Memphis Grizzlies ready to carry momentum of last year’s success into shortened 2011-12 season
The Memphis Grizzlies are coming off their most successful season in franchise history and still don’t think they are getting the respect they deserve.
As the players prepared to open camp for the lockout-shortened NBA season they talked about playing with a chip on their shoulder, the benefits of continuity and getting Rudy Gay back in the lineup.
They also feel confident that the only uncertainty at this point — the signing of center Marc Gasol — will be resolved.
Memphis, which had never won a playoff game entering last season, dispatched the Western Conference’s top-seeded team, the San Antonio Spurs, in six games and then went to a deciding seventh game against Oklahoma City before being eliminated.
Now, after waiting longer than expected for the season to start, the Grizzlies are ready to carry that momentum with a new confidence.
“It’s obvious that as a team, we have a lot of optimism. We feel like we have a team to make a run at a championship,” point guard Mike Conley said at Friday’s media availability before the opening of preseason practice. “That’s always been our goal each year. We’ve got the team. We’ve got Rudy back and he’s ready to go, and he says he was 100 percent.”
Gay missed the last part of the season and the playoffs after suffering a shoulder injury in February, leaving the Grizzlies without their second-leading scorer and third-best rebounder. Gay continually talked about the drive he has to return and fit into a team that some thought played better when he was out of the lineup.
“Last year was a great season, but we’re not done there,” Gay said. “Obviously, I’m hungrier than ever.”
A key factor in the team’s success will be the status of Gasol, who averaged 11.7 points a game and 7.0 rebounders. Gasol is a restricted free agent, and team management has pledged to make sure Gasol returns, vowing to match any offer sheet extended to him.
That is in keeping with what forward and leading scorer Zach Randolph was told when he signed his own new contract with the team last year.
“I hope he’s on the way back now,” Conley said of Gasol, who was not at the Friday media availability. “He’s our final piece, so I hope that we get him back.”
But the Memphis players don’t believe their thoughts of their team translate to others. Conley, Randolph and Gay all shook their heads when asked if the team had earned the respect throughout the league.
They noted that even though they became an exciting team to watch with a “grit-and-grind” approach and an unexpected playoff run, they still didn’t get a Christmas Day showcase game.
“It seems like they are going to always try to keep us down some way, somehow,” Conley said.
Randolph added: “We take it how it comes, but we’ve got to take care of our business and hopefully we can get some more games on TV once we get to winning some games.”
All three players mentioned that the highlight of the season was returning home after the season-ending loss at Oklahoma City. Despite being eliminated, a crowd gathered at the Memphis airport to welcome them home and congratulate the team on the season.
Gay, who was a part of that celebration from the periphery because of his injury, said he keeps handy a photo he took of the crowd at the airport.
“As a team, we still feel like we have a chip on our shoulder,” Conley said. “We’re never going to play as if we’re the top team in the league. We are always playing with something to prove. .We always play that way, and I don’t think it is going to change.
“We’re still motivated. We’re not satisfied with what we did last season. We felt like we could have gone further, so we were disappointed, even though there was a bunch of celebrating going on. This season is hopefully, just another stepping stone for us.”
