Jerry West and the Grizzlies are Exploring All Options in Draft
Jerry West
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Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be the President of an NBA team 24 hours before the draft? Here’s Jerry West’s description of what his life is like right now:
“No sleep, endless phone calls, endless lies, every agent painting a prettier picture of his player than might actually be. It’s amazing some of the calls you get, it really is. In some respects you almost feel like it’s insulting…I’ve been getting phone calls at my house at midnight. It’s long days and long nights and I find myself not getting very much sleep because your mind is constantly working on, ‘How can we get a player that will make a difference?’”
With the biggest day of the NBA’s offseason looming, West met the Memphis media Tuesday morning after the team’s final draft workout. Like everyone else in the league at this time of year, he played his cards close to his vest, not divulging who the Grizzlies want to take at the number 24 spot in the draft, or if there are deals looming to either move up in the draft or acquire established players from another team.
“We’re here…to try to get players here that will allow us to maybe move beyond where we are today,” said West. “But it’s a risk-taking business right now for all teams trying to get better. We’re in the process of reevaluating some of those risks. We’ve turned down a lot of opportunities to take players, we didn’t think they’d be better than what we have.”
While teams continue to call and inquire about possible deals, West reiterated his stance that he does not foresee any scenario where the team would deal Pau Gasol.
“I’ve pretty much said that Pau Gasol is untouchable. What you would get back in return, you wouldn’t get a low-post presence,” said West. “If you look at Dallas in the playoffs, and as good as they are, I’ll be candid, I thought they had the best team, Dwyane Wade played brilliantly, but what changed that game was Shaquille O’Neal, an inside presence, someone who can get you 20 (points) and 10 (rebounds) every night. We think that’s what Pau Gasol is, a 20 and 10 guy. If we put the right people around him, someone who can rebound better, defend better, (it would) give us a chance to play a quicker game, which we would like to do.”
While that would seemingly suggest the Grizzlies are seeking a big man to crash the boards and start fast breaks with long outlet passes, in his next breath West suggested that may not be the case.
“Obviously our point guard position is uncertain because of Damon’s (Stoudamire) health, and again, we don’t know if we can re-sign a free agent or not. We’re going to address that when July 1 comes around,” he said. “You might get as good of a player this year at 24, 25, 26 as people might get up there in the teens for sure. There’s players down there that have value, there’s names down there we like a lot, and we’re hopeful that one of them gets there and will serve a need for us, and (is someone) we think can come in and play for us right away.”
West’s dropping contradictory hints to the media today is modus operandi for team executives at this time of year. But whatever position the Grizzlies end up drafting or trading for, the bottom line is the same: making the team better immediately.
“We think we’ve done a reasonably good job here. Could we have done better? Absolutely. We’ve got a representative team, (but) we know we have holes in our team that we need to fill, and if it means trading a player, we will trade a player to try to fill that need,” said West.
It’s only 24 hours until the picture for the Grizzlies becomes clearer.
In that time West’s phone will continue to ring, agents will continue
to lie and the intrigue will be high. In other words, it’s the most enjoyable
part of the summer.