Stop blaming Chris Wallace pt. 3

Y'all asked for it (you didn't, but, here it is anyways)

We’re back at it for part 3

Chris Wallace is still a top 5 GM in the league and doesn’t deserve heat

Let me explain in detail, why the Grizzlies are struggling this season. And then, let me explain why Chris Wallace is not to be blamed for that struggle.

I can sum up 2 reasons as to why we suck right now:

JB Bickerstaff and Marc Gasol

Before the season started, I had high hopes for JB. He talked a really good game, and the start of the season backed that up. He was coaching like hell. But then, something changed. Two of our new acquisitions, Shelvin Mack and Garrett Temple, started being less productive then they were before, and the losses started piling on. We were losing because JB kept giving minutes to unproductive players, instead of giving minutes to productive players. For instance, let’s look to January 2nd’s game against the Detroit Pistons. Garrett Temple plays 37 MINUTES and goes 2 for 8 from the field, with half of his shots being THREES. He scored 7 points. That same game? Wayne Selden scores 5 points in 5 minutes and doesn’t miss a basket. Why the hell did he not get more minutes? Why are we not giving the hot handed players more time on the court?

When Shelvin Mack and Garrett Temple started being unproductive, JB had a hard time shortening their minutes. However, after a while, we saw Shelvin play less and Jevon Carter started playing more. But, this whole season, GT has remained the same. Same old 32 minutes a game just to have poor shot selections. You know, it’d be one thing if he was a Tony Allen type player, one who is a liability on offense but phenomenal on defense. But GT is a liability on both of those. Why does he continue to get tons of minutes? He’s played 13 seasons with 7 different teams. Theres a reason he can’t stay on a team for very long. He’s obviously not that good, so why is it we bring him here and give him star-caliber minutes? Give those minutes to the players with the hot hand. Give those minutes to players far more deserving.

Now before, I mentioned that Shelvin was declining in production. Recently, he’s actually been kinda good. So, give him more minutes. But seriously, JB Bickerstaff, quit playing Garrett Temple. Yes, he’s better than McLemore and Davis, but he’s not worthy of 32 minutes a game.

My other reason for why we suck right now is Marc Gasol. The man is fine on offense. Good offensive player. But he is by no means the same defensive center he once was. He’s so slow and doesn’t look like he’s that interested in the game. Plus, he’s 34. He’s getting older, and his production is going to keep declining.

So, to Grizzlies fans, if you want us to be better, we need to move Gasol for potentially Hassan Whiteside, like some trade rumors have said, and then fire JB. Yes, that’s yet another coach gone, but his rotations are a great reason for why he should be fired. There is no reason for why GT should be getting the minutes he gets. Marc needs to have more heart, and JB needs to started giving minutes to the deserving players (Ivan Rabb and Yuta Watanabe for example)

NOW, back to why you shouldn’t blame Wallace.

What has he done wrong? Like honestly? Some of the reasons i’ve heard are because he wants to trade Marc/Mike, because he traded MarShon/Wayne for Holiday, because he hired JB, because of the Chandler Parsons drama and because of all the other aforementioned reasons (check out Stop blaming Chris Wallace pt. 2 if you want)

Let me just go over some of the examples I just listed.

Trading of Marc/Mike:

I love this. I think people aren’t comprehending the genius that’s going on here. If you come out and say that you’re putting Marc Gasol on the trade block (which is what’s happening, they wanna trade him cuz he’s trash), what kind of GM is gonna wanna take him? They’re just gonna say “Oh you’re trying to get rid of your headache.” However, when you come out publicly and say that you’re putting Marc AND Mike on the trading block, then GMs are thinking “Oh, Grizz are just cleaning house. Theres no problems there.”

I guarantee you, Mike Conley will stay a Grizzly. They’re only saying that Mike is available so that Gasol is more enticing. It really makes sense when you think about it.

Another reason for why people want Wallace gone is the trade that he made that sent Brooks and Selden (plus 2 second rounders) to Chicago for Justin Holiday. Yes, that’s a lot of assets for a dude that averages 11.6 points a game. But, theres a reason. We didn’t trade for Holiday because he averages 11.6. That was just an addition. We traded for him because he averages 2 steals a game. He’s a really good defensive presence, the common theme of this years Grizzlies roster. Sure, so far he’s been unproductive, but he’s been with us for 10 games. Give him some time to grow and get adjusted to our pacing, and i’m sure he will thrive. And plus, what did we give up that was so important? Wayne Selden? Yes, I know I mentioned earlier that he had 5 points in 5 minutes, but that was just him having a hot hand that night. Wayne Selden never developed into the player we wanted him to be. MarShon never kept his streak from last year going. Both players were also reasons for why we are in this slump. They never really contributed to the point that could of got us out of the losing streak (albeit, JB probably never gave them the chance to get us out). And 2 second rounders? Come on man. Yall are way too high on second round picks. They barely ever convert to good players, and when they do it’s just out of pure luck. I’d rather take a chance on a good promising defensive 2 guard than a couple of second round picks that have like a 5% chance of converting into an actual contributor.

Another reason:

You can’t blame him for hiring JB. We all would have done the same.

If you try to sit there and convince me that his press conference after the drafting of Jevon and Jaren wasn’t promising, you’re lying. Right before, everyone was skeptical. Even I was. But he sold me. He sold a lot of people. He made it sound like heaven. And, it was. We started the season 12-5. We were doing exactly what JB said we were going to do; Grit n Grind with some offense. But then, shit changed. People started losing productivity. Tempers started flaring. Casspi and Temple fought. Shit went down, and JB is to blame. Get your boys together. Be a leader. You’re the head coach bro. Take over. But seriously, you can’t blame JB on Chris Wallace. Yes, he brought him here, but everything was promising until those players started declining.

Final reason for why you can’t blame Chris Wallace. Then I’m done, I swear.

Chandler Parsons was good. Good enough for a max deal? Debatable. But, that’s a different point. Fact of the matter is, Chris Wallace (and honestly everybody at the time) saw Chandler Parsons as the missing piece. We saw him as the key to our struggles. Was he? We won’t know. His knees won’t let us know the answer.

I mean dude, yall can’t be serious. Y’all shit on Wallace for not playing Parsons. It’s not up to him! His fuckin knees are NON EXISTENT. Oh, you say the doctor cleared him? He’s been cleared about 20 million times, and every time it’s the same! He plays 4-5 games, goes out for “knee soreness” and misses for a while. We know how this chapter ends so why does everyone want Wallace to keep reading it? Turn the damn page. Move on. Chandler Parsons looked good at the time, but injuries stopped us from really knowing whether or not he was the piece he was supposed to be. This isn’t Wallace’s fault.

And yeah, Parsons was “injury-prone” before the deal, so yes, Wallace should of realized this (he probably did. $20 says that someone in the FO made the decision over Wallace. go read part 2 to learn about that). But, you will never really know if someone is going to be bad or not until you play them. I’m sure his previous injuries were taken into consideration. Even then, what does it really matter? We gave a dude money because we wanted him to pick us over Portland. Yall act like if we gave him less money, we could of made some blockbuster signing with the remaining cash. Come on now, Memphis isn’t a big free agent destination. We save just a little bit on the Parsons deal (or we dont make the deal at all) and who do we sign?

Bottom line:

Chris Wallace has put the pieces there. JB Bickerstaff has failed to bring those pieces together.

Bring on the downvotes :)