Stronger potential lineup (which team would have the most potential to win in the west?)
They have more talent unless Conley and Thabeet are both better next year then I expect.
honestly i would say neither. i cant see either of those teams getting 50+ wins in the west. but if i had to pick i would say memphis. i agree okc is more talented and dynamic but i think memphis works better as a team. the only real shooter they have is mayo and gasol and thabeet dont need the ball to be effective. gay is going to develop into the kind of player who can get any shot he wants anywhere on the court. right now hes more effective going to the hole but his jump shot will develop.
Grizzlies wouldn't look as bad on paper as I thought. I've been saying all along they should trade down. Now, maybe they should trade Gasol for a power forward. He should be able to bring one in a deal.
The Grizz have a better team. They know how to play better. OJ and Gay will both get 20 a game
Mike Cons break out year
The Thunder definitely look better than the Grizz. If the Grizz use the "twin towers" system, like people are saying they might, I do not see it being a success. I do not see Marc Gasol as a PF, and I think with Hasheem at C it would be an even worse idea. Kevin Durant is straight up the best player on either team and with the young talent that the Thunder possess, I think they would be building a solid play-off team. I still see the Grizzlies being a pretty bad team with that line-up listed above.
okc for now has the edge. i think durant will always be better than rudy, and i'm a big fan of rudy. conely may develope into a stud. Westbrook as a rookie played very well, i think he's gonna make noise his whole career. Harden may turn out to be better than mayo, but for now, mayo is established and better and still has massive potential. Green is no powefoward. we'll see how that works out in the future. I personally think gasol is better than krystic. plus, gasol's young, and will continue to learn a little bit more. I say scratch the idea of thabeet and get a solid mean powerfoward for the second pick, and wait to see how conely turns out. if conely blossoms into an allstar and they get a bad@ss powerfoward....these two teams could end up in the conference finals in the future.
I like the idea of another power forward, although i think darrell arthur is way under-utilized and could be a diamond in the rough for memphis. Either way i would rather watch an okc - memphis final then anymore lakers and celtics finals.
i think gay in the future will be a much better defender than durant. offensively durant is always going to win. I think by the time durant's 24-25 years old, he'll be able to get any shot he wants. remember, he's just 20.
wow trade gasol?...ummm how about we wait and see if tabeet will do much in the nba before saying that..also in year one theres no way thabeet is moving gasol too the bench..have you seen him play in his first year in the nba this year???...but yeah neither team is sniffing the playoffs this or next year
i love that people keep trying to compare the Grizz and OKC...
It's not even close, especially if OKC adds HArden and the Grizz add Thabeet.
The Thunder was awful at the beginning of last year and then.... they improved by LEAPS and BOUNDS the 2nd half of the season, even when KD was out for a stint... Russell Westbrook > OJ Mayo, Jeff Green > Rudy Gay, in terms of being better OVERALL BASKETBALL players and KD is just another level than anyone on Memphis
Memphis' best players are one-dimensional scorers. if only gay had russells work ethic and drive.










Lets say the grizzlies end up with Hasheem Thabeet and the Thunder end up with James Harden... which team do you guys believe may crack the playoffs sooner with the following lineups:
Grizzlies
PG - Mike Conley
SG- OJ Mayo
SF- Rudy Gay
PF- Marc Gasol (prolly would come off the bench, but very talented)
C- Hasheem Thabeet
Thunder
PG - Russell Westbrook
SG - James Harden
SF - Kevin Durant
PF - Jeff Green
C - Nenad Kristic
Let me know!