Thanks for all you're doing.

I've been waiting for this night for weeks but now that it's here I'm just disapointed. I am hoping for a splash but I know we're going Thabeet!!

this is it, dont get scared now

I'm with grizzbear... I have a feeling I am going to be severely disappointed at the end of the night!

BOO!....YOU SUCK THABEET!!!...I THOUGHT PAU WAS SOFT!...BOO!..


Just practicing for game 1 next year.

I am pre-underwhelmed.

Griz now prepping contract offers to Peter John Ramos and Wang Zhizhi to add to Thabeet, Gasol, Darko, and Haddadi.

This organization's fetish for point guards and centers is unseemly.

There ARE other positions on the team, Mike Heisley et al...

WTF! Why did The Grizzlies just draft the one player that was a consensus "not wanted by Memphians?" Is this a joke?

I hope everyone at the Forum just gets up and leaves.

We are about to see Ricky Rubio fall several picks. I bet the Kings take Evans.

does this pick send darko to the knicks for richardson?

haven't heard anything but the rumor is that Wolves want Thabeet, so there COULD still be a deal.

I really do hope Rubio slides a ton. It's what his agent deserves to happen.

Tyreke to Kings. I like him as a pro, but if the Kings are planning on playing him at the 1, they're in for a rough transition.

Wolves will take Rubio and there won't be a deal with us! Unless they are satisfied with getting Rubio and Thabeet and decide to give Love and the 6?

i would poop my pants if we could trade thabeet to the wolves and get love and also flynn @ #6

We suck at everything!

2 point guards? Trade coming?

Hollins has just put his head coaching future on the shoulders of Conley and Thabeet

that should knock us out of the 6 and Love. I know it was reported that we liked Flynn but can't imagine us doing it now.

Seriously, first I lose the pop icon of my generation, and then the team that is my heart and soul makes the one move that every local person begged them to not make. Hey Heisley, did ever occur to you that we already have a pure center in Marc Gasol that the FANS LOVE! Well, two good things:

1) a U of M player went in the top 4 defying early season expectations, and

2) At least Rubio's agent is now looking like an absolute idiot. Fegan just put Rubio in the worst condition possible: He just cost his client (whose locked into a multimillion buyout and can no longer return to his old team) millions as Rubio fell from 2 to 5 for nothing as he's still not in his desired location. And how are the marketing opportunities for Spanish speakers in Minnesota compared to Memphis? Oh, and he just went to a team that used the very next pick to draft another point guard. How are those playing time prospects versus Memphis looking right now? After the Yi debacle, do you think Fegan will ever get another international client?

heisley turned one of the best nights of the year into a disaster

I'm so depressed.

Relax and trust the professionals. Minn looks like they traded up for Thabeet and then just had to take bpa with two pgs. OK were going to take Thabeet at 3 according to everyone. 4 teams passed on Rubio. His trade value was obviously not that high.

Go Thabeet. I wish you the best.

I'd like to turn Darko into Jordan Hill

If Wolves are trading Rubio or Flynn it would make sense to take the traded player first on the more expensive contract. Rubio gone? Or keeping both?

I could see that happening...

Good point Chris.

But the knicks got Hill and I don't think the Grizz want Rubio..

I think they traded up for Thabeet and then were stuck and just took bpa...

dont be depressed yet, at least wait and see what happens. who knows, thabeet could turn out to be good.

heisley is trying to see how small he can get the home crowds.....

I think that they will keep them both. Flynn may start the year and hold things down until Rubio is ready.

what is the status of chris vernon? is he still alive?

is chris vernon still alive? is wallace still employed by the grizzlies? is heisley on drugs?

What a effing disaster! This doesn't help the team at all. We already had a true center so we are stuck with the same team except a lower upgrade in the center. I can hear the phone lines going silent now for season tickets. Shawn Bradley II welcome to Memphis. Fegan the idiot just lost his client millions now he has to play in frigid MN. Terrible strategy by Wallace in not hyping Rubio. Got nothing in return. The second pick turned into a nightmare.

According to his Twitter Chris Vernon "is so depressed."

sadly jordan hill, tyreke evans, stephen curry, and brandon jennings will all have better careers than thabeet

I agree that Wallace should have at least postured that we wanted Rubio--it could have turned into a decent trade.

Interesting to see Wetzel's take on our pick on yahoo.com:
"Size, shot-blocking skill, upbeat personality and home continent says this is another Dikembe Mutombu. Needs work offensively, but at least Memphis didn't pick (or trade for) a point guard for the first time in four years. A rare draft-night victory for common sense. – Dan Wetzel"

gerald henderson is dahntay jones

Obviously Rubio didn't have the trade value. We could have talked him up all we wanted, it wouldn't have mattered if the other teams weren't into him. Obviously the top 4 teams were not.

Wow, I'm turning this off. I think the Grizz took an okay player, but the timberwolves had the chance to be the biggest winners until they took Flynn. Amazing, two point guards back-to-back. McHale wouldn't even do that. Khan is fired in less than 3 years

I have reason to believe some kind of trade discussions are still active, but I don't know — and have trouble even guessing — what they might be. Apparently Kevin Love is not involved.

please, basketball gods, make a trade happen....

Vernon'll be aiight. He has free beer all night.

If Love is not involved then I don't want to do it. I didn't want to draft Thabeet at 2 but now that we have him we might as well use him. There was talk of bringing a veteran in but we are not playoff ready so the veteran would have to be young. and what team wants to give up a good, young vet?

what are the odds the twolves take another PG?

i guess 100%

there you go...

i guess the odds are pretty good

What the hell is Minn doing? If there is no trade, their GM might not make it to the first game.

jeez MN...you should change your mascot to the "Minnesota Point Guards."

I hope to god we are not dealing with Minny at this point.

chris, which group would you pick....

love/rubio/flynn

or

mayo/thabeet

you mean mayo/arthur/thabeet?

i think maybe i should just jump on the cavs bandwagon.

hearing now that thabeet is staying put. There was apparently still some kind of active trade possibility right after the pick -- don't know details — but that's over.

I guess our best shot at making some noise this year will be in free agency at this point, but the night is still young. No new rumors brewing?

holiday to the nuggets for some crap

Jrue Holiday to the nuggets for some crap

hollins says thabeet could be an allstar one day

I give the Grizz credit for this: they knew who they wanted, and they picked him. Sam Presti has done that with success in OKC. Geoff Petrie has done that in SAC, and he is respected. Remember, often times teams select players that everyone universally thinks is the best pick, but it turns out wrong. Chris Paul was picked #5. He is now one of the five best players in the NBA. Let's give Thabeet a chance. I am not expecting him to be a top five player, but he could really help the Grizz.

Take a chance on Blairs knees now if still around?

So who is going to play PF? We love guards and centers, but what about PF? Not Arthur. What a joke. Maybe with the 27 we will get lucky. hahahahahahahaha

I say Derrick Brown. Not Blair. He will be Sean May, injured and then fat.

I would definitely think it would be worth it to take a risk on Blair's knees at 27; plus he could help Thabeet work on his acrobatics during practice!

I agree at this point Little Rock.

Griz on Sam Young and Dajuan Blair watch now.

Blair or Ellington here? I wouldn't mind Blair.

You think we could get AC Green out of retirement?

Sam Young? Blair? Brown? I would be happy with one of those.

Hope to god it's not a point guard...

I meant that last to end with a question mark. Don't know for sure who Griz want, but suspect Young and Blair would have to be strongly considered.

if we get Blair and least he won't embarass Thabeet anymore.........well maybe in practice.

Have you heard anything about a three way deal between NY, Minny and us, Chris? Thabeet-Hill-Rubio as center pieces?

Well what now..........and who is Taj Gibson.

hearing Griz won't draft Blair or Young. We'll see.

I've been told Thabeet is staying. Again --we'll see.

MUST HAVE DEJUAN BLAIR

I'd like to have Chase Budinger. Think he could fill the 3/4 backup problems and bring a little 3 point shooting to the team

I meant back up to the 2/3 on budinger

Thanks for the live Grizz draft cam, espn. Now we can watch them eff this pick up in real time...

I'm hearing Carroll. If so, I don't like it.

Guess Chris Wallace lied about not giving out guarantees anymore.

The Grizzlies reach for an undersized 4 with liver disease.

I hate this team.

so we drafted thabeet and a guy with liver disease.... great....

well. so much for getting any offense. wth

Junk yard dog!

Carroll? did they think he wouldn't be there at 36???? jeez

i like cheering for hustle, high energy/effort guys....but I don't like this pick....his upside is very limited....

Even more satisfied that I didn't renew my season tickets. I wouldn't mind if the team left.

I have genuine hate for the Grizzlies front office/ownership/scouts at this point. Absolute hate.

I just don't Carroll projecting to ever being a rotation guy in this league. Ever. And there were a bunch of guys sitting there who I think have that chance. Guys they could use. Like Brown, Ellington, Young.

Screw them.

i guess maybe Carroll can get on the waiting list behind Steve Jobs ;) ...just trying to be topical...

i want Mills.....

Blair, Young, Brown, Ellington...

You move OJ to point and draft Ellington to shoot. duh.....This isn't rocket surgery.....Carroll would have been there at 36...he would have been there at 136

We will have to pay this guy guarenteed money. This was all kinds of stupid. This draft seals it. NOTHING will change until Heisley sells out or the team moves away.

Ellington may make us regret passing on him...

we should have taken Ellington. We will remember him as someone we passed on...

since the twolves have 10+ PF's, they need all the guards they can get

Are we allowed to cuss on here? I am censoring myself at this point.

This blows donkey taint.

This sucks

6"7" Quick. hustles. plays hard all the time. Good defense. I pass 50 guys like this on the way to work everyday.

maybe we can still get one of those guys in the second although carroll probably still would have been there. milicic for q rich? i wanted milicic expiring contract...wtf

now we lose Darko.

I'm not sure if I can take much more of this....this blows

Is it confirmed that Darko is going to New York for Q Rich?

Chris.....why the darko deal? That makes NO sense

There are "hustle guys" all over the local Ys in town. Maybe the Grizz can draft someone from there for their pick at 36.

Idiots.

They probably think they are replacing Battier with that pick.

I hate them so much.

I cannot believe they left Blair on the board, a true 4 falls to them and they pick a career 9th man. This night sucks

QRich is better than Buckner...

Well, Chad Ford likes the DeMarre Carroll pick

I will say this: Missouri and the Junk Yard Dog had a good run in the NCAA tournament, and he was fun to watch.

What's Carroll's position? Undersized 4 at 6'7"? I don't think he's near quick enough to guard 3s.

Seriously...what's the thought process?

Herrington, talk to us. What's the thought process?

Where does he play? How does he remotely help?

blair and young still there, maybe we can get one of em

who had that guy on their mock draft?

Chris please tell me QRich will at least play, and this is not addition to the Stevie Franchise, Antwan Walker mold. If he does play this is a minor deal but their contracts are similar and with Thaweak, and Gasol; Darko wouldnt get minutes so this does improve the team some. Dosent it???

Q will bring experience, locker room leadership, his three point shot, and an expiring contract. We need somebody that can hit the three, coming off the bench. Darko may yet turn out okay, but I was burned out on his inconsistency.

I hope Blair falls to our 2nd round pick

Is voss3 Mike Heisley?

If so, stop ruining the team.

QRich, just like Marion, was only good with Nash. Look at both of their numbers after leaving Phoenix. This team will not win more than 28 games.

Hoops Hype says QRich has a player option for 10/11. If that's true deal makes NO sense. If he's expiring, it's fine -- nowhere for Darko to play with Gasol and Thabeet. Trying to find out about contract now.

maybe Adam Silver won't massacre the names of the draftees as bad as Stern.

hoopsworld is reporting that Rubio will go back to Europe for 2 to 3 years. - according to his father.

chris?

He's a back up for the 2 and 3?

Good catch Fire Wallace. I misread it. I like Darko better as a player at this point, but as a fit, that trade's fine.

i hope rubio does do that, so all the pro rubio fans will shut up. clearly hes a baby and would have been a waste of a pick. (thabeet might be too, but at least he'll lace em up and play)

can we please pick up blair, budinger, or young with the 36th?

Any scoop on why Blair, Budinger and Young are free falling?

I like the Richardson trade. He can be a rotation player, a good backup for Mayo or Gay at the 2/3, and is a nice shooter.

With Thabeet there are no minutes for Darko.

Plus we got "cash considerations" so the knicks are paying part of his contract.

Blair has the red-flagged knees and Young is old (but isn't the only old dude in the draft)

Would be surprised to see Griz let Young slide here, but need a shooter more.

Take Blair!!!

take mills!!

They have to pick Blair here, right? I mean we got our backup 3, so no need for Green or Brown right? RIGHT?

At least Mark Goodfellow is keeping me entertained with his commercials for his crappy used car lot

doesn't sam young = Carroll

???

wallace gets his boy

My favorite pick of the night for them. About time.

There still seems to be some good value in the second round. Any chance we make some minor deals to try some of these guys?

Assuming that there is no more picks, the Grizz get a C+/B-

C-

Someone explain to me exactly how we got better tonight?

F, until someone talks me out of it.

wallace interview now. can't wait til bill simmons roasts him tomorrow.

trying to find the youtube video of the guy burning his season tickets if we draft thabeet.

Thabeet, Carroll, Young, QRich -- no guards, really.

that's a center and three back-up small forwards to my mind.

Conley, Mayo, Jaric only guards on roster. Has to be something done there this offseason, to say nothing of the starting power forward slot.

The Grizz should have at least bought another 2nd rd pick to pick up Budinger.

Wallace said our toughness took a quantum leap tonight. What a joke. Thabeet is supposed to improve toughness??? Silvertongue talks out of both sides of his mouth. Other things we upgraded: Gallons of napalm we tossed onto the fan interest.

I feel like Wallace is trying to lay a turd on my common sense.

With the cash we got from NY Heisley should use that cash and buy a pick.

Rudy Gay posting on Twitter than he played AAU with Sam Young.

I just don;t understand. What direction is this team going in? This is depressing. i am trying so hard to care, but every year it just gets worse.

Anyone know who Rudy picked at #2 on ESPN? It was one of those annoying Insider articles.

He picked Thabeet

just don't understand why we drafted 2 sf's and then gave darko's contract away for another one. Tough to walk away from this draft with no help at the guards.

At least people will make more fun of Minn for wasting all of their picks on point guards. Are you kidding me? Another one?

The eternal optimist.......with Rudy also picking Thabeet maybe he'll start playing defense. Wait, here comes reality, with Thabeet Rudy can rationalize playing less defense.

Well, I have held back commenting before now, in the hope that a trade was still on the horizon. But, that is looking very unlikely at this point.

So, now I can say it:
This was the worst draft in the Grizzlies' history. And that is saying something.

They will be very lucky if Thabeet isn't booed out of the building on opening night. Well, that is assuming anyone shows up on opening night. Unless some miraculous trade or free-agent signing happens during the off-season (and we know how often that happens for the Grizz), this team has buried themselves and their fan-base.

They took a golden opportunity and picked the Shawn Bradley/Kwame Brown of this draft. Congratulations Mr. Heisley and Mr. Wallace. It took a lot to kill the last of my hope... but you managed it.

If everything stays the same, this draft is officially Thableep!!!

Can we legally ban Heisley from setting foot again in the city?

Robert Dozier = Mr. Irrelevant

Robert Dozier = the only thing positive about this horrid night.

Chris Herrington < Robert Dozier

Lester Hudson, much better story thn underachieving Dozier and another reason I am glad Pastner is recruiting Memphis again. Wait...did I just turn this into a Tiger forum. Yep. They still rule this town. And the Grizz make it easier every year.

Lol ... What happened here?!?

Honestly, and Shawn don't chime in telling me how the "professionals" are taking care of it.

This draft did NOTHING to boost sales or even drum up excitement about the franchise.

I like Chris Wallace alot but watch for him to be the fall guy for this when it doesn't pan out.

If there are no moves made for a STAR PF in Free Agency (re: Marion, Amare trade, Boozer) then you can stick a fork in the season before it even starts.

Chris H -

Are we going to make any other deals? Amare maybe?

I had just got home and just saw that Memphis passed on Blair too lol

San Antonio got Blair and McClinton... Oh dear God and Jesus... I am just going to go to sleep and hope this was all a bad dream

and regarding Amare lol:

The Suns likely landed their man in Thursday night's draft before their pick ever came up. Golden State's selection of Davidson point guard Stephen Curry at No. 7 was likely made for the Suns as part of an Amaré Stoudemire trade that can't be completed until Wednesday. That is because Phoenix would be acquiring Warriors center Andris Biedrins, a base-year compensation player, as part of a Stoudemire deal that would include more Warriors players, possibly power forward Brandan Wright and/or shooting guard Marco Belinelli.

every single one of you is a fool and just proves that ya'll know nothing let me repeat NOTHING about basketball.

1. Analyzing Thabeet: great pick no trade was availiable at the right price so we took a guy who can shore up the defense and allow Marc to play his natural position at the 4 spot also allowing Marc to become more of a scoring threat because now he doesnt need to worry about defense and rebounding 24/7. Also, finally we can watch Rudy Gay play without throwing something at him cuz Thabeet will make up what he and Conley lack in defense.

2. Analyzing Carroll: this is where the Grizzlies failed tonight a 6'7 4 man? did we really just draft the athletic version of Brian Cardinal. He will bring hustle defense and athleticism off the bench which is needed so in a sense teh Grizzlies suceed here because Carroll is definately better than Buckner, Ross, and Jaric.

3. Analyzing Young: great pick! the Griz needed someone who can play the 2 or 3 off the bench and someone who can flat out score the ball in every way possible plus the old man can play defense.

So what have we learned tonight? the Grizzlies seem to be satisfied with the progression of Conley and will most likely let OJ play some more point seeing as though we did not get a point guard...
We also learned the Grizzlies consider their biggest weakness to be defense. Hard to argue because when the teams you play shoot over 45% against you thats an issue. However with the additions of Thabeet, Carroll, and Young overall team defense should improve immensely.

Whats left? scoring the basketball! 29th in points per game, 21st in field goal percentage, and dead last in assists per game means some serious help in the area of scoring is needed but your rotation as is should look like
1.Conley(Mayo)
2.Mayo(Young/Richardson)
3.Gay (Carroll/Richardson)
4.Gasol(Arthur/Warrick)
5.Thabeet(Gasol)

Marc is a natural center. He is a pure center. Your post was fail.

You're LOST: "...and allow Marc to play his natural position at the 4 spot..."

I just HAD to stop listening at that point.

"Your post was fail."

QFT!!!!!

rcounce2,

You do realize that we have MARC Gasol, right? We traded Pau to the Lakers. He won a title this year. I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you just suffered through a case of mistaken identity since obviously no one with an ounce of sense would ever think of the 4 being the natural position for MARC Gasol.

@ rcounce2

Marc is a Center. Shows how little you know about basketball. He isnt fast enough to compete with the true power forwards. Also I think its funny how everyone talks about our terrible defense( I agree it is terrible) but we had the 2nd worst offense in the league and so know we drafted a center that has no offense at all and wont be able to sit in the paint like in college b/c the NBA has a 3 second rule.

well i was hoping to wake this morning and find out about a sweet deal made in the cover of darkness as we somehow stole a Great PF...but no luck.

As for a grade, i'll give us one better than whatever MN would get:

MIN = D-
MEM = C-

Yeah, Marc is a natural power forward the same way that Shaq and Yao are natural power forwards. God, that might be the worst post of all time. And considering it was written about the worst pick of all time, that is a double dose of failure right there.

The best part is the condescending attitude given at the beginning: "every single one of you is a fool and just proves that ya'll know nothing let me repeat NOTHING about basketball."
Just before he points out how little he knows by suggesting: A. Marc is a natural 4 (lol), and B. Thabeet is going to be a defensive force (lol).

Thabeet got embarrassed by Joey Dorsey two seasons ago, and Dejuan Blair last year. Those are two undersized players who both went in the SECOND ROUND of the draft! Yeah, Thabeet is going to be amazing! LOL

The 3 second rule will effectively cancel out what Thabeet brought to the college game. When he has to adjust from standing still and setting to block to having to block on the move, a skill that Thabeet does not excel nearly as well at at, he will be exposed.

So long Marc - we appreciated your rookie campaign and whatever little time you have left with the Grizz.

Grizzly Adam you are being kind of harsh... I think you are forgetting about all the great NBA stars that made a name for themselves producing against sub par talent and disappearing when NBA talent showed up.

Thabeet is going to be great!

I for one will be rooting for another team now. Lionel Hollins is an effing moron too.

I can't believe I upgraded my tickets! Eight long years I've been givin' this dang fool my money and he insists on wiping his butt with it every chance he gets! I guess I'm the fool.

MEM = F-

If anyone cares, I recorded my draft thoughts for all eternity on what is known as the world wide web. Twitter handle da_guys

It gets ugly. The Grizz couldn't have done anything more to antagonize me last night, right down to the chris wallace interview.

Yeah, the Wallace interview was the icing on the cake. I especially loved the part where he said the team's fans were excited about the future. Meanwhile, the message boards were imploding with fans screaming about wasting the #2 pick.

But the worst part of this? Marc

Heisley and Hollins are going to try to justify this terrible pick by playing Thabeet for big minutes. He will "struggle" with the NBA game. (Which is code for suck.) And Marc will be left sitting on the bench watching a guy, who isn't good enough to even back him up, get his minutes. These idiots made a bad pick and they will now commit themselves to "developing" it.

I hope Marc ends up on a good team someday. In fact, I hope all the talented guys on this team end up with better teams someday.