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When you've had three coaches in three seasons, all the plays, sets and terminology can blur together. So Thursday night, Bobcats center Emeka Okafor asked for a tutorial.
He called assistant coach Dave Hanners with questions about the system Larry Brown runs. Two-and-a-half hours later they finished, with Okafor far more comfortable with just what they have him doing in a variety of situations.
Late in the first quarter and early in the second, Brown experimented with Jared Dudley at power forward. With Hakim Warrick – also undersized at power forward – in the game for the Grizzlies, you can get away with 6-foot-7 Dudley at that position.
Brown needs to find minutes for Dudley, and Jermareo Davidson and Ryan Hollins didn't exactly shine in training camp.
At halftime, the Grizzlies ran a promotion in which everyone in the arena could aim a paper airline at a target at mid-court. Land the plane on the target and you received a free airline ticket.
Reminded me a lot of the Bobcats' shooting these first two exhibitions – nothing close enough to roll in.
FedEx Forum was pretty empty Friday, and that was a surprise to no one; up the street, Memphis was playing a nationally televised college football game against Louisville.
