Kevin Lipe fears the Grizzlies may be caught flat-footed while the rest of the West gets better.
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Month: July 2014
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TTT Answer
For the first time since 2000 and 2001, the NBA has conducted consecutive drafts without a Memphis Tiger being chosen. (Will Barton was the last Tiger taken, in the second round of the 2012 draft.)
What is the longest consecutive-year streak for Tigers drafted into the NBA?
At least one Tiger was chosen in five consecutive NBA drafts, from 1984 to 1988.
• 1984: Bobby Parks (3rd round), Doom Haynes (6th)
• 1985: Keith Lee (1st)
• 1986: William Bedford (1st), Baskerville Holmes (3rd), Andre Turner (3rd)
• 1987: Vincent Askew (2nd)
• 1988: Sylvester Gray (2nd), Dwight Boyd (3rd)
NOTE: The NBA draft was reduced to two rounds in 1989.
- Larry Kuzniewski
- Are the Grizzlies keeping up with the rest of the West, or just riding out the status quo?
Free agency season is upon us, which means the most fun (“fun”) part of the NBA offseason has begun: sitting around waiting for something to come across Twitter from one of the NBA reporting world’s usual suspects—Woj, Marc Stein, Marc Spears, among others—about what the league’s 30 teams are up to. Today, Jodie Meeks somehow managed to land a contract worth $20 million (I assume this was done during the US World Cup game on purpose, in hopes that no one would notice).
But there’s something a little depressing about this summer’s free agency period to me, especially in light of the contract extension awarded to Zach Randolph last week immediately following the draft: the Grizzlies, yet again, aren’t really in the market for any free agents. Sure, there are holes to fill here and there—a cheap wing who can shoot 3’s, a big for the end of the bench so there are five of them in Ed Davis’ absence (Davis became an unrestricted free agent Monday), a back up point guard in case Nick Calathes somehow bails and goes back to Panathinaikos (who want to pay him millions of dollars to do so)—but the truth of the matter is that the Grizzlies don’t have any cap room left, not enough to make a splash in free agency.
Which is a problem—if not this year, then for the future of this multi-year Grizzlies run.
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Shadows of the West
Let’s take a look at the other “good” teams in the Western Conference.
- The Spurs are still going to be the Spurs: they’ll probably have all three of the Big Three back, and (even though apparently Patty Mills just went down with a shoulder injury) all of their other pieces should still be in place.
- The Thunder still have Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka, and during the playoffs, Scott Brooks may have realized that he should play Reggie Jackson more, which is bad news for the rest of the league. Westbrook/Jackson/Durant/Ibaka/Collison (assuming Collison is back) is their best lineup. They’re not going anywhere.
- The Clippers—well, really, Doc Rivers—are looking to bolster their bench frontcourt (I’ve seen Ed Davis’ name come across in some rumors), and if they can do that, they’ll be in a much better position to truly contend.
- The Rockets are legitimately trying to make a run at LeBron James, and even if they don’t, they still have James Harden and Dwight Howard, and if they make the right moves in the Chandler Parsons situation they may end up with Kevin Love or somebody ridiculous like that.
- The Trail Blazers have their young(ish) Lillard/Batum/Aldridge/Matthews/RoLo core, and they have the space to add some pieces around them to bolster their bench.
- The Warriors are making moves already, trying to land Kevin Love, entering the Steve Kerr era, signing Shaun Livingston (a really smart get for them, if you ask me).
- The Mavericks—Mark Cuban, especially—aren’t going to sit around and watch all the good players go somewhere else. Before the playoffs ended, there were rumbles that the Mavs were interested in Z-Bo if he opted out—which, if true, means they’re willing to spend some serious money to try to make one more run out of the Dirk Era.
- The Suns, last year’s surprise team, are only going to get better with another year of coaching and development under Jeff Hornacek, who did an incredible job there last year. They’re also legitimately trying to make a run at LeBron James, and also Kevin Love.
- The Pelicans, who weren’t that great last year but were also decimated by injuries and still managed to give the inside-heavy Grizzlies more than they could handle thanks to Anthony Davis (but, let’s be real: even Ajinca gave the Griz problems and no one could figure out how to stop Tyreke Evans), now have freaking Omer Asik to play alongside Davis—as if their interior defense didn’t already give the Grizzlies’ Randolph/Gasol tandem horrible nightmares.
So what are the Grizzlies doing to keep up? What are they doing to plug the holes in their roster that were exposed last year—the lack of athleticism, the lack of shooting and scoring at the wing positions, the lack of cohesion on offense and the weird effort/concentration issues that dogged them all year long?
Grinding to a Halt
The Grizzlies, it seems, are basically running the same team back out and hoping that there aren’t any midseason injuries that tank their playoff seeding again.
Let me pause here for a second to echo what some commenters said in the wake of the Z-Bo deal last week: it wasn’t the best Zach could do to help out the team, it was just the least amount of money the Grizzlies could commit to him and get him to stay. “Helping the team out” would’ve meant opting out of the 2014-15 season and signing for less for this season, too.
Zach Randolph’s personal finances are none of my business, and I 100% respect his right to decide what is best for himself and his family in terms of how he handles his contract dealings. Do not misunderstand me: I have no right to say what’s best for Zach or his family. But I do know that if Zach were on the books for $10 million this season instead of $16.5, the Grizzlies would be in better shape, both now, in the offseason, and during the season, freeing up room to take on more salary at the trade deadline. The Randolph deal is a slam dunk if (my philosophy professors would want me to write “iff”) one thinks the Grizzlies had to keep him.
Tony Allen is another issue altogether—he missed a large chunk of last season to injury, more games than Marc Gasol, but when he came back (presumably because he’d been working out and conditioning the whole time he nursed his wrist injury) he played better ball than he’d played in a long time. After the way he defended Kevin Durant in the first round of the playoffs, his stock as a defender has probably never been higher. But there’s always a “but”: Allen is 32, and is under contract for three more years. As dependent as his game is on athleticism, and given Allen’s obvious reticence to take on a smaller role, how long is too long to hold on to him? Is there a point at which starting Tony Allen becomes the wrong thing to do—at which playing him 25 minutes a night becomes the wrong thing to do—and when that time comes, (1) will the Grizzlies know it in advance and (2) will he accept a diminished role on a team he (mostly rightly) thinks he built?
The Rat Race
The Grizzlies are entering a critical period in their history: the “core four” of Conley, Gasol, Randolph, and Allen are probably at their peak as a group—with Randolph and Allen starting to show very subtle signs of the inevitable decline that comes with age and Conley and Gasol moving into their primes as athletes—and the Grizzlies just don’t have much in the way of money or flexibility to bolster them. They’ve got a stockpile of wings with similar skill sets (except Mike Miller, who may not be back if another team throws money at him) and not much in the way of tradeable assets to immediately improve that situation without setting back another. (Leuer and Koufos are both very valuable—good players on good contracts—but they’re much more valuable to the team as players at this point, the entire bench frontcourt—minus Stokes—now that Davis is a free agent.)
What’re they going to do? Run it back this year and hope that no one gets injured and they’ll thus end up with a better playoff seeding? Try to make some sort of blockbuster deal in season that brings in the athletic wing they’re looking for? (I hear you, James Johnson Fan Club, but I’m choosing not to address that here.) See where they end up next spring and spend a whole summer convincing Marc Gasol that they’re going to rebuild a contender around he and Conley in short order?
That’s the real question: if the Grizzlies can’t keep up with the rest of the West as the conference improves around them, why would Gasol stay here, no matter how much he loves it? What Marc Gasol really loves is winning basketball games. If he can see that the Grizzlies will never win a championship while he’s here, will he stay?
How much money will Mike Conley command on the open market in a couple of years? Will Z-Bo and Allen go quietly with age, or find a Duncan-like Fountain of Youth? If Gasol leaves, and the Grizzlies are stuck with two more years of Z-Bo and Allen, that’s a disaster. If they never make it back to the Western Conference Finals with this group, well, it’s not a disaster, but it’s not capitalizing on the potential of having a top 5 center and a top tier point guard.
My worry is this: running it back this year might be fun to watch, but I don’t think it’ll end well—but given the salary constraints, the Grizzlies may already be locked in to that path. Trying to repeat past successes without adapting for the present is an endeavor almost certainly doomed to fail. As my old pal Heraclitus said, you can’t step into the same river twice.
Is there anything more American than rock and roll? Probably not. Here’s a rundown of the many different ways to celebrate your independence by supporting local music this weekend. Shroud yourself in red white and blue, crack open some cold (American-made) beverages and then make plans to be at one (or more) of these events.
July 3rd – The Lamplighter: Native America, Loser Vision, Ugly Girls, $5, 10 p.m.
July 3rd – The Levitt Shell: Patriotic Pops with The Memphis Dawls, members of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, The Second Presbyterian Chancel Choir, Free, 7:30 p.m.
July 3rd- The Hi-Tone: Justin Toland’s (of the Dirty Streets) 30th Birthday Bash with DJ’s and the William Stull Band, free entry and free food, 9 p.m.
July 4th- The Hitone: Fourth of July bash with Tanks, Roundeye, DaiKaiju, Hombres, $5, 9 p.m.
July 4th- The Buccaneer: Fourth of July Party with Devil Train, other festivities, $5, 9 p.m.
July 5th- Amurica: “Big Bad Mamma Jamma No Excuses Dance Party,” $5, BYOB, dancing starts at 10 p.m.
July 6th- Murphy’s: Manateees, Mac Blackout Band, Liquid Teens, Modern Convenience, $5, 9 p.m.
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A Visit to Strano
Pam and I met up for lunch at the recently opened Strano Sicilian Kitchen & Bar in Cooper-Young.
We started with the terrific roasted carrot bisque ($8), which was creamy but not so rich as to overwhelm earthy flavor of the carrots.
I had my eye on a number of dishes — particularly the Pasta Capelli D’angelo alla olive (angel hair pasta with Tuscan olive oil, roasted garlic, portobello mushrooms, sundried tomatoes, black olives, and baked parmesan) and the Cinque Formaggio Pizza (roasted garlic olive oil base with mozzarella, gouda, ricotta, pecorino Romano Parmigiano, and fontina cheeses topped with truffle oil). But I went with the artichoke, fennel, and fontina panini ($8.95) because the oven-braised fennel sounded really good, and it was a fine sandwich, grilled to the perfect crunch. (Paninis at lunch only.)
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Pam ordered the pizza special of the day, which came with sundried tomatoes and artichoke hearts. We oohed and aahed over the pizza’s bready, top-notch crust. Easily the favorite dish of the meal.
Personal size pizzas are 12-inches and start at $16. Large pizzas are 18 inches.
We topped off the meal with a massive and very pretty slice of carrot cake.
Pam declared the cream-cheese icing as classic, and while we made a few dents into the dessert, the rest was wrapped up to enjoy later.
It’s been more than four decades since the University of Memphis constructed its current recreation and fitness center, which provides students with a place to exercise, play intramural sports, and swim laps.
An artist’s rendering of the U of M’s planned recreational facility
Now, the U of M has plans to construct a new $62 million recreational facility. It will feature a quarter-mile indoor track, juice bar, four-court divisible gym, multi-purpose fitness center with a climbing wall, and outdoor leisure pool. It will be located along Southern Avenue north of the existing center at 620 Echles.
“The new center will greatly expand and enhance opportunities for students to enjoy wellness activities such as intramurals and club sports, group fitness classes, and other expanded recreational and fitness activities,” said Jim Vest, director of Campus Recreation Intramural Services. “Cardio and weight rooms will be easier to use because we will have more space. This will not only promote fitness among students, it will also boost academic achievement, retention, and graduation rates, since studies show that physical fitness enhances students’ academic performance.”
The new facility will also boast three full-size turf fields, basketball courts, and tennis courts. A land bridge will make the center accessible from the northern part of the campus. Construction of the 192,500 square-foot facility is expected to begin during the 2015-16 academic year and will be implemented in three phases. It’s scheduled to open in 2018.
Vest said the first phase would involve relocating the tennis courts from the current facility and creating new parking spaces. An additional $24 million will be spent on a parking garage.
The construction of the new center and $18 million land bridge will be included in the second phase.
After the new recreational facility is in operation, the third phase will be implemented: demolishing the existing recreation center and replacing it with three lighted artificial turf fields.
The school’s current rec center has three full-size gyms, indoor and outdoor 50-meter swimming pools, an aerobics studio, sauna, a cardio room, and free weight room. It houses the Larry O. Finch Facility and Campus Recreation Intramural Services.
The decision to create a new rec center came about after students expressed dissatisfaction with the existing rec center’s inadequate space and amenities.
Hastings and Chivetta Architects, Inc. conducted a development study in May 2013, which found limited field and gym space for intramurals and club sports, long waits to use equipment in the cardio and weight rooms, and congestion to be issues impacting students’ experience at the facility.
“Constructed in 1971, the existing student recreation and fitness center is not large enough to meet the needs of the current student population,” Vest said. “The development study showed that U of M students would benefit from the construction of a new recreation center, which would offer expanded facilities and new amenities.”
The study was presented to the Student Government Association (SGA) in September 2013. The SGA recently approved a student fee increase of $307 over the 2014-15 academic year to fund construction of the new center.
“By offering students a state-of-the-art facility, we hope to encourage fitness and wellness among students and the U of M community,” West said. “The new recreation center will result in an enhanced academic experience, because engaged students are more likely to be successful students.”
In the January 23, 1997, issue of the Memphis Flyer, Phil Campbell detailed a struggle between a tree and a writer’s statue in Oxford, Mississippi.
The proposed statue would be a tribute to William Faulkner, the Nobel Prize-winning author from Oxford, who penned Southern classics such as The Sound and the Fury and As I Lay Dying, among many others. The writer was born in New Albany and bought a home in Oxford for his family in 1930 that he called “Rowan Oak.” Despite this, however, the town had not done much to pay homage to him, according to the article.
“Even Square Books, the town’s popular bookstore, displays more photos of one-time Oxford resident John Grisham than it does of Faulkner,” the story read.
The statue was set to be built with $70,000 raised by businesses and the Oxford Board of Aldermen, one that would show Faulkner “standing with dignity, with a pipe in his mouth, looking off into the distance, sporting his signature tweed coat and baggy britches.”
Faulkner’s oldest-living relative at the time, his nephew Jimmy Faulkner, gave his approval for the project until Oxford residents became upset with how the project began to unfold.
The William Faulkner statue in Oxford sits in front of City Hall.
On the plot in front of Oxford City Hall, where the statue was to be raised, sat a magnolia tree. The mayor during that time, John Leslie, privately told the city’s electric department to cut down the tree because “the board of aldermen hoped to pass an ordinance creating a ‘tree board’ that would effectively have prevented the tree from being removed,” Campbell wrote.
Residents wrote letters against the mayor’s actions and two dozen showed up to the tree stump on one particular day, even laying a wreath on the dead tree. The Faulkner family pulled its support of the project after the writer’s daughter, who lived in Virginia, spoke out against the tree being cut down. The nephew originally believed the project had the daughter’s blessing but ended up speaking out against it, even going in front of the board of aldermen.
“Jimmy Faulkner appeared before the board of alderman, with dozens of other people in tow, to protest the mayor’s decision the week after the tree was felled. His presence made a strong statement, given the family’s affection for privacy and general apathy for politics,” the story read.
Some people felt “manipulated,” and the convoluted situation surrounding the fallen tree involved many parties. Joseph Blotner, who wrote a biography on Faulkner, was quoted in the article in favor of the statue.
“In ‘Go Down, Moses’ and other works, Faulkner deplores the disappearance of the big woods in the Delta,” he said in the story. “However, there are many, many magnolia trees in and around Oxford. There is only one native son that brought honor to his town, his state, and his country.”
Despite the controversy, the statue went up as planned. The bronze statue now sits in front of City Hall in Oxford, depicting Faulkner on a bench with his legs crossed and holding a pipe.
I got several calls from Memphis Police and Fire Department employees this week. They were all angry about the proposed cuts and changes to their pension and health-care plans and wanted the Flyer to “tell the truth” about the situation.
The core truth is that the city — as mandated by the state — needs to find a way to pay down its pension obligations in five years. It can do this by cutting costs, raising revenues (taxes), or a combination of the two.
The proposal at hand would turn the current guaranteed pension plan for city employees into a 401k plan. It would also reduce benefits and/or raise the costs of health care for current employees and retirees.
The Memphis City Council majority is determined not to raise property taxes, come hell or high water, the stated rationale being that it will motivate people to leave Memphis. The 6,000 police and fire personnel and other city employees contend that they are being asked to carry the entire burden of fixing the budget mess for the rest of us.
The council has gotten support for its “no new taxes” position from the Memphis Area Chamber of Commerce (COC), which launched a campaign against any tax hike. A counter-campaign has sprung up, urging citizens not to patronize businesses that are COC members.
And speaking of hell and high water… one fireman I spoke to alluded to certain “measures” that could be taken to demonstrate how important his department is to the city. He was referencing the rumors that have been circulating for a week or so about a “sick-out” over the Fourth of July weekend.
A sick-out of fire and police personnel on a holiday weekend filled with fireworks and massive downtown crowds would be a PR disaster for both departments, in my opinion, and would only harden the views on both sides of the issue. Especially, if there were a fire or a crime that caused the loss of life due to a lack of response.
That said, taking away promised health benefits, especially from retirees on a fixed pension is just wrong. And remember, these employees don’t get Social Security, so their pension is it when it comes to supporting themselves in their old age.
I’m quite obviously not an expert in city finances, and Lord knows the city has spent enough on consultants and experts to cover my retirement quite nicely. But surely there is a baby to be split here somewhere. A small tax increase isn’t going to send people fleeing en masse. And the switch to a 401k plan isn’t going be the end of the world for city employees.
We need to keep and attract highly qualified police and fire department personnel. A fear of not being safe will send as many people fleeing the city as a tax increase will. It’s time to make a deal — before things get even hotter.
Bruce VanWyngarden
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Fly on the Wall 1323
W(TF)REG
A story on WREG’s website headlined “Increased health problems with illegal immigrants” is summarized with the following text: “The head of Homeland Security will head to the border to see the U.S. response to the influx of illegals. Meanwhile, some doctors are concerned about the increased health problems immigrants may be bringing into the country.” The video consists of one doctor, an infectious disease expert with Baptist Hospital, explaining that there is no immigration-related health threat increase and that the threat comes from poorly informed Americans not getting their kids vaccinated.
Campfield Revue
The Stacey Campfield musical Casey Stampfield: The Musical, a lampoon of Tennessee’s most talked about politician, opened in Nashville last week, and The Tennessean loved it. Sort of. The takeaway quote: “There’s an unmistakable cringe factor as Stampfield reminds us why Tennessee so often ends up being used as a punchline on late-night television.”
Seeing Red
Sammy Hagar, the Red Rocker who can’t drive 55, is opening a sports bar at Southland Park. Will neighborhood speed limits force the Van Halen frontman to be airlifted to and from his own club?
Cheesy
Either I’m going crazy or the cheese at Ms. Cordelia’s grocery store on Mud Island is trying to communicate with me. I think that’s its way of saying, “I’m with stupid.”
Would you prefer to appear before a judge based on his/her political affiliation or the color of his/her skin, or would you prefer to appear before a judge who has experience in the law? Shelby County has the most diverse judiciary in the state of Tennessee. Is it perfect? No. Will it ever be perfect? No. But we are way ahead of the rest of the state. However, when it comes to diversity, there are those among us who think that party affiliation or race are more important than experience.
Judge James C. Beasley Jr.
When I started my career, attorneys generally practiced law for a number of years then decided to “give back to the community” by serving as judges. Based on those years of experience within the system, judges were viewed as older and wiser and capable of making the decisions necessary to run a court. We have reached a point in our society where everything but experience is important in electing judges.
I recently handled a murder case in which the state was seeking the death penalty. The key issue in the case was the intellectual disability (mental retardation) of the defendant. I spent three days hearing proof on that issue alone pre-trial. Although I am not an expert in this field, I have spent 36 years trying cases and listening to experts testify about this issue. That experience helped me make a decision that affected that defendant’s life. I give that example as a reason why experience counts more than politics or race in serving as a judge.
The lieutenant governor of this state feels that “political correctness” means more than experience. He believes that we should turn out experienced and learned jurists just because they were appointed by a governor who was from a different political party. Experience and ability mean nothing.
Likewise, the local chapter of the National Bar Association seems to be saying the same thing; only this time the issue is race. The local president of that chapter sent out a letter with the following quotes: “We have a golden opportunity to unite as a community of attorneys of color with the goal of running one member per race.” And, “This committee has been hard at work establishing a mechanism to reach a consensus candidate for each race.”
It seems that many of these candidates are running simply to include someone in each race, and it appears that, for the most part, the goal has been accomplished. However, the list of candidates running in most of the judicial races against incumbents, both black and white, have little or no experience. Many were recruited simply because of their race. Several have never tried a case. Some do not even appear or practice in the same field of law for the position they are seeking, either civil or criminal. One was suspended from the practice of law for multiple instances of unethical conduct. Although many have no experience, it appears that they are relying simply on the color of their skin as a qualification.
I have spent my entire career attempting to be fair and impartial to all who appear before me, and I feel very blessed and fortunate that I do not have opposition in this election. However, I feel very strongly that we have a diverse and experienced judiciary in this count. Our judges, black and white, male and female, should be judged on their work ethic and experience and not on their politics or the color of their skin. If they are doing a bad job, vote them out of office. That is the basis of our country. But please don’t vote somebody out of office for the wrong reason. Experience matters; seek it out and demand it from your judges. James C. Beasley Jr. is judge of Division 10, 30th Judicial District, Shelby County.