Pera and Levien are quickly becoming known in Memphis as financially sound owners who are about saving money. Those numbers were likely too big of numbers for Robert Pera and CEO Levien to swallow. Gay is due $16.5 million this season with $37 million more over the next two years. Gay signed a five-year, $82 million maximum contract in July 2010 with Memphis. Memphis is the smallest market team in the NBA and was about to get hammered with the new CBA rules in the NBA if a move like this was not done. Season ticket holders are trying to find the receipts to the Rudy Gay jerseys they just bought.
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Some see the move as purely financial on the part of the owners. Most people would want him with the ball if you had to take the last shot to win it.Ī lot of fans are outraged. But on the Grizzlies, he was the only player we had who could create his own shot and create match-up nightmares for opposing teams. He has had too many inconsistent shooting nights and his ball handling skills have not improved. The bottom line was that the Grizzlies organization was paying him more money than he is actually worth as an NBA player in comparison to other players. But he has not shown it in about 6 years. Rudy Gay has the type of body and athleticism that could make him a Lebron or Kevin Durant type player. My thoughts on the trade can be pretty much summed up in one word, bittersweet. On the other side of the spectrum, I have seen him fall apart in the playoffs, turn the ball over continuously, and have horrendous shooting nights. I have also seen him hit game winning shots at the buzzer. I have seen him posterize NBA players with Top 10 dunks at the Forum. He has been with us since he started his NBA career. I have had my ups and downs with him since he joined the Grizz in 2006. I was a huge Rudy Gay fan and a huge Rudy Gay critic. He will always have a place in my heart as a Grizz and I wish him the best of luck in Toronto. When one thinks of the Memphis Grizzlies, one will always have to think of Rudy Gay. It cannot be easy to be in the public’s eye so much and to act as he has with all the whirlwind trade news circulating the past month. Rudy Gay was a true class act and has a great attitude.
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But I first want to make it clear that I do wish Rudy Gay all the success with the Raptors and appreciate all he has done for the Grizzlies and Memphis.
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Now that I have had time to digest all of the tweets, articles, radio talk shows, and my friends thoughts on the trade, I will weigh in. The Grizzlies then traded Jose Calderon to the Detroit Pistons for Tayshaun Prince and Austin Daye. On January 30, 2013, the Grizzlies management announced that Rudy Gay and Hamed Haddadi would be traded across the border to the Toronto Raptors in exchange for Ed Davis, Jose Calderon, and a second round draft pick in 2013. They do run the risk of upsetting the chemistry on a tight-knit group, even if there were some questions of how Gay's scoring fit in with the ball-dominant frontcourt of Gasol and Randolph.īut there may be more deals like this one coming in the new NBA economy.And so it is over. "Are you serious Rudy Gay is right there under KD, Lebron, Kobe, and Melo. "Wow that was 1 crazy trade today," Oklahoma City center Kendrick Perkins tweeted. 1 seed San Antonio before losing to Oklahoma City in seven games in the Western semifinals - all with Gay on the bench after needing season-ending shoulder surgery. The Grizzlies had their best playoff run in 2011 when they knocked off then-No. Trading away Gay also eases a luxury tax hit due next season, while concentrating the team around center Marc Gasol and All-Star forward Zach Randolph. "Wow," Grizzlies point guard Mike Conley tweeted. It's a significant move for a team that was fourth in the Western Conference and three games behind the third-place Clippers. Memphis coach Lionel Hollins had been lobbying to keep his five starters together the rest of this season, but he apparently lost that fight.