OJ off the bench

[jman3134]

Do you think that this is better for our team or worse?

Does this say anything about him as a player, or just suggest that he is more effective when paired with our backups?

[Downtown]

Hi guys. I've been out of the loop lately since I've been in Hawaii for a while. Just off the top of my head I think this is a pretty interesting idea and give Hollins thumbs up for trying it out.

We know that with the early season attempt by Mike Conley to be more forceful, plus the usual ball dominance of Gay and Randolph that Mayo would be taking a bit of a backseat as far as being prominant in the starting rotation.

A couple of weeks back I mentioned here how I thought Henry was deferring quite a bit when he had scoring chances and chose to instead pass off the ball. I actually think inserting a complimentary type like him might mesh better as far as roles are concerned.

So with that, plus the bench still being far from having good depth, having Mayo come in to have an impact with his scoring in a different manner is definitely worth a try. It's good in my opinion and I don't see it as demeaning at all that he try his hand as the super sixth man as long as he still gets his minutes.

[mid-post]

I think it will help OJ and the team. His scoring with the second unit really helped against the Warriors. OJ and Arthur off the bench (along with Allen) give the Grizzlies legitimately good backups and it lets all the starters rest for good chunks of time.
Henry gave pretty solid production in the starting lineup and is playing pretty good D.
OJ played great last night. Depending on how he and Henry play, I think you'll see the starting lineup alternate between OJ and X.

[dark-child]

I personally thought this move was necessary if he was not traded all together. I find it very unfortunate that we are asking a non scorer (Conley) to be more aggressive, and our newly acquired defensive stopper (Allen) who is incapable of making a layup or finishing around the basket, both affect Mayo's game this season. Some moves feels like just a test and others seem like the start of something or a more pemanent move. This seems like the latter.