Links: Damon Fallout, Conley Blogs, Gasol Rumors/Wishlists, Staxtacular '08, NBA Blogger Award Ballot and All-Star Team

We've already covered the Damon trade demand from top to bottom and side to side. Now let's take a look at the fallout.

Kelly Dwyer has some good thoughts about the situation and the future direction of the team over on Yahoo's NBA Experts Blog, along with a mention of our little old site. Thanks KD!

Chris Vernon also has a take on it, although in his typical way, he is less than complimentary of what he perceives to be "whining".

Predictably, fans of teams around the league needing a PG upgrade or depth (like Cleveland) are posing scenarios to acquire the former Rookie of the Year.

In related news, Michael Conley updated his blog to talk about his first career NBA start and admits to being nervous.

ESPN's Daily Dime jumps on board with the "Chicago could really use Gasol right now" movement:

Team that needs to make a move, or else
The Chicago Bulls. Their two best players are Ben Gordon and Luol Deng. Both are up for contract extensions, both are unsigned. Scott Skiles has been fired.

What this team needs now is to develop an identity, which can be helped by getting an interior scorer and go-to guy. Getting Pau Gasol would be a great move for them, a face-up shooter who can complement their tremendous perimeter players. Seems like they have a glut of young big guys like Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah who do the same type of things.

To follow that up, over on RealGM, there is a piece by Patrick J. Austin where the title really says it all: Grizzlies Need to Move in a New Direction: Deal Gasol. The highlights:

Change is never easy. It’s always a scary and unpredictable proposition, but one that is ever present in life. People cling to what they know for fear of what’s “new and unknown.” The Memphis Grizzlies are currently facing this grim reality. They are a franchise in flux mired in another disappointing season and cellar dwellers in the most difficult division in the NBA.

However, the cold hard fact of the matter is that Gasol has not elevated the Grizzlies to a competitive level, despite the team emphasizing his talents and making him the focus of the offense for the majority of his career in Memphis. The organization saw flashes of a superstar player in Gasol’s earlier years and tried to make him the face of the franchise and go-to guy on the court. He repaid them by demanding a trade this past off-season and is nagged by various injuries. Moves were made to try and appease Gasol including using a chunk of cap space to sign a complimentary big man in Darko Milicic and dealing away a first round pick for Gasol’s good friend, Juan Carlos Navarro. Neither move has made the team markedly better and Gasol has not put up better numbers.

I believe the trade below would be perfect for both teams…

Grizzlies acquire:
Tyrus Thomas
Ben Gordon
Joe Smith
Chris Duhon

Bulls acquire:
Pau Gasol
Brian Cardinal
Juan Carlos Navarro

In other words, it is a rehash of what has been written by many people in many different places, including by our own bloggers here. I'm just curious why it is that we have to trade with Chicago in all these scenarios. Sure, they need Pau the most, but they really don't have what we need the most in return, IMO.

Are you ready for Staxtacular '08? In case you don't know what that is, here's a brief explanation from the link provided:

STAXTACULAR returns on Friday, March 7, 2008!
The city's wildest "soul-shakin' throwdown," hosted this year by Brian and Danielle Cardinal, Pau Gasol, Rudy Gay and Mike Conley from the Memphis Grizzlies, is back, bigger and better than ever--and now YOU have the opportunity to buy tickets before they go onsale to the public!

Call 901-261-6385 now to purchase your tickets before they are available to the public. Tickets are $150 each, and as always, all the proceeds will benefit the life-changing music education programs of the Stax Music Academy.

Sounds like a great event, as well as benefitting a good cause.

Over on Hardwood Paroxysm, they have released the NBA blogs that will be voted upon for various awards, as well as the First and Second Team All-Stars. Our fair blog did not make the cut for any of the categories and it would be fair to say that I'm disappointed. Nay, not disappointed -- OUTRAGED!!! After all, how many other blogs have sat down over chicken wings with their team's GM? How many I ask!?! If that's not enough to get you some recognition, then I don't know why I roll out of bed at noon every day to update this blog. We even got shut out of "Rookie of the Year" because of some technicality based on the fact that we posted a couple of times late last season about Greg Oden and the draft. Well that's not right and I refuse to stand for it! Give me my internet award right now! Sorry....just had some righteous indignation left over from yesterday's Damon post and had to get that out of my system.

In all seriousness though, everyone go over there and look at all the great blogs/websites that were nominated in preparation for the voting which will take place in April.

Blog/Website of the Day: The Basketball Jones

7th Annual Tip-Off Luncheon

Well, the Memphis Grizzlies did it yet again. This was my second time to experience the Tip-Off Luncheon in the past three yeas and it was definitely worth the price of admission. As usual, there was ample opportunity to mingle with the players, coaches and front office of the team, as well as get autographs and pictures taken. There were several interesting items in the Silent Auction, such as Framed Autographed Jerseys (Pau, Rudy, Mike, Kyle), Autographed Basketballs (Lowry, Navarro, Calipari, Derrick Rose, Jerry West) and some items from other teams and even other sports, such as the Shaun Alexander Laser Engraved Football and the Aaron Boone Autographed Baseball Bat. The Live Auction had some fantastic offerings as well, such as the Honorary Ball Kid Experience, which allows a child to be a ball kid for one of four games this season. There was also an L.A. Fly Away trip to see the Grizzlies take on the Lakers and Clippers on back-to-back nights in March and an All-Star Weekend Getaway for two people to fly to New Orleans to attend all the All-Star festivities. The big prize was a "Travel with the Grizzlies" experience that allowed for two people to travel with the Grizzlies on their private plane to see them on the road at four different games throughout the year: the Mavs, Magic, Cavs and Heat. Chip and his group put up a valiant effort to win this, but ultimately fell short of winning. I'm told that Chip's therapist has talked him off the ledge and the police have restored order to that particular street now, so that's good. All proceeds from the event and the auctions went to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Memphis, which has been a civic fixture for 42 years. It was also announced that Pau Gasol would be giving away 500 tickets to Opening Night. You can find all the details on Grizzlies.com. This is just one more thing Gasol is doing to connect with the fans in the wake of last season's unpleasantness, which Shades of Blue has detailed before. Pau was in a good mood today, having fun every time we saw him. It was a great event benefiting a great cause and allowed several fans the chance to get to know the key members of the organization just a little bit better as a result. I hope that everyone had as good a time today as I did.

Grizz Week of Events

The Grizzlies have "Grizz Week" going on leading up to Opening Night vs. the Spurs next week. They have events all over town, including tonights game, leading up to the first game. Here are the events...

TONIGHT: 6:00 pm The Grizzlies Blog Party! Held inside beautiful FedEx Forum at the Jack Daniels Old #7 Bar and Restaurant, the Blog party looks to become the place to meet other Grizzlies posters, bloggers and media personalities before the game. Talk hoops and have some fun! And I might add that this event is only being held downtown. No catering to those rich East Memphis types!!!

Okay that isn't actually a Grizz Week sponsored event but come anyway to support the team. This is the rematch with Mike Conley's hometown team and we owe them one. At the last blog party Chris Herrington from the Memphis Flyer (an excellent blog writer I might add) was there and we really got deep on what was going down with the Grizz (and no I can't talk jive).

Now back to the official Grizz Events Planning previously scheduled.

Saturday, October 27
Saturday, the Grizzlies will be holding another Block Party at Dalstrom Park in Whitehaven from 2 – 4 p.m., with appearances by Andre Brown and Hakim Warrick.

Monday, October 29
The Grizzlies will host the annual Tip-Off Luncheon, an event allowing fans to rub shoulders with all Grizzlies players and coaches. Tables for the Tip-Off Luncheon are still available, and information on how to purchase a table can be found on grizzlies.com.

Monday, October 29
The Grizzlies will also be taking it to the streets Monday and Tuesday with drive time blitzes. Grizzlies staff members will be at the following locations giving out posters, pocket schedules and other items:

Monday, Oct. 29: 7 – 8:30 a.m. at E. Parkway and Sam Cooper Blvd.
4:30 – 6:30 p.m. at Highland and Poplar Ave.

Tuesday, Oct. 30: 7 – 8:30 a.m. at the Harbortown Roundabout
11:30 a.m. – Noon at Main Street and Gayoso

Tuesday, October 30
Downtown pep rally at Peabody Place mall on Tuesday, Oct. 30, from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. The pep rally will feature players, team mascot Grizz and the dance team, and will get fans excited about the opening of the 2007-08 season.

Wednesday, Oct 31
Another unofficial Grizz event but one that sounds like a blast is the Grizzlies Zombie Walk. If you got a hold of Kyle Knox by Tueday you could have received free tickets to the game. If not you can still go walking in Memphis with a bunch of zombies roaming around and having fun. What more could you ask for on Halloween? You don't even have to buy the costume!

Finally one hour before kickoff we will be having another Unofficial Grizzlies Blog Party. Whoever shows up in the best costume will win a great Grizz prize. And by great I mean whatever I can talk Andy Dolich into giving to us for free.

So come on out and celebrate with the Grizzlies.

UPDATE: Come meet Mike Conley on Saturday afternoon, October 27

4:00pm – 5:00pm

City Gear, 4641 American Way
American Way & Perkins Rd., just south of the Perkins Road exit off of I-240

Meet, Greet & Eat

If you want an opportunity to meet and greet your favorite members of the Memphis Grizzlies organization, this is your lucky month.

On Wednesday, October 3, the Grizzlies will hold their first ever Blue-White Scrimmage game from 12:00 - 1:00 pm.

On Saturday, October 13, you can attend the annually held free Open Practice at the FedEx Forum.

On Friday, October 19, the Grizzlies will hold another Block Party, located at Audobon Park in East Memphis, from 4:30-6:30 pm. You can view pictures from previous Block Parties on Grizzlies.com.

On Saturday, Oct. 27, the Grizzlies will be holding another Block Party at Dalstrom Park in Whitehaven from 2 – 4 p.m.

On Monday, October 29 from 11:00 - 1:30 the Forum will be the site of the 7th Annual Tip-Off Luncheon, where you can mingle with the players, coaches and front office personnel, enjoy a nice meal and participate in the silent auction that benefits thd Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Memphis. Entrance to this even is $50 per person unless you procure a 10-seat table, which can be reserved for $400. If you want the ultimate experience, you can have a member of the Grizzlies organization sit at your table for a sponsorship of $2000. We will have a table at the event under the 3 Shades of Blue name, so be sure to stop by and say hello.

That gives you plenty of opportunities to get to know the team, coaches and management for the upcoming season. Kudos to the organization for continuing to make themselves accessible to their fanbase. You can see all the events leading up to Opening Night on Grizzlies.com.

In other Grizz news, there have been some staff changes. Grizzlies.com has an interview with new Assistant GM Kenny Williamson, who was previously with the Charlotte Bobcats. Williamson has been involved in the basketball world for 30 years and has an extensive background in scouting.

The Grizzlies also announced that they have a new Director of Media Relations. Dustin Krugel, most recently with the Phoenix Suns organization, will be taking over the post previously held by Stacey Mitch, who has left to pursue other NBA-related P.R. work according to Chris Herrington.