A little late getting a preview up due to deadlines at the paper today. But, I plan to liveblog tonight’s game as well as do a full post-game three-pointer. Check back in around 7 p.m. to track the action.
1. Mayo and Love: As with previous visits by Chicago and Minnesota, subplots threaten to eclipse the game itself tonight. The first of these is the first Memphis meeting of O.J. Mayo and Kevin Love since the rookies were swapped on draft night.
In their first meeting, December 29th in Minneapolis, both played well (17 and 7 for Love, a team-high 23 points and 4 assists for Mayo), but it was Love’s team that came out on top, with a 108-98 overtime victory. But that outcome did nothing to detract from the obvious conclusion that this trade has been a big win for the Grizzlies.
I was a proponent of the Grizzlies drafting Love at #5 (though not, for the record ahead of Mayo, whom I had ranked third in the draft. And while Love has not been what I expected thus far in his NBA career, neither has he been as bad as the comparison with Mayo makes him look.
I thought Love would be a beast on the boards and a significant pick-and-pop threat from the perimeter but would not be a prolific interior scorer. Well, two out of three isn’t bad. Love has indeed been a major rebounder, ranking first among all rookies with a rebound rate of 20.2 (which would be, by far, the best single-season rebound rate in Grizzlies history).
Undersized and under-athletic, Love has struggled on the block, though even more than I anticipated. He’s shooting only 41% on his non-dunk interior attempts (which comprise 50% of his shots) and is getting 24% of these attempts blocked. This is pretty bad for a power forward. It would be okay if Love’s textbook jumper was more of a weapon, but Love’s ineffectiveness on the perimeter has been perhaps the biggest disappointment of his game: He’s effective field-goal percentage on the perimeter is only 27% and he’s 1-12 from three-point range on the season. (For what it’s worth, the Wolves have been equally bad defensively with or without Love.)
With Love’s rebounding ability, high basketball I.Q., and latent offensive skills, he’s going to be a quality player provided he stays healthy. This is not Adam Morrison we’re talking about here. But, that said, there’s no star potential here. Mayo’s on the fast track, and when it comes to evaluating a trade of rookies among two young, losing, rebuilding teams, nothing else really matters.
What makes the trade even more curious from Minnesota’s perspective is that Love is fighting for time with two other established players who play the position with the same general physical make-up. For the Wolves, the 6’10”, 260 pound Love (and, yes, that seems to be a generous measurement on the height side) is playing behind the 6’10”, 265 pound Al Jefferson and the 6’7”, 250 pound Craig Smith.
While the Wolves are overloaded on burly, undersized bangers, they don’t have a center in their rotation and are playing journeyman Kevin Ollie and washout Sebastian Telfair at point guard. You have to love Kevin McHale.
Despite some similarities to Marc Gasol, Love is still a player I’d be happy to see in a Grizzlies uniform. Given that the Wolves don’t really need Love and are in such a dire situation in the backcourt, I’m tempted to suggest a trade involving one of the Grizzlies’ point guards, but I doubt Minnesota would be too eager to acknowledge their draft-day blunder or deal with the Grizzlies again any time soon.
2. The Return of the Mike: The other subplot of note tonight is the return of former Griz sharp-shooter Mike Miller, who went to Minnesota in the Love-Mayo deal. Miller — one of the franchise’s better players on the court and most visible players off — was very popular here, and deservedly so. There won’t be much controversy over the kind of reception he’ll receive tonight.
The move to Minnesota has not been a productive one so far for Miller, who, at age 28, is experiencing his worst season, with the lowest scoring rate of his career and his worst overall shooting percentages since 03-04. Miller has been slowed this month by an ankle injury, but should be on the court tonight.
3. Oh Yeah: The Game: I didn’t get to see the Grizzlies’ overtime loss to Minnesota last week, but the box score is pretty suggestive of why things went bad for Memphis. It couldn’t have helped for Rudy Gay to go 5-18, including 2-13 inside the arc, especially against a Wolves team without a viable stopper on the wing. But the big deal seemed to be an inability to stop Al Jefferson, who went for 38 and 16 and dominated the overtime period. More so, the Wolves’ aforementioned trio of brutish forwards combined for 61 points on 24-37 shooting.
With Darko Milicic out, the Grizzlies risk being too slender (Hakim Warrick, Darrell Arthur) or too slow (Marc Gasol) to combat the Wolves interior scorers, particularly Jefferson. It will be interesting to see whether the Griz decide to double Jefferson more aggressively tonight.
The Jacob Riis Report: Minneapolis-based hoops writer Steve Aschburner looks at the Mayo-Love trade on CNNSI.com
