COVERITLIVE.COM

10:53

Commercial Appeal - Good morning and welcome to our weekly Memphis Grizzlies chat with reporter Ron Tillery.

10:55

Commercial Appeal - We'll have a lot to talk about today after the Griz's 96-74 loss to Detroit last night in the season opener.

10:57

[Comment From Andre]
Yes we will. That was a disaster.

10:58

Commercial Appeal - Ron should be joining us soon.

10:58

[Comment From Ron Tillery]
Hello all. Ready to talk Grizzlies!

10:59

Commercial Appeal - Thanks Ron. Let's get started...

10:59

[Comment From Dr. Jones]
I went to the Griz opener last night. Seemed like we had no defense at all. No one was hustling except Rudy Gay. Other than that the squad seemed emotionless. What did you think ofthe frist outing?

11:02

[Comment From Ron Tillery]
Shocking that a team would come out of preseason looking uninspired. I thought Randolph was really working down low, especially on the boards. But the Grizzlies' main problem is defense. They aren't committed enough to stopping people. Weak perimeter D leads to easy scores at the rim. Getting better defensively and getting Mayo on track offensively are big concerns.

11:02

[Comment From Andre]
I'm not a Mike Conely hater or anything, but Ron do you agree that he is not the caliber player to be a starting PG in the NBA? Don't get me wrong, the guy has some talent, but it takes more than talent to lead an NBA team. A.I. should start without question once he's healthy.

11:04

[Comment From Ron Tillery]
Conley is a starting NBA point guard and the right type to lead such top-flight scorers in the starting unit. I say that mainly because he's steady and smart. He needs to just be in an attack mode more often. I think last night really made the case for Iverson coming off the bench. The Griz need scoring punch in reserve. Moving Conley to the bench won't accomplish that. Besides, a lot of really good to great players (Gordon, Ginobili, etc.) come off the bench so it's not a bad thing.

11:05

[Comment From Guest]
In retrospect, should the Grizzlies have traded some players and drafted Tyreke Evans vs. the stringbeam center from UConn, Thabeet?

11:06

[Comment From Ron Tillery]
I never liked the Thabeet pick. He's just too much of a project to go that high. I'm not a fan of Rubio, either. I always like Evans and think when 2009 is re-drafted by pundits, he'll be one of the top two players. (Even though Evans didn't play particularly well last night)...

11:07

[Comment From Adam Bloom]
Hidey ho - Adam here from Chicago, biggest Grizzlies fan ever. Don't you think we should be an all-fastbreak run and gun team? what is the deal with this garbage offense?

11:08

[Comment From Ron Tillery]
The Griz want to run as much as possible. Hollins just want them to be smart. So far, they have a problem with turnovers so you can be an all-out run-and-gun squad if you're throwing the ball all over the gym. But Hollins certainly isn't slowing them down a la Iavaroni or Fratello.

11:08

[Comment From Andre]
I hear what you're saying about Conely being in attack mode, but haven't we sung this song before. When is the guy going to get it? Some players just don't have that edge to relentlessly attack the opponent. I think Mike plays too much under control if you aske me. Do you think Mike will ever get that mentality? If so, how long will it take? He's in year 3.

11:10

[Comment From Ron Tillery]
Conley is in Year 3 but how much of his career was wasted with Iavaroni as coach? 90+ games, I think. He was 19 entering the league and is still 3 years younger than rookie Sam Young. He's got time to get it as we saw the last half of last year under Hollins.

11:10

Commercial Appeal - Ron, what surprised you most on opening night?

11:12

[Comment From Ron Tillery]
That Three 6 Mafia pretended to rap that song! ...lol. Seriously, the lack of offense and nothing coming from the bench. The Griz carried over everything they did badly from the preseason. The only good they carried over was rebounding. They should be a much better offensive team.

11:13

Commercial Appeal - For those of us who weren't there, how was the FedExForum crowd? Any excitement in the air?

Page 1 Next >