What Will Super Mario Bring To Memphis?

"Chalmers Wizards" by Keith Allison - originally posted to Flickr as 00060983. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Commons.

As you have probably heard, there has been a trade in the NBA. Take a look at the players that were involved below:

Memphis Traded: Beno Udrih, Jarnell Stokes, a future second round pick
Miami Traded: Mario Chalmers, James Ennis

This is a big trade for both teams, especially for the Grizzlies, who are currently 4-6. With the Grizzlies struggling with defense and offense right now, Mario Chalmers should be able to help improve it for sure.

Mario Chalmers has such a big impact when he is on the floor. The team's defensive rating is so much better with Chalmers on the court. In fact, the Miami Heat's defensive rating was 81.7 with Chalmers on the court, and 98.1 when Chalmers isn't on the court. Big difference right.

He also will bring shooting and passing. When Mario is on the court, the Miami Heat shoot 42.9% from 3-point range, and when he is off the court, the Heat shoot only 27.8% from 3-point range. However, this isn't because of Chalmers shooting the ball well. He has only shot 15.4% from deep this season. I think the main reason why is that Chalmers knows how to move the ball. When Chalmers is on the court, the Heat average 22 APG, but when he isn't, they only average 17.8.

One of the best things that the Grizzlies are going to get from Chalmers is offense. The Memphis Grizzlies are 29th in the league in offense, which is pretty bad considering there are 30 teams. They have an offensive rating of 94.8. Chalmers will really help on the floor and here is why. Chalmers had the best offensive rating on the Heat. It was 107.8. When he wasn't on the floor, the Miami Heat had an offensive rating of 99.7. Big difference! If he brought the Miami offense up like that, he can hopefully do the same to the Grizzlies offense.

The other main players involved in the trade is Beno Udrih. Now, I honestly don't see why the Miami Heat made this trade because Mario Chalmers had such a big impact offensively and defensively on this Miami Heat team. I don't see what Beno Udrih brings to this team that Chalmers didn't. Beno Udrih is a good overall defensive player, but he hardly affects his team on the offensive end like Chalmers does. He improves the Memphis offense by only 1.5. The assisting isn't affected that much when Beno is on the floor. There is not drastic change in the 3-point% when Beno is on the floor. I don't see why you would make a trade for Beno when you are giving up someone who is worth more. Then Jarnell Stokes has done nothing in his career. Last season he averaged 3 PPG, and he has done nothing this season but grab 2 rebounds. James Ennis on the other hand has actually done somethings, such as show off his athleticism with some amazing dunks, show us he could play defense, and gave us some points off the bench last season as he averaged 5. The Heat also received a second round pick, but how often do those turnout to actually be worth something. I don't know what the Miami Heat were thinking, but the Grizzlies clearly won this trade.

You can't forget the Mario Chalmers won 2 NBA championships as a starting point guard. This man is going to be a big impact on this Grizzlies team and I expect him to solve some of their problems. 

Grizzlies VS Trailblazers (game 5)

Final Score: Grizzlies win 99-93



Grizzlies win series 4-1

It's all over. Another series finished. The Grizzlies just were too much for the for the hurt and lacking Trailblazers. Let's take a look at what the Portland Trailblazers did right and wrong.

The Blazers had a great contribution form C.J. McCollum as he had 33 points and shot 7-11 from 3 point range. He wasn't enough to give this team the win though. Even though Batum had a horrible shooting night, he still had 10 rebounds and 7 assists. Damian Lillard only shot 1-8 from the 3 point line. He had shot like that all series. Arron Afflalo just couldn't shoot. He was scoreless in the game. The Blazers also had 18 less rebounds than the Grizzlies. All of those things contributed to the loss in game 5 for the grizzlies.

The Grizzlies just played great. They controlled the boards, dominated in the paint, and played great defense. One thing they could have done better is shoot the 3. They only shot about 7% from three point range. That's pretty sad. Defensively, Tony Allen played great. He had 5 steals and 2 blocks. The Grizzlies had an astonishing defensive rating of 94.6. Beno Udrih played absolutley horrible. He had a defensive rating of 111 and an offensive rating of 65.3! That's a net rating of -46.6. Absolutely horrible! Udrih was great in pretty much every game of the series, but game 5 he couldn't do anything. He is going to have to play better in the next series if Conley is still out. If Conley is back, I don't see this guy play much if he continues to play like this. Of course, this was just one game. I expect him to bounce back in game 1 against the Warriors. 

The Grizzlies are moving on. I will miss the Trailblazers and all their crazy three point shooting they gave us. I wish the Grizzlies best of luck going into the next series. They are going to need it.