Grizzlies drawing positive reviews
Any dreams fans clung to of the Grizzlies pursuing a high-dollar free agent such as Tobias Harris crashed on Sunday.
What the Grizzlies did instead required far more foresight and prudence.
After quietly re-signing Jonas Valanciunas to a reasonable threeyear, $45 million deal, Memphis lurked quietly in the shadows of a wild NBA free agency Sunday.
Late Sunday night, an opportunity arose, and a new front office led by Zach Kleiman pounced on it.
The Golden State Warriors were acquiring D'angelo Russell in a signand-trade with the Brooklyn Nets. But the Warriors needed to clear some space from their books to make the deal. Memphis raised its hand. For the trouble of taking on Andre Iguodala's $17.2 million contract for next season, Golden State compensated Memphis with a future firstround draft pick. The earliest the pick will belong to Memphis is 2024, when it is top-four protected.
Will Andre Iguodala play for Grizzlies?
Debate raged on Twitter on Monday morning over whether Iguodala ever will play for the Grizzlies.
ESPN reported Monday morning Houston would be interested in signing Iguodala if the Grizzlies buy him out. Don't assume they will. An inquiry to Iguodala's agent about his potential desire for a buyout was not immediately returned.
But a buyout would make more sense for the Grizzlies if Iguodala agrees to take less than the $17.2 million he is owed next season.
If no buyout is reached and he is on the team's regular-season roster, the 35-year-old Iguodala could be a valuable mentor for a young team. He is a three-time NBA champion and 2015 NBA Finals MVP.
Memphis then could keep Iguodala until the 2020 trade deadline and trade him for additional assets.
What people are saying
Whether Iguodala plays for the Grizzlies or not, snagging a future first-round pick drew Memphis' new front office positive reviews around the league.
seemed like a success, with big events every month as the Players Championship moved to March and PGA Championship to May. That’s the biggest upside for now, while figuring out how to deal with the second half seems like the biggest challenge.
“I definitely felt like it’s been better for golf in general, cause it created a lot more drama starting in March,” Brandt Snedeker said. “Now you’re kind of in the home stretch with the British Open and playoffs starting up. This is a busy spot coming up. … I’m sure I’ll be tired and need a little break after the playoffs, but it’s been that way every year.”
Snedeker decided to play Detroit because he’d heard good things about the golf course and wanted to give the firstyear event a real shot. But he’s using this year as a tryout period for his own schedule, getting a feel for the new events and trying to figure out what gives him the best chance at success. It’s a common approach this season.
But balancing the right amount of playing time and down time is as challenging as ever. Snedeker will spend about 38 of 52 weeks on the road this year.
“This year was kind of a trial period for everybody,” Snedeker said. “We’re all trying to figure out, OK, how can I play my best, be ready for the big events I want to be ready for, still play the events I love and in the meantime find some breaks in there where I can get my body back to where I have some time off to be a dad with my kids.”
If there’s a consistent complaint regarding the new schedule – or the old one, really – it’s the lack of a structured offseason. Some were led to believe there might be a longer break with the Fedex Cup Playoffs ending earlier, but the Tour has instead added more fall events and will begin the 2019-20 season Sept. 12-15 with the Military Tribute at the Greenbrier, two weeks after the 2018-19 Tour Championship.
That’s one of 11 fall events already on the docket for 2019-20, though the Tour has not yet released the full schedule.
The issue for some players is that taking an extended break and missing a chunk of those starts means beginning 2020 well behind the eight ball in the Fedex Cup standings.
“(The Tour) acted like there was gonna be a better offseason and then they added a lot more golf tournaments,” Walker said. “… They want you to play a lot of golf and we are golfers. Not like we’re not playing at home anyways. But taking a break from the grind, that’s kind of nice and not feeling like you’ve gotta be gone all the time.”
Others like rookie Sungjae Im have it easy. Just play everything. Im will make his 30th start of the season in Minnesota, teeing it up in nearly every event he’s been eligible for. Snedeker plays more than some and has made 21 starts this season. Dustin Johnson has 14 under his belt.
That’s a luxury for the few elite golfers secure in their status and skills to take extended breaks and still finish near the top of the standings annually.
“We’d love to see a month break in October or November,” Snedeker said. “But I know the Tour’s policy is and always will be that there’s always gonna be golf on TV somewhere, might as well be our own. I get what they’re thinking, but for us, we’re having less and less choice of how much we play just because of how the Tour stacks up right now.”
It is true that the current wraparound schedule is unlikely to change, and the current format strongly nudges players to enter more fall events. We’ll see how that dynamic plays out in the coming months.
But the most critical stretch of this season wraps up in a matter of weeks, and the new schedule seems to have accomplished at least one goal as players figure out what makes the most sense for them in the years to come.
“I think it’s great,” Reavie said. “We’re playing a lot more golf in a shorter period of time which, yes, you get tired. But at the same time, you can be sitting at home and have nothing to do and that would be worse.”