According to ESPN's Chris Broussard, the Charlotte Bobcats are going to interview Grizzlies assistant Dave Joerger on Friday for their head coaching vacancy. Joerger, who has spent 5 seasons with the Grizzlies, has essentially been given a majority of the credit for being our defensive architect, having spent time as our defensive coordinator, prior to being named the head assistant coach. It would certainly be a tough loss for the Grizzlies, but it's a well-deserved opportunity for a talent like Joerger.

Also being interviewed are St. John's assistant Mike Dunlap and, yup, Orlando Magic assistant Patrick Ewing. Something tells me he and Michael Jordan will get along quite well!

I know we've done our best to make the case for Chris Wallace as the 2012 NBA Executive of the Year, but, unfortunately today we learned that he not only didn't win the award, he finished 9th overall in voting. Now, I actually went on record and voted for Larry Bird in our SB Nation end of the season awards piece, and seeing as Bird took home the award I'm not all that shocked in his winning, but really I think it's safe to say that Wallace probably deserved to finish better than 9th, just one vote ahead of David Kahn. I mean, seriously.

Again, congratulations to Larry Bird, who I think deserved the award, but little respect for Wallace who did a fantastic job at making the necessary moves for a Grizzlies team that ultimately turned in its best winning percentage in franchise history.

Voting results>>>

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The season is over, the Memphis Grizzlies are off "golfing" somewhere, as the story goes, and we're now left to let the summer drag out with plenty of rationalization, reason and, more importantly, speculation.

It appears as if the Grizzlies are open and willing to make a major move this offseason, as long as it doesn't mean "starting over." You won't find them shipping off both Zach Randolph and Rudy Gay for future pieces. They're going at it over the next 4-5 years (and beyond?), and one, if not both of those players are going to be a part of the equation. Now, is it possible that they move one of them? Absolutely. Is it also possible that they let O.J. Mayo walk? Most definitely. But for now it's going to be a period of deep reflection for Chris Wallace, Lionel Hollins and company.

The Mayo saga will be an interesting one. There was a point where it seemed as if he had played his way out of Memphis, warranting a contract far too rich for our taste. And seeing as the team has done everything in its power to try and move him over the last few seasons, it's not as if they're going to dig deep and pay for him to stay. That said, he didn't do himself any favors during the playoffs. In Games 3-7 he averaged just 5 points per game, shooting 6-of-34 from the floor. That from a scoring guard off the bench, a player who received 6th Man of the Year votes. He did not help his cause. So, should the price be right... but, to be honest, this is the NBA. Meaning, someone is going to dig deep into their pockets (the Brooklyn Nets?) and give him far too much money. I imagine.And Mayo has already indicated that he's looking beyond, with his "I want to play point guard" quote.

Now, as for Rudy Gay...

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Yeah, that about sums it up. Clippers-Grizzlies, in a photo.

via SportsGrid

[Update: via @CJzero, here is the color version, via @TBJ]

With the Grizzlies eliminated from the playoffs yesterday, in what was just an awful Game 7 performance, I'm still not quite ready to come out of hibernation but I am curious. Now that the Clippers have advanced to play the Spurs in the second round, where do most Grizzlies fans turn to? Do you root for the Clippers, as a tip of the cap to the team who took us out, or will you root for the Spurs to get "revenge" on a Clippers team that knocked us out?

Or, do you root for someone else? Or, hell, no one! I can't seem to figure it out. I mean, I'm going to watch at the very least 90 percent of the remaining minutes of the playoffs, I can tell you that, but I'm not quite sure if I need a rooting interest or even if I can stomach having one. Just wanted to see where you guys fell in line.

Now that the Grizzlies have been eliminated from the playoffs by the LA Clippers – which, let’s face it, we thought might happen the way it did, given how closely matched the teams were before the series even started – we can look back at the entire lockout-condensed slog that was the 2011–12 season and try to find the narrative of the overall season.

After last year’s playoff run ended one 3OT game short of the Western Conference Finals, this year’s team was saddled with expectations of a repeat, and the once-lowly Memphis Grizzlies were expected to do big things. Everyone was coming back: Zach Randolph, Marc Gasol, Mike Conley, OJ Mayo, Tony Allen, Darrell Arthur, Grievis Vasquez. The whole squad was coming back and they were going to…

…well, they weren’t going to play at all, it appeared for a while. The season was going to be cancelled. We got to see Mike and Zach playing in a charity game in Indianapolis. Rudy Gay hosted a charity game in Memphis where Kevin Durant and LeBron James showed up. But it looked like the season was gone.

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