re: Small market teams can compete

Big Al has been playing at a borderline MVP level this 2nd half of the season. He has been a freaking monster. Pairing him with Kemba Walker was great for both players and the team.

And in regards to Charlotte, yeah they still arent a great team but they were over .500 this year. And, it seems like they finally have found a good coach. Talent level, they should have won 25 games this year. They won 43 due to how they play as a complete unit and they bust their arse on the defensive side of the ball. MKG is a horrible offensive player, no denying that at all, but he plays his arse off on defense and that is how he will make his pay checks. In todays game, you gotta have a SF that can play D.

And they made some pretty solid moves recently. Signing Al Jefferson, trading Sessions and Jeff Adrien for 2 vets in Neal and Ridnour.

And I love the way they have slowly been bringing along Cody Zeller. I still think hes going to end up being 1 of the better players from last years draft and a legit NBA player. He wasnt NBA ready immediately, and still isnt ready to see big minutes. So instead of giving him a lot of minutes and exposing his flaws to everyone, they let him get 15-18mpg to get his feet wet and it shows everyone what kind of player he can eventually become. And his PER36 #s arent bad at all, right around 13ppg and 9 rebs, with a few assists and 1 steal and 1 block.

And Suntiger, Memphis is good enough at what they do to compete for championships. They are good enough to beat anyone in a 7 game series, except for maybe the Spurs because they are the only team that can somewhat matchup with the Grizz. Gasol is their most important player and he missed like 23 games, and they still had 50wins. When hes healthy, the Grizz are a top 5 team in the NBA IMO. When he plays, they are 41 - 18. Without him, they went 9 - 14. If Gasol would have been healthy all year long, and you look at some of the teams they lost to when Gasol was out, its pretty safe to say they would have won near 60 games this year, giving them 1 of the best records in the entire NBA.

And they can beat anyone in a series due to their style of play. Nobody can match up with them in the post, except for San Antonio. And Conley is 1 of the most underrated players in the NBA. Hes a top 5 PG IMO, and 1 of the best 2 way PGs in the league. Great defender. And they have a lot of veteran role players that play big minutes for them. Mike Miller, Courtney Lee, T. Prince, Beno Udrih, Johnson, Davis, etc. Plus, they have the D that gives all high scoring teams issues. Look at what Tony Allen did on KD last night. I know KD had a lot of points, but was flustered the entire game and extremely inconsistent. He had a bad game.

We have the young core that can turn us into a legit playoff team that could contend 1 day. AD, Holiday, Ryno, and Tyreke is a really good and young core. Find a 3andD SF, and we will be set. Just need to stay healthy!