Source: Lorenzen Wright Found Dead in Southeast Memphis

[ChampKind]

That sucks. I don't have any particular feelings for or against Lorenzen Wright, but that just sucks. I hope there was nothing shady going on..and I hope it wasn't suicide.

He was reportedly shot a dozen times. Seems like it was personal rather than random.

[Celtics4ever]

BTW, its extremely unlikely that one does shoot oneself 12 times with a suicide.  Rest in peace, I always thought he had good game and wanted him in green too.   

[tenn_smoothie]

Terrible news.  The Memphis police really need to crack down on violence in that city; it's becoming an epidemic.

Very true Mr Hobbs. I wonder if it's better or worse than Chicago. I still can't fathom Tony Allen in that environment. He needs to avoid his old hangouts and friends in Chicago and places like Memphis with a similar culture. Granted you can find that in any major metropolitan area but there are certainly cities where it's more prevalent. I was under the impression Memphis was one of these. As well as Chicago.

memphis always has been a cesspool of crime - east tennessee pretty much looks at that area as another state - of course, i wonder how many people in boston heard about the horrible crime down here in knoxville from three years ago, the christian/newsom murders - the racially bias national media kept that story quiet. the ringleader of those savages was from memphis.

[Change]

Terrible news.  The Memphis police really need to crack down on violence in that city; it's becoming an epidemic.

Very true Mr Hobbs. I wonder if it's better or worse than Chicago. I still can't fathom Tony Allen in that environment. He needs to avoid his old hangouts and friends in Chicago and places like Memphis with a similar culture. Granted you can find that in any major metropolitan area but there are certainly cities where it's more prevalent. I was under the impression Memphis was one of these. As well as Chicago.

memphis always has been a cesspool of crime - east tennessee pretty much looks at that area as another state - of course, i wonder how many people in boston heard about the horrible crime down here in knoxville from three years ago, the christian/newsom murders - the racially bias national media kept that story quiet. the ringleader of those savages was from memphis.

Thanks in advance for all the future nightmares. This was beyond vicious. life without parole was too light of a sentence in my opinion. They took the life of 2 innocent young adults, nothing short of death sentence should have been given. By the way, Location has nothing to do with the crime. Its human that commit those criminals. A rational thinking beings would never afflict harm on another being no mater Age, Race, Religion, gender..........

[Papatrichs]

RIP Lorenzen. Prayers go out to your family.

[ACF]

Rest in peace.

[marseye]

omg, Rest In Peace Wright ,   
it so so sad, i'm ..
RIP

[jpd985]

RIP Mr. Wright

[CelticHooligan3]

Teamsmoothie I had not heard about those murders. Reading the wiki article it's obvious why. Chilling to say the least. I wouldn't even call them savages. More like animals.

[Jon Niednagel]

RIP Lorenzen.

Living here in Memphis, and reading some of the comments, I feel somewhat obligated now to defend it. I'm a New Englander (born and raised) and will always conceptualize myself as such, but I have had to live in a lot of places around the US. When I moved here (Memphis) in 2006, my wife and I hated it. We felt alienated and different, and it took a while to get used to living in the South. All we could see initially were the cultural differences, the crime, the racial tension, the economic divide, and so forth. After my first year of postdoctoral fellowship in Memphis (2007) I had had an 18-month-old boy and my wife was about to give birth to our second child. We were convinced that this was not the place we were going to raise our kids after I was done with the fellowship. I remember telling this to a peer who had a daughter about the same age as my son and he said something like, "Memphis grows on you. You hate it at first, but at some point in time you begin to love it and never want to leave. " I thought he was nuts. Now after having lived here four years I see he couldn't be more right. Once you get past the surface crud, Memphis has all these wonderful pearls just waiting to be discovered. There is a large community of highly educated, progressive thinking, compassionate folks here that want to make a difference in the city. Furthermore, once you get to know the city you see how very rich it is in the arts, history, culture, dining, and entertainment for both children and adults. Also, these activities are more accessible and affordable than in any other city I have lived in. Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of places that are harsh here, and there are clearly things that need to be addressed and improved. I, for one, will never understand the politics down here; however, this city has a lot to offer, and in some ways, more than other cities I have lived. So please don’t make up your mind to quickly on Memphis.

Lorenzen was a Memphis kid who went to Memphis State and then played for the Memphis Grizzlies. He is a hero in this town, and the whole city misses him terribly. Deepest sympathies to his family and friends.

[CelticHooligan3]

My comments were about the other killings down there that teamsmoothie brought up. Not the city itself. Just to clarify my thoughts. That being said, do you think it's good for a player such as Tony Allen to go from a city like Boston to a city like Memphis? He seemed pretty emersed in the Chicago gang culture. But seemed to put that behind him while he was here. From an NBA perspective Memphis has a lot of vice like attributes that can be major selling points to a player. Mainly clubs and strip clubs. There's actually a few cities known to lure free agents in this way. But I just see it as a regression in Tonys transformation and can't help but be concerned for his future down there. That's all. Nothing against Memphis itself.

[Redz]

My comments were about the other killings down there that teamsmoothie brought up. Not the city itself. Just to clarify my thoughts. That being said, do you think it's good for a player such as Tony Allen to go from a city like Boston to a city like Memphis? He seemed pretty emersed in the Chicago gang culture. But seemed to put that behind him while he was here. From an NBA perspective Memphis has a lot of vice like attributes that can be major selling points to a player. Mainly clubs and strip clubs. There's actually a few cities known to lure free agents in this way. But I just see it as a regression in Tonys transformation and can't help but be concerned for his future down there. That's all. Nothing against Memphis itself.

Nothing against Memphis, just its attributes?

That's like telling a person you like them, just not the way they are.

[ChampKind]

My comments were about the other killings down there that teamsmoothie brought up. Not the city itself. Just to clarify my thoughts. That being said, do you think it's good for a player such as Tony Allen to go from a city like Boston to a city like Memphis? He seemed pretty emersed in the Chicago gang culture. But seemed to put that behind him while he was here. From an NBA perspective Memphis has a lot of vice like attributes that can be major selling points to a player. Mainly clubs and strip clubs. There's actually a few cities known to lure free agents in this way. But I just see it as a regression in Tonys transformation and can't help but be concerned for his future down there. That's all. Nothing against Memphis itself.

Every city has these attributes you're talking about. If Tony wants to find trouble, he can do it anywhere. Stephen Jackson found trouble repeatedly in Indianapolis, then somehow cleaned up in places like San Francisco and Charlotte, places with worse reputations and more opportunities for "vice like attributes."

Memphis has crime issues, but I wouldn't worry about Tony too much strictly based on location. I think you are reading too much into this.

[Yakmanev]

A big part of Memphis' problem was with it's leaders. I don't see how Willie Herrington kept getting elected out there-one of the most corrupt mayors in the country.

I go when the Celtics play the Grizzlies, the area around the FedEx Forum is pretty well taken care of along with Beale Street etc; but you don't have to go very far to get into the bad areas.

I'm glad I can avoid Memphis all-together when going to Tunica which I surprised Antoine Walker doesn't owe his firstborn to.

[misha]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=adande_ja&page=Wright-100729

Check out how many bad things happened to members of  1996-97 Clippers team. Very strange.

RIP