Well, it has taken the most consistent rookie less than 2 months to finally knock off all the contenders for the Brandon ROY award.  OJ Mayo has now risen to #1 in the ESPN's Rookie Ranking's after some stellar TEAM performances by the Memphis Grizzlies and some stinkers being put up by the former #1 and Memphis Tiger, Derrick Rose. Only about 1/3 of the way through the NBA season and the rookie wall is approaching so there is still a long way to go in this race.  However, much props to Mayo and also Marc Gasol at #6 also cracking the top 10.

3 Shades of Blue was very confused about the rumors and moves recently by the Memphis Grizzlies. So instead of just sitting at the typewriter and writing uninformed opinions we went to the source. Chris Wallace was kind enough to answer our questions and explain his reasoning. You may disagree with his thought process but at least you can't argue the man has a plan.

The Griz couldn't keep the winning streak alive, losing to the only team that has beat them in the last 7 games in the ultra-irritating New Orleans Hornets. The game was up and down for the Griz, but they played hard throughout the whole game, matching the physical defense of the Hornets in order to play even for 46 minutes. In the 1st quarter, Rudy was the only Memphis player showing up on offense, as he took Peja to school, but the lack of offense from the rest of the team led to a season low 11 point 1st quarter. The 2nd quarter was the exact opposite as the Griz scored 31, mostly keyed from playing good defense. The 3rd quarter was a defensive-oriented slop-fest for both teams, as the Griz won the quarter 18-12. The 4th quarter was more offense, and less defense, although the Griz couldn't match buckets all the way to the end, falling flat with about two minutes to go.

I'll get to more game aspects below the fold, as well as take some space to trash talk about one of the 3 teams I hate the most this season (hint, we played one tonight, the other two have the last two #1 picks).

Ball Don't Lie's Nick Friedell recently conducted an interview with O.J. Mayo, where the topics ranged from playing in the Olympics and lower ticket prices to having his mom's spaghetti and meatballs weekly and his favorite movies.  Check it out.

Stop the Clock. Just two weeks ago I called the Grizzlies Head Coach Noodle-Roni. What has happened since then? The Grizzlies are on a 4 game winning streak and have won 4 of the last 5 games. Of course, no one knows if this is just an illusion or not yet.

3 Shades of Blue is proud to present the 8th version of the Blogger Power Rankings this week.  Last week saw the first change at #1 since the season began, but what will this week hold?  Are the Celtics still on top?  Where does the loss to the Kings put the Lakers?  How far up have the Grizzlies moved after winning 5 of their last 6 games?  Have the Thunder moved out of the basement?  Only one way to find out...

This is my second post matching songs to Grizzly players, and I was inspired to do this one after Darko's five-block performance yesterday (and the Hulk Ripping Incident is still fresh in mind as well). I do wish, however, that there was a way to make this video only work about 70% of the time...c'mon Dark One, bring it every night, man!!!

by the way, Darko should = the guy in the white suit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a54iqEr1flQ

More to come...