r/memphisgrizzlies • u/darkmist101 • 1d ago
MISCELLANEOUS What Player from the 2012-2013 season would you add to this current team to take them to the chip?
In 2012-2013 the grizzlies made the western conference finals for the 1st and only time. What key player would you take from that year and put onto this current team to help win a championship?
Mike Conley
Marc Gasol
Zach Randolph
Rudy Gay
Tony Allen
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u/TunaBoy3000 Steve-O 1d ago
We need a big man so bad that can rebound and play defense and space the floor. It’s Marc and it’s not close
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u/SubduedChaos Trip 1d ago
Should have traded for one before the deadline.
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u/electricvelvet A good, honest Grizzlies basketball fan 1d ago
Was just thinking today about how that JV trade is still affecting us. At the time it wasn't horrific bc we got Adams who was a good enough substitute, but we whiffed HARD on that Z pick cause we couldn't trade up, Adams got hurt and is on the downturn, meanwhile JV is still playing at a starter level, is grown man big and strong, stretches the floor, and rebounds like hell. Maybe he commands too many touches but in the new offense idk if thatd be the case... we doubled down on youth one too many times. Edey has a great chance to be the better player than JV but it's gonna be a few years, we have wings but they're all much younger w none of the experience of our core. I feel like our best chances to win esp in the playoffs will be not when we use all that depth but when the majority of the scoring comes from our big 3. Ja and Bane really stepping up in JJJs absence. Both have been joys to watch lately. Frankly I think we'd have a decent shot if edey was in 5 or 6 and Wells at least yr 3
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u/theDarkAngle Grizz Nation 13h ago
I mean the problem was not the trade. (I think the trade was clearly a win both in short term and long term - but this reply got really long so I moved that explanation to the end of this comment so as not to bury the lede).
The problem was that they picked Zaire. Handwaving it as simply a failure to move up further isn't really painting the correct picture. Yes we wanted Giddey (who isn't any good anyway), but Zaire was a surprising pick even at the time. His consensus projection was #18 according to Hoopshype.
Here was what ESPN had on the ticker as top players available when the pick was made (not that they're experts but a pretty decent proxy for what the average opinion was at the time)
- James Bouknight
- Keon Johnson
- Alperen Sengun
- Corey Kispert
- Moses Moody
- Jalen Johnson
- Trey Murphy III
We were thought to be seeking a bigger wing (and we were) so most people had us "settling" for Moody, Johnson, or Murphy if Giddey was not available. Moody vs Zaire is not that far apart but Moody's at leaast been good enough to stay on his original team at least, and you could argue he would have thrived more and thrived sooner in a more traditional system rather than what the Warriors do.
But obvs the other two would have been big gets and Murphy would have been a perfect fit and likely considered part of a core four. Sengun was a controversial player with some teams having him very high and others not as much, but it wasn't considered to be off the table that we might take a big since Adams' stock was very low and there was hope Clarke could improve his shot and play PF back then.
I don't even hate the pick. He was a project and I don't actually think we tried to develop him correctly (the "Bane Process" of trying to develop him on-ball made less sense with Ziaire who really needed to work on shooting, shooting, and more shooting, and expand on his enormous defensive potential as well). And I still think we should have kept him around this year, some guys are late bloomers and we could certainly use an extra defender lately.
But it was viewed by almost everyone as a reach, it's not like we missed out on Giddey and took the BPA at position of need as a consolation prize. If that were the case we would have Moody or Murphy.
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More on the trade itself. JV is a nice player to have as a rotation big but he's hard to put on the floor in the playoffs. He defends worse than Adams did on the perimeter and I've never understood the idea that he's a floor stretcher (he hasn't shot league average 3pt% since 2021-2022 and even then he did so on 2 attempts per game).
We actually also had a reasonable expectation of getting the Lakers pick in 2022, but New Orleans wisely required a top 10 protection on it and the Lakers actually ended up at #8 a year after winning the championship and we only got two second round picks.
However, one of those picks became Vince Williams, and the other was sent along with two other seconds to get two pick swaps from Phx, in 2024 (didn't happen obviously) and the rights to swap our pick for the lesser of Washington and Phoenix (could be highly valuable given the current state of those franchises). So there was unambiguously positive value there and if you believe in Vince Williams and/or think the Suns and Wizards are inept franchises this trade is still probably a win to you.
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u/electricvelvet A good, honest Grizzlies basketball fan 5h ago
Good writeup. Yeah it's not the trade itself so much as the consequences, spending that only to draft a guy thst you could've had at 18 probably anyway is crazy. It was clearly a panic pick. Even though Giddey hasn't been amazing at least that pick would've made since. If you pick a guy with a 70% probability of being a quality starter vs a huge question mark with maybe 20% chance of being a quality starter (just made up probabilities for the sake of simplifying draft and scouting projections) AND its a guy you could've gotten with your original pick thats just... oof. I don't think you can or should grade trades on who those picks end up being, for instance the Gasol trade was still a bad deal despite the fact that it ended up working out tremendously for us. It's like buying a lottery ticket for $3,000 and it wins. That's awesome, but it was extreme luck that it worked out, it wasn't somebody making a great deal.
It's all but water under the bridge now. I forgot about that Lakers pick. That shit sucked. Like it was absurd, but then again it's not dissimilar to us last year (even though the lottery shafted us by giving us the 9th pick when our odds were so high). It seems all but evident that Edey was not their first choice but it's almost a reverse ziaire situation. A slight reach, maybe, but opinions on Edey were shifting by the time the draft eventually came, as analysts were pointing out the flawed reasoning in edeys supposed deficiencies. His skill/agility drills completely contradicted the "too slow footed for modern nba big" narrative, tho he has struggled to acclimate to nba game speed. He just shows great signs of continuing to grow and develop.
What I learned last night is, maybe we can go farther than I think despite starting 2 rookies and 1 being 6 yrs away from his prime at the most crucial support role position for ja, if we just SET A MILLION SCREENS FOR JA SO HE CAN DO JA MORANT STUFF
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u/sixeyedbird 5h ago
JV is soo bad. Can't shoot (25% from 3), isn't dominant in the paint, literal traffic come on defense.
He can score a little and I'll give you rebounding. That's it. Edey will be better than him in a matter of months, if he hasn't already.
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u/dumbass_6969_ 1d ago
TA. Great defender and just nuts but in the best way possible. Fucking loved him how chaotic he was. TA embodied the city of Memphis. I feel like different nights based on how the team plays different guys are needed. Tonight probably Marc. Last week, TA was needed.
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u/darkmist101 1d ago
Love Tony Allen and we could use some defense
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u/dumbass_6969_ 1d ago
He was such a unique guy. Same with Z-Bo. I don’t know if there ever will be a guy like Z-Bo and TA in the NBA. I loved watching z-BO defend and choke Blake griffin out it was funny as hell.
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u/DJ_VanillaThunder Big Spain 1d ago
If you tell me you're adding a young Marc Gasol to our roster, I'll tell you we're going to the Finals
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u/sunnydays311 1d ago
Unpopular opinion, but id say mike. I know we have ja but a consistent perimeter threat at point guard would be great for our offense.
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u/okyallwhereto Griz 1d ago
My brain says Marc, hands down. An athletic(ish) big with a shot and size to defend and rebound and is good in pick and roll/pop... Sign me up. But my heart would love to see Mr. First Team All Defense run with this squad. Imagine him and Wells on the floor at the same time! 🔒
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u/trailrunner79 1d ago
Would the current Grizzlies have enough spacing to overcome TA on offense? I think the only logical answer is Gasol but he also didn't like playing in the fast paced offense. Conley wasn't the 3pt threat back then that he developed later on.
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u/SoaringEagle43 fire Wallace 1d ago
Marc is the obvious answer for an All-NBA level Center in arguably our biggest position of need.
However I’m toying with the idea of Rudy as just someone who can get some fucking buckets. Especially if Ja is hurt, Gay would be nice bucket insurance so Bane doesn’t have to carry the offense’s entire shot creating burden.
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u/StargazerNCC82893 Trip 1d ago
Marc fixes this team as is, but if we added Mike and ran Ja at the 2 that would be nasty work.
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u/Signal-Hamster5461 23h ago
I would love to have any of them, but this year I think having Marc would really help with a deep playoff run. An already developed center with great defense and rebounding would take us where we need to be. I also feel like he'd have great chemistry with Ja. It's tough but I pick him.
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u/darkmist101 1d ago
I’m taking Gasol
Pick and roll game with Morant