Last year, the Grizzlies had the most Draft Lottery balls and ended up with the fourth pick. This year after losing a coin toss with Minnesota, the Grizzlies had the fourth-most lottery balls and got the fifth pick.
The Grizzlies will own two first-round picks -- their own at No. 5 and the Los Angeles Lakers' pick, which will be 28th overall. The Grizzlies' second-round selection goes to Portland to satisfy a 2006 draft-day trade that landed F Alexander Johnson. Grizzlies majority owner Michael Heisley desperately wanted to land one of the top two picks.
"You look at Cleveland and New Orleans and how they've become successful through the draft," Heisley said. "It's awful hard to get there by paying large amounts of money for free agents who are toward the ends of their careers. We have decided that the way to get there is to build the nucleus. You can use free agents to fill a spot or two but not to create a superstar. The point is that the core of this team is made up of people we primarily picked up in the draft."
SEASON HIGHLIGHT: On Dec. 19 in an 88-85 victory over the Spurs, Rudy Gay announced to the rest of the league that he might be the league's Most Improved Player. After the Grizzlies blew a 23-point lead, Gay hit a game-winning three-pointer over Tim Duncan. The play wasn't even set up for Gay, but first option Mike Miller was guarded. Gay fired from 27 feet. "You've always got questions when you take a shot like that, but it felt good, and that's all you can say," Gay said.
TURNING POINT: When the Grizzlies hit a stretch in December when they lost 12 of 14 games, it didn't seem like that even with a healthy Pau Gasol that nothing was getting done. Gasol was struggling to adapt to the new running offense, he wasn't getting enough touches and it became clear to management that they needed to start fresh. That meant Gasol, as the player with the most trade value, would be dealt.
