Grizzlies Game notes: Miller, Lowry must play waiting game
Fittingly or not, veteran Mike Miller and second-year point guard Kyle Lowry sat next to each other in the visitors' locker room Tuesday night before the Grizzlies took on the Seattle SuperSonics.
They may be a package deal by the weekend.
Trade winds blew strongly as the NBA resumed its schedule following All-Star weekend. The league's trade deadline is Thursday afternoon, and Miller and Lowry figure prominently in speculation suggesting that the Griz could move them as a combo.
Denver and the Los Angeles Clippers, who the Griz face tonight in the Staples Center, are the teams reportedly making a serious push for Miller and Lowry's services.
However, no deals were imminent. The Griz have officially rejected at least five sane offers for Miller and they were not close to consummating anything with the 14 squads interested in Lowry, according to a team insider.
Meanwhile, the Grizzlies' most-wanted were trying to block out the noise heard annually at the trade deadline.
"I don't worry about it," Lowry said. "It's my agent's job to worry about it. My job is to go out there and play for the Grizzlies. I'm too young to worry about getting traded."
According to Yahoo.com, the Clippers' attempt to acquire Miller and Lowry was with a package that included Sam Cassell and Aaron Williams.
"You always wonder. But at the same time, there's nothing I can do about it," Miller said. "I just keep myself ready. My loyalty is here. I'm going to try to win games here until they tell me otherwise."
Entering Tuesday's action, Miller was averaging 21.2 points, 7.3 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game on 52 percent shooting from 3-point range in the Grizzlies' 14 wins. The team was 0-22 with Miller scoring fewer than 17 points.
Lowry ranks third among NBA sophomore in assists (3.6 per game), trailing Portland's Brandon Roy and Boston's Rajon Rondo.
Tip-in
The Griz had a full complement of players for their first game following the All-Star break. That was more than they could say for a practice that was scheduled for Monday evening in Seattle. Although some players and coaches arrived on time from different places, the team's charter flight was delayed leaving Memphis. Mechanical problems held up the plane carrying roughly 20 people associated with the team. The plane arrived in Seattle too late to conduct a workout.
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