Gay says he never wanted out of Memphis
by Sam Amick, USA TODAY Sports
The NBA TV is harder to find for Rudy Gay since he came to Toronto, not to mention the SportsCenter highlights that the Baltimore native has been such a big part of since being shipped to Canada.
There’s the cold, the customs, and all the adjustments of international living that stars who came before him – from Tracy McGrady to Vince Carter and Chris Bosh – learned to live with. But Gay, who was traded from Memphis on Jan. 30 and has led the Raptors to a 6-2 record, five wins in a row, since his arrival, is fitting in just fine.
“I see this (Raptors team) as another Memphis,” Gay, who has hit two game-winning shots and is averaging 21.3 points per game since coming to Canada, told USA TODAY Sports by phone in a lengthy interview on Saturday. “A lot of the pieces are there.”
What isn’t there, he wanted to make clear before facing his former team for the first time in Toronto on Wednesday night, is resentment. Gay, who was drafted eighth overall by the Grizzlies in 2006 out of Connecticut, admitted that he was stunned and angered by the trade. He wanted to “see it through” before the team’s new ownership and management decided to break up what he saw as a championship-caliber core.
The Grizzlies, who are 5-3 since the trade, were 29-15 when the deal went down. But when Gay shared his frustrations by telling a Toronto sports radio station that there was “nothing” he would miss about Memphis, he knew he’d gone too far.
“Obviously that was just out of a little bit of anger,” Gay said. “There were a lot of people in Memphis and a lot of relationships I left in Memphis that I’ll always have. I’m so thankful for the city doing what they’ve done for me up until now.”
What the Grizzlies did and why, meanwhile, still doesn’t sit well with him.
THE DYNAMICS OF THE DEAL
Despite the popular narrative that this was simply a money-dump on the part of the Grizzlies as they became the latest team to fall … [For more on Rudy Gay says he never wanted out of Memphis, click here.]
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