{"id":1748,"date":"2007-10-30T10:24:48","date_gmt":"2007-10-30T15:24:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/nba-2007-08-preview\/memphis-grizzlies\/"},"modified":"2007-10-30T10:24:48","modified_gmt":"2007-10-30T15:24:48","slug":"memphis-grizzlies","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/nba-2007-08-preview\/memphis-grizzlies","title":{"rendered":"Memphis Grizzlies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Predicted Record<\/strong>
\n25-57 (Tom), 32-50 (GR)<\/p>\n

Last Year’s Record<\/strong>
\n22-60<\/p>\n

Tom’s Commentary<\/strong>
\nJerry West’s era of building a team of support players for some fantasy 7’2” 30\/15 mega-star that seemingly only played for the team in Jerry West’s mind has ended with the Grizzlies giving Marc Iavaroni a chance to whip something palatable together from the leftovers. Two hot young point guards in Kyle Lowry and Mike Conley should make the Grizz that team that makes an early December run before fading in late January. Pau Gasol feels ready to take one of those Jermaine O’Neal-sized step downward in production where the coaches all rave that he’s actually a better player. Memphis remains the city that you think you’d like to live despite everyone you know who has lived there telling you you’re crazy, and their basketball team struggles along in the spirit of that early-strike disappointment.<\/p>\n

Rejoinder From Gil<\/strong>
\nThey’re trying to mimic the Phoenix Suns style, except without a topflight point guard and few three-point threats. Which is sorta like my trying to be like Stravinsky, despite not knowing how to read music.<\/p>\n

Damon Stoudamire’s still in the league? And he led this team in assists last year (at 4.8)?<\/p>\n

Gratuitous Comics Connection<\/strong>
\nBill Day has been the editorial cartoonist at the Commercial-Appeal since 1998.<\/p>\n

Gratuitous Pharma Connection<\/strong>
\nViral Antigens, a scary sounding company, was based in Memphis before it got bought by Meridian Life Sciences.<\/p>\n

The Bottom Line<\/strong>
\nAdding Darko is good for 10 wins. I have spoken.<\/p>\n

Also, I’ve heard that Stromile Swift is one of the dumbest players in the league. I’m not talking about not being able to pick up plays. I mean flat-out dumb. –GR<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Predicted Record 25-57 (Tom), 32-50 (GR) Last Year’s Record 22-60 Tom’s Commentary Jerry West’s era of building a team of support players for some fantasy 7’2” 30\/15 mega-star that seemingly only played for the team in Jerry West’s mind has ended with the Grizzlies giving Marc Iavaroni a chance to whip something palatable together from … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Memphis Grizzlies”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":1713,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"nba0708index.php","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1748","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P4C7K-sc","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1713,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/nba-2007-08-preview","url_meta":{"origin":1748,"position":0},"title":"NBA 2007-08 Preview","author":"Gil","date":"October 28, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"It's time for the race (well, marathon) to see who will keep the Spurs from repeating THIS time! Which is to say, \"The new NBA season is upon us!\" Sure, the league's been pummeled lately, what with the referee-gambling scandal, the Knicks' ugly sexual harassment suit, and the uncompetitive finals.\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1746,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/nba-2007-08-preview\/dallas-mavericks","url_meta":{"origin":1748,"position":1},"title":"Dallas Mavericks","author":"Gil","date":"October 30, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Predicted Record 58-24 (Tom), 62-20 (Gil), 59-23 (Justin Ozuna) Last Year's Record 67-15 Tom's Commentary Devin Harris enters 2007-2008 with a lot of money in the bank and just having had his ass kicked by a fat cripple (Baron Davis in last year\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcs playoffs). Trust someone who knows: this is\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1181,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/nba-preview-2006-2007","url_meta":{"origin":1748,"position":2},"title":"NBA Preview 2006-2007","author":"Gil","date":"November 2, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm the Juggernaut, bitch! ATLANTIC Boston Celtics by Tom Spurgeon New Jersey Nets by Gil Roth New York Knicks by Gil Roth Philadelphia 76ers by Adam Taxin Toronto Raptors by Sam Richezza CENTRAL Chicago Bulls by Tom Spurgeon Cleveland Cavaliers by Tom Spurgeon Detroit Pistons by Tom Spurgeon Indiana Pacers\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 4 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 4 comments","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/nba-preview-2006-2007#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1737,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/nba-2007-08-preview\/phoenix-suns","url_meta":{"origin":1748,"position":3},"title":"Phoenix Suns","author":"Gil","date":"October 29, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Predicted Record 58-24 (Tom), 62-20 (Gil) Last Year's Record 61-21 Tom's Commentary Steve Nash's ascendancy to NBA royalty has been such a great victory over the odds that the Fates were stunned into letting actor-a-like Jackie Earle Haley receive an Oscar nomination in the midst of a hugely surprising major\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2781,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/nba-2008-09-preview","url_meta":{"origin":1748,"position":4},"title":"NBA 2008-09 Preview","author":"Gil","date":"October 28, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The new NBA season is upon us! Sadly, the previous season was so underwhelming that your official VM NBA correspondents have decided to go with one-liners for our previews! (Plus, we jettisoned all the other part-timers, so this year's team-by-team preview comes to you courtesy of Tom Spurgeon and me,\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 3 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 3 comments","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/nba-2008-09-preview#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=virtualmemories-20&l=as2&o=1&a=141654061X","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1745,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/nba-2007-08-preview\/season-honors","url_meta":{"origin":1748,"position":5},"title":"Season Honors","author":"Gil","date":"October 30, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"TEAM HONORS NBA Championship Tom: Phoenix Over Miami Craig: Spurs over Dallas and then some eastern conference team, say the Pistons Gil: Spurs beat Phoenix, wallop the Bulls. Surprise Playoff Teams Tom: Charlotte, Portland Craig: NJ and Lakers Gil: Milwaukee, Lakers (post-Kobe trade) Surprise Non-Playoff Teams Tom: Golden State, Washington\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1748\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}