Grizzlies trade Rudy Gay, OKC Rejoices

Upon hearing of last nights 3 team trade involving Rudy Gay the Oklahoma City Thunder may have very well cracked a bit of a smile. Over the last two years the Grizzlies have taken the Thunder to the limit in two highly intense & entertaining playoff series. Now granted while the Thunder managed to prevail in both of those series no one can deny that the Grizzlies had the pieces to challenge them for 7 games both then & if necessary this year as well. However, that was before yesterday. Yesterday afternoon reports began to surface that the rumored trade of Rudy Gay to Toronto had indeed taken place. While this trade was expected it still leaves one to believe that Memphis took this action from a monetary perspective as opposed to a competitive one. Yes, the Grizzlies receive some adequate pieces but none of those piece have the scoring punch of Gay individually or cumulatively for that matter. Ed Davis won't supplant Zach Randolph in the starting lineup so one can assume that his acquisition is a look to the future as Randolph is 31 years old. Even still, unless Davis' quality of play (9.7 ppg, 6.7 rpg) drastically improves he wont be a cornerstone of the franchise in years to come. Tayshaun Prince on the other hand is a very intriguing piece. Most reports indicate he'd grown restless with the habitual losing in Detroit but Prince maintains his reputation as one of the leagues most stingy perimeter defenders which could come in handy during the playoffs against the likes of Durant, Harden, & Curry to name a few. Again however, Prince can't hope to replace Gay's scoring ability (17+ ppg) or flair for momentum changing plays offensively. The bottom line is that while Memphis remains a quality team without Gay, they lose the scoring threat on the perimeter a team needs to contend for a championship. For that matter, they no longer have the personnel to match up with Oklahoma City which means the Thunder are one series closer to a return trip to the finals.