This is Football time - Memphis GDT

[KG4Ever]

Math Question: How much money did we spend on Teague, Taj, Wiggs and Dieng?

[TAFKASP]

Math Question: How much money did we spend on Teague, Taj, Wiggs and Dieng?

All of it.

[Lipoli390]

Math Question: How much money did we spend on Teague, Taj, Wiggs and Dieng?

Next question: who made the decision to pay them that money? Answer: The same guy who offered Bazz a multi-year deal at over $10 million and per year but was lucky enough to have his offer rejected. The same guy who drafted Dunn over Murray and Hield. The same guy who drafted Patton over Collins and Anunoby. The same guy who ignored Butler's private trade demand last May, which led to a public demand in September and a resulting poor return for Butler.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

I turned it off about halfway into the 3rd quarter. Gasol was easily the best player on the floor. He expends half the energy of KAT and is twice the defender and decision maker.

[Lipoli390]

I turned it off about halfway into the 3rd quarter. Gasol was easily the best player on the floor. He expends half the energy of KAT and is twice the defender and decision maker.

Gasol is a great player and a seasoned vet. So yes, he outplayed KAT. But KAT wasn't the reason the Wolves lost tonight. He had 15 points on 60% shooting and pulled down 20 rebounds. He didn't have his best game and was up against a great player having a great night. But KAT was one of the few semi-bright spots for the Wolves tonight. This loss was on Thibodeau's offense, along with lack of any energy and general ineptitude of Teague. Also Wiggins regressed tonight. Taj had a terrible game. But again this was Thibodeau's offense in full view. The Wolves are not going to win scoring under 100 points, much less scoring under 90. The slow iso offense can work if the Wolves talented scorers are all firing on all cylinders and if the Wolves aren't playing a particularly good defensive team. I counted and compared the number of passes on both teams for a while tonight, then just gave up, after confirming the typical disparity. When you limit the comparison to meaningful passes, then the differential was even greater. But that's fairly typical of this team.

[Wolvesfan21]

This game was a bore fest. I nearly fell asleep.

[Monster]

I'm going to focus on the positives despite yelling at the computer screen plenty down the stretch.

1. 3 point shooting. Saric and Covington did their jobs making a bunch of 3's. That was fun seeing those guys nailing 3's to keep the game interesting.

2. There was defensive breakdowns but it wasn't bad at all. Normally if you o what the Wolves did on that end you have a pretty good Janice of winning. Covington is unbelievable getting his hands on the ball. Also shout out to Teague who was bad offensively but largely looked pretty good defensively at lest in the first half. Saric is a smart defender that uses his size to just get in front of guys and contest. He isn't as big as Gasol but Gasol is a great example of how a guy that's not an amazing athlete can be a good defender.

3. Rebounding the Wolves won that stat and that's a good development.

Tyus isn't looking like a starter but he was really solid in this game and actually seemed like a good fit in a slower game and Thibs went with him deep in this game and didn't go back to Teague which was a bit of a surprising development.

Dieng was a mixed bag. There was a lot of things he did well among his boneheaded TO's. Going to Tolliver at some point made some sense but the Grizzlies always had a big guy in there and Dieng had some usefulness in there.

It's a disappointing loss but we weren't going to win all these games and I had some issues with this team in this game they didn't completely fold the game was there for the taking and at times they just could t get enough going and the Grizz did. They need to toughen up and be ready for the next one.

[Lipoli390]

I'm going to focus on the positives despite yelling at the computer screen plenty down the stretch.

1. 3 point shooting. Saric and Covington did their jobs making a bunch of 3's. That was fun seeing those guys nailing 3's to keep the game interesting.

2. There was defensive breakdowns but it wasn't bad at all. Normally if you o what the Wolves did on that end you have a pretty good Janice of winning. Covington is unbelievable getting his hands on the ball. Also shout out to Teague who was bad offensively but largely looked pretty good defensively at lest in the first half. Saric is a smart defender that uses his size to just get in front of guys and contest. He isn't as big as Gasol but Gasol is a great example of how a guy that's not an amazing athlete can be a good defender.

3. Rebounding the Wolves won that stat and that's a good development.

Tyus isn't looking like a starter but he was really solid in this game and actually seemed like a good fit in a slower game and Thibs went with him deep in this game and didn't go back to Teague which was a bit of a surprising development.

Dieng was a mixed bag. There was a lot of things he did well among his boneheaded TO's. Going to Tolliver at some point made some sense but the Grizzlies always had a big guy in there and Dieng had some usefulness in there.

It's a disappointing loss but we weren't going to win all these games and I had some issues with this team in this game they didn't completely fold the game was there for the taking and at times they just could t get enough going and the Grizz did. They need to toughen up and be ready for the next one.

Monster - I won't quibble with your positives. But if the Wolves are going to make the playoffs they have to win home games like this one against teams like the Grizzlies, especially when holding their opponent to 100 points or less. The positives you listed underscore the fact that the team is defending better and that the team has a lot of talented players. What this team needs is a head coach to get the most out of that talent. We don't have that head coach right now, which is why this team will not make the playoffs this season.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Memphis is not a very sexy team on paper, but they are the #2 defense in the NBA. They use the same formula all their other great defensive teams used: Be physical, slow play down, don't chase O-boards and get the hell back on defense in order to avoid easy transition looks. And Gasol is an absolute master at the nuances of big man defense. He is so efficient - hardly ever leaves his feet, unlike floppin' and jumpin' KAT.

[ItsJustSoSab]

Is the honeymoon phase over? We were gonna lose eventually, and against the Griz I'm not too worried about it (even though I too was yelling at the computer like Monster). Dieng was atrocious in my opinion. Jim was right when he said he's lost his confidence because he knows Thibs is frustrated with him. Still getting paying time though, so he needs to just figure out his emotions and play better. The fun basketball wasnt going to continue forever, especially against a team like the Griz