O.J. Mayo

It has been two years since Mayo's suspension, which means he is eligible now to apply for reinstatement. Given the agreement between the NBA and FIBA to respect each other's suspensions, Mayo has barely played in that time, save for a 21 game stint with Bayamon in Puerto Rico, for whom he averaged 13.4 points, 3.9 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.1 steals on 39% shooting in 21 games. Mayo's career was spluttering even before the suspension, having put up his best seasons all before 2013; now having turned 30, he does not exactly have momentum behind him. But what Mayo does have is a reputation for talent that, even though he never truly capitalised on it in his first eight years, might still prove tempting to someone who imagines they can tap into his as-yet largely untapped talent resource.

Atlanta’s bizarre insistence on keeping Jerry Stackhouse all year has pushed them into the tax territory, despite sorely needing better point guard play and size to offset the loss of/compliment a healthy Al Horford. Meanwhile, Memphis also has on-court needs to fill as Jeremy Pargo has struggled mightily at backup point guard and the team also ranks amongst the league’s worst in three point shooting percentage.

The Grizzlies are good, but they are built weirdly. Huge amounts of money are invested in a frontcourt that is not up for sale, point guard Mike Conley also pulls in an entirely justified $8 million a year, and his backcourt teammate Tony Allen is too valuable to be expendable (while also being a large part of why the team has shooting problems). In terms of contracts for trade assets, they have scant little, particularly when they also need to be concurrently dumping salary. The perennially available O.J. Mayo is perennially available, and perennially sought over, but he’s also the team’s only shooter, even if he is also their only significant trade asset. The formerly valuable Sam Young is now out of the rotation due to his defensive rotations. A salary dump of him would sort out the luxury tax issue, but Memphis needs to be buying as well.

[...] The choice of Jackson over the other candidates was deliberate, and only slightly motivated by cost. Andre Iguodala is better at small forward, ball dominant, not nearly as good of a shooter as he thinks he is, and not nearly the calibre of half-court creator he so desperately wants to be.²⁶ A backcourt of Derrick Rose and Monta Ellis cannot stop anybody, and while it would thrive in the open court, it effectively mitigates itself in the half court. J.R. Smith can't be trusted, and was once traded by the Bulls for Adrian Griffin and Aaron Gray, which is no endorsement at all. Anthony Parker is no longer starting calibre. Michael Heisley has seemingly made the cost of acquiring O.J. Mayo unnecessarily prohibitive, particularly for one so average. Jason Richardson no longer wants to dribble, defend, or do anything much to get open without the ball. Vince Carter is emphatically done. Denver should (or ought) match a full MLE deal to Arron Afflalo. Courtney Lee won't come for anything less than Omer Asik, which is not a deal worth making. The Daniel Gibson, Jamal Crawford and Leandro Barbosa-types would be most useful, but only as hard-to-acquire backups. And Richard Hamilton is.......well, no.

[...] The moves seem to predicate, if not necessitate, O.J. Mayo moving to part-time point guard. I am not convinced of Mayo's ability to do this, but it should at least be a defensive improvement; Henry is a good defensive player, and Mayo should benefit from a size advantage rather than a disadvantage. However, the pairing doesn't figure to do much for Memphis's lack of discipline on the court; the team has plenty of offensive firepower, but just don't play that smart, due in large part to mediocre point guard play. Mayo does not look to be the controlled half-court unselfish and effective point guard that the team needs.