According to Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal, the discussions regarding a deal centered on the Pacers acquiring Grizzlies guard OJ Mayo in a sign-and-trade for free agent forward Josh McRoberts have ceased. Memphis officials have told OJ to stop worrying about what he hears in the media; he isn’t going anywhere.
Proposed Mayo-McRoberts deal is officially dead, source tells the CA. Mayo told this morning that he won’t be traded anywhere.
Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star has confirmed.
Memphis has decided not to trade guard OJ Mayo, according to sources.
We don’t know why the talks ended. Perhaps Larry Bird pulled out because he has found another deal he likes better that we have yet to hear about? (Jamal Crawford?) Perhaps Bird was playing too much hard ball, demanding that Memphis takes back Brandon Rush. Or, as Tillery mentions, perhaps it had to do with the Grizzlies now seeing Mayo as a little less expendable after some recent injuries have cut into their guard depth.
Mayo decision comes as X[avier] Henry sits out of practice today due to sprained right ankle. S[am] Young also hasnt practiced due to ankle injury
Stuff like that could matter more in a 66-game schedule, so it may indeed be a factor.
As for the former Carmel High School standout, Tillery thinks he is now headed to Los Angeles.
Griz looking at signing McRoberts as UFA but McRoberts likely to take more money, bigger role from Lakers
If this is the case, it begs the question of why McRoberts wasn’t just headed to Los Angeles this whole time. Seems like a better situation and, ya know, everyone wants to go there these days. Guess he thought Memphis — the team or the town — could have been a good fit. Either way, it would be nice to see how he can fit into the Lakers front court.
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What About McBob?
by Jared Wade on December 20, 2011 at 8:33 pm · 1 comment
I agree with Josh McRoberts: “McBob” is a stupid nickname.
My main contention with that lame moniker has always been that “Bob” is short for the first name Robert while McRoberts is a last name. And since McRoberts is a surname, and presumably the Irish version of “Roberts,” it makes little sense to shorten it. It’s basically like calling Deron Williams “Billy.” Why would you ever do that?
Even if you felt that all these semantics shouldn’t preclude the use of what you erroneously consider to be a clever nickname, there is no logic in not calling him “McBobs.” McRoberts is plural so the nickname, if you were to use it, would also have to be pluralized. Of course, calling someone “McBobs” is even dumber than calling someone “McBob,” but I don’t see why the distinction would ever be great enough for a person to rationalize the usage of “McBob.”
Lastly, McRoberts is a pretty dope name in and of itself. Combined with a strong, one-syllable male name like Josh, it’s even better. Josh McRoberts. It’s just a good name. And people with top-shelf names don’t need nicknames. Perhaps if you come up with something that is just too good not to use, it can supersede the original strong name. Like, yeah, if I was an acquaintance of Cedric Maxwell’s, I would go out of my way to call him “Cornbread” even though Cedric Maxwell is one of the better names any NBA player has ever had. Whereas if someone tried to get me to refer to Zaza Pachulia as “The Z-Man” instead of by Zaza, I would not be friends with that person. In fact, I might consider framing that man for a crime.
Worse still is a real-world example. Once upon a time, some other dumbass blogger (I forget which, but let’s just blame it on that Rob Mahoney character) launched a campaign to find a nickname for Rodrigue Beaubois. Are you serious? Why you ever call a guy named Rodrigue Beaubois something other than Rodrigue Beaubois? I think the most popular suggestion was “Roddy Buckets.” If you call him Roddy Buckets instead of Rodrigue Beaubois (or, OK, Roddy Beaubois), you ought not be allowed to vote.
The lesson: people are the worst.
Related Topics: Cedric Maxwell, Josh McRoberts, Rodrigue Beaubois, Zaza Pachulia
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