of the school-merger crisis for the last two years and has been the driving force behind ongoing litigation, assayed the situation in the wake of Monday’s passage of municipal-schools legislation in Nashville and saw some complications remaining.

Jackson Baker

Mike Ritz

At some point, a few of the six suburban municipalities may find the independent school districts they establish vulnerable to legal challenge, Ritz said. The chairman, a resident of Germantown himself, pinpointed Germantown as most likely to encounter problems because of the large number of non-resident students served by the eight schools now operating within the city.

“These students may not be educated by the city for long because they won’t be contributing to the taxes paid by Germantown residents to maintain the schools, and the city’s taxpayers may get their board to react to that,” said Ritz, who noted that a fair number of the outliers would be minority students, and any change in their status would put the district in jeopardy.

The next phase of the commission’s litigation against municipal schools is an equal-opportunity challenge on resegregation grounds, and presiding U.S. district judge Hardy Mays is maintaining the option to hold trial on the point, though Ritz acknowledged that any such process might not occur until after the new municipal districts are established, probably in August 2014.

Another matter noted by Ritz was that of how and at what cost new municipal districts might acquire existing school buildings. This is a question to be negotiated between the municipalities and the Unified School Board, Ritz said. “That makes it all the more urgent that we go ahead and expand the board to 13 members, a number more representative of the entire community.”

Ritz said that enough issues remained unresolved to justify a resumption of the negotiations between the commission and the municipalities that were conducted briefly but suspended at year’s end. “I think they [the municipalities] will see it in their interest to come back to the table,” he said.

• The bill enabling municipal schools in Shelby County (SB 1353/HB 1288) was a retooling of a 2012 version that had been ruled unconstitutional by Mays because its application was limited to Shelby County.

The new version applies statewide and, for whatever reason, did not encounter the controversy that befell an early draft of the 2012 bill that was scaled back to meet objections from legislators outside Shelby County.

With little more than perfunctory debate, this year’s bill passed both chambers of the Republican-dominated Tennessee General Assembly with comfortable margins Monday, thereby allowing the de facto secession from Shelby County’s soon-to-be “unified” school district that six suburban municipalities in the county have been seeking for at least two years.

Mayors and other representatives of those suburbs — Germantown, Collierville, Bartlett, Lakeland, Arlington, and Millington — were on hand for the occasion and were introduced in the state House of Representatives by suburban GOP members before Monday’s vote in that chamber. The House vote was 70-24 in favor. The Senate followed with a 24-5 tally for the bill.

There was some opposition. In the House, Representative Bill Dunn (R-Knoxville) rose to express forebodings about the measure and declared his opposition to it, as he had to last year’s original model. Dunn worried that, since this year’s bill, unlike the final product last year, was cast so as to apply statewide, not just to Shelby County, “we’re going to see some problems down the road.”

The Knoxville legislator pointed out that he had ultimately supported the Shelby County-only version of last year’s bill, but “unfortunately, a judge shut it down.” He reminded his colleagues that he had “asked that the current bill be rolled” until a version with dependable safeguards for school districts statewide could be perfected, but,” unfortunately it was not rolled.” Consequently, “I will be voting no tonight. I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t think I’m gonna be.”

Objections came also from representatives from the city of Memphis, who, unlike their suburban Shelby County colleagues, were opposed to the bill. Representatives G.A. Hardaway, Antonio Parkinson, and Johnnie Turner all took shots at the measure, articulating their concerns about the effect of the bill on the county’s unified school district, still in the process of formation, and extracting assurances from primary House sponsor Curry Todd (R-Collierville) that the bill had no immediate impact upon the future disposition of school buildings currently owned by Shelby County.

Both Hardaway and Parkinson gave voice to a rumor that has circulated widely of late, namely, that an unspoken arrangement exists between the bill’s sponsors — Todd and Senate majority leader Mark Norris being the principal ones — and Republican colleagues in districts elsewhere to the effect that a one-year window would be held open for Shelby County and would be closed for everybody else by follow-up legislation next year.

Todd, who had begun his remarks by expressing thanks for the “61 signatures” of House co-sponsors he had received, blithely gave assurances that no such revocation next year was planned and that if it was proposed, “I would vote against it.”

Representative Craig Fitzhugh (D-Ripley), leader of the 27 House Democrats, made one last stand against the measure. “I hadn’t planned to speak on this bill,” Fitzhugh said. “I thought I didn’t have a dog in the hunt. … But, as so goes Memphis, so goes my little town and my district.” And he expressed concern about the “long-term effect” of the bill upon Memphis.

In the Senate, Democratic leader Jim Kyle (D-Memphis) warned his Senate colleagues of potential negative effects of the bill on other counties and other districts.  

“A special school district could withdraw and become a municipal district,” he said. “This is a mistake — a mistake you’ll see in your community one day.” And senators would ask themselves, said Kyle, “‘Why did I get involved in a boundary dispute in Shelby County?’ … bringing to your front door what essentially is a local dispute.”

The bill now requires only the signature of Governor Bill Haslam and perhaps an ultimate vetting by Mays.

• Another long-running issue dealt with as the General Assembly neared the end of the 2013 session was legislation (SB 0132) proposed by state senator Stacey Campfield (R-Knoxville) that would have required the state department of human services to reduce state aid to families of failing school children.

Dubbed “Starve-the-Children,” the bill would be shunted off to “summer study” by the state Senate, earning a fate that had previously befallen Campfield’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill that would have outlawed discussions of homosexuality in the state’s elementary schools. That bill, after being relegated to summer study in 2011, finally expired in a House committee this year.

The first hint of serious trouble for Campfield on SB 0132 came during floor debate, when GOP majority leader Norris pronounced himself “queasy” about the bill, which would reduce state aid to dependent families whose children were experiencing grade trouble. The bill had already engendered a mid-week statement of opposition from Haslam and had been actively opposed by any number of agencies and institutions concerned with student welfare.

Norris told Campfield, “You’re fooling yourself,” regarding the Knoxville senator’s claim that only parents and not children would be penalized by the withholding from the affected family an average of $20 a month in state support payments. The majority leader also referred to the bill as “the sort of legislation that gets challenged in a court of law as vague and ambiguous, arbitrary and capricious.”

Concurring with a statement by state senator Lowe Finney (D-Jackson) that the bill would “make the child responsible for the parents’ actions,” Senator Todd Gardenhire (R-Chattanooga) said, “You can’t legislate parental responsibility. I don’t care what you do.” He foresaw “unintended consequences” for the student. “The parent will beat the dog doo out of him for taking that $20 away from them, that’s what’s going to happen.”

In the end, with Lieutenant Governor Ron Ramsey (R-Blountville), the Senate speaker, explicitly encouraging him to do so, Campfield offered to have the bill referred again to the Senate health committee and to have it relegated to the aforesaid summer-study status, which he hoped would allow it to be ultimately retooled in coordination with K-12 education subcommittees of the Senate and House.

Categories
Film Features Film/TV

Fathers and Sons

Handsome, tatted-up carnival cyclist Luke Glanton (Ryan Gosling) spends night after night defying gravity and safety by riding around and around a Globe of Death with two other daredevils while the working-class crowds under the big top ooh and ahh. Does Glanton ever notice that he works in such an apt metaphor for his own existence? He leads a flashy, hollow, confined, and repetitive life.

One night he changes his ways: Inspired by a chance encounter with his former lover (Eva Mendes), who informs him of the infant son he didn’t know he had, Glanton drives his trusty motorbike out of the steel cage and becomes the “Moto-Bandit,” a high-strung bank robber looking for one big score that will redeem him in the eyes of his makeshift family.

So begins director/co-writer Derek Cianfrance’s The Place Beyond the Pines, a well-organized, earnest, and hokey film whose title aptly suggests an interlocking short-story collection that’s been writers-workshopped half to death. The film’s literary pretensions and artistic ambitions are just fresh and sincere enough to be frustrating and irritating when they miss their mark.

The opening act of Place is its strongest, and the raw, kinetic camerawork that follows Glanton on his dirtbike conveys the mad rush of driving fast as well as anything in the Fast and Furious series. But Cianfrance’s cult-member conviction that Ryan Gosling’s face in tight close-up is an ever-changing and fascinating whirlpool of emotional ripples is distracting.

Gosling is still the good-looking lump he was in Drive, but he still can’t stand around and attract meaning like some steely-eyed genre axiom. Just when you’ve had enough of staring blankly into the Gosling abyss, though, the film whips around to follow the adventures of young policeman Avery Cross (Bradley Cooper) as he chases criminals like Glanton and tries to steer clear of the bad deals going down at his local precinct.

The film’s second act is also concerned with the ethical conundrums facing a new father who wants to provide for his family — only this dad is on the right side of the law. Nevertheless, Cross eventually has to reckon with a wicked fellow officer (Ray Liotta, naturally) who’s trying to drag him into the murky world of the corrupt cop. A third dramatic shift moves the story ahead to focus on Glanton’s and Cross’ teenage sons, who have inherited none of their parents’ willpower and all of their self-destructive urges.

Cianfrance is keen on the ways everyday conflicts awkwardly and suddenly become emotional showdowns, and he likes to set his stories in more remote, more working-class American towns. These tendencies are promising.

Unfortunately, the emotional fireworks of his first film, 2010’s Blue Valentine, are almost completely absent, in part because the female roles here are so threadbare. (Rose Byrne, who plays Cross’ wife, is almost invisible.) Cianfrance’s narrative strands are also woven together too neatly at the end. But he’s a hoper and an optimist, and he makes a more than convincing case that hitting the road is a justifiable way out.

Thumb’s up, kind of.

The Place Beyond the Pines

Now playing

Ridgeway Four

Categories
Film Features Film/TV

Jackie Robinson biopic is a minor take on a major story.

Jackie Robinson’s is one of the great stories in modern American culture. Born a sharecropper’s son, Robinson became a multi-sport star at UCLA and an Army man before being discharged for refusing to move to the back of a bus. He was a Negro Leagues baseball star before breaking the color barrier for the National League’s Brooklyn Dodgers, suffering all measure of abuse with strength and dignity on the way to becoming one of the most significant figures in the history of America’s civil rights movement. Oh, and he happened to be one of the greatest players to play his country’s signature sport.

It’s a rich story that deserves commensurate film treatment. It deserves the epic take that Spike Lee longed to give it at his Do the Right Thing/Malcolm X peak — full of energy and detail and politics and subjectivity. It deserves the filmmaking acumen and high-wattage cast that Michael Mann brought to the flawed but considerable Ali.

Instead, in the form of 42, from writer-director Brian Helgeland, the Robinson story takes the form of a conventional inspirational sports movie, just barely a step up from the likes of Glory Road or We Are Marshall. 42 (the film’s title refers to Robinson’s uniform number) puts just a bit too much of a halo on Robinson, underscored by the presence of a prayerful schoolboy fan who tracks his hero’s spring-training debut. The supporting performances rarely rise above acceptable into the memorable range. And the exterior scenes, in particular, have the lightly CGI’d look of painted postcards — though the in-game scenes feel more credible than most.

Harrison Ford plays Branch Rickey, the Dodgers executive who famously recruited Robinson. Ford’s hammy performance is cringeworthy on first contact but becomes more agreeable the longer you live with it. As Robinson, Chadwick Boseman is neither beacon nor albatross. He looks the part on the field more than most actors and holds his own off it but doesn’t quite elevate the middling material.

Given the limitations here, the film makes a good decision in balancing its use of Ford’s Rickey as an audience stand-in with Wendall Smith (Andre Holland), a young black journalist who befriends and chronicles Robinson.

And, while one scene where white reporters mock a colleague’s press-box racism feels anachronistic, the film doesn’t always flinch from the environment Robinson confronted. Philadelphia Phillies’ manager Ben Chapman (Alan Tudyk) subjects Robinson to lengthy verbal abuse. And the strongest scene happens in Cincinnati, where the film has the steeliness to give us a little Norman Rockwell-esque scene of a father and son in the stands, anticipating the game, only for this all-American duo to both shout racial epithets the moment Robinson takes the field. It pulls back further to suggest the fans are relatives of Dodgers’ shortstop Pee Wee Reese (Lucas Black), who puts his arm around Robinson and explains, “I got family up there from Louisville. I need them to know. I need them to know who I am.”

After a recruitment and tryout prelude, the film covers only Robinson’s breakthrough rookie season, but even at 128 minutes across a relatively tight time frame, the film feels slight. It’s a worthwhile primer on an essential American story, but it leaves you wanting more and better.

42

Now playing

Multiple locations

Categories
Cover Feature News

Playoff Bound!

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

Saturday night at FedExForum was a troubling and likely costly bump in what has otherwise been a strong regular-season finish for this year’s Memphis Grizzlies. At 55 wins and counting heading into Wednesday’s season finale against the Utah Jazz, the Grizzlies have enjoyed, by a decent margin, the best regular season in franchise history. But they’ve had the misfortune of doing so amidst a brutally tough Western Conference landscape, which makes the record both more impressive and less effective.

The Grizzlies — the only Western Conference team located east of the Mississippi River — would have been the second seed in the East, but with Saturday’s home loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, the team will only be fifth in the West and, pending an unexpected development in the season’s final two nights, will likely begin their postseason on the road.

That’s disappointing, but according to many observers around the league, the Grizzlies never should have gotten even this far, not after trading Rudy Gay at midseason.

The Gay trade became something of a Rorschach test around the league. NBA traditionalists — invested in reputation, narrative, per-game stats, and highlights — were apoplectic and dismissive. The most notorious response came from ace Yahoo! Sports reporter Adrian Wojnarowski, who took a gratuitous shot at new executive John Hollinger, called new controlling owner Robert Pera a “freeloader” for whom “winning isn’t a priority,” and concluded that the team had intentionally “bailed” on a chance at a playoff run.

Others followed. Sports Illustrated‘s Chris Mannix wrote that Pera “now wears the black hat of an owner who prioritized profits over winning, a scarlet letter players won’t soon forget.” On broadcasts, former players such as Magic Johnson bemoaned the deal while describing an imaginary Rudy Gay.

Meanwhile, commentators attuned to statistical analysis and the league’s complex salary rules were more sanguine, seeing Gay as a player making Lebron James money and getting touches and shots commensurate with that comparison, but actually performing as the team’s fourth best player. And they deemed this a bad allocation of resources, especially in the context of a small-market franchise. In this quarter of the NBA cosmos, the deal was seen as a lateral short-term move that averted long-term disaster.

At first, the trade did seem to have the potential to derail the season, with the team and its coach in a funk for several days, but sometime between a road loss to Atlanta and a home win against Golden State, there was an attitude adjustment. Holding court outside the locker room before the Warriors game, head coach Lionel Hollins asserted that he had moved past his displeasure over the deal and expected his team to do so as well. The Grizzlies proceeded to win eight games in a row and 14 of their next 15.

The Grizzlies stood at 30-18 (a .625 winning percentage) at the moment of Hollins’ “calming the waters” address. They’ve gone 25-8 (.758) since, pending the regular-season finale.

Rather than being shackled by the absence of Gay’s one-on-one shot creation, as critics suspected, the team’s offense has instead been freed. Despite a wildly anachronistic paucity of three-point shooting and the seemingly accelerating decline of leading scorer Zach Randolph, the Grizzlies offense has improved.

At the time of the trade, the team’s offense was 22nd out of 30 NBA teams in scoring per possession — the most accurate measure of offense — and trending down. An ecstatic November had been revealed as a mirage, driven by unsustainable individual shooting performances, and in December and January the offense had collapsed.

But from the moment of Hollins’ acquiescence, things began to turn around. With the new roster, the team has settled into a league-average offensive performance while holding ground as an elite defense.

There hasn’t been much change in the kind of shots the team’s taken since the roster shake-up — they still take roughly a third of their attempts from mid-range, they’re still the league’s least prolific three-point shooting team, etc. — but they have redistributed who’s taking and creating those shots, with strongly positive results. And most notably, the fourth-quarter struggles against the Clippers notwithstanding, the team’s improvement has been most dramatic in exactly the kinds of situations where critics assumed the team would miss Gay most.

With Gay, the Grizzlies had ranked 26th in “clutch” offense, per NBA.com. (Clutch defined as the final five minutes of a game or in overtime when the score is within five points.) Since then — and, admittedly, a sliver of game time taken from less than half a season is not a very reliable sample size — the team has ranked fifth in clutch scoring.

It’s remarkable just how much the team’s shifting style of play has reflected the styles of Gay and his replacement, veteran Tayshaun Prince.

Prince is not the stat generator Gay was, but the Grizzlies have happily sacrificed some individual shot creation, rebounds, blocks, and steals for surer ball handling, quicker and smarter ball movement, and more consistently attentive defense. The team doesn’t feast off turnovers the way it once did but executes its offense better in the halfcourt and guards the three-point line better. And redistributing some of Gay’s team-high touches to other players has helped Mike Conley, Marc Gasol, and sixth-man Jerryd Bayless all bloom.

For various reasons — some connected to the mid-season deals and some not — this Grizzlies team seems better equipped for the playoffs than last year’s model. The offense, while still problematic, is more functional. Gasol and Conley have improved. Tony Allen, whose knee was bothering him a year ago, seems at least a little healthier. Quincy Pondexter has become a more assertive three-point shooter since last spring. Prince won’t force bad shots or lose track of shooters the way Gay did. Bayless has matched O.J. Mayo’s scoring in the sixth-man role but with more solid ball handling. And there seems to be no way he won’t improve on Mayo’s disastrous postseason play. Off the bench, forwards Ed Davis and Darrell Arthur, while both inconsistent, are likely to give the team more than Marreese Speights and Dante Cunningham did last season (which wasn’t much).

And while Randolph’s poor play down the stretch is a significant concern, he was limited last spring too. If his heroics from two years ago seem to be gone for good, he should at least be able to match his play from last season, when he had just come back from a serious knee injury.

If there are reasons for optimism, there are also signs of concern. The Clippers are, again, the probable opponent, and this time they are likely to have homecourt advantage. They’ve had a better season as well and enter the playoffs healthier after having their two best players — Chris Paul and Blake Griffin — banged up last spring. The Clippers have won three straight games at FedExForum and have beaten the Grizzlies in seven of 11 contests between the two teams since last April.

These two teams will enter the postseason with potentially the widest range possible of any teams in the NBA. Either could make a run to the NBA Finals with the right breaks, but if they face off in the first round, as expected, one will be going home early.

What would an early exit mean for the Grizzlies? The team’s new ownership and front office — vindicated with the Gay deal — will face a decision this summer: Keep much of this core together for two more seasons (the amount of time veterans Randolph and Prince are still under contract) or embark on a more aggressive overhaul around the fulcrum of Conley and Gasol. What happens over the next couple of weeks could well determine which course to chart.

For a detailed breakdown of the Grizzlies’ first-round playoff matchup and other coverage throughout the postseason, see “Beyond the Arc,” Chris Herrington’s Grizzlies blog, at memphisflyer.com/blogs/beyondthearc.

X-Factors

Five specifics that could determine the Grizzlies’ playoff fate.

1. A More Gluttonous Gasol: Two years ago, when the Grizzlies made their deep playoff run, Marc Gasol was Zach Randolph’s sidekick. This time, the roles need to be reversed. But that requires a team-wide recognition: from the coaching staff, from Gasol’s teammates, and, perhaps most of all, from the unselfish-to-a-fault Gasol himself. While Gasol’s usage rate has shot up since Gay’s departure, it still lags behind both Randolph and Jerryd Bayless. Gasol is the Grizzlies’ best matchup advantage against the Clippers, the team’s likely first-round opponent, where he averaged 17-9-4 on 54% shooting in the season series while still taking fewer shots than Randolph, who shot 37%. Last Saturday night, with homecourt likely on the line, Gasol led the team in points, rebounds, and assists — yet had only one field-goal attempt and zero assists in a stagnant 14-point fourth quarter. This should now be Gasol’s team. It’s time for him to claim it.

2. Z-Bo’s Bully Ball: While it’s unfair to expect Randolph to be the offensive force he was two springs ago, and unwise to funnel him the ball as if he is, the Grizzlies still need him to impose his physicality. While Randolph’s shooting and scoring have declined, his elite rebounding has held steady. And his penchant for close-quarters combat doesn’t seem to suit Clippers star forward Blake Griffin, who averaged only 14 points and seven rebounds on 44% shooting against the Grizzlies this season, well short of his All-Star averages. Griffin topped 20 points only twice in seven games against the Grizzlies last spring.

3. The Conley Correlation: All season long, the Grizzlies’ fate has tended to align with Mike Conley’s performance. And with Conley having a career-best season, that connection has worked in the Grizzlies’ favor. But it could be a problem if the Clippers’ matchup holds. A bulked-up Conley’s big finish will get a stern postseason test from probably the best defensive point-guard tandem in the NBA: Chris Paul and rugged reserve Eric Bledsoe. The latter, in particular, has been Conley kryptonite, with the Grizzlies’ lead guard shooting 30% in the season series with the Clippers but even worse when Bledsoe has been on the floor. In last year’s postseason series, per NBA.com, Conley shot 25% when Bledsoe was in the game and 48% when he wasn’t.

4. 3-D: The Grizzlies were an average team in terms of defending against three-point shooting before the Rudy Gay trade but have been the NBA’s best in that department since. A more attentive Tayshaun Prince is less likely to surrender the kind of long-range barrage that helped the Clippers steal Game 1 last spring. Meanwhile, the Clippers struggle to defend the three. If Prince and reserve Quincy Pondexter (a combined 8-15 from three against the Clippers this season) find the range, this usual disadvantage could swing in the Grizzlies’ direction.

5. The Thirsty Dog & 4th Quarter Chris: As frustrating as his offense can be at times, Tony Allen defends, in his own words, like “a thirsty dog,” and that key weapon can’t be underexploited. This will be particularly interesting in a Clippers rematch, where Clips star Paul tends to involve teammates early and look for his own offense late. In the final seven minutes Saturday night, Allen got the assignment and held Paul to only one basket (a difficult step-back jumper) and zero assists.

Five in the Spotlight

For a handful of Griz figures, postseason performance could impact their future with the team.

Lionel Hollins: Hollins is not under contract for next season — maybe you’ve heard — and management has insisted it would wait until the conclusion of the season to deal with this issue. Hollins’ traditionalist approach and the new front office’s more progressive bent made for a bumpy fit initially, and, for much of the season, Hollins’ return seemed like an even-money proposition. It looks more likely now, but there’s still a negotiation to be made, and how far Hollins can take this team can’t help but impact his leverage. Could a first-round flameout — something worse than a mere series loss — cause the organization to second-guess Hollins’ return? I took a deep dive into the coaching issue at “Beyond the Arc,” the Flyer‘s Grizzlies blog, last week. You can find it at memphisflyer.com/blogs/beyondthearc.

Jerryd Bayless: Bayless has a player option next season for roughly $3 million. Early in the season, when he was struggling as a backup point guard, there seemed to be a good chance Bayless might take the option and return. But after the trades of Wayne Ellington and Rudy Gay opened up more minutes at scoring guard and more touches and shots generally, Bayless bloomed as a classic “sixth man,” playing both guard spots, sometimes finishing games, and essentially equalling the production O.J. Mayo had given the team in a similar role. Now, it’s looking more likely that Bayless will opt out. Because Bayless would have only played one year with the team, the Grizzlies would not have “Bird Rights” on him — meaning it could not exceed the salary cap to resign him without using the team’s free-agency exception. Bayless has been erratic in his career, but a couple of big playoff games could raise his profile and value this summer. That’s the catch for the Grizzlies: The better Bayless plays, the more likely he’ll be to leave. But the Grizzlies would accept the risk of that trade-off.

Tony Allen: Could we really be seeing Tony Allen’s final games as a Griz? It’s possible. Allen will be an unrestricted free agent this summer and looking for a substantial raise over his current $3.3 million salary. The bet here is that the Grizzlies are willing to give him one, but exactly how much and — perhaps more crucially — for how long could be sticking points. A two-year deal for around the mid-level exception or just under (say, $5 million) makes the most sense for the Grizzlies, but a strong postseason performance could convince another suitor to offer something bigger or lengthier, which would force the team into a tough decision. Is there life after Grit and Grind?

Zach Randolph: Unlike Hollins, Bayless, and Allen, Randolph is under contract for next season, but he may still be — once the Hollins situation is resolved — the team’s biggest question mark going into the summer. Randolph has two more years and more than $34 million on the books. (The final year is a player option but one he would be likely to take.) With Randolph’s soft decline seeming to accelerate, the Grizzlies will no doubt be taking a long look at their options if Randolph struggles in the playoffs — or maybe even if he doesn’t.

Ed Davis: Davis is an interesting case. He’s under contract for $3.2 million next season but is eligible for an extension this summer. There’s reason to believe the 23-year-old acquired in the Gay trade could be the starting power forward of the future, but the team hasn’t done much to find out, with Davis topping 20 minutes in only nine games for the Griz after averaging 34 minutes a night in Toronto in the month before the deal. Davis is a limited scorer but grades out as a better defender than Randolph or Darrell Arthur, and in those nine games he averaged 10 points, eight rebounds, and two blocks (in only 25 minutes) on 61% shooting, and the team was 8-1, including 4-0 with Davis as a starter. And yet Davis played only eight minutes in two crucial games last weekend. How significantly he’ll figure in the postseason is a mystery, as are the prospects for an extension this summer.

Categories
News

Bring On the Playoffs

Chris Herrington analyzes the Grizzlies’ prospects in the tough Western Division playoffs.