Western Notes: Speights, Paul, Gasol, Grizzlies

Reserve Clippers center and former Warriors backup Marreese Speights believes his current team needs to learn some lessons from its blowout loss to Golden State on Wednesday, Bill Oram of the Orange County Register reports. Speights ripped the Clippers for whining about calls and implored them to play more unselfishly, Oram continues. Speights explained that the Warriors coaching staff felt the Clippers would fold if “you hit them a couple times” and they lived up to that reputation, Oram adds. “First we need to start really just leaving the refs alone,” Speights told Oram and other media members. “Guys just got to sacrifice, do some other things than scoring, do some other things than your personal goals. Just try something new. They’ve been doing it here for four or five years and it hasn’t been working, so it’s time to try something new.”

In other news around the Western Conference:
  • Clippers guard Chris Paul believes it’s feasible that he will team up with LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony at some point, he revealed in a radio interview that was relayed by SI.com. In an Open Run podcast, said “anything’s possible” and added that they work out together at times during the offseason. Paul can opt out of his contract after this season, while James and Anthony can opt out of the final year of their contracts after the 2017/18 season.
  • Pau Gasol nearly signed with the Spurs in 2014 before choosing the Bulls, according to Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express Nets. Gasol felt Chicago “underperformed” in his two seasons there before he opted out of the final year of his contract and chose the Spurs this summer. He was also heavy recruited by ex-Bulls coach and current Timberwolves coach and president of basketball operations, Tom Thibodeau, McDonald continues. Gasol turned down bigger money — two years and $36MM — to sign with San Antonio for two years and $31.6MM, McDonald adds. “I think a player like that, he’s looking for an opportunity to be part of a championship team,” Thibodeau told McDonald.
  • Rookies point guards Andrew Harrison and Wade Baldwin are doing a respectable job replacing injured Mike Conley for the Grizzlies, Ronald Tillery of the Memphis  Commercial Appeal writes. Their decision-making can be frustrating to the coaching staff at times and Harrison’s outside shot has been inconsistent but overall, coach David Fitzdale is pleased with the way they’ve performed, Tillery adds. “I’ve got to live with what these younger guys are doing on the court whether it’s good or bad,” Fizdale told Tillery. “In the long run, it’s going to help us. At the end of the year, they won’t be as young anymore.”
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