Mississippi RIVER...the USA's BEST BBQ...BEALE STREET....FED EX Headquarters....and the MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES....one of the NBA's Best..WHAT?

Sitting along the shores of the MISSISSIPPI River is a CITY and AREA known for its High School and COLLEGE BASKETBALL let alone its BBQ. It is also the WORLD HEADQUARTERS for one of the WORLD's LARGEST Mail Carriers..FED EX. But all of sudden they are becoming known for something else.....and FOLKS in San Antonio and Oklahoma City already know where I am headed.

The Surprise of the NBA Playoffs last season and a REAL THREAT to the WESTERN CONFERENCE Throne let alone the LARRY O'Brien....Look up at the SCOREBOARD and MEET the 2011-12 MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES NBA Basketball Club. They beat the SPURS in the 1st round and Put the THUNDER on the ROPES for a half a round then the GRIZZ became Tommy HEARNS and got KNOCKED OUT.

Having said all that the GRIZZLIES are so loaded with TALENT at almost every position...someone in the 2010-11 PLAYOFF Rotation is going to lose major minutes because they had the RUN without their BEST Offensive Player in BEST PLAYER Small Forward Rudy GAY.

But before you start on GAY there is that DUO of a FRONTLINE that put in MAJOR Work in WINNING TIME Last season and now they are back for encore. Power Forward Zach "Z-BO" RANDOLPH and Marc "lil SPANIARD" GASOL (the younger BROTHER of Laker Forward/Center Paul GASOL) are as good a DUO as you will see on any NBA FRONTLINE considering what they mean to their TEAMS SUCCESS.

Z-BO, of MARION INDIANA High School FAME (you remember one of the BEST BACK COURTS ever to lace them up in INDIANA High School HOOPS.... Jay EDWARDS and Lyndon JONES..that MARION INDIANA and the GENERAL Bob KNIGHT had both of them at IU BLOOMINGTON), is virtually unstoppable on the BLOCK as he showed you in the PLAYOFFS. The Only thing that has stopped Z-BO from ever getting his due is his TAG of being a ME GUY 1st through 5th and he will argue with you why he isn't the 6th either. Plus his off the COURT Indiscretions has put Z-BO under that RADAR.

The GRIZZLIES thought so HIGH of him that they extended ZACH some 4 years and $71 Million even though he had the INCIDENT of BEATING Up the GREEN MAN when he was trying to make a GREEN Delivery. For those of you at home that is COLLARDS and TURNIP GREENS....LOL.

Then along side ZACH is one of the more underrated CENTERS in the NBA in MARC GASOL who is BIGGER, MEANER, and way TOUGHER than OLDER Bro PAU. He is the perfect compliment to Z-BO because he is a TEAM GUY and an EXCELLENT Rebounder and LOW-POST Defender.

The HEAD on this monster is 4th Year POINT GUARD Mike CONLEY JR of INDIANAPOLIS LAWRENCE NORTH HS Fame by way of the OHIO STATE University. He has started to come into his own and the GRIZZLIES are happy to have this POINT as he is 75%-25% PAS to Shoot and not your typical 2k11 POINT who SHOOTS first and asks QUESTIONS LATER.

All this was put together by on the FLOOR by Coach LIONEL HOLLINS who Coaching Style and DEMEANOR fits this roster to a TEE. SPEAKING of ROSTER...let's MEET the BOYS from FED EX Forum close to MISSISSIPPI:

G OJ MAYO Got USC BASKETBALL in trouble
G Tony ALLEN HS Teammate of THRILL Will BYNUM
G Mike CONLEY JR AAU TEAMMATE ODEN and the THUNDER's DeQUAN COOK
G Jeremy PARGO younger brother of Jenero PARGO
G Xavier HENRY One and DONE at KU LAWRENCE
G Josh SELBY next in line from the CHARM CITY
G Greivis VASQUEZ teammate of KD TREY 5 in HS

F/G Sam YOUNG PITT Teammate of DeJuan BLAIR
F Darrell ARTHUR from SOUTH OAK CLIFF HS DALLAS TX same as Kenyon MARTIN
F Josh DAVIS Teammate of WYOMING PG Jason STRAIGHT who is HEAT'S EDDY CURRY's Guy
F Rudy GAY another in a long line out of the CHARM CITY
F Leon POWE the POWE SHOW in EAST BAY Oakland TECH HS
F Zach RANDOLPH 1 and DONE at SPARTY w/ Marcus TAYLOR (Both 1998 McD's ALL-AMERICANS)
F Brian SKINNER his 9th Professional Team and 8th NBA TEAM

C Marc GASOL Starting CENTER on SPAIN NATIONAL TEAM with PAU at PF

Hollins has two excellent ASSISTANTS who were fabulous POINT in the NBA in MIGHTY MOUSE Damon STOUDAMIRE and Henry BIBBY, the FATHER of MIKE BIBBY, who manned one of my favorite TEAMS of all time the 1976-77 SIXERS with DOC, CHOCOLATE THUNDER, and GEORGE McGINNIS.

Will the GRIZZLIES win all 66 GAMES...NO WAY. Will they be a FORCE to reckon with in the WESt and NBA...YES SIR. Can they beat the DALLAS MAVERICKS in a 7 GAME PLAYOFF SERIES...that's a GOOD QUESTION or the THUNDER for the fact of the matter.

No matter HOW you SLICE it....the GRIZZ is SPICIER and HOTTER than MEMPHIS RIB RUB and BBQ.