What Went Right?
Once Pau Gasol came back from injury, it didn't take him long to get back to his normal All-Star production. He averaged 20.8 points and 9.8 rebounds per game. He also had over 3 assists and 2 blocks per game. Mike Miller gave up his bench player role to become a full-time starter. He averaged 18.5 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 4.3 assists per game. He also made a career high 202 three-pointers. Chucky Atkins came to the forefront as the main point guard on the team and averaged the second highest points per game (13.2) of his career. Second year player Hakim Warrick had a breakthrough season by averaging 12.7 points and 5.1 rebounds with a 52.4% shooting percentage. Undrafted, free agent rookie, Tarence Kinsey, signed and stuck with the team. He increased his production dramatically every month from January to the rest of the season. In April, he averaged 18.8 points, 5 rebounds, and 2.6 steals per game.

What Went Wrong?
The Grizz were so bad that after leading them to a 49 wins season the previous year, after just 30 games with an injury riddled team, Mike Fratello was told to take his playcalling and go home. Without Pau Gasol, they were just 5-17 to start out the season. They were 6-24 when Fratello was fired. They went 5-10 in January (their best month in terms of wins) and just 3-9 the month after. Rookie point guard, Kyle Lowry, only played in 10 games due to a broken wrist and other injuries. Eddie Jones was waived by February, before signing with the Heat to finish the year. This team only won 22 games. What didn't go wrong?

Off-Season Overview
The Grizz were able to score a huge addition to the franchise by signing Marc Iavaroni (longtime Phoenix Suns' assistant) to be the new head coach of Memphis. To go along with this new open style of play, they drafted a point guard that could handle it in Mike Conley. They were able to steal Juan Carlos Navarro, a Spanish league MVP last year, in a trade with the Wizards. When Orlando had to renounce the rights to Darko Milicic in order to overpay Rashard Lewis, the Grizz management pounced and immediately signed him to play alongside Pau Gasol.

Players Added: Point Guard Mike Conley, Jr. (Draft), Center Andre Brown (Free Agent, Seattle), Shooting Guard Casey Jacobsen (Free Agent, Europe), Center Darko Milicic (Free Agent, Orlando), Guard Juan Carlos Navarro (Trade, Washington)
Players Lost: Point Guard Chucky Atkins (Free Agent, Denver), Shooting Guard Dahntay Jones (Free Agent), Power Forward Alexander Johnson (Waived, Miami), Forward Josh Powell (Waived)

Phil Barnett's Impact Players-
Before Jerry West left the Grizzlies front office, he hired Marc Iavaroni to head coach an NBA team for the first time. With Mike Conley, Kyle Lowry, Mike Miller, Rudy Gay, Pau Gasol, and Darco Milicic, Iavaroni should be able to bring in his Mike D’Antoni style offense to Memphis with no problems.

Breakout Player: Darco Milicic just might get a chance to shine in Memphis. Milicic has had a pretty disappointing career thus far, but playing along side Gasol should be good for the seven-footer. Their inside and outside games compliment each other, and if he can run the floor he should get a lot of open looks in transition with three quality point guards on the roster.

Disappointing Player: Stromile Swift has been good for a highlight every once in a while, but he’s never been a solid contributor on an NBA team. The Grizzlies are going to need him to fill in for Pau Gasol when he goes to the bench. His minutes should be cut this year if Gasol stays healthy though.


FantasyInsideronline.com Fantasy Sleeper-
Darko Milicic, Center- Here’s why you’re wrong if you think Milicic is done. He just turned 22-years-old, and most NBA big men don’t blossom and begin to dominate until the age of 25. Darko has only had one year (last season) of consistent play since he entered the league, and he was able to nearly double his production in terms of points, playing time, and rebounds. He will be a full-time starter this year alongside Pau Gasol (unless Hakim Warrick dominates in preseason) and will be allowed to create his own offense, be active on defense and run the floor with his teammates in Marc Iavaroni’s wide-open style of offense. Let’s assume that Darko plays at least at the same production level as he did last year and averaged about 32 minutes per game. Based on his averages per 40 minutes of last year, he’ll average 10 points, 7 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game. That puts him in the top 10 among centers in all of those categories.

Best-Case Scenario
The Grizz are able to get back to their form of the previous 3 years as opposed to last year. They thrive under Iavaroni's up-tempo style and are able to turn into the poor man's version of the Phoenix Suns. Stoudamire, Lowry, and Conley are able to provide a consistent flurry of nonstop pushing the ball as they outrun most teams in the league. Mike Miller is able to break the record for three-pointers in the season in the new style. Pau Gasol gives them an unstoppable weapon in the post that they can utilize in the halfcourt game. Hakim Warrick and Rudy Gay fill in as the Shawn Marion of the Memphis offense and are able to get 10 to 20 easy buckets by leaking out during games. The Grizz win 50 games again and get the 6th seed in the West.

Worst Case Scenario
The Grizzlies can't adjust properly to Iavaroni's new system and often find themselves taking bad shots and rushing the offense too much. Rudy Gay isn't able to improve in his second year and isn't willing to work towards being great. Mike Conley is hampered by his inability to shoot and is ineffective. Darko Milicic isn't able to provide Pau with any help inside and they are forced to play Stromile Swift. The Grizzlies get hampered by injuries and aren't able to crack 30 wins as they have another wasted season.

Talkhoops.net Prediction- 4th in Division, 8th in West
I see the Grizzlies thriving under Marc Iavaroni. The guard quadro (trio plus one) of Conley, Stoudamire, Lowry and Juan Carlos Navarro is going to be an unrellenting force that will be difficult for most backcourts to keep up with. Pau Gasol should have another All-Star season as he provides the anchor to the Grizzlies' halfcourt offense. Hakim Warrick and Rudy Gay should be able to run the floor better than most and get a lot of easy buckets by doing so. Mike Miller will be able to challenge the record for threes in a season (267 by Dennis Scott in '95-'96). The Grizzlies will probably win about 45 games and grab the 8th and final playoff spot.