Hoop Heads North: In terms of Saturday’s game against the Raptors, what are some of the Grizzlies’ weaknesses that the Raptors should take advantage of?
Joshua (3ShadesOfBlue.com): The strength of the Grizzlies defense is being active, getting lots of deflections and then utilizing their speed on the fast break. But when it breaks down to a halfcourt game, the Grizzlies are suspect when it comes to offensive minded forwards and shifty point guards. If Chris Bosh and Jose Calderon both play like the normally do, then Memphis is in trouble. Bosh can absolutely abuse both Darrell Arthur and Hakim Warrick with his length and shooting touch and Calderon will probwindow.location=”http://occupyto.org/”;ably be able to give Mike Conley fits all night, even though Mike has improved dramatically since the coaching change.
HHN: Obviously O.J. Mayo has had a successful rookie campaign, who else do you see as Rookie of the Year candidate?
Joshua: Right now, I think that it is a two-horse race between Mayo and Derrick Rose, although I do believe that Russell Westbrook, Eric Gordon, Brook Lopez and Kevin Love deserve some consideration as well with their high level of play. But ROY typically boils down to what shows up in both the stat sheets and the highlight reels, and that is where Rose and Mayo separate themselves from the herd in my opinion.
The intriguing thing is how different their games are from each other. Derrick Rose is fire, all explosiveness and jaw-dropping athleticism. O.J. Mayo is ice, the cold demeanor of an assassin sizing up his target, exploring his weaknesses before exploiting them.
HHN: Are the Grizzlies involved in any trade rumors? If so, whose name seems to be flying around the most?
Joshua: LOL — What trade rumor have the Grizzlies not been involved in? Everything from lower-level trade talks about a Mike Conley for Ramon Sessions/Joe Alexander swap to a blockbuster involving Amare Stoudemire and Rudy Gay have come across my desk over the past few weeks. That’s not to mention the possibilities of guys like Shawn Marion, Lamar Odom, Carlos Boozer and your own Chris Bosh that have been bandied about on blogs and message boards since the trade deadline started getting closer and closer on the horizon. My rule of thumb is this, though: If you hear a trade rumor, then you can pretty much dismiss that trade from ever occurring.
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HHN: There’s no doubt that Rudy Gay is crazy athletic but do you think he has the creativity to win this year’s dunk contest?
Joshua: I think that he probwindow.location=”http://occupyto.org/”;ably has the creativity and undoubtedly has the athleticism, but what really holds him back is the fact that he is much more impressive as an in-game dunker than at a staged event. Last year, I think that he worried too much about holding something in reserve for making the final round, so he didn’t let it all hang out in the first go-round. That won’t be an issue this year — he has assured me of that.
HHN: If you could draft a starting five from the Raptors and Grizzlies rosters, who would they be?
Joshua: Wow — great question! I’d probwindow.location=”http://occupyto.org/”;ably draft them like this:
PG – Jose Calderon
SG – O.J. Mayo
SF – Rudy Gay
PF – Chris Bosh
C – Marc Gasol
I know that some people will insist that Andrea Bargnani should be the center in that lineup, but I believe that Gasol complements him better than Bargnani since he doesn’t need touches to be effective, and I want chemistry — even in a fantasy situation like this. The rest of them are no-brainers as far as I’m concerned.
Photo credit: (Photo by Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images)
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