First, some back story, because the Pau Gasol trade is way more interesting than Bryant Reeves and it's related, I swear.
San Antonio All-World coach Greg Poppovich said the following in 2009 about the 2008 trade that sent Pau Gasol from a floundering Memphis Grizzlies teams to the Kobe Bryant led LA Lakers:
"Pau Gasol changed the landscape of basketball in the NBA, as far as the west is concerned, and championship caliber basketball. He's a great player, perhaps the most versatile big man in the league right now, and it makes them really, really good."And he was right. In three full seasons after the departure of Shaq from LA following a 2004 NBA Finals loss to the upstart Pistons, Kobe was able to score the second most points ever in a single game (81 against the Raptors in 2007), but he wasn't able to bring the Lakers out of the first round of the playoffs. Just a half-season after the seven foot Spaniard came to Tinseltown in February 08, the Lakers were back in the Finals, where they lost to Boston's Big Three Party of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. KG and the Truth are now on the Nets (yay) and Ray Allen is on the Heat, because the 2013-14 NBA season is going to be bananas. B-A-N-A-N-A-S. Anyway, the Lakers followed that loss up with back-to-back titles in 09 and 10.
The Lakers paid next to nothing for Gasol, giving up the signing rights to a fat foreign center, the expiring carcass - err, contract - of Kwame Brown, a retired Aaaron McKie, Javaris Crittenton (currently on trial for murder; no..seriously) and draft picks that became Dante Green (out of the league) and Greivis Vasquez (ok,so he ended up being a solid NBA guard).
That's right, a retired Aaron Mckie. Well, not collect social security retired - dude was only 35 - and not even retired from the NBA - he was an assistant coach with the Sixers. In order to make the Gasol trade work under the salary cap, the Lakers needed to sign Mckie, whose rights they owned, and ship him to the Grizzlies. For his troubles, Mckie made $750,000 to sign a contract (I'm assuming it was a paper contract, the iPad wasn't out yet) and never play in a game. Mckie would re-join the Sixers coaching staff in the offseason.
Poppovich was so incensed about the newly formed super team in his conference and their seemingly shady dealings that he called for the Association to have a trade committee to prevent such deals. Speaking of good ole Popp...
"Please," he said with a sarcastic eye roll. "Please."
That was Popp in 2009, when asked if the trade seemed a little less lopsided because that fat foregin center included in the deal was shaping up to be a decent NBA player. In fact, since 2009, that Grizzlies player has turned into a 2013 Second Team All-NBA Center. He is, of course, Marc Gasol, Pau's kid brother.
Which brings us, finally, to Bryant "Big Country" Reeves or the Bizzaro Marc Gasol. Both are big, plodding, starting centers for the Grizzlies, but other than that they couldn't be more different:
-The Grizzlies selected Big Country with the first ever pick in franchise history, 6th overall in 1995. Gasol was taken in the second round of the 2007 draft, 47th overall.
-Bryant grew up in Gans, Oklahoma, population 312. Gasol grew up in Madrid, Spain, population 1.6 million.
-Bryant was a Two-Time All-American at Oklahoma State. Gasol went to high school in Memphis (because of Pau), but never played collegiate ball.
-Despite being as American as American-Pie induced diabetes, Bryant's tenure with the Grizzlies was in Vancouver, British Columbia. Spanish national Gasol mans the paint for the Grizzlies of Memphis, Tennessee.
-Reeves career was done after six seasons. Marc Gasol is entering his sixth season and his career is just taking off.
-Reeves' weight went up in the NBA. Gasol's went down.
-Reeves' expansion Grizzlies never made the playoffs and never won more than 23 games in a season. Gasol's teams have made three out of five playoff appearances, have increased their win total in each successive season since Gasol arrived in Memphis and started that tenure with 24 wins, one more than the most Reeves ever won.
But before we rag on Big Country too much, he did have an iconic nickname and had a few decent years in the league, which is more than you can say for some other big men taken even higher than Reeves in the 90s (* glares at Michael Olowokandi *). Now he's a 300 something pound cattle-rancher in Oklahama and the subject of one of Buzzfeed's 2,347,568 listicles. On to the mix tape!
The mix starts with draft day and a doughy, ginormous Reeves shaking Commissioner David Stern's hand, followed by media interviews with "#50 Big Country" on the scoreboard in the background. The mix is mostly what you would expect, Big Country with his back to the basket backing down smaller, often white, centers, before taking short turn around jumpers.
There are some put-back dunks, like my personal favorite shown from different angles at (0:24) and (1:57). Mike Bibby misses a three and Reeves posterizes the T-Wolves big man trying to box him out for the follow-up dunk. Standing a few feet away from the rim is current Brooklyn Net Kevin Garnett, the man taking by the Wolves one spot ahead of Reeves in the 1995 NBA Draft. So close, Vancouver, so close.
The other takeaway moment comes at (0:40), when a close-up shows a doofy, self satisfied smile on Reeves' face after making a layup that is reminiscent of Sloth from the Goonies. An underrated part of the mix, at least to me, is the Grizzlies homecourt at General Motors Place. Maybe I just spent too many of my formative years in the '90s, but I really like the non-painted paint, surrounded by the teal filling out to three and whatever shed of red that is at the circle. Not to mention the old Grizzlies logo at center court.
Speaking of Grizzlies courts, last Christmas you had the opportunity to buy the Vancouver Grizzlies practice court on Craigslist for $13,000, apparently. So there's that.
As for the music, it's an instrumental hip-hop track from little known producer Anno Domini. Probably best not to have any hip-hop lyrics in a Big Country Mix, unless you are going for intentional comedy, of course.
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