Memphis Grizzlies better off after trade

Sam Amick, USA TODAY Sports | USATODAY

In an NBA season full of surprises – from the Lakers' desperate push to make the playoffs to Miami's march toward the all-time winning streak of 33 games and everything in between – there's one more worth noting.

The Memphis Grizzlies may be better off without Rudy Gay. And their new owner and management team, as it turns out, may not have sacrificed this season after all.

Strange though it may seem that one of the Western Conference's best teams could trade its longtime leading scorer and manage to improve, that has been the case since the Jan. 30 deal that sent Gay to Toronto and brought back veteran small forward Tayshaun Prince and young players Ed Davis and Austin Daye.

"I think we're a better team, man," Grizzlies All-Star forward Zach Randolph told USA TODAY Sports. "You're (getting) the whole team playing one way, and guys sticking to what they do and playing together, playing for each other and playing defense and playing inside-out basketball. It's a lot better – a better mindset – playing like that.

"When it first happened, everybody was down about it, especially because Rudy was like a brother to us. It was difficult at first. You wouldn't think it would be this way now, but it is."

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When 34-year-old Grizzlies owner Robert Pera approved the move just three months after buying the team and putting a new front-office group in place, the trade was seen by some as the dawn of a new day in the NBA. Was this - much like Oklahoma City's decision to trade James Harden to Houston in October - the sort of cost-cutting spurred by the new, more-restrictive collective bargaining agreement that would gut small-market teams and dash the championship dreams of the players and their fans? Gay was owed a combined $37 million on his contract if he played out his next two seasons, meaning the books simply had to be balanced if the Grizzlies were going to survive financially.

Yet amid all that chatter, key parts of the process were overlooked, specifically the Grizzlies' view of Gay's inefficient game and the perceived merits of adding a champion like Prince and young players on rookie contracts that are more valuable than ever under the new deal. Sure enough, with new Grizzlies CEO and former agent/Sacramento Kings assistant general manager Jason Levien heading the group that also includes former ESPN.com analyst John Hollinger (vice president of basketball operations), former agent Stu Lash (director of player personnel) and incumbent general manager Chris Wallace, the move that was widely seen as a business decision has worked out quite well on the basketball front.

Memphis is 16-5 (.761) since getting its new players from the trade, this after they went 29-15 (.659) before the deal went down. Prince's presence has been huge, as he clearly has a few good years left after winning a title with the Detroit Pistons in 2004, a gold medal in Beijing with Team USA in 2008 and playing in 118 playoff games and all. His versatility is his calling card, that ability to decide every time out which part of his game – playmaking, scoring, defense, rebounding – is needed on that night.

Because he's more than happy to play a small offensive role so long as the wins keep coming, the inside-out directive that works so well with Randolph and center Marc Gasol is more clear and effective than ever. Add in point guard Mike Conley and shooting guard Tony Allen, and it's as feisty and balanced a starting five as you'll find.

"(Swapping Gay for Prince) took a little pressure off," Gasol said. "Sometimes when you have so many options offensively, you try to keep everybody happy – 'now it's your turn, now it's my turn,' and it's your-turn-my-turn type of basketball. Teams kind of load up (defensively) on that and do that. It was hard to get in a flow as a team.

"(Adding Prince) changed the dynamics. We have a different team, and I think we did a great job of coming together. We could've laid down, but that's not who we are. That's not what we do."

Hence the unexpectedly-quick recovery from the post-trade blues.

The fans and some media weren't the only ones questioning the move. Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins was leading that chorus, saying both before and immediately after the trade that Gay was the sort of player that - bottom line be darned - they couldn't afford to lose.

"When I first got here, the first couple of games we played, there was a feeling in the air of, 'Hey, we had Rudy here for a while, we had great chemistry, we were on the up and up, and we kind of just gave it away,'" Prince said. "With the new management, I don't know what the guys were thinking. But there was this feeling of, 'Man, how is this trade going to be for our team?'"

It was no surprise, then, that the Grizzlies started slow with the new players on board. They beat Washington, then fell to Phoenix and Atlanta before Hollins decided to address the situation with his team and the media before a Feb. 8 game against Golden State.

"We had a meeting, and coach aired everything out," Prince said. "He said, 'Hey, Austin, Tayshaun, Ed Davis, we love you guys. There's no bitterness between us and you guys. We just thought the trade wasn't at a great time.' I understood where he was coming from."

They all did apparently, as Memphis won 14 of its next 15 games. Their lone loss was at Miami, a 98-91 defeat in which they trailed by one with 42 seconds left before LeBron James took over down the stretch.

The numbers tell that tale of a much-improved team, as the Grizzlies have remained at an elite level defensively since the trade while upping their scoring by more than four points per every 100 possessions and shooting at a higher clip. But starting with Wednesday night's home game against Oklahoma City, they still have much to prove when it comes to being considered a title contender again.

It's the sort of test they have been failing of late, as they've gone 3-3 against teams currently in playoff position since the trade after going 16-10 in that category before the deal.The Thunder will be looking to bounce back, having suffered a home loss to the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday night. When last the Grizzlies and Thunder met on Jan. 31, Gay was gone, the new players had yet to arrive and Oklahoma City won handily at the Thunder's Cheseapeake Energy Arena.

"It's a big game - no question," Randolph said. "They're one of the best teams in the league. It's going to be a good matchup to see where we're at and where we need to be."

The question of whether they should be taken seriously as a threat to the Miami Heat's throne is another matter entirely. The new-look Grizzlies have yet to put together a stretch as impressive as the one the Gay-led group started the season with, their 12-2 start that included wins over Miami, Oklahoma City and the New York Knicks.

Prince, the 33-year-old who knows as well as anyone what it takes to win it all with a superstar-less group with how his Pistons downed the Kobe-Shaq Lakers almost nine years ago, sees championship potential here.

"Yeah, I feel it's definitely a championship group," Prince said. "(To do it), we have to be on the same page each and every day we step out on the floor. No agendas, everybody just has to help each other out each and every game. That's what was so perfect about us in Detroit, man.

"We didn't care who did what. We just wanted to win. And I feel that these guys want the same thing. So as long as we continue to focus on just trying to win and doing what it takes to win, we can put ourselves in that conversation."