Attention Grizzlies fans: This man is not the Answer.
Last week, during a regular pick-up game at the gym, one of my playing partners was wearing a Memphis Grizzlies T-shirt. In the year since I'd moved to Tennessee, this was the first time I'd seen anyone sporting a piece of Grizzlies merchandise. So I asked him: Are you a fan? "I'm trying," he said. "But they make it really, really hard." This comment was understandable. The Grizzlies just traded for a guy named Zach Randolph. Even if you don't understand basketball, all you really need to know about Randolph is that every time he leaves a team they get better. To fans, he's the Stephon Marbury of big men; capable of posting impressive stats in spite of (or because of) his team's failings. (And also capable of creating fantastic headlines, like "Grizzlies Trade for Zach Randolph, Continue War on Fans.") The trade for Randolph comes on the heels of another Grizzlies move. Last year they sent Spaniard Pau Gasol, the team's best player, to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Gasol's less-talented brother Marc and not much else. Thanks in part to Gasol the Lakers went on to win the NBA Championship. The Grizzlies lost 70 percent of their games. My pick-up partner's comment was understandable because of deals like these. For the past three years, roughly the same amount of time that General Manager Chris Wallace has been making decisions, the Grizzlies have been the worst team in the league by a wide margin. If the Grizzlies under Wallace were a child, and you were babysitting them, you wouldn't let them out of your sight for a second. As soon as you did, they'd stick their tongue in a light socket. All of which is to say, the Grizzlies are reportedly interested in signing Allen Iverson. Which would be another really, really bad move...
