NBA Season Countdown: One of the Best
There are now 24 hours, or to be more precise 1054 minutes until NBA tipoff. Our NBA Countdown has celebrated the basketball world, now only one more sleep separates us from a barrage of Curry three-pointers and Giannis half-court dunks. Which Rocket will be the first to receive a Chris Paul scolding? How quickly will Javale McGee make an entry for Shaqtin’ a Fool? We will find out tomorrow!
But today, our countdown comes to down one. This one sits closely to my heart as we look at the single most overlooked team in the league today. The team that everyone has suggested should tank, the team that every other fan has assumed shall willingly trade away their two stars. The team team that even the oracle, Zach Lowe, has cautiously surmised will fall out of the playoffs for the first time since 2010. The Memphis Grizzlies. Admittedly, I may view the team through the prism of rose-coloured glasses as I spent nearly a decade emotionally tied to Grit ’n’ Grind: a mantra which is simply fancy branding for “everyone thinks we are shit, but we bust our ass and win”.
Nevertheless, I am as certain that the Grizz will be in the playoffs as Wade Baldwin is that every time he unsuccessful drives to lane a foul should have been called. Despite the gloomy cloud of the Core Four’s end lingering, a silver lining emerges. We look at the keys to the Grizzlies fate, without further ado…
Mike and Marc
The Grizzlies’ success starts and ends with their cornerstone players Mike Conley and Marc Gasol. Gasol’s career has been characterized by his majestic passing ability and role as the anchor of the most rugged defensive team. However, coach Fizzdale’s three point quota transformed Gasol’s offensive output. By shooting an impressive 38.8% from deep on close to four attempts a game, defenses paid the price for granting him open looks.
Big Spain’s extended range added a tantalizing element to the league’s best pick and roll. Conley, already a wizard at navigating around the screen and mazing into the paint, gained an extra second of space as big men were left stranded at the top of the key. Conley is a crafty finisher inside, making 60% at the rim and 47% from 3–10 feet. Below, Aldridge’s hesitation to clog the paint as Gasol stretches the court allows Conley to slither right into his sweet spot.
However, the problem of shooting elsewhere still lingers. In the playoffs the Spurs began to throw endless waves of bodies in Conley’s direction as if he was in the final level of a videogame, begging him to dish to the baseline shooter. Conley obliged, yet the baseline wing players hesitated to pull the trigger and muddled up the Grizzlies’ offensive rhythm as the Spurs quickly scrambled into rotation. Per NBA Almanac, the Grizzlies took the 26th and 22nd most attempts from the left and right baseline threes respectively. This is not a sustainable model when you have the human magnet in Conley drawing defenders across the court towards him.
Gasol and Conley will show up and ball out. However, which players fit in around them is where the question marks emerge.
The Journeymen Spark
In typical Memphis fashion, the team has built their supporting pieces unconventionally. If GM Chris Wallace stopped blindly throwing darts at his draft board during the first round then the Grizzlies could have built a strong foundation of youth to support their franchise players. Instead, the team’s productive role players that have emerged have been scooped up in the second round or brought in after going undrafted. Unheralded players and presumed starters James Ennis III, Wayne Selden, and JaMychal Green have continued to bring the feistiness that has personified the last decade of Memphis basketball.
Selden valiantly battled with Kawhai Leonard in the playoffs, despite being a part of the team for roughly as long as Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries’ marriage. Below, Selden showed his ability to breeze by defenders and quickly create a shot in Summer League play. Granted, making assertions from Summer League play is like assuming the world is flat because it looks 2D on a map. Still Selden’s dominance leading the team to a 5–1 record and praise from the coaching staff provides optimism.
James Ennis III and Jamychal Green will round at the rest of the Grizzlies starting five. Green is a nuisance on the offensive glass and plays with a level of intensity that undrafted players need in order to succeed at this level. The Alabama product is a live-wire that thrives when running the court and increasing the Grizz’s tempo. Green offers reasonable shooting across the court, however his offensive repertoire is limited as he struggles to beat defenders off the dribble and is only reliable with catch and shoot opportunities.
Above is a glimpse of what Ennis III and Green can provide. Extended opportunities will be provided to both players with the departure of two Grizz legends in Tony Allen and Zach Randolph. Ennis has began to familiarize himself with Conley’s play and is reading his penetration with Tony Allen-eque cuts.
The three Grizzlies journeymen must continue to bring the chip on the shoulder mentality and defensive intensity that earned them minutes. However, their role now also requires more responsibility to lighten the load offensively for Conley and Gasol.
Second Unit
The Grizzlies bench were an extreme disappointment and became exposed by the Spurs come playoff time. The stresses of finding a suitable backup point guard took several years off of Fizzdale’s life. The massive eight point swing in team +/- when Conley left the court doesn’t do justice as to how poor the Grizz were at resembling anything close to an NBA offense without Captain Clutch.
Andrew Harrison served as the main source of frustration. His play was a mixed bag of sorts; assuming that the bag was filled with candy and roughly 76% was be filled with black jujubes. Despite this, Harrison’s playoff performances offered hope — he can defend, draw fouls, and shoots well when taking the correct shots and not wild flings towards the rim. Maybe my rose coloured glasses are just blinding me once more. I’ve just wasted nine words even acknowledging Wade Baldwin IV.
However, Mario Chalmers rekindling his Miami ties with Coach Fizzdale is just the steady hand the Grizz needs to improve their bench. Rio returns for his second stint in Memphis along with free agent pickup and notorious Grizzlies killer, Tyreke Evans. Evans may be the perfect bench player to provide penetration to a unit that too often happily played hot potato across the three point arc. Evans and Chalmers better fit Fizzdale’s desire to play a more uptempo style, they must be aggressive in setting the tone off the bench.
For all the dissatisfaction that Chandler ‘Tin Man’ Parsons has brought to Memphis, anything provided now would just be considered a bonus. Much more excitement revolves around the Canadian Flamethrower, Dillon Brooks, whom I’ve convinced myself won’t miss a single shot this season. I’ll happily transfer my stocks north from Chancun up to Mississauga.
Last year Z-Bo single handedly kept the bench afloat with bulldozing moves into the lane and chippy put backs to keep the scoreboard ticking. His hi-lo tandem with Marc Gasol were also good for a solid 6–8 points per game. This year the Grizzlies will need to find a way to replace these easy source of points.
Another year of Fizz, another year to blend a more modern offensive approach with the grit and grind persona that has brought the franchise success and won the city over. The fresh faces will increase the pace, where they ranked 28th last year, and the trio of starters surrounding Conley and Gasol will maintain the Grizzlies’ defensive identity.
Most importantly, the Grizzlies go toe to toe with the best teams in the league year in year out. Last years 2–1 record in three matchups versus the Warriors highlighted the problems Memphis’ physicality and persistence can pose. When the lights are the brightest and the stakes are at their highest the Grizzlies have shown up for seven years straight. Apparently this year every team in the West are as good as the ’96 Bulls, so if that is the case then Memphis will play elite basketball for the entire season enroute to an eight consecutive playoff appearance.
There are more uncertainties heading into this year than seasons past and the world will continue to overlook the genius of Marc Gasol and Mike Conley. But it wouldn’t feel right if the Grizz weren’t cast into the role of gritty underdog though, would it? Hypotheticals are thrown around all summer and fans salivate over newly formed ‘super-teams’, but I’d rather hedge my bet with a prove commodity: a Marc Gasol hook shot followed up by a Mike Conley righty floater.
