Seems as though making the Grizzlies a better defensive team isn’t just lip service.

The process requires adding defensive-minded players and the Griz plan to bolster its attack without the ball by adding swingman Quinton Ross.

Ross, 27, is a quality (and fortunate) pick-up given he earned a reputation as someone who can effectively defend the likes of Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady over the past four seasons with the Los Angeles Clippers. Ross became expendable once the Clippers opted to gain more offense by acquiring Ricky Davis.

His age means he’s mature yet not an old veteran that clashes with the youth movement. Albeit somewhat of an offensive liability, Ross’ versatility could give the Griz a steady backup to Rudy Gay at small forward and at shooting guard when O.J. Mayo needs rest.

The signing is expected to become official tomorrow. It’s a minimum, non-guaranteed deal that means Ross must first earn a roster spot and avoid being cut at several key dates to remain the rest of the season.

This seems like a low risk, high reward proposition.

HADDADI MAY BE TARDY

Hamed Haddadi, the Iranian center Memphis signed as a free agent, may not be with the team Tuesday when it opens training camp. Haddadi still hasn’t been officially cleared to travel to the U.S.

“We’re still working through immigration,” Griz general manager Chris Wallace said. “Hopefully, his approval will come soon enough to get him into camp. But there’s a possibility that might swing over a few days into camp.

Haddadi, 23, led all Olympians in rebounding and blocks during pool play. The 7-2, 254-pound center signed at least a two-year deal that will pay him a little more than $1 million in this season. He will become the first Iranian to play in the NBA.

One of the routine conversations I’ve had with old school NBA players turned coaches has to do with the lack of fire in today’s generation of players. In Memphis, the Griz have hardly employed teams that battled in practice. Scraping, clawing, elbowing, pushing, shoving and fighting – something called ‘competing’ in practice back in the day – seems to be lost in today’s world of guaranteed contracts and coddled athletes.

At least, that’s what real veterans of the game convey.

Sure, the Griz have had their share of knuckleheads through the years. But the idea of fighting for a job as if a player’s livelihood depends on it is something that hasn’t been part of the culture with the Grizzlies.

I suspect that’s about to change after recently watching informal workouts/pick-up games. For the first time in Memphis Grizzlies history – and I’m the only beat writer the team has worked with – a fiery, healthy, competitive spirit is evident AND we’re talking about practice.

We’re talking about practice, y’all.

When rookie guard O.J. Mayo is absolutely angry and unapproachable when his team loses a pick-up game…

When Mayo challenges 7-footer Darko Milicic and the pair needs to be separated (without incident) by teammates…

When Rudy Gay is backing up his all-out play by admonishing some teammates and verbally sparing with others…

When Kyle Lowry and Javaris Crittenton joust every play…

When Mayo is passionately challenging his teammates to continue a postgame, conditioning drill and is bitterly disappointed when his plea is met with avoidance…

When a few fights nearly break out yet there is harmony when the session is over…

When we’re talking ‘bout practice…

…it’s likely that this may not only be the Grizzlies’ most youthful training camp but also it’s most spirited. I’m not talking about disharmony or potential cancerous situations. These scenes were all in the spirit of competition.

I must say it’s refreshing. Competing in practice and not dogging it for fear of getting hurt or shown up by a less coveted player can only lead to a team collectively “getting after it” when the lights come on.

Evident, too, is that even the veteran players may have a difficult time suppressing Gay, Mayo and Lowry’s apparent desire to lead.

Chris Dortch, who runs the Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, passed on his preseason top-25:

1. North Carolina
2. Pittsburgh
3. Notre Dame
4. UCLA
5. Connecticut
6. Oklahoma
7. Louisville
8. Duke
9. Tennessee
10. Texas
11. Memphis
12. Purdue
13. Michigan State
14. Miami
15. Arizona State
16. Baylor
17. Kansas
18. Marquette
19. Saint Mary’s
20. Syracuse
21. Gonzaga
22. Villanova
23. Southern Cal
24. Wisconsin
25. Washington

What do you guys think? If I am an AP top-25 voter again this year (I haven’t heard from the AP on that yet), I’ll be inclined not to rank Pitt and Notre Dame quite that high, though I think they are legitimate top-10 teams. Oklahoma is a sleeper Final 4 team, but I don’t know if I can rank them that high in the preseason. I think Louisville an UConn are a little bit under-ranked here. Gonzaga is definitely under-ranked.

Still don’t have a sense of where I’ll rank Memphis in the preseason. I think Dortch’s guess is as good as any, given what we know right now.

Tournament officials made the right call cancelling Saturday’s Big Cat Quest catfishing event on the Mississippi River.

I was on Mud Island Monday afternoon, and the river’s just not looking good right now. High water and swift currents are making it less than safe, and a nasty foam on the surface is making it less than scenic.

If a bunch of out-of-towners are going to visit the Memphis portions of the river, I’d rather them come when the water looks a little less soupy.

I’m still hearing Oct. 11 as a possible new date for the tournament.

I’ll keep you posted.

In the meantime, two big catfishing events are scheduled for other areas.

The Cabela’s King Kat Classic will be held Friday and Saturday on the Ohio River. Then on Oct. 4, the World Championship of Catfishing will be held on Pickwick Lake.

Good luck to the many local teams we’ll have in both events.

I hate writing too much about pickup games because they’re unsupervised and somewhat disorganized. No structure, no refs, too much arguing. But you can get a basic sense of how players are progressing and where they stand with their games, especially now that they’ve had limited interaction with the coaches since school started. My impressions of this team are very abstract at this point, but I’ll give you a few things that stand out to me less than month before the start of practice:

- Robert Dozier is finally starting to do some things that will make him a pro prospect. He’s dunking the ball when he gets within five feet of the rim, and he’s shooting it well from the outside. Will he do the same thing in games?

- I’m now of the opinion that Antonio Anderson should not play point guard. It’s not a position that will play to his strengths, nor will it play to the team’s strength. Though his assist-to-turnover ratio has always been very good, I don’t think he’s a strong enough distributor to run the point for this team. His game is putting it on the floor and making layups.

- Willie Kemp looked very good and appears to have spent a lot of time on skill development. This is a make-or-break year for his career, in my view. He looks better physically, so I think the biggest hurdle will be mental.

- Pierre Niles also was impressive. He’s obviously a better player right now than he has been at any time since coming to Memphis. The preseason camp will be crucial to defining exactly what his role will be with this team.

- If Calipari can get Tyreke Evans to focus all his effort on making layups, not fadeaway jumpers, he’ll be fantastic. He still needs to get used to playing at a fast pace, an adjustment most freshmen must make.

- Wesley Witherspoon needs to gain some strength, and badly. He is wonderfully skilled and moves around the court so well, but he doesn’t finish the way he needs to finish.

- Angel Garcia could not handle Shawn Taggart at all, on either end of the court. Not sure if that’s because of how much Taggart has improved (and he does look like a better, stronger player now than he did last year) or how far Garcia has to go.

- I’ll add to the chorus of folks out there who are impressed by Roburt Sallie’s shooting. He has a really, really quick release and doesn’t seem to need to have his feet set in a stand-still position to make a shot. I see him doing a lot of damage in the Tigers offense as a trailing guard in 3-on-2 situations.

- C.J. Henry didn’t play; he’s still suffering from a foot injury. Jeff Robinson also sat out; he got some stitches over the weekend.

The Bass Pro Shops Big Cat Quest Tournament scheduled for Saturday in Memphis has been postponed due to dangerous water conditions on the Mississippi River.

I just spoke with tournament director Ken Freeman, and he said the large chunks of floating debris on the river were the main reason he elected to call off the event.

“We’ve heard reports of trees floating on the river that are half as big as a car,” Freeman said. “Those are dangerous conditions, especially when you have anglers coming from out of town who may not know the river very well.”

The Mississippi River was at minus-1.3 feet on the Memphis gauge earlier this week, but the river is expected to jump to 10.9 feet by Saturday due to recent heavy rains in Illinois.

Such an influx of water almost always brings heavy debris donstream, making the river unsafe for boaters.

It’s often the stuff you can’t see - the debris floating just beneath the surface - that causes the most trouble.

“A lot of people called us and said they really wanted to fish,” Freeman said. “But some of them were coming in smaller boats, and they just didn’t feel comfortable about the situation.

“The Mississippi River can be a scary place even when everything’s normal. Under these conditions, it’s really not safe for anyone.”

Though a new date has not been firmly set, Freeman said Oct. 11 is a possibility.

Visit the Big Cat Quest web site for scheduling updates.

Tiger fans looking for mid-season help from running back T.J. Pitts likely will be disappointed.

Since the preseason, Tiger coach Tommy West hasn’t wavered on his assessment of the junior tailback, who was the team’s leading returning rusher. Pitts, as most are aware, broke his ankle in the New Orleans Bowl and has had to undergo three separate surgeries.

While he’s been at practices and working out aggressively on his own, Pitts has not been been involved in contact drills. He spent this week working on an intense cone drill that involved numerous starts, stops and cuts.

West told me this week that his experience with players who have had similar injuries is that they require nearly a year to fully recover.

So the bulk of the running game — which is averaging 144 yards — will be left to junior college transfer Curtis Steele (55 yards-per-game average) and University of Miami transfer Charlie Jones (35 ypg). Jones rushed for 47 yards on seven attempts last weekend at Marshall.

And 5-8, 188-pound junior Brandon Washington remains intriguing. He’s got the ability to break away and has emerged as the team’s No. 3 back. Against Nicholls State, he may get more than the two carries he’s received the past two games.