Attention, people of St. Louis. Your Grizzlies, who should have been pushing respectability by now, instead are on the verge of something very different, with players openly calling for trades, if not volunteering to be the tradee, and signs of instability everywhere. In other words, save the receipt. They are about change and more of the same. Fans, underwhelmed all along, don't get the hint, or don't care.
Players just wonder.
The logjam at power forward, a surplus that could bring something in trade, goes unresolved, while the most promising one there, rookie Stromile Swift, can't get minutes on a lottery team. The small forward, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, makes the U.S. Olympic team but doesn't register on popularity scales in either of his two countries. And now come the Mike Bibby trade rumors, amid reports that coach Sidney Lowe wants more leadership and toughness at the point, along with the obligatory nonsense speculation. The Mavericks laugh at the suggestion, but it becomes talk-radio fodder nonetheless. Canada had better be satisfied with Mario Lemieux coming back.