So here we go for the Grizzlies again -- it's draft lottery time on Tuesday in Secaucus, N.J. Last year, the Grizzlies had the most lottery balls and ended up with the fourth pick. This year after losing a coin toss with Minnesota, the Grizzlies have the fourth-most lottery balls.

The Grizzlies will own two first-round picks -- their own, which is a lottery selection, and the Los Angeles Lakers' pick, which will be 28th overall. The Grizzlies' second-round selection goes to Portland to satisfy a 2006 draft-day trade that landed F Alexander Johnson.

Grizzlies' majority owner Michael Heisley desperately wants to land one of the top two picks.

"You look at Cleveland and New Orleans and how they've become successful through the draft," Heisley said. "It's awful hard to get there by paying large amounts of money for free agents who are toward the ends of their careers. We have decided that the way to get there is to build the nucleus. You can use free agents to fill a spot or two but not to create a superstar. The point is that the core of this team is made up of people we primarily picked up in the draft."

If the Grizzlies got lucky at No. 1 or No. 2, it would decide between University of Memphis point guard Derrick Rose and Kansas State power forward Michael Beasley, the two best freshmen in college basketball last year.

Grizzlies general manager Chris Wallace agrees with Heisley that he'd like to build through the draft.

"You're not ruling out the possibility of winning on a short-term basis, but you're building toward the future," Wallace said. "I don't think we're necessarily starting over as a team. We only moved one (major) player (Pau Gasol). It's going to be a couple of years before we reach our peak, but I expect us to get better and better over the next few years."

SEASON HIGHLIGHT
On Dec. 19 in an 88-85 victory over the Spurs, Rudy Gay announced to the rest of the league that he might be the league's Most Improved Player. After the Grizzlies blew a 23-point lead, Gay hit a game-winning three-pointer over Tim Duncan. The play wasn't even set up for Gay, but first option Mike Miller was guarded. Gay fired from 27 feet. "You've always got questions when you take a shot like that, but it felt good, and that's all you can say," Gay said.

TURNING POINT
When the Grizzlies hit a stretch in December when they lost 12 of 14 games, it didn't seem like that even with a healthy Pau Gasol that nothing was getting done. Gasol was struggling to adapt to the new running offense, he wasn't getting enough touches and it became clear to management that they needed to start fresh. That meant Gasol, as the player with the most trade value, would be dealt.

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