So much for Memphis being a contender

[coolm]

blech!

manhandled by the Clips who were playing without CP3. Bledsoe was so fast they had to get special cameras in to watch him play.

in serious need of another PG because Bayless just wont cut it.

 

[ouleaf]

Yeah, hearing Rudy Gay's name a lot in trade rumors.

 

[stoops4pres]

LOL. It was one bad game.

 

[coolm]

Yeah, hearing Rudy Gay's name a lot in trade rumors.

It's gonna be REALLY interesting to see who and how they wanna rebuild this group. It's all gonna be torn apart very soon and I think that's wearing on the team overall.

 

[stoops4pres]

LOL. It was one bad game.

...make that 3 bad games in a row. :facepalm

What's frustrating is that this 3-game skid occurred just after a great win vs. San Antonio that felt like it was the playoffs in January.

I'm not panicking yet--ESPN's Zach Lowe offered some good perspective on the losing streak (following a hard-fought OT win with a back-to-back road game at Dallas, San Antonio on fire the next time they played, etc)--but the regression needs to stop.

It's gonna be REALLY interesting to see who and how they wanna rebuild this group. It's all gonna be torn apart very soon and I think that's wearing on the team overall.

It's hard to quantify how much this speculation has affected Memphis' play. After all, this was still going on when they beat the Spurs at home last week. But I do think there is a certain amount of truth to it.

With steep tax penalties looming after this year, Memphis is certainly going to break the team apart in one fashion or another. My hope is that they keep the team intact until the end of the regular season, and then deal Rudy Gay for some solid role players that increase long-range shooting/draft picks/cap flexibility (or all of the above) in the offseason. Although he has one of the worst contracts in the league (he's been an average player with a max salary this season), I still can't envision a plausible trade scenario that would make the team better for the remainder of the year. They might as well keep what they have, try to get back on track to their outstanding play earlier in the season, and see if they can make some serious noise in the playoffs. They won't be able to make any moves that would impact their tax-penalty status this season, anyways.

I keep hoping to see Rudy revert back to his 2010-2011 season where he flourished and the team subsequently dominated from the point in which Tony Allen started until Gay was hurt for the year (over the course of 15-20 games, I think). But that's looking like a dream so unlikely that Manti Te'o wouldn't even believe it. So who knows.