Chris Wallace is an idiot. That's overarching.
Z-Bo thought (maybe correctly at the time) that he had more in the tank. We began to bring him off the bench his last year in Memphis, which wasn't a bad move, because he couldn't match up well with more athletic starters, but could dominate young role-players coming off the bench. I can't blame Z-Bo for leaving, and I honestly can't blame the FO for letting him. Just a sucky stalemate for the fans.
Tony got found out in the 2015 WCSF against the Warriors. I mean, everyone knew he as a defensive-heavy player, but when GSW played 5-on-4 and didn't make a single effort to guard him (and TA showed them that was an effective tactic), it led to his career's demise.
Combine Zeebs, TA, and finally the sage old wisdom of Vince Carter leaving in the same offseason, the Grit-and-Grind Grizz officially died.
I honestly think Marc Gasol became somewhat of a cancer after losing those three. He got his superstar money, and expected all the calls, moping when he didn't get them.
We've been pretty miserable for a couple years now, but at we are starting to turn the corner. We've drafted a couple cornerstone players-- Dillon Brooks and Jaren Jackson Jr... Trading away Marc for Jonas Valencunis and Avery Bradley, plus signing Joakim Noah has really injected new life into the locker room. I really dig our chemistry rn.
But there's still zero certainty about what happens this offseason with the roster. I say screw picks, use them as trade incentives, because unless we're drafting in the top-5, we're not getting anyone we need. I want us to keep Jonas, Joakim, and Conley (which we were looking at trade deals for him too, along with Marc).. Those three plus Jaren and Dillon gives us a nice nucleus to build around, at least until we have to replace Mike... which is something I never want to see happen.
