2007 NBA Offseason Champion

I realize we are nowhere even close to the NBA season beginning (actually, its only about 10 weeks away), but rather than bury the most amazing offseason story in my NBA Preview 10 weeks from now, I thought it would be more exciting to just devote one whole article to the MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES, my 2007 NBA Offseason Champion!

Backstory: (cue violin)- The Memphis Grizzlies were one of the most pathetic teams last season who most likely were one of the teams trying to win the Oden-Durant sweepstakes, as they finished with the worst record in the league. They fired Mike Fratello in the middle of the season because, as opposed to playing a boring style and losing all their games, they wanted to play an up-tempo style and still lose all their games. Of course, the Grizzlies failed to land either Oden or Durant and instead got the #4 pick.

Offseason: (cue John Tesh NBA on NBC music)- But suddenly, the Grizzlies had the best offseason in their young, franchise history! First, on May 31, they hired a young, exciting coach (Iavoroni) who has been tutored by one of the biggest innovators of the last few seasons (Phoenix Suns Coach Mike D’Antoni). The weird thing was, the Grizzlies then hired Chris Wallace, who apparently was the GM before Danny Ainge in Boston and made numerous bad moves. As Bill Simmons said, “they just hired Chris Wallace away from the Celtics, which was like former FEMA director Mike Brown getting hired by France's federal relief agency.”
This is where things turned weird though. Instead of continuing to make bad moves, the Grizzlies started doing everything right (at least on paper). First, they got PG Mike Conley in the draft. While rookie PGs don’t always make a big impact the first season, this still was a solid selection. The Grizz then also picked up Darko Milicic for good luck and to have a capable, defensive center. Then the Grizz traded for the best 3-point shooter in Europe (Juan Carlos Navarro) who shot a 41% from 3-point land and an absurd 58% from the field during last season’s Euroleague (FYI - it’s equivalent to European soccer’s Champion’s League for basketball teams, where all the best teams from the best European leagues compete). Also, Navarro goes by the nickname “La Bomba,” which just sounds cool AND to top things off, Navarro has a sweet website with funky music to pump up his fans! Plus, as an added bonus for this season, the Grizz should have a full, healthy season of an All-Star Player (Pau Gasol). So now they suddenly have a starting lineup of:
PG Conley
SG Mike Miller
C Darko
PF Gasol
SF Rudy Gay

They also have a nice bench in: SG La Bomba, PF H. Warrick, PG D. Stoudamire, AND SG T. Kinsey (who single-handedly took my fantasy basketball team to the championship game last season. Look at what this guy did from March 24 to April 18th!)

By adding Darko, Navarro, a healthy season of Gasol, and if Conley can somehow rapidly develop, the Grizz should be going to the playoffs, even in the Western Conference! Maybe I’m too optimistic about this, but this team actually appears to have enough weapons to do damage, EVEN in the Western Conference. Granted, I’m still concerned about the Grizz’s GM’s track record, but maybe a man can learn from his past mistakes, as Bill Belichick once did from the Browns. Either way, congratulations to the Memphis Grizzlies, my 2007 NBA Offseason Champions!