The Butler does Memphis

With the hype surrounding Yao Ming, Jay Williams, Dajuan Wagner and a few others, Caron Butler seems to have been a bit lost in the shuffle. One of his NBA comparisons is Paul Pierce. An interesting irony in the comparison is that Pierce kept tumbling on draft night until Boston finally landed him with the 10th pick.

Butler visited Memphis Wednesday for a workout. The Grizzlies had scouted him about 15 times previously. The Commercial Appeal's Ron Tillery says that Butler brings a combination of toughness and versatile talent.

He adds that Butler represents the athletic, high-scoring swingman missing on the Grizzlies' roster. What separates Butler from other highly touted small forwards, such as Duke's Mike Dunleavy Jr., is his powerful 6-7, 240-pound frame.

Tillery says the Grizzlies' brass have discounted Butler's past. His high school career in Racine, Wis., was tainted by a 15-month sentence for bringing a gun and cocaine into school. Butler spent six months in an adult prison and nine months in a juvenile detention center.

Team president Jerry West says surviving the ill streets sometimes enhances maturity. He added that, "I've always felt that kids that are able to overcome some difficulties are the ones who seem most resilient."

Via Memphis Commercial Appeal

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Wagner in Memphis today

Memphis will work out University of Memphis (sensing a theme here?) product Dejuan Wagner today, the 6-3 freshman scoring machine will not have to travel far for his workout at Rhodes College.

Joining Wagner will be guard Predrag Savovic, a Yugoslavian native who averaged 20.3 points as a senior at Hawaii, and guard J.R. Bremer who averaged 24.6 points for St. Bonaventure.

"Good shooters. (Savovic) is dead-eye," said Grizzlies director of player personnel Tony Barone. "It should be a great workout."

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Grizzlies look to Terps

With all the recent attention being on Yao Ming, Jay Williams and Mike Dunleavy the Memphis Grizzlies have turned to take a look at Maryland duo Juan Dixon and Lonny Baxter, Roland Tillery from GoMemphis reports.

"My college career is over. This is a whole different level," said Baxter. "This is the big league and I have to show everybody what I can do and what I'm made of. "College is in the past. It helps (being a national champion) but you also have to prove yourself."

And prove himself Baxter has been trying to do, more than holding his own in a workout opposite Wake Forest's Darius Songaila.

"We want to see them compete," Griz director of player personnel Tony Barone said. "It's not a matter of whether they can guard each other, it's whether they are going to bang each other at the end of a workout.”

"We were very impressed with Lonny's shooting. Darius has excellent post moves."

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