Buck Harvey: Blank no more: Memphis’ rise, luck

Chris Wallace stayed behind in Memphis for Game 1. The general manager of the Grizzlies had a few things to do, such as work on a new contract for Zach Randolph.

So he’s watching the game Sunday afternoon, living and dying with every possession — when his satellite transmission goes out with about a minute left.

Wallace is searching for another broadcast, frantic with every passing second, until the game returns with 10 seconds left. Given what happened in that time, maybe nothing better describes the current status of Wallace and his franchise.

From a blank screen to the startling news.

You mean everything worked out?

Wallace laughed while telling the story Monday. Few GMs are as accessible and as affable.

Now he has reason to share even more, because February of 2008 seems so long ago. That’s when Wallace traded Pau Gasol to the Lakers, and criticism flowed toward Memphis as relentlessly as the Mississippi.

“What they did,” Gregg Popovich notably said then, “is beyond comprehension.”

NBA execs rarely critique each other this way. After all, if Wallace wanted, he could evaluate the Spurs.

Such as: Isn’t it beyond comprehension they discarded Luis Scola for money?

But Wallace didn’t fire back. “I said at the time, the Lakers got their benefit from the first day Pau suited up,” he said. “Ours was delayed gratification.”

There would be delays, all right, and Wallace didn’t control all of it. He’s not unlike Bob Bass, the former Spurs general manager, who served under hyperactive owners. Wallace is sometimes a GM, but he’s sometimes a powerless observer, too.

This goes back a few years. When he worked in Boston, he wanted to draft an unknown from France named Tony Parker. Red Auerbach, fading but still with the influence of a legend, wanted an American kid who eventually flopped.

The Grizzlies owner, Michael Heisley, has been more involved than Auerbach. Heisley gets the blame for drafting Hasheem Thabeet, as well as thinking Allen Iverson would be a swell fit.

Heisley is a self-made millionaire with self-made wounds. But it was Wallace who put together the Pau deal, and that was the move that came to define a confused franchise.

Popovich wasn’t the only one who rolled his eyes. Lionel Hollins, for example, wasn’t employed by the Grizzlies then. Asked how he saw the deal at the time, he was candid Monday.

“They probably could have gotten more,” Hollins said.

But everything worked out, right?

“Sometimes the worst thing can become the best,” Hollins said. “This league is all about luck.”

Hollins said people apply the word “genius” to those who make the right guess. Others would have taken Thabeet, he said, and some teams passed on Michael Jordan.

The Spurs have often admitted as much. They’ve been held up as innovators and professionals, and the Spurs Way has produced championships. But they had luck, too; if they knew Manu Ginobili would be this good, they wouldn’t have waited until the bottom of the second round to take him.

Wallace argues there was more than luck. Memphis had a plan, and it was a valid one. “Pau’s been like an NBA version of an organ donor,” he said, “with how he’s provided life to this current team.”

It requires a spreadsheet to keep up with all of the transactions that came from the Pau trade, but this much is certain: The Grizzlies have the core of their team, Marc Gasol and Randolph, because of the Pau trade.

Did they know Marc would someday have a better playoff afternoon than his brother? Did they foresee Randolph not only becoming available, but also being a perfect fit?

No and no. But both are Grizzlies because Pau is not, and Popovich has another reason not to like the 2008 trade.

About a year ago, when it was clear the Grizzlies were on to something, Popovich softened his stance. “I was just trying to be a wise-ass,” he said of his previous comments.

But Wallace never heard from Popovich personally, and he’s okay with that.

“I never took any offense,” he said. “I have so much respect for him and R.C. (Buford). There’s no question they have created the finest organization in the league.”

It’s easier to be forgiving now. With a 1-0 series lead on the finest organization in the league.

bharvey@express-news.net

Rookie Anderson keeps head up despite lost season

Rookie guard James Anderson earned his second career start Monday, replacing the injured Manu Ginobili in the Spurs’ 100-92 loss to Portland, but he knows not to make too much of it.

Someday soon, perhaps as early as Thursday’s game against Boston, Ginobili will be back in the lineup and Anderson will be back on his customary seat near the end of the Spurs’ bench.

“I’ll just wait for my name to be called,” Anderson said. “I’ll do whatever I can to support the team. If that’s standing on the sideline, cheering my guys on, that’s what I’ll do.”

For the player nicknamed “Big Game James” at Oklahoma State, this new role of glorified cheerleader takes some getting used to. Certainly, his first NBA season hasn’t gone as planned since the Spurs made him the 20th pick in last June’s draft.

Anderson has appeared in 23 games, averaging 3.7 points in 10:41 per outing. He scored five points Monday against Portland, going 2 of 4 from the field.

A stress fracture in his right foot, suffered in early November, cost Anderson 39 games. While he spent 10 weeks in rehabilitation, then another two on Development League assignment in Austin, the Spurs’ season went on without him.

Coach Gregg Popovich’s rotation took hold. Another sharpshooting rookie guard, Gary Neal, has enjoyed a breakout season off the bench.

Suddenly, Big Game James became No Game James.

“It’s a big adjustment, going from playing a lot of minutes to just playing every now and then,” said Anderson, a three-year starter and 2010′s Big 12 Player of the Year at OSU. “It’s just part of it. I’m just learning from sitting on the sidelines, picking up things here and there.”

In a way, third-year guard George Hill can relate to Anderson’s struggles. In another way, he can’t.

Hill remembers how difficult it was to learn the Spurs’ system as a 22-year-old rookie two seasons ago, and that was without a 21/2-month injury to overcome.

“That’s tough, especially with this system,” Hill said. “It takes you a year to really get it under your belt. I think James is coming along. He’s showing he wants to be here, working hard every day. That’s all you can ask from him.”

HOME OF THE FLOPPER: Finally, some of Ginobili’s best work has been officially recognized by a jury of his peers.

In this week’s edition of Sports Illustrated, the magazine anonymously polls NBA players on the question of, “Who is the best flopper in the game?”

Ginobili finishes second in the poll, drawing 18 percent of the vote, behind Cleveland forward Anderson Varejao. Houston forward Luis Scola, Ginobili’s teammate on Argentina’s national team, Lakers guard Derek Fisher and another Rocket, guard Kevin Martin, round out the top 5.

According to the magazine, 12 of the 32 floppers named in the poll played basketball outside of the United States before joining the NBA.

Scola’s status uncertain for tonight’s game against the Spurs

Houston forward Luis Scola’s availability for tonight’s game against the Spurs is uncertain after his work has been limited over the past several days.

Scola’s consecutive 311-game playing streak was snapped Tuesday night when he missed the Rockets’ loss at Phoenix with a sore left knee. But despite having several days to recuperate, Rockets coach Rick Adelman told the Houston Chronicle he when it meets the Spurs tonight at the Toyota Center.

“He’s never been hurt, you know, before, so I don’t have any guess as to if he’s going to play or try to play or, if he does try to play, how effective he’s going to be,” Adelman said. “We’re just hoping in his time frame he continues to get better and when he is ready to go he can play like he does normally.”

Scola did not practice on Friday for the second consecutive day and will likely be a game-time decision.

The 6-foot-9 power forward has traditionally been a huge nemesis for the Spurs, who originally drafted him in the second round of the 2002 draft. In his last seven games against them, Scola has averaged 20.0 points and 10.9 boards, while making 28 of 31 free throws (.903).

If Scola can’t go, Adelman could opt to replace him with Patrick Patterson, Brad Miller or Jordan Hill. Patterson had a big game against Phoenix in Scola’s place in the rotation, scoring 18 points and contributing three steals in a season-high 28 minutes.

Houston (33-33) has won 11 of 16 games since Feb. 2, but remains in 11th place in the Western Conference. The Rockets are three games behind No. 8 Memphis with 16 games remaining.

The Spurs have beaten the Rockets three times in a row, with all of those games being played at the ATT Center. The Rockets won the last meeting in Houston, 109-104 on February 26, 2010.

But their  chances of beating the Spurs in what is a critical game for their playoff spots would be lessened considerably without Scola in the lineup.