FanHouse HakimWarrick

FanHouse previews a player to watch from each NBA team in advance of the 2009-10 season.

Luc Richard Mbah a Moute is not going to set the world on fire. But he's the type of player that can provide the gasoline.

To say Mbah a Moute was under the radar last season is to vastly overestimate the strength of radar systems. Coming out of UCLA, Mbah a Moute was considered a project like so many rookies. He didn't possess the wowzer tangibles (standing only 6-8 and being listed as a power forward will do that to you), didn't stir the senses with playmaking, and was considered a good college player that he might make it with some time.

And then Mbah A Moute actually hit the floor.

Of all teams in need of a good scouting staff, the Grizzlies, who have had 10 top-six picks in 14 years of existence, are at the top of the list. The team had five amateur scouts last season (I'm not calling the scouts amateurs, they scouted amateur players). Next season, Geoff Calkins of the Memphis Commercial-Appeal reports, the team will have zero scouts. Zero.

It's an unbelievable concession, even in this economy. (Insert sad trombone sound.) The Bobcats declining to assemble a summer league squad -- that's unnerving. A team like the Grizzlies decided to detonate the entire scouting staff with the playoffs nowhere in sight? That's abominable.

Of course, given that a real estate mogul, team owner Michael Heisley, makes all the basketball decisions, maybe it's just as well.

It's been such a wild year for the Phoenix Suns that the trade deadline rumors that swirled around Amare Stoudemire almost seem like they didn't even happen. But happen they did, and the fact is that the Suns were openly trying to deal their young All-Star to anyone who would listen -- including the Memphis Grizzlies.

There were plenty of unsubstantiated rumors about where Stoudemire could possibly end up, but Memphis was apparently a legitimate possibility, at least from the Suns' standpoint. The Memphis Commercial Appeal has the details of how it all could have gone down.

Mike Conley Jr. is at the forefront of the Grizzlies' youth movement. Drafted fourth overall in the 2007 NBA Draft, he entered a team in the midst of tearing down the old roster in pursuit of rebuilding. Conley eventually worked his way into the rotation and was the featured point guard by season's end. Expectations are high for Conley to be a key factor in the Grizz turning things around in Memphis after the departure of Pau Gasol and the addition of Marc Gasol and O.J. Mayo. Conley is of vital importance as point guard in the run and gun style that Marc Iavaroni wants to implement.

I caught up with Mike the other day after his first week of practice to talk to him about becoming a leader on a young team, working the transition game, and of course, Halo 3.

MM: What's the biggest thing you learned last year?

MC: Just to be patient. People come into the league, they want to play 120%. You have to know how to play smart and fit into an NBA game. That's one big thing I learned.

Check out FanHouse's NBA Preview.

This is not a division. It is a gauntlet. A spiked, imperial gauntlet inhabited by minotaurs, pterodactyls, stone giants, warrior pygmy tribes, and other things that go bump in the night. There is no sense of "If we can just make it to .500" in this division. .500 means nothing. .500 is for the Central division.

The Southwest Division hosts two former MVPs, the MVP runner-up from last season, the reigning Sixth Man of the Year, the reigning Coach of the Year, a bazillion All-Stars, elite shooters, elite defenders, elite scorers, and Ron freaking Artest. Yeesh.

There are not headlines here. There are omens, prophecies, and obituaries.

After receiving pushback from the federal government for visa issues, Iranian center Hamed Haddadi (or Ehadadi or Hadadi, depending on the source; the league is going with "Haddadi") got permission to join the NBA, and Memphis has signed him. It's not known whether it's a guaranteed deal, based on the Grizzles' press release.

Will Haddadi help? Memphis has a weird, weird frontcourt. Marc Gasol played well but not amazing in Spain last season, and will be a rookie. Darko Milicic is ... Darko Milicic. Hakim Warrick is a livewire who will still be raw when he's a 12-year veteran. Darrell Arthur is only 20 years old, and couldn't play center in Billy Knight's dreams. And then there's that shooting guard masquerading as an occasional power forward Antoine Walker. Oodles of fun.

I don't know what Marc Iavaroni will be thinking in a month. Darko and Warrick looks right, but if I'm a Grizz fan I'm praying Gasol and Arthur develop quickly. Where does Haddadi fit into that? I imagine on "the bench" is the right answer, though we'd all love to be surprised.

B-Ball, B-Fast is a weekdaily look at last night's NBA action from a fantasy perspective. Bookmark it and visit often.

Cup of Coffee
Missed in all of this Jermaine O'Neal going somewhere else stuff floating around the NBA is that Danny Granger's having a pretty darn good season. His field goal percentage is down a little bit, but his averages across the board are all up (he's pulling in a block and a steal per game along with 18 points, six boards and two assists, roughly) yet he recorded only his third double double of the season, with 18 points and 10 rebounds. But here's the thing -- he's improving in the new year, averaging over 20 points per game with slightly increased numbers elsewhere. And he's still young too, folks, which means a big second half bump could be coming up soon. Trade for him now.

Hot Cakes
Al Horford went for another big dub-dub against the Pistons last night with 12 points and 16 boards, plus a block, and is in line for a largo second half. Rookies can hit the wall, etc., but generally it's nicer to own young guys in the second half of the season. I think Horford ends up with a 10/10 average on the season, personally.

Mark Blount will absolutely not quit. He went for 22 in the last game and now 18 and 13 against Marcus Camby. W.T.F. He doesn't have a contract coming up, but he suddenly has a legit starting job, and odds are pretty good he wants to keep it. Continue starting him, but if you get a good offer, no reason not to sell.