By Michael Wallace
Grind City Media
CHICAGO – Two takeaways from last night’s 113-93 breakthrough victory at FedExForum over the Milwaukee Bucks and a look-ahead to Wednesday’s Windy City showdown against the Bulls.
TAKE ONE … Parsing the Parsons ordeal
Tough, tough break for Grizzlies forward Chandler Parsons, who now officially has had a third consecutive season derailed by demoralizing knee issues.
With the Grizzlies confirming just before the start of Monday’s game against the Bucks that the biggest incoming free agent in franchise history is now out indefinitely – likely for the remainder of the season – with a partially torn meniscus in his left knee, a cloud of sorts has been lifted over both player and team.
I just feel bad for him. I can’t stress enough the amount of time the guy invests. He’s so invested, and when these setbacks happen for him, I feel terrible.
— Coach David Fizdale
“I’m just really worried about him mentally because, right now, he feels like he’s letting the team down,” coach David Fizdale said after the Grizzlies snapped a season-long, five-game losing streak. “I just feel bad for him. I can’t stress enough the amount of time the guy invests. He’s so invested, and when these setbacks happen for him, I feel terrible.”
Let’s be clear on this: Parsons has done every single thing he was asked to do – and more – in an attempt to get his body through a rigorous recovery process since the moment he signed that four-year, $94 million contract last summer. I’ve seen him drenched in sweat, dragging himself out of the team’s practice facility late at night, long after even the arena maintenance staff went home for the night.
I’ve interviewed him after rehab and treatment sessions in every arena in the league. I’ve seen him miss out on the choice offerings on the postgame food spread because rehab and treatment session often meant he was the last player to get dressed, pack a meal and get to the team bus on road trips. I’ve seen Parsons both crave the attention of teammates in lighter times when they won without him. And I’ve seen him cope with solitude when those bulky headphones insulated Parsons from the outside noise.
Parsons always cooperated this season. His troublesome knees? Ultimately, not so much. For those keeping score, that’s now two surgeries on his right knee and potentially a procedure looming on his left. The Grizzlies have spent nine months working his right knee back into working condition only to battle a stubborn deep bruise in his left that surfaced a month into the season and never got better.
The latest breakdown came a little more than a week after what was initially seen as a significant breakthrough. Parsons played in both games of his first – and only – back-to-back set of the season in consecutive losses in Dallas and Houston two weekends ago.
He then played against the Nets to complete a stretch of three games in four nights, but experienced soreness and sat out Thursday’s loss to the Clippers. Parsons returned for Saturday against Atlanta with a bulky brace under his leg tights and compression shorts. He ditched the brace in the second half.
Parsons, 28, has started all 34 games he’s played this season but has averaged season lows in scoring, assists, rebounds, shooting percentage and minutes. Parsons and the team are working together to evaluate recovery options for the left knee issue. It’s an unfortunate and cruel anniversary. This current setback comes exactly a year after Parsons underwent season-ending arthroscopic surgery to repair a meniscus issue in his right knee on March 25 while with the Dallas Mavericks.
If there’s a silver lining in the short term, it’s that Fizdale and the team no longer face the challenge of shuffling and re-shuffling the rotation around the uncertainties of Parsons’ predicament. Memphis is 18-16 in games Parsons has played this season.
The long-term hope is Parsons can get healthy and return reasonably close to the form when he emerged as one of the most versatile, young wing players in the league a few years ago. At one point, other teams had similar hopes with similar talents in Brandon Roy, Michael Redd and Rashard Lewis.
The reality is that the Grizzlies have a ton of money and cap space tied up on Parsons and now essentially have three seasons to get $94 million of reasonable production out of the investment.
TAKE TWO … Half-Man, Still Fully Amazing
Move over Randy Johnson and George Foreman.
Vince Carter also continues to make history at a young man’s game while thriving in his 40s. Carter added to his future Hall of Fame portfolio with a perfect game of his own when he made all eight of his shots, including six three-point attempts, for a season-high 24 points in the win against the Bucks.
Carter surpassed John Stockton to become the oldest player in NBA history to make at least five treys in a game, and he also became just the sixth player to score 20 at the age of 40. In fact, Carter has done it three times this season, with the previous two times coming off the bench. Vince has been doing it in vintage fashion, too, mixing in a few highlight-reel dunks with a bunch of three-point daggers.
Considering the developments with Parsons this season, Carter’s emergence into the starting lineup couldn’t have come at a better time for the Grizzlies. In beating the Bucks, Memphis (37-30) snapped its longest streak of the season, one that included four straight setbacks by double-digit margins. The Grizzlies had not been hammered in such repeated fashion over four games since 2009.
In hindsight, it made all the sense in the world to turn to Carter while in such a tough spot at small forward. No one on the team – and arguably no other player in the league – has thrived in as many situations as Carter over a career that has spanned 19 NBA seasons. He’s been a superstar, a starter, a role player, a max player and an end-of-the-bench guy. There’s not a circumstance he hasn’t faced.
“Really, this was all about us looking into the mirror and saying, ‘We’ve got to fix this,’” Carter said. “We have to get out of our own way and our own heads and make the game easier for each other. We talked about just playing harder, playing selfless. I just wanted to bring me to the table and do what I do.”
Fizdale has one clear choice at this point. Let Carter continue to do what he does – as a starter. Johnson pitched a perfect game in his 40s. Foreman recaptured a world heavyweight title at 45. Can Carter be the sparkplug to help get the Grizzlies’ season back on track at this stage and age?
He’d bet his social security check on it.
WHAT’S NEXT … Bulls playing from similar script?
The Grizzlies aren’t the only team feeling a bit better about themselves after snapping a five-game losing streak in hopes of recovering from their toughest stretch of the season. The Bulls not only ended their own skid in Monday’s victory in Charlotte, they did so by also falling in line behind their oldest player.
After Dwyane Wade challenged Chicago’s veterans to “get into the fight” and salvage their playoff hopes, the Bulls got a combined 66 points, 22 assists and 14 rebounds from Wade, All-Star Jimmy Butler and Rajon Rondo in arguably their best collective performance in a controversial season for Chicago.
Also like Memphis, Chicago tweaked its starting lineup and reinserted Rondo as the primary point guard for the first time in three months. Because Wade didn’t make the trip to Memphis for the Bulls’ victory in January, Wednesday will mark the first time he has faced his former assistant coach in Fizdale. The two spent the past eight years together in Miami, which included two championship seasons.
“It felt good,” Wade told Chicago reporters of the move to get Rondo back in the starting lineup alongside Wade and Butler. “Just the pace that Rondo has brought to our team, it’s just been good. That’s what we’re rolling with. We came in rolling like that; we’re going to go out rolling line that.”
The Bulls (32-35) fell out of the postseason picture while on their recent slide and are one of six teams realistically competing for one of the final three seeds in the East playoff race. When the Grizzlies visit the Bulls on Wednesday, one squad is guaranteed to stumble back on hard times.
The other, meanwhile, can say it is starting to streak in the right direction after consecutive victories.
The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Memphis Grizzlies. All opinions expressed by Michael Wallace are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Memphis Grizzlies or its Basketball Operations staff, owners, parent companies, partners or sponsors. His sources are not known to the Memphis Grizzlies and he has no special access to information beyond the access and privileges that go along with being an NBA accredited member of the media.