RealGM

The grades by the CA came out in today's paper. In case if anyone missed the grades. Here they are.GPA style.

Rudy Gay- 3.4
Mike Conley- 3.2
Mike Miller- 3.1
Juan Carlos Navarro- 3.1
Kyle Lowry- 2.6
Hakim Warrick- 2.5
Pau Gasol- 2.4
Marc Iavaroni- 2.2
Darko Milicic- 2.1
Andre Brown- 1.7
Damon Stoudamire- 1.7
Stromile Swift- 1.6
Casey Jacobson- 1.1
Brian Cardinal-INC
Bobby Jones-INC

My own personal grades for the team

R.Gay- B. He has improved some since last season, but still has some ways to go b4 getting that All-Star tag to his name. Like improving his passing game and perhaps better shot selection. Otherwise, he's on pace to getting better as a player in the league.

M. Conley- B A fresh rookie who just came in to the rotation after missing some weeks with a shoulder injury. He's proven that he can pass the ball and get his teammates involve. He still needs to work on developing a better perimeter game though. Until then, he's on pace for the Grizz's future as their PG.

M. Miller- C. Obvious reasons. He still has the offense to spread out the other teams defense. His rebounding numbers are up this season under Iavaroni. However, Miller still shows he's a liability on defense.

JCN- B-. Pau's best friend. Shows he's capable of providing an offensive punch from off the bench. Despite he tries to play hustle defense. He is another liability on defense as well.

K. Lowry- C-. Lowry has fallen off a bit since Conley hit the starting rotation. His energetic and hustle defense and slashing to the hole is what Lowry is best known for on the Grizzlies.

H. Warrick-C. Hak's minutes have been inconsistant at best. Whenever he hits the floor he showns signs of last season when he was in the starting lineup. His offensive explosiveness, even in less minutes. His defense and weight still needs to improve.

P. Gasol- C. Pau's numbers took a small dip this season as MI's system has the ball running through Rudy Gay. Gasol really has been the same. Just average Pau like the fans have seen in the last seven yrs. Great offense, but lack man to man defense ethics.

M. Iavaroni- C-. The coach is a rookie and has to find his way in the league as the new coach on the block. His system has been more offensive and despite him saying he wants the team to play defense. He doesn't have the players to play defense. Also his love for the PHX 4 system doesn't help matters considering the source he got this style from isn't known for the defense. MI also needs to work on his sub patterns as he appears to have players either mismatched against their opponent or take out a player who have a run going on offense.

D. Milicic- C-. Darko defense is pretty solid on the court. His injuries and confidence has cause his offense to suffer some. He needs to have more than just the hook shot going for him on offense. Get him to shoot a jump shot for God's sake. And some counseling while you're at it.

A. Brown- F. Collecting more dust than a 1957 T-Bird that hasn't been driven in 30yrs.

D. Stoudamire- D. Damon before he was shut down was starting for the Grizz. His offense was up and down along with his passing game. Then again, the team really hasn't been in sync considering their current record.

S. Swift- C-. Same old Stro. One minute he's playing wel. Next minute, he finds himself in MI's doghouse for prehaps unexplained reasons. At least he got on the floor and got six pts in the form of dunks in the deal.

C. Jacobson- F- Why is he here? And what did he blackmail MI with to get on the Grizzlies?

B. Cardinal- F. Still collecting his pay check and doing nothing at the same time. That's the life the average Joe Blow would like to have. Get mad paid for doing nothing.

B. Jones- INC

SD2042 wrote:The grades by the CA came out in today's paper. In case if anyone missed the grades. Here they are.GPA style.

Rudy Gay- 3.4
Mike Conley- 3.2
Mike Miller- 3.1
Juan Carlos Navarro- 3.1
Kyle Lowry- 2.6
Hakim Warrick- 2.5
Pau Gasol- 2.4
Marc Iavaroni- 2.2
Darko Milicic- 2.1
Andre Brown- 1.7
Damon Stoudamire- 1.7
Stromile Swift- 1.6
Casey Jacobson- 1.1
Brian Cardinal-INC
Bobby Jones-INC

My own personal grades for the team

R.Gay- B. He has improved some since last season, but still has some ways to go b4 getting that All-Star tag to his name. Like improving his passing game and perhaps better shot selection. Otherwise, he's on pace to getting better as a player in the league.

M. Conley- B A fresh rookie who just came in to the rotation after missing some weeks with a shoulder injury. He's proven that he can pass the ball and get his teammates involve. He still needs to work on developing a better perimeter game though. Until then, he's on pace for the Grizz's future as their PG.

M. Miller- C. Obvious reasons. He still has the offense to spread out the other teams defense. His rebounding numbers are up this season under Iavaroni. However, Miller still shows he's a liability on defense.

JCN- B-. Pau's best friend. Shows he's capable of providing an offensive punch from off the bench. Despite he tries to play hustle defense. He is another liability on defense as well.

K. Lowry- C-. Lowry has fallen off a bit since Conley hit the starting rotation. His energetic and hustle defense and slashing to the hole is what Lowry is best known for on the Grizzlies.

H. Warrick-C. Hak's minutes have been inconsistant at best. Whenever he hits the floor he showns signs of last season when he was in the starting lineup. His offensive explosiveness, even in less minutes. His defense and weight still needs to improve.

P. Gasol- C. Pau's numbers took a small dip this season as MI's system has the ball running through Rudy Gay. Gasol really has been the same. Just average Pau like the fans have seen in the last seven yrs. Great offense, but lack man to man defense ethics.

M. Iavaroni- C-. The coach is a rookie and has to find his way in the league as the new coach on the block. His system has been more offensive and despite him saying he wants the team to play defense. He doesn't have the players to play defense. Also his love for the PHX 4 system doesn't help matters considering the source he got this style from isn't known for the defense. MI also needs to work on his sub patterns as he appears to have players either mismatched against their opponent or take out a player who have a run going on offense.

D. Milicic- C-. Darko defense is pretty solid on the court. His injuries and confidence has cause his offense to suffer some. He needs to have more than just the hook shot going for him on offense. Get him to shoot a jump shot for God's sake. And some counseling while you're at it.

A. Brown- F. Collecting more dust than a 1957 T-Bird that hasn't been driven in 30yrs.

D. Stoudamire- D. Damon before he was shut down was starting for the Grizz. His offense was up and down along with his passing game. Then again, the team really hasn't been in sync considering their current record.

S. Swift- C-. Same old Stro. One minute he's playing wel. Next minute, he finds himself in MI's doghouse for prehaps unexplained reasons. At least he got on the floor and got six pts in the form of dunks in the deal.

C. Jacobson- F- Why is he here? And what did he blackmail MI with to get on the Grizzlies?

B. Cardinal- F. Still collecting his pay check and doing nothing at the same time. That's the life the average Joe Blow would like to have. Get mad paid for doing nothing.

B. Jones- INC

Ask Grizzled what I think of the CA's score for Navarro compared to Swift.

How in the hell can Navarro get a 3.1 with Swift getting only 1.6???

I believe I know the answer.

Navarro has been horribly inconsistent on offense, and just horrible on defense.

Navarro has averaged 24 minutes per game, and only 10.4 points per game, which is barely better than Stromile Swift on a per minute basis and Navarro is supposed to be an offensive player.

Whenever the Grizzlies fall behind, it's always Stromile who is the first to get thrown under the bus, yet Navarro really isn't any more productive offensively than Stromile is! And Stromile's defense can make a huge difference in helping the Grizzlies mount comebacks, as they did so many times during the 50 win 03/04 season when Stromile Swift's second unit many many times had to rally the Grizzlies from the consistently slow starts of the starting group.

My letter grades for the Griz:
Pau Gasol: F - Very poor leadership, constant shoulder shrugging after poor defense, and inconsistent aggression on offense. Way too many jumpers.

Mike Miller: D - Terrible defensive effort on rotation in the paint. Doesn't commit nearly enough fouls in those situations, and concedes far too many layups defensively. Offensively, he has done a good job of being aggressive and playing his game, so he doesn't get an F.

Rudy Gay: B- - Has shown he has the will to be a clutch player, and has shown improved confidence offensively. He's been playing hard defensively too, but is overmatched most times at PF. Hasn't done a good job at all of making his teammates better. When he shows a desire to make his teammates better he will be a winner.

Mike Conley: A - Of all the young players, he looks to me like the only one who has a legit chance of being an elite player. Keeps getting hurt, though.

Darko Milicic: D+ - Has shown consistent effort on defense, which has been his strength. Has been consistent on offense too, which is not a good thing. He's usually not aggressive enough and fires up way too many hook shots and isn't aggressive enough attacking the basket. He needs to be able to do something else when he's not making his hook shot other than firing up more hook shots.

Stromile Swift: A- Has played consistently well for most of the season, with only a couple poor performances (back to back) leading immedeately to the doghouse. Led the team in +/- for most of the season, tough to do considering how little of a role he has been allowed to play in the offense and how poorly the Griz perimeter shooters seem to shoot when he is in.

Hakim Warrick: B - Has really showed improved effort on defense lately. If he stays consistent with that he will be a more credible NBA player, but I still think he should be getting some minutes at SF in a bigger lineup.

Kyle Lowry: B- - Consistently plays hard, and plays his game. Gives the Griz some good defense, but the offense tends to bog down when he's in the game. He doesn't seem to have good chemistry and feel with the team in terms of making decisions about who should get the ball when, but he's still a young player. Definitely a quality backup pg.

Damon Stoudamire: C+ - His defense still stinks, but he's had a good attitude and did a decent job of running the offense while he was playing. He was playing a bit sloppy and bobbled the ball a lot, which made me feel like he wasn't giving his all.

Juan Carlos Navarro: C+ - His defense stinks too. The good thing about his game is that he's been consistently aggressive. He usually doesn't shy away from shots, which is good because his role is to shoot the ball. The bad thing is that his production has been inconsistent. Maybe he'll get better in time, but for now he is more a liability because he tends to play in small lineup situations, and his lack of size and athleticism puts the Griz at a huge disadvantage when he's teamed with mike Miller and Pau Gasol against athletic small lineups of good teams, like the Warriors, who can field athletic players from 1 to 5.

Andre Brown: D+ - He's done a pretty good job in his role. He doesn't get the ball much but has shown a little bit of scoring ability... but has been forcing and missing lately. Hasn't been aggressive enough with his shotblocking, which has really limited his contribution.

Bobby Jones: B+ - Has shown a commitment to playing hard defensively and also has been very aggressive offensively. Doesn't seem to have great shooting range, but that can be improved with work. He's shown instant chemistry with the team, and does a good job of moving the ball, freeing up shots for the shooters. Has shown a tendency to go away from Stromile Swift when Swift is in the low post, but they haven't had time to build chemistry. Needs to improve the 3 point shot or attack the basket when he's open on the perimeter to maximize his contribution.

Brian Cardinal: A - Hasn't gotten a chance to play, but he seems to be doing his best to provide positive energy when he's in street clothes, which is all you can ask. I've often seen him pushing Stromile around when they've been sitting on the bench together, which I've interpreted as Cardinal trying to help Stromile keep a positive attitude.

Casey Jacobsen: D - Hasn't shot the ball particularly well, stinks defensively, and really hasn't contributed much. I'm giving him a D just to piss off Grizzled if he's still around

I'm surprised you gave Stromile an A grade. I would never have seen that one coming.