Memphis might just fool everyone who thinks they got worse by trading Rudy Gay. The one problem was that Rudy Gay was demanding touches on the offensive end and was taking more shots than Zach Randolph. But Memphis' biggest advantage over most (if not all) NBA teams is the impossibly big, strong and skilled combination of Randolph and Gasol. By running their offense through the post through these two players, Memphis really need a role player at the 3 rather than another star. They will now get that in Tayshaun Prince. In fact people seem to forget that when Memphis upset San Antonio in the 2011 playoffs, they were playing without Rudy Gay. They started Sam Young at the 3 and had the priceless contributions of Shane Battier off the bench. Now Tayshaun Prince can play the Battier role of veteran leader/defender (albeit a slightly worse outside shooter), but also a guy who doesn't demand any plays being run for him.
Also somewhat underappreciated went the fact that Memphis got Ed Davis who was having a fantastic season in Toronto, particularly after injuries to Andrea Bargnani and Jonas Valanciunas gave him the starting spot. Davis will effectively replace Marreese Speights who was traded to Cleveland in a salary-dump move. Davis is slightly smaller than Speights but can also play both spots and gives Memphis possibly the best 4-bigs rotation in the league in Gasol, Randolph, Davis and Arthur.
We will see whether the Rudy Gay deal was a good one for Memphis but we should definitely not sleep on them for trading a star player for a role player. It could be a case of addition by subtraction.
Also somewhat underappreciated went the fact that Memphis got Ed Davis who was having a fantastic season in Toronto, particularly after injuries to Andrea Bargnani and Jonas Valanciunas gave him the starting spot. Davis will effectively replace Marreese Speights who was traded to Cleveland in a salary-dump move. Davis is slightly smaller than Speights but can also play both spots and gives Memphis possibly the best 4-bigs rotation in the league in Gasol, Randolph, Davis and Arthur.
We will see whether the Rudy Gay deal was a good one for Memphis but we should definitely not sleep on them for trading a star player for a role player. It could be a case of addition by subtraction.
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