The Bench.
(This is the fifth part of an on going series. The first four parts can be found here: Intro, The Big Decision, The Big Men, Trade Rudy Gay?)
In the past few days, we’ve broken down the Memphis Grizzlies free agents and biggest trade chip in great (sometimes painstaking?) detail.
We’ve learned that Memphis has two big chips and that they’re unlikely to have both on their roster on opening night, 2012. It’s just the nature of the beast and while any team would like to keep two of their young stars around, Rudy Gay or O.J. Mayo will be wearing a different uniform next season.
We also discussed how one of the Grizzlies’ young bigs will likely be moving as well. Neither one of them are the same type of building block that Mayo or Gay are, but have been very important bench players for Memphis the past few years.
In this piece, we’ll be talking about the players that will almost definitely be back in Beale Street Blue next season.
The first guy is one of my favorite players from the latest edition of the Grizzlies, Dante Cunningham.
Cunningham was signed to take Darrell Arthur’s place in the rotation before the season started and while he’s kind of a tweener mix between a 3 and a 4, he always played hard and had more than his fair share of hustle plays.
He’s also tied into a very good contract for the team, as the Grizzlies will pay him about $2 million next season and the one after that.
He is probably the Grizzlies’ best pick-and-roll defender and could spell Rudy Gay or Zach Randolph at any given time. It’s also possible that a full training camp with the team could help integrate him into the rotation better than last year’s truncated pre-season.
The Grizzlies’ other big pre-season move last year was trading Greivis Vasquez for Quincy Pondexter, a 6’6 swingman who saw a lot of run during the playoffs and even helped guard Chris Paul.
Pondexter was known for his stingy defense when he came over, but also became a high percentage shooter from the corner 3 over the course of his time with the team.
If O.J. Mayo departs, the Pondexter will seem a large increase in playing time and hopefully production as he may very well be asked to carry the second unit’s offense.
Pondexter is still on his rookie deal and will almost definitely have his two year team option picked up over the off-season. His cap figure will likely be under $2 million dollars.
The other important player for the Grizzlies if they lose Mayo will be Josh Selby. The guy they call “Showtime” had some flashes last year in his limited minutes and dominated the D-League during his time with the Reno Bighorns, but with a veteran team in the midst of a playoff hunt, he rarely got the chance to actually play any extended minutes.
That could change if Mayo leaves or the Grizzlies don’t find a competent back-up point guard.
Selby was one of the nation’s top recruits in 2010, had an up-and-down year at Kansas and left after one season, which usually only happens if the guy is going to be a first-rounder. For whatever reason, Selby fell and the Grizzlies felt like they got a future star. He will likely get his chance to play this season.
The only other guy under contract going into next is Jeremy Pargo. Pargo filled in admirably for the Grizzlies when Mike Conley went down with little nagging injuries at the beginning of last year, but was so unsuccessful in making an impression on Lionel Hollins that they had to bring in Gilbert Arenas to try and steady the ship late in the season.
Pargo was a scrappy defender and could at least dribble the ball up over half-court, but his inconsistency was enough to keep him in the doghouse.
Pargo is really the key guy of all of the bench guys under contract because if the Grizzlies believe that he can play at least competently, they can select the best player available with their first-rounder, regardless of position.
It sounds simple enough, but if the Grizzlies are forced to select a point guard, the value may not match the need and you never want to feel like you have to take a player just because of position.
A bench line-up of Pargo, Selby, Pondexter and some combination of Cunningham, Arthur and Speights could really do some damage, especially if the Grizzlies retain Arthur.
That’s a five man unit that makes sense with Arthur and Selby handling scoring duties, Cunningham and Arthur/Speights rebounding and Pargo and Pondexter giving the Grizzlies some length and athleticism to defend sixth men from other teams across the league.