HoopsHype.com Rumors

Williams-Webb’s client list includes the N.B.A. players Rudy Gay and Brandon Bass and the N.F.L. player Donte Whitner and the former player James Hardy. She spends her days shopping, meeting with designers and hunting for extra-long pants and size 14 shoes. It is all a long way from her years working in retail in Midtown Manhattan. New York Times

Boston Celtics, Toronto Raptors, Rudy Gay, Brandon Bass 

An NBA source says Gay has required contact lenses for years, but has refused to wear them, and could not get comfortable with goggles this season. Since his biggest problem is his shooting, maybe there is a medical way to turn him into the all-star Colangelo desires. When you’re trying to hit threes, it helps if the rim appears in focus. National Post

Toronto Raptors, Rudy Gay 

Eric Smith: Colangelo says after meeting with the players at the exit interviews, it's clear the guys really look ta Gay and DD as the face(s). Twitter @Eric__Smith

Toronto Raptors, Rudy Gay, DeMar DeRozan 

Back to the Rudy Gay trade: Were you informed every step of the way? Or did you just generally know this was happening? Lionel Hollins: Of course, of course. People made it seem like I didn't know, or that I was upset. I wasn't upset. Somebody asked me a question: "Would you want to do the trade or not?" And I said I would not. But I also voiced that to management before the trade was even made, because they asked me. They asked about the specific package — Davis and Prince? Lionel Hollins: Oh, yeah. On every package. Grantland

Memphis Grizzlies, Toronto Raptors, Trade, Rudy Gay, Lionel Hollins 

The team had Sunday off following back-to-back games but come Monday morning, Gay was back on the court for practice and while he didn’t take part in the full thing, he did participate. “Rudy went through practice today, what he could,” Casey said, “and his back is loosening up so there is going to be no talk about shutting him down. He will be a day-to-day thing and he’s going to see how his back responds to therapy, working hard to keep it loose. He wants to continue to play and we are going to allow him to.” Toronto Sun

Toronto Raptors, Rudy Gay, Injuries 

Asked afterwards about the talk of him being shut down for the year, Gay seemed to be suggesting it was all a misunderstanding. “That’s just talk. That’s just talk,” Gay said of the myriad of breathless reports which went from ‘Could be shut down’ to ‘Will be shut down’ depending on where you happened to be looking. “The only way I’m going to get shut down is if the doctors tell me I need to stop playing,” Gay said. “I’ve been forced out before and that’s not something I look forward to again.” Toronto Sun

Toronto Raptors, Rudy Gay, Injuries 

Mike Ganter: That talk about shutting down Rudy Gay was a little premature. Gay says he has no plans to be shut down unless doctors tell him he can't go. Twitter @Mike_Ganter

Toronto Raptors, Rudy Gay, Injuries 

Rudy Gay on Saturday missed his third game this month with back problems, and Toronto Raptors coach Dwane Casey said he assumes the organization will discuss shutting the team's leading scorer down. Gay was getting therapy Saturday, and Casey said any decision could be based on how he responds to that. "I would say that it's something that will be talked about sooner rather than later," Casey said. ESPN.com

Toronto Raptors, Rudy Gay, Injuries 

Strange though it may seem that one of the Western Conference's best teams could trade its longtime leading scorer and manage to improve, that has been the case since the Jan. 30 deal that sent Gay to Toronto and brought back veteran small forward Tayshaun Prince and young players Ed Davis and Austin Daye. "I think we're a better team, man," Grizzlies All-Star forward Zach Randolph told USA TODAY Sports. "You're (getting) the whole team playing one way, and guys sticking to what they do and playing together, playing for each other and playing defense and playing inside-out basketball. It's a lot better – a better mindset – playing like that. USA Today Sports

Memphis Grizzlies, Toronto Raptors, Trade, Rudy Gay, Zach Randolph 

"(Swapping Gay for Prince) took a little pressure off," Gasol said. "Sometimes when you have so many options offensively, you try to keep everybody happy – 'now it's your turn, now it's my turn,' and it's your-turn-my-turn type of basketball. Teams kind of load up (defensively) on that and do that. It was hard to get in a flow as a team. "(Adding Prince) changed the dynamics. We have a different team, and I think we did a great job of coming together. We could've laid down, but that's not who we are. That's not what we do." USA Today Sports

Memphis Grizzlies, Toronto Raptors, Trade, Rudy Gay, Marc Gasol 

"When it first happened, everybody was down about it, especially because Rudy was like a brother to us. It was difficult at first. You wouldn't think it would be this way now, but it is." USA Today Sports

Memphis Grizzlies, Toronto Raptors, Trade, Rudy Gay 

Tony Allen: Well, I just think we turned into the team that we were two years ago, without the guy that we traded. Obviously, we’ve made some additions, but for the most part we’re the same team from that 2010-11 season (...) Just Grit and Grind, in and out basketball. Everybody playing hard, playing together. HoopsWorld

Memphis Grizzlies, Toronto Raptors, Trade, Rudy Gay, Tony Allen 

Rudy Gay is playing hurt these days. The Raptors marquee acquisition at the trade deadline continues to struggle with back problems which first surfaced March 1 in a game against the Indiana Pacers. He has since sat out two games but even after a night off it’s been having an effect on him. “Your back is such a big part of what you do,” Raptors head coach Dwane Casey said. “Shooting the ball, handling the ball, definitely defensively, getting down into the stance.” Toronto Sun

Toronto Raptors, Rudy Gay, Injuries 

Casey can’t say how much of a factor the back issues have been in Gay’s spotty shooting of late (he’s shooting just 36.7% in March), but he does know it has had an effect. “I’m sure it does (bother him),” Casey said, “but you’ll have to ask him how much it does restrict him, how much it does take away form his movement and his shooting. I do notice he hasn’t been himself since he’s had the back issues the night we played Milwaukee.” Toronto Sun

Toronto Raptors, Rudy Gay, Injuries 

When asked why the Memphis Grizzlies have been playing better in recent weeks, Tony Allen had this to say: "Well, I just think we turned into the team that we were two years ago, without the guy that we traded. Obviously, we've made some additions, but for the most part we're the same team from that 2010-11 season. Just Grit and Grind, in and out basketball. Everybody playing hard, playing together." Sulia

Memphis Grizzlies, Trade, Rudy Gay, Tony Allen 

The struggling Raptors appear to believe in Gay. General manager Bryan Colangelo already views him as the face of the franchise, and a source said he will likely offer a contract extension in the offseason. Toronto is in need of star power since the departure of Chris Bosh and the demise of Andrea Bargnani, the former No. 1 draft pick. Attempts will be made to move Bargnani this summer for a proven scoring post player, sources said. Yahoo! Sports

Toronto Raptors, Rudy Gay 

Rudy Gay says the Memphis Grizzlies' new ownership didn't give him a shot to prove he was worth a multi-million dollar investment before it traded him in a three-team deal to the Toronto Raptors in January. "You have to give me a chance to see if I'm worth that," Gay told Yahoo! Sports. Yahoo! Sports

Memphis Grizzlies, Toronto Raptors, Rudy Gay 

After Robert Pera bought the Grizzlies last offseason, Gay's name often came up in trade conversations. Gay quietly had an intuition he would be dealt. "With [new management], I don't think anybody's comfortable," Gay said. "They're rookie owners. They come in there and they want it their own way, and you can't blame them for that. But it's a player's league." Yahoo! Sports

Memphis Grizzlies, Toronto Raptors, Rudy Gay 

"I needed a change," Gay said of the trade. "I needed a new situation. A new task. I needed a new task with something I could grasp, something I could take over. I need to be challenged. I was challenged in Memphis, but it was tug of war at times. Here I'm being challenged and they're seeing what I'm made of." Yahoo! Sports

Memphis Grizzlies, Toronto Raptors, Rudy Gay 

I think we all understand the basic reasoning for the Rudy Gay trade and that you have more flexibility going forward. But can you explain the reasoning behind the Cleveland trade in the context of the trade that followed? Hollinger: One thing I think a lot of people don’t understand is that we still were facing a potential luxury tax hit even with the Rudy trade we made, because of certain incentive deals in our player contracts. So even though all those little charts on the Web had us $4 million and change into the tax, in reality our potential liability was about $6 million. Because of that, it was inevitable that another deal also had to be made in addition to a Rudy deal. Also, there was a fairly important chess element to this — we were able to improve our leverage in the second deal by being under the tax, because beforehand people were demanding a premium for all the money they’d be saving us. The basketball offers for Rudy got better once we’d done this. NBA.com

Cleveland Cavaliers, Memphis Grizzlies, Trade, Rudy Gay