PF/C Pau Gasol was one of the best players in Grizzlies’ history.  Gasol’s best season for the Grizzlies came back in 2005-06.  Gasol played in 80 games (all starts) for the Grizzlies in 2005-06 and he averaged 39.2 minutes, 20.4 points, 8.9 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 1.9 blocked shots per game.  He played in 476 games (470 starts) in his seven years with the Grizzlies and he averaged 35.5 minutes, 18.8 points, 8.6 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.8 blocked shots per game.  Gasol is still the Grizzlies’ all-time leader in offensive rebounds (1,200), total rebounds (4,096), blocked shots (877) and points scored (8,966).  He is also #2 in games played (476) and he’s #2 in defensive rebounds (2,896) in Grizzlies’ history.  On February 1st, 2008, the Grizzlies dealt Gasol along with a 2nd round pick in 2010 (Devin Ebanks) to the Los Angeles Lakers for Marc Gasol, Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton, a 1st round pick in 2008 (Donte Greene) and a 1st round pick in 2010 (Greivis Vasquez).

In 2000, the Vancouver Grizzlies selected power forward Stromile Swift with the #2 overall pick of the NBA Draft.  He played in 441 games (92 starts) in his seven years with the Grizzlies and he averaged 20.4 minutes, 8.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, 0.6 assists and 1.4 blocked shots per game.  Swift’s best season for the Grizzlies came back in 2001-02, which was the first year than they played in Memphis.  Swift played in 68 games (14 starts) for the Grizzlies in 2001-02, in which he averaged 26.5 minutes, 11.8 points, 6.3 rebounds, 0.7 assists and 1.7 blocked shots per game.  Swift is still #3 in games played (441) in Grizzlies’ history.  He is also #8 in offensive rebounds (748), #9 in defensive rebounds (1,380), #8 in total rebounds (2,128), #8 in steals (307) and #2 in blocked shots (607) in Grizzlies’ history.

Jason “White Chocolate” Williams was a solid point guard in his brief time with the Grizzlies.  He played in 195 games in his five years with the Grizzlies and he averaged 29,9 minutes, 11.5 points, 2.3 rebounds, 7.0 assists and 1.3 steals per game.  Williams is still the all-time leader in assists for the Grizzlies with 2,069 of them.  He is also #2 in three point shots made (500) and #5 in steals (372) in Grizzlies’ history.  Williams wasn’t with the Grizzlies for a long time, but he made his mark.

Forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim was one of the best Grizzlies’ in team history but he never played a game in Memphis.  He played in 375 games (366 starts) in his five years with the Vancouver Grizzlies and he averaged 38.0 minutes, 20.8 points, 8.2 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.0 blocked shot per game.  Abdur-Rahim is #2 in Grizzlies’ history in points scored with 7,801 of them.  He is also #5 in games played (375), #6 in assists (1,081), #2 in rebounds (3,070), #3 in steals (416) and he’s #4 in blocked shots (374) in Grizzlies’ history.  It’s too bad that the fans of Memphis never got to see Abdur-Rahim play because he was a darn good basketball player.

Former center Bryant “Big Country” Reeves never made it to Memphis to play but he is all over the team’s record books due to his time in Vancouver. Reeves played in 395 games (341 starts) in his career with the Grizzlies and he averaged 30.6 minutes, 12.5 points, 6.9 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game. He is #4 all-time in games played (395), #4 in minutes played (12,071), #3 in rebounds (2,745), #5 in blocked shots (302) and #4 in points scored (4,945) in Grizzlies’ history. Hopefully the Grizzlies keep the young bunch of players they have now together for a while so they can bump Reeves down on a few of these lists.