Rudy Gay says he never wanted out of Memphis

Sam Amick, USA TODAY Sports | USATODAY

The NBA TV is harder to find for Rudy Gay since he came to Toronto, not to mention the SportsCenter highlights that the Baltimore native has been such a big part of since being shipped to Canada.

There's the cold, the customs, and all the adjustments of international living that stars who came before him – from Tracy McGrady to Vince Carter and Chris Bosh – learned to live with. But Gay, who was traded from Memphis on Jan. 30 and has led the Raptors to a 6-2 record, five wins in a row, since his arrival, is fitting in just fine.

"I see this (Raptors team) as another Memphis," Gay, who has hit two game-winning shots and is averaging 21.3 points per game since coming to Canada, told USA TODAY Sports by phone in a lengthy interview on Saturday. "A lot of the pieces are there."

What isn't there, he wanted to make clear before facing his former team for the first time in Toronto on Wednesday night, is resentment. Gay, who was drafted eighth overall by the Grizzlies in 2006 out of Connecticut, admitted that he was stunned and angered by the trade. He wanted to "see it through" before the team's new ownership and management decided to break up what he saw as a championship-caliber core.

The Grizzlies, who are 5-2 since trading Gay and being joined by new players Tayshaun Prince, Ed Davis and Austin Daye, were 29-15 when the deal went down. But when Gay shared his frustrations by telling a Toronto sports radio station that there was "nothing" he would miss about Memphis, he knew he'd gone too far.

"Obviously that was just out of a little bit of anger," Gay said. "There were a lot of people in Memphis and a lot of relationships I left in Memphis that I'll always have. I'm so thankful for the city doing what they've done for me up until now."

What the Grizzlies did and why, meanwhile, still doesn't sit well with him.

THE DYNAMICS OF THE DEAL



Despite the popular narrative that this was simply a money-dump on the part of the Grizzlies as they became the latest team to fall in line with the new collective bargaining agreement, a way to get off the $38 million owed to Gay if he played out the final two seasons of his deal, it was never quite that simple. Grizzlies officials were of the belief that Gay would likely opt out in the summer of 2014 and leave as a free agent, and Gay himself admits that he expressed a willingness to be traded last summer before new owner Robert Pera took over and made CEO Jason Levien his chief decision-maker.

Two distinct differences in opinion have since become clear here: the new Grizzlies' executives who watched from a distance as Memphis fell in the first round to the Clippers last May didn't view this team as the sort of championship contender that Gay and some others believed it to be, nor did they see him as worthy of the monstrous money he was due. Waiting until the summer, they feared, could lead to Gay's perceived intentions to leave town becoming more widely known. As a result, his market value (which they claim was void of other serious suitors to begin with) may have dried up when interested teams were forced to consider the notion of having Gay on a one-year rental deal in which he may have had considerable leverage.

Yet while it has been reported that Gay was happy to get out of Memphis, he said both that and the idea that he definitely wouldn't re-sign with the Grizzlies wasn't true.

"It was a total shock to me," he said of the trade. "I never went to any of (the new management) and told them that I wanted to be traded. I've never done that. The summer before, I did. I said this team has a chance to be a competitor in the West, and we're going to be good, but if you plan on doing anything – this is the summer before – I said I want to express to you that I may be wanting to move on.

"And this was with Chris Wallace (the general manager who remains but who is no longer involved like he was under former owner Michael Heisley) … I wanted to see it through, because we started so well. We were playing so great as a team, it kind of made me feel like this is it. This could be the chance for us. There's not too many times when you can build a team like that. Obviously financial stuff goes on, but when you build a team like that you have to see it through."

Yet when it comes to the obvious disconnect between Gay's individual goals and the Grizzlies' winning style, it's clear he was conflicted. For years, the rumblings had grown that he wanted more freedom to fly on the offensive end, his scoring stymied by the inside-out brand of basketball that Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol played so well. But Gay wanted to win, too, and the Grizzlies – who were 41-25 in the lockout-shortened season in 2012-13 – had become one of the most respected and feared teams around.

"Yeah, going into the season (the style concerns) were part of the reason why (his willingness to be traded) came up," he said. "It was like, 'if we're not going to make a run at this championship, then while I'm still young I want a chance to be able to do everything I can do.' I felt like I was playing a role, and I was.

"It was a post-dominated team, and I didn't get a chance to have a guy who you could say was a stone-cold guy who you went to all the time. A couple games it'd be Marc, then it'd be me, and then it'd be Zach, you know what I mean? So at that point, I was like, 'I want to see what I can do with an open floor.' And I got that (in Toronto), but as long as we were winning, I'd like to see myself as a great teammate. And as long as we're winning, I'll do whatever, just be on the perimeter and open the floor for the big fellas, then that's what I'll do."

"I can't agree with (the idea that he wanted out). Obviously things change. When you want to win, there's things you'd have to do. This was the only NBA city I knew, and it didn't really matter about being anywhere else as long as we were winning. At that point, we were winning and stuff like that. How could you not be happy?"

THE RAPTORS' PURSUIT

The unexpected change in scenery had everything to do with Bryan Colangelo's determination to do this deal, as the Toronto general manager relentlessly pursued the player he had coveted for so long.

When the Raptors took Andrea Bargnani first overall in the 2006 draft, Colangelo had Gay ranked second on his list. When word started to spread that Gay may want out of Memphis, Colangelo called on several occasions in "the last year and a half" to see if he could help with that cause. Teams like Phoenix, New Orleans, Brooklyn, and Golden State showed varying levels of interest in landing Gay, but none were as motivated as the Raptors.

Colangelo, who is in the last year of his contract, did the trade without knowing whether Gay would re-sign if he opts out in the summer. He had requested to speak with Gay beforehand as a way of assessing whether he would be unhappy with the move, but the request was declined by the Grizzlies.

"It was a calculated risk," Colangelo said.

Said Gay: "BC, he had a plan for me before I even got here. It's been good to see the plan go off like he expected … He's a great basketball mind. Everybody knows that. And he's doing a good job trying to form this team to be a competitor in the East."

In Colangelo's mind, the idea of waiting to get Gay in the summer wasn't an option. Not only was he unsure if he'd be around to revisit this possibility, but one of the pieces that made the trade work, point guard Jose Calderon, was set to be a free agent. Calderon netted the Grizzlies Prince and Daye in the deal from Detroit, while Colangelo – who was well aware that Calderon wasn't expected to re-sign as a free agent – ultimately viewed Davis, a third-year forward, and a second-round pick that went to Memphis as his only losses.

THE FUTURE

As for the prospect of Gay staying in Toronto for the long-term, he laughed when pressed for an answer, "I've played six games. I don't know about (re-signing), but I love the organization. I possibly could be here for the rest of my career, but who knows."

Colangelo has a realist's view of the situation.

"It's been very clear that (Gay and his representatives) want to obviously see how this plays out, to be in a situation that's competitive," Colangelo told USA TODAY Sports. "He has now tasted a winning environment with the team they'd assembled in Memphis, and he wants to find that again. I'm hopeful to put us in a position where we can offer just that to Rudy and others that we are putting our stamp on this franchise.

"He clearly is emerging as our No. 1 option right now, and to be a No. 1 option in a competitive situation is pretty appealing … It's a chance to establish a marketing identity and presence in two markets. You really have the best of both worlds. You can market yourself to the Canadian marketplace as a completely separate entity and the American marketplace as a separate entity."

But it's also a proposal that has been turned down before. Bosh left for Miami in the infamous summer of 2010 to join LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, and Canadian point guard Steve Nash opted to sign with the Lakers last summer rather than return to his native land, in large part, because his children were in nearby Phoenix.

"This is not a specific problem to Toronto," Colangelo said. "It's league-wide now, other than the top three markets – LA, Chicago and New York – and the five teams there. Then the Miamis, Dallas, and maybe a Phoenix for climate (reasons). This is a situation that quite a few teams, maybe 25 teams, are dealing with year in and year out."

As for whether Toronto's cold climate could deter Gay from staying, he reiterated what Colangelo had pointed out at his new player's introductory press conference: "It's cold, but I went to Connecticut and I'm from Maryland, so it's not far from that."

THE REUNION

The Grizzlies are doing just fine without Gay so far, their latest win over Detroit in Prince's reunion game on Tuesday night. For Gay's part, he's glad that Wednesday's first game against his old Memphis teammates won't come with any of the animosity that arose in the days after the deal.

When reports surfaced that Gay was happy to leave town and that friction with Randolph was part of his reported discontent while in Memphis, Gay received a text message from his upset former teammate.

"He texted me and was like, 'Man, I can't believe you would say this stuff about me,' and I didn't know what he was talking about," Gay said. "I hit him back, and was like, 'Yo, no matter what was said, that never came out of my mouth.' I never talked bad (about him) and I never will, because he's taught me so much about being consistent and about being out there every day. I learned a lot from Zach.

"Obviously on the court sometimes, and you see it with everybody, you'll go at it or talk or have a difference of opinion. But as far as Zach, he's always been a great teammate. He's always been giving. If you need anything, you can ask Zach, and in return it was the same way. I never had a problem with Zach. Zach was always my boy. (The reports are) just crazy. I can't believe that. It's like, you've been with somebody so long and you're trying to ruin something that you built for so long."

While Randolph said the two have since reconciled, he's ready to move forward.

"That was definitely BS," Randolph said of the stories while at All-Star weekend. "We'd been together four or five years, and it was upsetting that we lost him.

"But we were trying to get to a championship level (before), and we still can. We've got good players – Tayshaun and Ed. But they're different players. People are thinking we're not the same and that we probably can't do it, but I think we still can. We've still got a good team. We hate that the trade happened, but this is what it is and this is what we've got to go with."

Gay feels the same way. The Raptors, who got off to a horrific 4-19 start but are now just six games out of playoff position, have quickly become one of the most compelling teams around.

The Raptors' DeMar DeRozan, who signed a four-year, $40 million extension on Oct. 31 and who Gay called the best shooting guard he had played with in his seven-year career, has benefited from Gay's presence and is playing better than ever. Kyle Lowry is a longtime friend and the kind of up-tempo point guard that Gay enjoys. The anger and surprise have subsided, it seems, and Gay's new life north of the border is just fine indeed.

"I'm excited about this team – excited about the possibilities of how good we can be," he said. "It was kind of a mixture of feelings when it first happened, getting traded and not knowing anything and one day thinking you're competing for a championship and the next day you're getting shipped off somewhere. It was a mixture of feelings…and now I've just got to embrace where I'm at. I'm happy I'm a Raptor right now… I want to see this team be a good team, to be a playoff team again."