The Old Man's Vengeance is Too Strong (Fourth Update)

The search for a center on the free-agent market had not been going smoothly. After all, there were simply very few centers capable of establishing themselves in the NBA these days.

As the general manager of a defending championship team, Chris Wallace naturally had not waited until the last minute. He had long prepared all sorts of candidate lists precisely for a situation like this.

But the list of potential interior players was rather embarrassing.

Among players registered in the NBA this season, there were only 22 centers with no more than four years of experience—not even enough to fill all 30 teams.

By comparison, there were 84 guards and 69 forwards.

And what the Grizzlies needed most right now was a center who could protect the paint after Gasol left the court.

Back when Randolph was around, Gasol did not have to play both father and mother, so his workload was not nearly as heavy. Besides, Randolph could occasionally fill in at the five, which meant Ezeli did not have such a heavy burden.

He only needed to avoid mistakes during his limited minutes to complete his task.

With such low expectations, Ezeli was perfectly serviceable.

But now that Randolph was injured and Gasol's workload had increased, Ezeli had to shoulder greater responsibility. The Grizzlies' expectations of him were no longer as simple as "don't make mistakes."

And the facts proved that Ezeli was not ready for that.

It was not as though the Grizzlies had not considered strengthening the center position over the summer, but just as now, there simply had not been any suitable targets.

Starting-caliber centers from other teams would be wasted coming to Memphis as backups. As for versatile big men, their teams would not let them go easily. So, the Grizzlies could only set