Veteran guard Tony Allen appeared to be the odd man out of the Grizzlies’ bench rotation. But he jumped back in Wednesday night in the second half of a 106-91 loss to the Dallas Mavericks. Allen’s minutes have been as up and down as his play since the regular season began. But the Grizzlies’ free-agent acquisition from the offseason said he is satisfied with his role. “I’m just here ready to play whenever my number is called,” Allen said. “I come every day and prepare myself to play.” — Memphis Commercial Appeal

A source familiar with the situation said the Grizzlies would look to settle with Zach Randolph on a three-year deal in the neighborhood of $40 million. The source also said Memphis wouldn’t rule out a front-loaded contract that declined each year. The Griz are free to negotiate with Randolph throughout the season. Conversely, Marc Gasol is prohibited from negotiating a contract until after this season because his original deal wasn’t longer than three years. — Memphis Commercial Appeal

The Grizzlies have not yet offered Zach Randolph a deal. Therefore, no discussions have taken place about securing his future in Memphis. The 29-year-old enters tonight’s game against Dallas after amassing 23 points and 20 rebounds Monday in a 109-99 win over Phoenix. Randolph is averaging 18.3 points and 15 rebounds (with three double-doubles) in three games after missing the previous four contests because of a bruised tailbone. He is in the final year of a deal that pays him $17.3 million this season. Randolph would become an unrestricted free agent next summer if no deal is reached. That means he could leave without the Griz having the ability to match any offers he’d receive. “We’re staying in touch but there’s nothing new to report,” Griz general manager Chris Wallace said when asked if there was any progress with Randolph’s contract situation. — Memphis Commercial Appeal

Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins is looking for something out of his bench. At this point, it’s safe to say that anything from the Griz reserves would be much appreciated. “We need good defense from the bench. We need them to execute offensively. We need them to be able to stay on the floor and maintain or increase a lead,” Hollins said. “I need to know what they’re going to do every time I put them in the game. So we need consistency. Who do I need it from? Every one of them.” Entering Monday’s game against the Phoenix Suns, the Griz reserves were being outscored an average 37.3-18.6 points per game. — Memphis Commercial Appeal

Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins and assistant Johnny Davis will not be with the team for a road game Friday against the Phoenix Suns. They will instead be in Portland, paying their final respects to former teammate Maurice Lucas, who died Sunday at age 58 after a long battle with bladder cancer. Hollins and Davis teamed with Lucas on the 1977 NBA champion Portland Trail Blazers squad. They agreed that their bond was like family. Hollins and Davis will attend the family’s private funeral Friday while assistant coach David Joerger guides the Griz against the Suns. — Memphis Commercial Appeal

Mike Conley’s message to skeptics wondering if he can keep this up after three up-and-down NBA seasons? “I forget the past very quickly. I’m all about what I’m doing right now,” Conley said. “This year is different for me. I’m a different player. This year is going to be a big year for me and the Memphis Grizzlies. Now, I know that they believe in me. They trust me. I believe I belong and they believe that too.”

Jerry West is a believer of Grizzlies lottery pick Hasheem Thabeet. Why? “He’s going to be in this league, like it or not, 10-14 years. He’s going to be in this league that long. He’s young and how many guys can block shots like he does in this league? Dwight Howard. If people are going to give up on him then they’re crazy. He’s got a skill. People that rebound in college rebound in the NBA. People that block shots in college block shots in the NBA.” — Memphis Commercial Appeal

When Jerry West says he watches every Grizzlies game, he talks in a high-pitched voice and with unbridled passion. “I watch more Grizzlies games than Lakers games,” West said. “It’s very important to me that they win. I’m a fan.” West used to be the Grizzlies’ president of basketball operations. He served Memphis in that role for five years, ending in 2007. — Memphis Commercial Appeal

Memphis averaged 20 points off the bench last season — the lowest of any team in the league. The Griz are counting on Acie Law to provide stability behind Mike Conley at point guard. Rookie Xavier Henry and second-year guard Sam Young will be counted on to score while free-agent swingman Tony Allen and center Hasheem Thabeet’s development are expected to bolster the defense. “Tony is always encouraging people to go hard. He’s a great team player, and we need that,” said reserve power forward Darrell Arthur, who is 100 percent healthy after an injury-plagued 2009-10 season. — Memphis Commercial Appeal

The Griz have not entered negotiations for a contract extension with Mike Conley and have no imminent plans to do so. Conley, 22, was the fourth overall pick in the 2007 NBA draft, and he reacted with indifference. “My focus is me coming out with a chip on my shoulder regardless of whether I’m signed or not,” Conley said. “I’m going to play as if I was somebody working to get a contract and help make this a winning team. If we win and I do my job, then I’ll get signed eventually, from whomever.” The Griz have until Nov. 1 to make a deal with Conley on an extension. Conley will earn $4.9 million this season, the final year of his rookie-scale contract. If the sides don’t reach an agreement by the deadline, Conley would become a restricted free agent next summer. That is, if the Griz extend a one-year, $6.5 million qualifying offer by June 30. — Memphis Commercial Appeal

As much as Zach Randolph’s agent, Raymond Brothers, tried to engage the Griz in contract talks, there was no movement. Randolph, 29, said he wants to finish his career in Memphis. The Griz appear to be taking a wait-and-see approach before deciding whether to commit to Randolph long term. — Memphis Commercial Appeal

NBA veteran forward Kenny Thomas, a 6-7 power forward, will work out for the Grizzlies Wednesday morning in FedExForum, a team official confirmed. Thomas played for Sacramento last season and is auditioning for the Grizzlies’ 15th and final roster spot. NBA teams can carry a maximum 15 players during the regular season. — Memphis Commercial Appeal

Marc Gasol, entering the third and final year of his deal, will join All-Star forward Zach Randolph and fourth-year guard Mike Conley as Grizzlies whose contract situations will be a subplot to the season. Randolph and Conley are looking for contract extensions. Gasol can only strengthen the idea that he is due a big raise from the $3.48 million he’ll earn this season. Under rules of the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement, Gasol isn’t eligible to negotiate an extension this season. Gasol’s deal expires June 30, 2011, when he becomes a restricted free agent. The Griz will have a right to match any offers Gasol receives. Memphis can pay Gasol the most money and own the right of first refusal – the exact hammer the Griz held over Rudy Gay this summer. — Memphis Commercial Appeal

The mother of slain former NBA player Lorenzen Wright is asking the public to contribute to a reward fund to help find her son’s killer. Deborah Marion’s goal is to raise $100,000 to coax those who are reluctant to provide information. “I am totally frustrated that nothing is happening,” she said Wednesday. “You know, the police are working as hard as they can, but they’re not getting anywhere.” Marion had a message for those who know something about her son’s death: “Please open your mouth. Put yourself in his six kids’ shoes. They are without a daddy. … Wright, 34, was found dead July 28 in a field near Winchester and Hacks Cross in Southeast Memphis. His death was ruled a homicide by gunshot wound. Law enforcement officials are still interviewing people in cities outside of Memphis and following all leads, said Memphis Police Director Larry Godwin. — Memphis Commercial Appeal

A stalemate between the Grizzlies and their first-round draft picks has ended with the team agreeing to remove performance-based bonuses in its contract offers. Xavier Henry and Greivis Vasquez agreed in principle to deals Wednesday night through their respective agents. Both players will sign contracts worth 120 percent of the NBA’s rookie salary scale designated for their draft positions. The Griz had offered 100 percent of the rookie salaries with an added 20 percent tied to performance clauses. Team owner Michael Heisley changed his stance after a recent meeting with league officials, who detailed the spirit of the collective bargaining agreement with regard to rookie contracts. “As far as I’m concerned, I’m happy the issue has been resolved,” Heisley said. “There’s no question I’m doing what I should have probably done earlier.” — Memphis Commercial Appeal

What Deborah Marion — mother of former NBA player Lorenzen Wright — is desperate for, she says, are answers. And they’re too slow in coming. The funeral is over. The media circus has abated. She is left with only heartache. “It’s like he was erased and everybody forgot all about him,” she said Thursday. Her throat catches. She wants to hear more than standard assurances from detectives that “we’re working on it.” “They haven’t got it solved, but they can tell me something to let me know that they’re really doing something,” she said. The mystery of who shot her son is tearing her to pieces. “I’m not forgetting about my baby, and I ain’t gonna let anybody else forget about him either,” she said. — Memphis Commercial Appeal

Memphis Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley took to the airwaves to defend his team’s stance in the protracted contract negotiations of first-round pick Xavier Henry, and, well, he sounded defensive all right. In a live interview with Chris Vernon on 730 Fox Sports in Memphis, Heisley abrasively made the case for his decision to hold off on signing Henry unless the Kansas product agrees to fairly unprecedented performance-based incentives. When Vernon asked why Heisley is taking a stand with Henry’s contract despite giving maximum rookie-scale contracts to 2009 draft picks Hasheem Thabeet and DeMarre Carroll, Heisley answered that he just found out about the rule allowing negotiation in rookie contracts this summer when employees in the Grizzlies’ front office made him aware of it. “I’ve never seen the collective bargaining agreement,” Heisley said. “Would you sit down and read it?” Vernon answered in the affirmative; I imagine many Grizzlies fans listening at home have indeed read the CBA. And they don’t own $250-million NBA franchises. — Fanhouse

Wendy Wilson, who said she was Lorenzen Wright’s former assistant, said she has been slandered since the day Wright’s body was found, according to WMC-TV Memphis. “This is asinine,” Wilson said. “It’s really going to hurt them and not me.” Wilson filed lawsuits against three people in Chancery Court Thursday. She said her comments about Wright’s death have resulted in a barrage of media misconceptions. “It’s going to stop here,” Wilson said. Wilson’s troubles began when she showed up at the crime scene the day Wright’s body was found and suggested investigators should question Wright’s ex-wife, Sherra Wright. “I mean, she saw him last,” Wilson said. “The stories have changed. She went to bed at 10, woke up at 11, he wasn’t there. I mean, what is really going on?” Wilson said within days, radio talk show host Thaddeus Matthews gave his listeners her cell phone number. “He used means of intimidation via large airwaves and had people call and threaten me and put me in a bad light,” Wilson said. “And all I did was tell the truth.” Matthews admitted he gave out Wilson’s number. “To me, her lawsuit is frivolous,” Matthews said. “And all I’d tell her to do is bring it on.” Wilson is suing Gail Mathes, Sherra Wright’s divorce attorney, for $2.5 million for comments she made. She is also suing Commercial Appeal columnist Geoff Calkins for $1.5 million for what he has written about her. Wilson said her personal knowledge of Wright’s relationship with his ex-wife has helped with the investigation.

The Grizzlies have fielded several trade offers from teams looking to acquire the rights to unsigned rookie Xavier Henry — interest mostly derived from a contract stalemate between the team and the NBA’s 12th overall draft pick. But Griz owner Michael Heisley insisted Wednesday that the team is only interested in signing Henry to a deal that will have him play in FedExForum this season. “I’m not looking to trade him just to trade him,” Heisley said. “I’m not angry with him. I expect him to play. He’s going to have an opportunity to play a lot, and we need him. So my reaction to this is I’m expecting we’ll get something done and he’ll play for us this season.” Teams can pay players between 80 and 120 percent of an amount set by the league’s rookie scale. The Griz have offered Henry 100 percent of that salary with the extra 20 percent tied to performance-based bonuses. — Memphis Commercial Appeal

Memphis Grizzlies general manager Chris Wallace said Wednesday night that the team intends to sign former Texas A&M point guard Acie Law. Wallace, who attended the public memorial service for Lorenzen Wright on Wednesday at FedExForum, said the Griz hope to complete a deal with Law, the Aggies’ third-leading career scorer, in the coming days. “We’ve been in discussions with Acie’s representatives and hope to enter into a contract with him soon,” Wallace said. — Memphis Commercial Appeal

His murder is still unsolved, but Wednesday, friends, family and the community will say goodbye to Lorenzen Wright. His basketball jersey number 42 is on the marquis in the main lobby at FedEx Forum, where Wright’s funeral and memorial service will be held.  The Grizzlies owner, the City and County Mayors, even a couple of Wright’s children are on the program to speak Wednesday. Doors open at noon, the service starts at 1 pm.  There will be free parking in the Toyota Parking Garage. Seating and parking are first come first serve. It’s the first time the Forum has been used for a service like this.  Greg Campbell is President of Business Operations for the Memphis Grizzlies, Wright’s former team. “He played for the original team in Memphis, he was a big part of the playoff runs that we had 3 years in a row and he’s still family, still a part of the team as far as we’re concerned,” said Campbell. — Eyewitness News Memphis