I agree with a lot of what you're saying, but this is a blatant mis-quote on your part. The "let's not get it twisted" part was followed up by, "I will do whatever I am asked to help my team, even if that is handing out Gatorade, flashing towels on the bench, etc..." (paraphrased).
In other words, you make it seem like he said "don't get it twisted, I'm more than just a defensive stopper." In reality he said "I don't mind the role, but there is more to my game. However, I will do whatever it takes to help my team - hand out Gatorade, swing a towel, etc..."
*The quote above is paraphrased as it is late and I am too lazy to look up the actual quote. Either way, the original poster is not providing an accurate portrayal of what TA actually said.
This is his quote from the Globe: "I don't mind embracing the role [of defensive stopper], but there is more to my game. Let's not get that twisted." The implication is that he seems to want more minutes/offense, because he felt "overshadowed" here.
Fair enough. But apparently someone forgot to tell him the following facts, all of which make Memphis just about the worst possible choice for a player looking to expand his minutes/touches:
1. He just went from a team that was #2 in the league in assists to the team that was DEAD LAST. Not too many touches there.
2. On his new team, the 2/3 slots are manned by two young, healthy players who averaged 38 and 40 minutes per game last year. Not too many minutes either.
3. Finally, just to cap things off here is what Hollinger says about the three primary options on his new team:
a. Rudy Gay: "Gay also has developed some serious tunnel vision at the offensive end. Three different times he took more than 20 shots without a single assist; for the year he had the worst pure point rating among small forwards. He assisted on only 7.7% of his possessions, a worse rate than Darko Milicic's or Darrell Arthur's..."
b. OJ Mayo: "As for the rest of his offensive game … did I mention he can really shoot? Mayo is a good dribbler but rarely evaded defenders or set up teammates. He ranked only 58th among shooting guards in pure point rating..."
c. Zach Randolph: "The reason Randolph gets in trouble is that he equates points with success and will fire any shot that seems halfway reasonable to him. Consequently, he'll also force the action against double-teams."
Hmmmm. Let's see how that works out.