Memphis Grizzlies Team Preview

2020-21 Finish: 46-36 (7^th place in the Western Conference)

Current Lineup

Starters

PG Mike Conley

SG Jaylen Brown

SF OG Anunoby

PF Jaren Jackson Jr

C Derrick Favors

Bench

PG Marcus Smart

SG Derrick White

SF Tyler Herro

PF Chimezie Metu

C Udoka Azubuike

Reserves

PF JaeSean Tate

Farm

PG Tre Mann

SG Josh Primo

SF KZ Okpala

PF Greg Brown

C Nick Richards

C Sandro Mamukelashvili (Two-Way)

The starting lineup is very solid. The roster isn’t very deep though since nearly half of the roster consists of farm guys or previous farm guys who still have their rookie tendencies.

Team Leaders

Scoring

·         Jaylen Brown: 28.4 PTS

·         Mike Conley: 21.6 PTS

·         Tyler Herro: 17.1 PTS

·         Jaren Jackson Jr: 16.8 PTS

·         Derrick White: 13.5 PTS

Rebounding

·         Derrick Favors: 12.2 REB

·         Udoka Azubuike: 8.1 REB

·         Jaren Jackson Jr: 7.2 REB

·         Jaylen Brown: 5.8 REB

·         OG Anunoby: 5.4 REB

Assists

·         Mike Conley: 6.3 AST

·         Jaylen Brown: 4.7 AST

·         Tyler Herro: 4.3 AST

·         Derrick White: 3.9 AST

·         Marcus Smart: 3.1

Best Trade

Grizzlies send: Aron Baynes, Kris Dunn, and Eric Paschall

Grizzlies get: Mike Conley

Grizzlies needed this trade because they lacked a secondary scorer. Conley filled that need.

Worst Trade

Grizzlies send: Tre Jones

Grizzlies get: Nick Richards

Neither of these guys are contributing in NSL. So it’s not a major loss.

Other Notable Trades

Grizzlies send: Demarcus Cousins

Grizzlies get: First rounder (Chi) for 2024

Free Agency

Mike Conley is the only free agent. He returned to Utah Jazz in the NBA. Rootsey won’t have any trouble retaining him.

Rootsey is sitting at 16 players though and needs to condense. Guys like Chimezie Metu, KZ Okpala, JaeSean Tate, Greg Brown, and Tre Mann have all been made available in 2 for 1 type deals.

Stars

Jaylen Brown

Jaylen averaged 24 PTS 7 REB 5 AST last year. He’s a 6’6 defensive scoring shooting guard with a similar profile as Michael Jordan. He has MJ’s defense. He has MJ’s shot creation. But he’s not MJ though. He’s an 86 rated player, but he plays a lot better than that due to his MJ archetype. He didn’t make any improvements last year. So I don’t see any improvements to his game this year either. But the players around him are expected to get better. He shot 55% from three last year. I expect that number to go down since the sliders were overtuned last year.

Jaren Jackson Jr

Jaren averaged 17 PTS 7 REB 3 AST last year. He’s kind of a 3^rd scoring option right now. He’s one of the best defenders and one of the best shooters at his position. He also has better ball handling than most players at his position. I expect him to take a jump this year. I don’t think he breaks 20 PTS though. I’m not sure if he’ll add shot creation either. But he’ll be a nightmare on defense.

OG Anunoby

OG averaged 9 PTS 5 REB 2 AST last year. This is hardly star production. But I believe OG is the 3^rd man that Rootsey wants to build around. OG should take a major jump in the NBA this year. And that will lead to a tendency update after the trade deadline. He might not be a star this year, but maybe next year. Whether he becomes a star or not depends on his shot creation. Is his shot creation good enough to where he’s the man? Or can he just kind of shot create and best utilized as a 3^rd option?

Mike Conley

Conley averaged 23 PTS 3 REB 6 AST last year. He’s actually the 2^nd best player on the team. He’s also the oldest player on the team. I don’t picture Conley as a core of what Rootsey is building, because he doesn’t really fit the team’s timeline. But he’s one of the best vets you could have for a younger team. A lot of these guys are about to blossom. And hopefully Conley is still around when it’s time to compete. Next year is when the Grizzlies core will finish their development, but Conley will be 35 by then. Will he still be effective by then?

Tyler Herro

Herro averaged 17 PTS 4 REB 4 AST last year. He wants to be in a category with Luka, Trae, and Ja. I think he’s put in the work this year. I don’t see him becoming a better defender. But the scoring and playmaking should go up.

Draft

Tre Mann – Tre has shown quite a bit in Summer League and preseason play. I expect him to begin his journey in the G League while Sam Presti shops Theo Maledon and Ty Jerome. If one of these guys move, Presti has no problems throwing Tre Mann in the rotation. Not because he’s ready, but because the OKC Thunder is not concerned about winning this year. They are mainly focused on development. I think the organization wants Mann to eventually progress into the future starting backcourt partner next to Shai Gilgeous Alexander. I think Mann is worth a little more than a 1^st round right now.

Josh Primo – No one understood this pick. He wasn’t even the 3^rd best player at Alabama. But he’s young, and he’s use to not being the man. Those are the kind of guys that Popovich likes. But we also know that whenever Spurs need someone to be the man, they have no problems transforming him into that. Primo is still worth a 1^st round. We just don’t know if he’s going to be Kawhi or Lonnie Walker.

Greg Brown – This guy hasn’t really shown anything. He’s just very athletic. If there ends up being a role for him in the NBA, then maybe you could get something for him. Maybe even a 2^nd.

Sandro Mamukelashvili – Milwaukee seems to like this guy. He’s on a two-way contract. And it’s nice to have a big as your two-way. But he doesn’t really have any value at this point. But it’s still a good investment.

The Future

The Grizzlies didn’t have Jaren Jackson Jr for a majority of the season last year. He’s back healthy and I think the Grizzlies take a significant jump this year. I can see them floating in the 3^rd – 5^th range of the Western Conference as a 53 win team. In addition to this, I think Jaren Jackson Jr, OG Anunoby, and Tyler Herro take a jump in improvement this year. Their ratings will go up, but I don’t think their tendencies will change much until after the trade deadline. This is when the Grizzlies will become the most dangerous.

I can see Rootsey trying to trade for another veteran center. Favors is good. Azubuike still plays like a rookie though. If Rootsey wants to compete for a championship, he’s going to need another veteran center. He has a couple of assets in the farm with 1^st round value like Tre Mann or Josh Primo to make that happen. He might even make Tyler Herro available.

I imagine Rootsey would like a higher rated star, but I think Jaylen can get him there. Rootsey has enough toys to compete for a championship. But his team will look a lot stronger next year after Jaren Jackson Jr, OG Anunoby, and Tyler Herro get their tendencies. So Rootsey will compete, but he’s going to take it more seriously next year.