OJ Mayo Not Happy

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Crimson the Cat

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http://slamonline.com/online/nba/2008/12/game-notes-grizzlies-at-thunder/

– Rudy takes it himself instead of passing the rock to O.J. on a 2-on-1 break. Rudy gets to the foul line, but the two have words from a distance and O.J. storms off in disgust.

– Stay tuned… this could prove to get uglier and uglier.

– Thunder’s lead dwindles to seven, taking a 55-48 edge into the break.

Halftime

– I’m told by sources close to the organization that several Memphis players had words with Mayo about the way he acted toward Gay’s choice not to pass it to Mayo on that transition play. (This could make headlines down the road.)
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Also I liked this part about Conley ...

Fourth quarter

– The reason Mayo never returned, according to Coach Iavaroni, is because Quinton Ross and Mike Conley took the game over. After a Conley three tied the game at 85-85, the OKC crowd tried to come alive, but it would do no good.

– Conley and Ross play the entire fourth, and Conley did the most with his opportunity. M.C. exploits the Thunder’s defense for 14 points, putting the Thunder out of their misery (or continuing their misery).
Click to expand...
 
shocker! which is why I think Minnesota was good to trade Mayo...head case primadonna + he'll bolt to a bigger market anyways.
 
This article gets me thinking about a couple of things. First, maybe some of you were right about Pritchard pursuing Gay. He could be available for the right price. So what is the right price?

Secondly, I think that many fans are not crediting the negative affect that Mayo has had on his teammates. Conley struggled. He has adapted and is now playing very well, but that seems to be attributed to not playing next to Mayo. Gay and Lowry are having a difficult time this year as well.
 
Nothing like a little infighting to stoke trade speculation on this board.
 
Crimson the Cat said:
This article gets me thinking about a couple of things. First, maybe some of you were right about Pritchard pursuing Gay. He could be available for the right price. So what is the right price?
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What is the obsession with Gay (not saying you, but there're a couple of posters who pine for him)? He's a gunner who is pretty useless for everything else. That is NOT what we need. We HAVE just about the perfect young SFs for our team. Batum is better than Gay at most things not involving volume shooting. I don't think it's accidental that Memphis's decline coincides with the Gay/Battier trade. (They were crappy before the infamous Gasol trade - and he was unhappy which is why they traded him.)
 
Crimson the Cat said:
http://slamonline.com/online/nba/2008/12/game-notes-grizzlies-at-thunder/



Also I liked this part about Conley ...
Click to expand...

I remember before the draft arguing (on that other board) that I wouldn't touch Mayo with a ten-foot pole, given his past, and getting slammed for it. "Oh, Mayo has changed, he's maturing"... blah blah blah.

Maybe I was actually correct. What a shocker. :devilwink: It could turn out to be a non-issue though, losing is hard on any team, and I don't really think we need anything Memphis has. Having two Rudy's on the same team would just make the Rose Garden chants horribly confusing.
 
If Gay and Mayo won't work out, and Memphis likes Mayo over Gay (which they should), then Luol Deng for Rudy Gay would make a lot of sense for both teams. A trade in the Kidd for Harris, or Kidd for Marbury mold, just a position for same position swap when things aren't working too great.
 
Rastapopoulos said:
What is the obsession with Gay (not saying you, but there're a couple of posters who pine for him)? He's a gunner who is pretty useless for everything else. That is NOT what we need. We HAVE just about the perfect young SFs for our team. Batum is better than Gay at most things not involving volume shooting. I don't think it's accidental that Memphis's decline coincides with the Gay/Battier trade. (They were crappy before the infamous Gasol trade - and he was unhappy which is why they traded him.)
Click to expand...

I haven't seen Gay play much in the pros, but in the NCAA tourney he could pretty much do everything:
rebound, block shots, shoot, take his opponent off the dribble, even play defense. He's an athletic
freak - and that's compared to NBA, not college players.

So, it's your pov that's confusing.
 
You guys are making too big a deal out of this. Mayo seems like a guy that's going to learn and mature. He was confronted by his teammates, if he does it again it's an issue, but it's not now.
 
Денг Гордон said:
If Gay and Mayo won't work out, and Memphis likes Mayo over Gay (which they should), then Luol Deng for Rudy Gay would make a lot of sense for both teams. A trade in the Kidd for Harris, or Kidd for Marbury mold, just a position for same position swap when things aren't working too great.
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Salaries don't even come close to matching.
 
You guys are missing the bigger story. Conley playing well ;)
 
How do we know that Mayo was the bad guy here? Maybe Gay chose to keep the ball and attempt a high-difficulty shot when he could have passed to Mayo for an easy shot.. Maybe it was the 2nd or third time in the game he did that. Maybe Mayo's teammates were empathizing with him but said he needed to address the situation in private.

By the way I'm not saying we should trade for Mayo, I'm just saying I've never read anything that made me think he was a bad guy.
 
I was watching that play. Rudy was totally selfish on that one...it was like a Jack fastbreak from last year where there were eyes only for the basket, even on a 2-on-1. The defender had already committed to Gay, and all Rudy had to do was drop the ball off to his right and Mayo would've had an easy two, maybe and-one. As it was, Rudy tried a circus shot that got bailed out by the foul call.

You could see Mayo raise his arms like "wtf, man?" and then the camera cut away, so I couldn't see Rudy's response.

I didn't see Mayo's bad attitude last night as much as Rudy's "me gettin' mine" attitude. Mayo actually looked good playing a little point...he has really good court vision.
 
Again though, you've got to consider age. Gay is still learning the game. He's 22. He's going to be inconsistent when put in certain situations. He's already proven to be excellent scorer. His athleticism is just simply awesome. He's got the tools to be a star. Put him on an actual team with more experienced players, a solid coach, and I like his chances at improving other aspects of his game.

I like the idea of having two excellent perimeter players. Gay and Roy would be an amazing tandem.
 
noknobs said:
I remember before the draft arguing (on that other board) that I wouldn't touch Mayo with a ten-foot pole, given his past, and getting slammed for it. "Oh, Mayo has changed, he's maturing"... blah blah blah.

Maybe I was actually correct. What a shocker. :devilwink: It could turn out to be a non-issue though, losing is hard on any team, and I don't really think we need anything Memphis has. Having two Rudy's on the same team would just make the Rose Garden chants horribly confusing.
Click to expand...
yup losing sucks and not many handle it well. It's my view that most NBA players are prima-donnas so it's not surprising that their guys are having some issues dealing with losing in Memphis

We'll see if this is the sort of festering issue that allows you to legitimately make the claim that you were right about Mayo's character... but it's way too early for that right now. Not only is he playing on one of the least talented teams in the league (which has got to suck), but he's also playing out of position giving up considerable size nightly. He is shooting/scoring amazingly well though... did you predict that too?

STOMP
 
Working off the Idea that Memphis is open to Trading Gay (which I do no believe)

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/featur...3416~2754~2015&teams=22~22~29~29~29&te=&cash=

Memphis Trades: Rudy Gay, Marco Jaric

Portland Trades: Travis Outlaw, Channing Frye, Nicolas Batum + First round Pick in 2010

Memphis does this to mainly get rid of Jaric's horrible contract but KP is fine with this since this trade will give Portland 4 legitimate All Star Caliber Starters with the possibility of Bayless or Sergio developing into our PG of the Future. I'm not sure if Memphis would do this without us using Rudy instead of Batum but i feel that with Jaric's horrible contract we may be able to keep Rudy.
 
STOMP said:
yup losing sucks and not many handle it well. It's my view that most NBA players are prima-donnas so it's not surprising that their guys are having some issues dealing with losing in Memphis

We'll see if this is the sort of festering issue that allows you to legitimately make the claim that you were right about Mayo's character... but it's way too early for that right now. Not only is he playing on one of the least talented teams in the league (which has got to suck), but he's also playing out of position giving up considerable size nightly. He is shooting/scoring amazingly well though... did you predict that too?

STOMP
Click to expand...

I was hoping the devil wink would have tipped you off that the comment was to be taken with a grain of salt. Also, the "Maybe" which occurred at the beginning of my sentence may have been overlooked. ;)

I thought he'd be in the discussion for rookie of the year. He's always put up the numbers and he's on a bad team.
 
Wizard Mentor said:
I haven't seen Gay play much in the pros, but in the NCAA tourney he could pretty much do everything:
rebound, block shots, shoot, take his opponent off the dribble, even play defense.
Click to expand...

I guess he's forgotten stuff since College. Happens to us all.

He's an athletic freak - and that's compared to NBA, not college players.
Click to expand...

So is Jamario Moon.

So, it's your pov that's confusing.
Click to expand...

I guess by "confusing" you mean you disagree with it. But it's not just me.
 
noknobs said:
I was hoping the devil wink would have tipped you off that the comment was to be taken with a grain of salt. Also, the "Maybe" which occurred at the beginning of my sentence may have been overlooked. ;)

I thought he'd be in the discussion for rookie of the year. He's always put up the numbers and he's on a bad team.
Click to expand...
I saw it but was just giving you a little grief playing the devil's advocate. I make few claims on any players character as I don't believe we really have the vantage to gain real insight as to whats what.

Just to restate one of the things I do weigh in on, OJ's best position is PG. By trade or draft, I expect Memphis to acquire a true SG by next season. Fit between Mayo and Gay, that guy would ideally be a glue type player who does a bit of everything but dominate the ball on offense. They could really use another good Big as well.

STOMP
 
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hasoos said:
Actually at this point, "Conley playing" is probably just as big as surprise as him playing well.
Click to expand...

The biggest surprise for me has been his shooting of late. He's no Joel Przybilla, but he's shooting 61% from the field and 59% from 3-point range over his last 8 games. Considering the lack of a consistent jump shot has always been the biggest knock against Conley, this may indicate there is hope for the kid becoming a decent NBA player.

BNM
 
Boob-No-More said:
The biggest surprise for me has been his shooting of late. He's no Joel Przybilla, but he's shooting 61% from the field and 59% from 3-point range over his last 8 games. Considering the lack of a consistent jump shot has always been the biggest knock against Conley, this may indicate there is hope for the kid becoming a decent NBA player.

BNM
Click to expand...

Yep. Add the fact that he's been taking care of the ball, is lightening quick, and only 21, I'm really interested in this kid.
 
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