Grizz finish in blaze of glory (Toronto Star)

VANCOUVER - If one of the pleasures of having a rout is the pleasure of having it over, basketball fans in Vancouver can only be thankful the long, hard NBA season is complete.

For if a rout can last six months, this season certainly was one. How else can you describe a 14-68 year?

But the Grizzlies went down in a blaze of glory, beating the playoff-bound Suns in Phoenix in probably the best game in Vancouver history.

The Bears scored franchise records in points scored (121) and field goal percentage (.595), as well as shooting 10 of 13 from three-point land. Not only that, but Big Country Reeves had a career-high 39 points and The Future, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, finished with his first triple-double. Go figure.

Now fans and management alike can look to the lower-case future. As Lee Mayberry said in summing up his first year here, ``I don't think it can get no worse.''

Team architect Stu Jackson has been preaching patience from the get-go, eschewing veterans in favor of inexperienced youth. And his long-range plan is at least half-working: The team is losing. If the experience gained by the young Grizzlies turns them into eventual winners, Jackson will be seen as a basketball genius.

The danger in the patient approach to building a franchise and the constant losing that invariably accompanies it is that free agents might refuse to play for you and the players you have might refuse to re-sign once they gain that invaluable experience.

In other words, it's all a big gamble. ``If it doesn't come to pass the way I foresee it, it'll come to pass another way. In one way or another it'll come together,'' Jackson says optimistically.

That being said, Jackson would like a little more experience on next year's squad. ``We've gotta change this team. I don't think we ever want to be quite this young again.''

With the increase in salary cap, he might be able to sign a quality free agent. It's all very well and good to employ underpaid overachievers, but they are hard to find and don't win you many ball games.

``Let me tell you something,'' he says emphatically. ``In this league talent wins. Period. In your local high school league, less talented players may win. But some things have a single answer. And in this league, you gotta have talent.''

And to get talent, you gotta have money. ``Well, and sometimes you gotta get a little lucky.''

Blue Edwards, one of the 10 players under contract for next season, but one who is unlikely to return, agrees with the slow building process.

``What good is changing your team to have early success if it's not going to last?'' he says. ``We're building a successful team and we're doing it one step at a time. You know, it may take us four years before we become a winning team. But once we get to that point, we can string that out over another seven or eight years.''

The first step has been awkward and painful to watch. But maybe they're on to something.

And when the future looks bright, so does the future.

This is the final Spirit of the West column of the season.

Hustling Williams sparkles for Grizz (Toronto Star)

VANCOUVER - Name the top four scorers on the Vancouver Grizzlies since March 1. There's Shareef, Big Country and Peeler. Who's next? Greg Anthony? Nope. Blue Edwards? Is he even on the team any more? Roy Rogers? Get serious.

It's a little known power forward out of Xavier by the name of Aaron Williams. He's been up, he's been down, he's been all around the world in his quest for respect. And he's finally finding it in Vancouver.

Williams spent the 1994-95 season with the Milwaukee Bucks but saw action in only 15 games. He's also had brief stints with Utah and Denver, not to mention Greece and Italy. But it was in the CBA that Stu Jackson found a replacement for the injured George Lynch.

Williams was toiling for the Connecticut Pride, leading the league in rebounding and blocked shots, when he was signed on Jan. 29 by the talent- thin Grizzlies. He's shown steady improvement since, not to mention the strength, hustle and leaping ability that drives fans wild.

``What you find out about Aaron,'' says Jackson, ``is most times when he steps on the floor, he's either the best or the second best athlete out there. He's got some areas where he needs to improve, but, boy, he sure can make some athletic plays.''

Since March, Williams has averaged 8.4 points on 57 per cent shooting and 5.9 rebounds in only 23 minutes per contest.

Bill Fitch was so impressed after his first encounter with Williams, he asked reporters, ``Where did this guy come from? We've been looking for a big guy like him all year.''

Eddie Jones wanted him for the Lakers. ``Hopefully in the off-season somebody can make some deals and get him for us.''

While some players and coaches are just now starting to sing his praises, this 25-year-old has been impressing others of his peers for years.

Williams takes a philosophical view of his circuitous route to a regular NBA gig. ``Maybe I was meant to go through the CBA,'' he says.

While it lasts, Aaron Williams wants to continue doing all the little things that coaches and fans love. ``Right now I'm just trying to bring a little energy into the game, maybe some shot-blocking, defence, whatever the coach needs me to do. I'm more than willing to do it.''

And the Grizzlies are more than willing to let him. In fact, they could do with a few more just like him.

Spirit of the West will appear regularly throughout the NBA season.

Grizz really lovable losers (Toronto Star)

The Vancouver Grizzlies have the worst record in the National Basketball Association.

But are they the worst team? How does one judge such intangibles?

Can a team be better than its record? The Grizzlies think so. Can a team be better than its players? The Cavaliers hope so. Can a team be better than its uniforms? The Raptors know so.

To the peripheral fan, the Grizzlies clearly stink. But for those die-hard fanatics, the Grizzlies are brimming with potential and are only nine or 10 players away from a .500 record.

Even after Vancouver lost all seven games on a recent two-week road swing, and eight straight previous to that, the Vancouver faithful piled into GM Place upon their return. Mind you, this is a city that still shows up en masse to see the Canucks.

``The fact that we had lost 15 in a row and come home here to what is essentially a sellout crowd, it's just incredible,'' said coach Stu Jackson after the Bears ended the losing streak by downing Denver 108-101. ``When we start to acquire heavier artillery, this is really going to be some kind of homecourt.''

In the meantime, the Grizzlies will just keep plugging away, winning once every five games.

Actually, when you put it like that, it doesn't sound so bad compared to the 12-59 record they will carry into tonight's game against the Clippers.

Pete Chilcutt is the only Grizzly that can put this dismal season in perspective because he's the one on the squad with a championship ring. People tend to forget that he was on some pretty bad teams in his career.

``This team has enough close losses that if we had won those games we'd be as good as the (bad) teams I've been on,'' Chilcutt says. ``Sacramento was bad a couple of years. We won 25 games. And Detroit won 20 one year. There's not that much difference.''

He's got a point. But wouldn't the fans be ecstatic with such a record? That's the one mitigating factor in Vancouver's dismal record - expectations. They're not supposed to be any good.

``Twenty (wins) with the team I was on in Detroit, there was no excuse for that because we had a lot more talent,'' he says.

``You look at (the Grizzlies) and you can kind of justify the record by saying it's a second-year expansion team, we don't have the horses yet, other teams have more experience, things like that. It's all expectations.''

So how about it, Pete? Are the Grizzlies the worst team in the league?

``It sounds bad when you say it's the worst team,'' he says. ``Let's put it this way: this team has struggled the most. The other teams (I've played on) have been more established franchises. But this is a young franchise.

``You can say whatever you want to say, but I think right now the problem is we're struggling to gain an identity in this league.''

More likely, though, lack of identity is not a problem. Around the league, the Grizzlies have come to be identified as lovable losers. Real life Bad News Bears.

Defensive Rogers starring in western (Toronto Star)

When discussing the future of the Vancouver Grizzlies, the first name out of most mouths would be the Future, or Shareef Abdur-Rahim as he's more commonly known. The 20-year-old rookie has dazzled friends, fans and foes alike with his all- around ability.

Next would be Big Country, or Country as he's more commonly known. (Apparently he has a real name, but no one's ever heard it. Could be just a rumor.) The first pick in the franchise's history isn't the most athletic person in the NBA (okay, he's the least athletic), but is a legitimate low post threat.

A little further down the list you have Roy Rogers, who's not commonly known, period. But some experts say he was the steal of last summer's college draft. The 6-foot-10 Alabama product averaged only 6.4 points a game in his college career. So what's all the fuss about?

The stats are misleading, as he didn't really come into his own until his fourth year (or senior year, as Americans are wont to say), when he averaged 13.5 points, 9.3 boards and 4.9 blocks.

``He's probably the best hook shooter in this draft, and he likes to shoot it,'' scouting guru Marty Blake said.

That he does. But don't expect him to be the next Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Defence is his game. Blocks have given him his name.

``I wasn't brought here to score 20 points,'' he says. And he's right on target, having never reached the 20-point mark. ``I was brought here to defend and rebound. Make guys alter their shots, make guys aware I'm in the lane, so they pass it off instead of trying to come for the easy basket.''

But the Grizzlies weren't getting the production they would have liked from their Roy toy. He was busy proving Marty Blake right, taking every opportunity to shoot the ball. Since Stu Jackson has taken over, however, Rogers has been reminded in no uncertain terms of his responsibilities.

``Stu's made it clear what he wants me to do,'' he said before leaving for his appearance in the rookie all-star game. ``He wants me to be his power forward, rebound and defend. That's what I gotta concentrate on. We've got plenty of offence out of our two, three and five (positions), so I don't need to be jacking up shots.''

While his rebounding numbers have gone up since the intervention (to use the official Grizzlies management expression for the firing of Brian Winters), one thing that has remained constant and impressive is his shot-blocking. It's already been weeks since Rogers set a Grizzlies season record for blocks. And if they kept records for such things, no doubt he would have the record for the number of times called for goaltending, too.

Rogers isn't the physical presence Dikembe Mutombo is, but is still among the league leaders in rejections.

``Dikembe is a different kind of shot-blocker,'' he says. ``He pretty much stands there and swats 'em because his arms are so long. My blocks are more athletic, coming from the weak side, jumping over guys. Some of the shots he gets are clearly goaltending. But he has a name as a shot-blocker, so he gets away with it.''

Rogers looks forward to when he, too, might get the benefit of the doubt from the refs.

``Yeah, I do,'' he says, his eyes lighting up. ``It's coming. I've gotten away with a couple over the past few games.''

He even got the master himself, blocking a Mutombo dunk attempt in the last Grizzlies home game. But he managed to restrain himself, not giving the Hawk a return not-in-my-house finger wag.

``I don't taunt,'' he says, laughing.

No wonder nobody knows him.

But if he keeps up his impressive play of late, they will soon enough.

Spirit of the West will appear regularly throughout the NBA season.

Feistiness replaces calm at helm of the Grizzlies (Toronto Star)

Feistiness replaces calm at helm of the Grizzlies
 

Toronto Star, Spirit of the West column, January 28, 1997

VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Grizzlies have been around for what seems like longer than 1 ½ years. But it wasn’t until Friday afternoon that it really felt like the team was in the big leagues.

It took the firing of the only head coach in franchise history to achieve this feeling of belonging, but that’s what professional sports is all about, isn’t it?

Gone is Brian Winters, the soft-spoken former all-star who, it is said, couldn’t reach his players. Whether anyone can is now up to Stu Jackson, who immediately gives street credibility to the young cubs, having once coached the New York Knickerbockers. So what if his former players revolted? Some say his new ones are revolting, too, in their own sweet way.

Jackson adds the title of head coach to his already full résumé. There is some concern coaching will take away from his duties of president and general manager. Whether he will have time to continue not trading and not signing anyone remains to be seen. (They don’t call him Inaction Jackson for nothing. Okay, they don't call him that at all. But they might unless he starts bringing in players or getting the ones he has to win more than they have been.)

What Jackson offers is a feistiness heretofore unseen in these parts. And that is not, in and of itself, a good or bad thing. It is just the way he is.

“I feel very strongly that when you coach and you make a decision to lead, you have to be yourself,” he said following his first game Saturday, an 83-82 home loss to the Denver Nuggets. “That’s who I am. I hope they respond to it.”

Which is not to say quiet is wrong. Winters, too, was who he was.

Blue Edwards is largely held to be the catalyst in the firing of Winters, a charge he denies.

“The only thing I think was Brian’s fault,” he says, “was that he gave us probably too much respect. Brian would have been an excellent coach for a veteran team with guys that really want to play. With this team, maybe he wasn’t the right coach.”

For now, the game plan Winters instituted will be run – the only difference being who gets to run it. In his first game, Jackson gave considerable time to second-year guard Lawrence Moten, who had been in Winters’ doghouse since this team was born.

But Moten respected the job Winters did.

“A lot of people probably think I didn’t like him or he didn’t like me,” he says. “I got along with Brian. Brian was a very nice person. I don’t have any bad memories of him at all. I thought he was a good coach. There was not one point that I can say we didn’t get along at all. He was a very good man.”

Now all eyes will be on Jackson. One of his former players in New York describes him as energetic and smart.

“Stu’s gonna do a great job,” says Mark Jackson. “I think the main thing is he’s going to have those guys working.”

Stu Jackson hopes so, but concedes there’s only so much he can do.

“It’s not my basketball team. It’s their team,” he says. “And it’s really their decision to make who they want to be. We can be the type of team we were (against Denver), or we can be the type of team that wilts. Tonight, they decided they didn’t want to wilt. If we can continue that mentality with a fresh start, we’ll be okay.”

A fresh start and the team has finally arrived. Look out world, here come the Grizzlies.

Spirit of the West will appear regularly throughout the NBA season.

Grizzlies refusing to blame referees (Toronto Star)

VANCOUVER - Listening to the manic-depressive broadcasting crew of the Vancouver Grizzlies, a neophyte basketball fan might get the impression the Grizzlies would be 36-0 were it not for incompetent and/or biased NBA officiating.

But talk to the players and to a man they deny referees treat them any differently than any other team. Although, one never knows if these are their true feelings, given that Big Brother Stern hears all. The fear of financial retribution knows no bounds.

``I've been on bad teams before and you always think that everybody's against you,'' says forward Pete Chilcutt, who's also been on a pretty good one in Houston. ``But I don't think it's any worse than any other team I've been on. Every team I've been on always thinks the refs screw them, whether it's the Houston Rockets, the Sacramento Kings or the Grizzlies. To build a winner you gotta play through that. You gotta ignore the refs and just play your game.''

Anthony Peeler, ex of the mighty Lakers, concurs. ``I think referees do a good job,'' he says. ``You can't really depend on the referees to make your game good or bad.''

There was a play against the Kings Saturday night that typified the types of calls Vancouver fans and broadcasters alike think the Grizzlies get. Leading 93-91 with 6:13 left in the game, Vancouver swingman Blue Edwards by all accounts, save for the referee's, cleanly blocked a short jump shot by all-star guard Mitch Richmond. Richmond went on to score six points and four assists the rest of the way, while the Grizzlies went on to their 29th loss of the season.

``That was a big play, especially down the stretch,'' said Greg Anthony. ``Not only would you get the possession of the ball (if the call hadn't been made), you'd also get momentum, especially for a young team. But (Richmond) is their big-time player. He earned the right to get that call.''

And star power more than anything determines calls in the NBA. Expansion teams have fewer, if any, ``big-time'' players. At least in officials' minds.

Edwards ambiguously defends NBA refereeing. ``The officials, just like the fans or anybody else, know who players are, who good teams are,'' he says. ``I don't think they are saying, `We're going to make sure this particular team wins.' But I think there's kind of a respect factor. Teams that go out and win, teams that go out and play hard in critical situations, usually get the benefit of the doubt. And that's one of the things that, as a struggling team, you just gotta deal with. In order to get the officials on your side so you get some of those calls, just continue to play hard and don't criticize their work.''

Players know who holds the true power in the NBA. It's the men with the whistles.

``Everybody likes the power,'' Edwards continues. ``Once you have power, you tend to abuse it. Officials are the same way. They're no different. But generally, even though I criticize the officiating a lot of times, that's just part of the game for me. I think they do a good job.''

Leave it to Blue to put a reasonable doubt in your mind. As soon as the interview is over, he says with a laugh, ``Now that the tape recorder is turned off, you want my real opinion?''

Spirit of the West will appear regularly throughout the NBA season.

Grizzly talks Blue streak and reporters say thanks (Toronto Star)

Spirit of the West:

Grizzly talks Blue streak and reporters say thanks

The Toronto Star, December 31, 1996

Ask a boring question, get a boring answer. In sports, it’s an axiom that often holds true.

With Blue Edwards, however, it’s a completely different story.

Edwards is never at a loss for words. Win or lose, good performance or bad, Blue can be found in the Grizzlies locker room talking to any and everyone on any given topic long after all the other players have gone home.

So, when this reporter approached the Bears to ask for their new year’s resolutions, he wasn’t surprised to hear vague generalities on family, God and black-eyed peas. Until he headed over to Edwards.

Edwards can turn the most mundane question into thoughtful discourse.

When asked if he was the type of fellow who makes resolutions, Blue responds, “I don’t lie to myself like that. How many people do you know who make a new year’s resolution and stick with it? I’m sure there are a few, but probably 85 per cent of the people don’t.

“I know people who say, ‘I’m not gonna do this, I’m not gonna do that.’ You can do that for a month or so, but then you’re right back to your old way. Probably every day I can say I want to change something. But new year’s, I’m not going to lie to myself.”

Okay, then. If he had the willpower to stick it through for a whole year, what would he change? Never at a loss for words, the most talkative man in the NBA mulls this over before coming up with his response: “I would probably talk more.”

Pardon? Let me predict that Edwards won’t attain his goal. How could he? 1997 isn’t a leap year.

“Aside from (the media), I really don’t talk that much,” he insists. “I may walk into a room and see people that I’ve known for a long time and I may not speak to them. I guess I’m so used to being isolated, people speaking to me first. I haven’t grown out of that.”

You could say he’s a lone wolf – a lone wolf who likes to talk.

“I’m a loner,” he says. “I like being by myself. Sometimes people can be a distraction. I grew up in a town of 200 people and I’m used to being by myself.

“I think a lot of people think that I’m aloof, conceited. That’s not me at all. It’s just that when I’m walking down the street, shopping, eating, getting ready for a game, that’s what I’m doing. If you want to say hi, fine. I’m gonna say hi and go back to what I’m doing.”

All this from one uninspired question. We in the media pray that Moody Blue keeps talking.

As for me, I resolve to ask more intelligent questions in the new year. After all, not every athlete is a Blue Edwards.

Recalling one wild, wacky week in land of Grizzlies (Toronto Star)

What a strange and wonderful week for the Vancouver Grizzlies.

They saw their record rise 125 percentage points, all the way to, well, .125 for one brief and shining moment. Sure, it was only one win. But when you've lost your first seven by blowout margins, any win is cause for celebration.

Along with a near-record lack of team scoring, a franchise record for individual scoring, and a B.C. boy coming home to a thunderous ovation, the strange week continued with lightning, a solar eclipse and a snowstorm.

Sure, the storm was in Vancouver while the game was played in Seattle, but your faithful servant had to drive through it to get to the game. And the eclipse is just one of those cheap sports metaphors. But there really was honest to goodness lightning. And a thunderous ovation.

Against the Clippers, Vancouver raced out to a 20-point lead and figured the only way they could lose was through divine intervention. Bingo. During the first of two overtimes, mighty Zeus sent forth a bolt of lightning so great as to render GM Place in total darkness, save for the auxiliary lights.

But this being the NBA, the show must go on. Playing in minimal lighting, the Grizzlies got their paws Clipped 99-92 in double OT.

Not one to use darkness as an excuse, Blue Edwards said, ``It was great. It's like being on the playground at 12 o'clock at night.''

The Grizz picked up their first win of the youngish season against the likewise winless Suns, led by Victoria's own Steve Nash. With the crowd clearly behind the only Canadian on the court, it was almost like a home game for the visitors. But as then-Phoenix head coach Cotton Fitzsimmons said, ``We're not very good at home, either.''

Suns forward Robert Horry understood the fans' fascination. ``It's supposed to be like that,'' he said. ``He's Canadian. He's in his homeland. He's supposed to get some props.''

Once the game started, the terrible two combined for the second-fewest points in a second quarter in NBA history. But when all was said and done, Edwards cast a mammoth shadow over the Suns (hence the witty solar eclipse reference above) and willed his team to victory, with a Grizzlies record 34 points on 12-for-14 shooting.

Fan favorite, but seldom used, Lawrence Moten went for 20 points, including the winning three-pointer. Still, Edwards couldn't help getting in a good-natured jab at the man they call Poetry. ``We get on Moten a lot because he's the kind of guy who gets the ball and passes up a lot of shots,'' he said. ``He's gotta go through his (routine), between his legs. I'm like: `Lawrence, just catch and shoot the gol-darn ball.' Only he didn't say gol-darn. We now have a pretty good idea why they call him Blue.''

The Grizz dropped a 104-96 decision in Salt Lake City before their 10-point loss to the Sonics.

Going nine minutes without a field goal at one point, Vancouver still managed to stay close to last season's Western Conference champs. But 25 turnovers didn't help.

Edwards chalked it up to inexperience.

``Seattle is illegal every time,'' he said, referring to their supposed defensive prowess. ``All they do is double and trap everything. They want to get you to play in a hurry. If you do that, you play right into their hands.''

Vancouver has been playing into a lot of opponents' hands this year. But in this very strange week, the fans found a little ray of hope. Losing to the Clippers, Jazz and Sonics by a grand total of 25 points, the Grizzlies are showing signs of life. Throw in the three-point win over Phoenix, and they're not even the worst in the league.

Strange and wonderful, indeed.

Spirit of the West will appear regularly throughout the NBA season.