From the people who brought you “We’ll give you Pau Gasol for free” comes the latest story. The Memphis Grizzlies were 24-58 last season, tied for fifth worst in the league. Apparently they decided that meant it was a good time to clean out their entire scouting department:
Last season, the Grizzlies had five full-time amateur scouts. David Booth, Ryan West, Ed Manning, Ray Jones and Marin Sedlacek. This season, the Grizzlies will have no full-time college scouts. Booth, West, Manning, Jones and Selacek are all gone. A couple of them fled the building; a few more were let go. The Grizzlies will use a part-time scout to help them keep on eye on players in Europe. They do not plan to make any hires.
“I prefer a smaller group,” said Chris Wallace, the Grizzlies GM.
I guess they sucked last year with five full-time scouts so they probably figure things can’t get much worse anyway. Even though I think Chris Wallace was trying to spin the news for the media with that comment, there is some merit to the “too many cooks in the kitchen” argument. Yes, the NBA draft is only two rounds but there is the developmental league and plenty of injuries during the regular season, opening up several roster spots. Last time I checked the Spurs and Celtics weren’t dropping members of their basketball development operations. Neither are the Lakers (they just get traded everyone’s best player for nothing). I vote for contraction.
