Sunday, July 22, 2007

Grizzlies Filling Out Roster with Experienced Young Players

So far I've hear the Grizzlies are pursuing Casey Jacobsen, Ime Udoka, and Matt Barnes to fill out their roster with Andre Brown.

I like that the Grizzlies are going after young guys at a low price. Hopefully, these players will be less injury-prone than the older Grizzlies have been and will allow more financial flexibility in the next few off-seasons. I also like that the Grizzlies are leaving their last two spots open. I've never understood why the team has insisted on maintaining 15 players.

I also don't understand why the Grizzlies opted for Brown over Lawrence Roberts or Alexander Johnson. Both Roberts and Johnson were solid end-of-the-bench players. Still, Brown could develop into a better player, and it's hard to fault Wallace and Iavaroni for identifying who fits into the system and acquiring them.

As for the potential swing man the Grizzlies are looking into, Barnes is my favorite, but he's too pricey for what the Grizzlies need so I wouldn't sign him. Jacobson strikes me as one-dimensional, and I don't know anything about Udoka.

Adding any of those three won't make or break the Grizzlies, and regardless, it's been a solid off-season so far.

6 comments:

Lurch said...

I once saw Casey Jacobsen eating down in the french quarter and he had super awesome frosted tips. I say we sign him.

David Jones said...

What are super awesome frosted tips?

Lurch said...

Frosted tips are when a person dyes the top portion of his hair and usually involves shorter hair that has gel to make it stand up. In his case predominately in the front only. Super awesome means his stylist did a very good job.

bkatz said...

people please, this is a basketball blog, not a fashion forum...

also, i say udoka would work best. i had no clue who he was until i saw him play the grizz last season. let's just say i remembered his name after that game. he's very athletic and was impressive both offensively and defensively. barnes is a solid shooter, but does he play defense? we already have mike miller to be our clutch 3-point guy. not sure about jacobsen, but from what i remember he wasn't anything special in phoenix a couple years ago.

Ajamalb said...

I would prefer Udoka over Jacobsen because of his defense and athleticism. But, we do need another shooter and Cardinal is always hurt. In my opinion, Udoka may pan out to be like Dahntay Jones, which we might as well keep, their averages are about the same. Did Jacobsen play for Iavoroni in Phoenix, maybe he saw something that he likes. And to be perfectly honest, I always wondered why Phx traded him to N.O. He was decent and a fan favorite in Phx.

Lurch said...

Well it looks like Jacobsen won out. I think Ivaroni couldn't pass up on another sharp shooting wing man to help spread the floor. The only reason Pheonix got rid of him was there over abundance of shooting gurads such as joe johnson and q. richardson. He is not going to put up huge numbers but he will be a viable back up for Mike Miller with a similar offensive style and similar defensive style (in this case the lack there of).