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Last year, that number fell to 26.2 percent. Two years ago, a whopping 37.5 percent of his offensive plays ended in isolations or post-ups, per. We've seen some interesting changes in Prince's shot distribution over the years, despite few roster changes in Detroit. this could actually work out nicely, provided that Prince keeps playing the way he has this season. Hollins was very close with Gay, so getting back a name like Prince will at least appease him.
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Prince is battled-tested, versatile, tough and easy to slot into a role. On a basic level, getting Tayshaun Prince back was a nod to Hollins. STRAIGHT OUTTA VANCOUVER: Upside to deal | Downside to dealĭoes this trade do it? I actually think it does. Why keep a team together that isn't all that great when it only hurts your leverage going forward? That made it necessary to make a move now to try to find a better short-term fit while saving money going forward. My guess is that the Grizzlies' front office knew that they weren't going to make any noise with this core this year. Instead, the Grizzlies' horrendous spacing has rendered them useless. This is the period of the game where you'd think Gay's shot-creation skills would be most valuable. Their effective field goal percentage is 42.2 percent, and their true shooting percentage is 47.4 percent. Per NBA.com's stats page, the Grizzlies are scoring just 94.8 points per 100 possessions in fourth quarters, third-worst in the league.
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Worse, the Grizzlies' crunch-time offense has been a train wreck. Spacing has been a major issue, thanks in large part to Gay's awkward fit with Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph. The Grizzlies scored just under 110 points per 100 possessions in their first 14 games they have been at just under 103 points per 100 possessions in the next 30 games. What's happened? An offense that was surprisingly excellent in the first month of the season has fallen off as the season went on. Maybe things snowballed because of the rumors, but there was no way Memphis would return anywhere close to the form they showed in November. You can't really argue that the Grizzlies' slide happened because of all these trade rumors either, since it began in December. 1, these would be the Western Conference standings: The Grizzlies were 12-2 in October and November, but are just 17-13 since. Sure, Memphis is 29-15 and fourth in the West, but that record is deceiving. It's easy to look at their overall record, consider their recent near-misses, listen to Lionel Hollins and say the Grizzlies had a legitimate chance. The Grizzlies therefore had only one choice to make: trade Gay now, or trade Gay in the offseason.ĭoing the latter would have made much more sense if the Grizzlies felt they had a chance, however small, to get out of a deep Western Conference. The massive luxury tax penalties that awaited the Grizzlies after this year would have been too large for anyone, especially a small-market team like Memphis. MORE: Straight Outta Vancouver | Detroit Bad Boys | Raptors HQĬomplete Rudy Gay trade coverage Memphis GrizzliesĪs has been mentioned before in this space, it was always a matter of when, not if, the Grizzlies would trade Gay, even after a recent trade of Marreese Speights and Wayne Ellington got Memphis under the luxury-tax threshold for this year. Regardless, it's important to look at each side's unique situation when evaluating this deal. I think it makes the whole thing all the more fascinating. Some might lament the three-team deal that sent Gay to the Raptors, Tayshaun Prince and Ed Davis to the Grizzlies and Jose Calderon to the Pistons because the best team involved traded its leading scorer for financial reasons. As with any deal in the new fiscally-conscious NBA, the Rudy Gay trade involving the Grizzlies, Raptors and Pistons can be analyzed from many different angles.