Feel the Energy: Getting to know D-Leaguer Pierre Henderson-Niles
With the Memphis Grizzlies’ season kicking off in late October, that also means the return of their D-League affiliate, the Iowa Energy. Last year, three players—James Ennis, Russ Smith and Jarell Martin—played minutes with the Grizzlies after excelling with the Energy. In a series of analyses, we’ll go through the roster in an attempt to decipher who has the greatest chance to earn a call-up to the NBA in 2016-2017.
Pierre Henderson-Niles, Forward
6’8″ 300 lbs
Pierre Henderson-Niles is a hometown kid as a graduate from Memphis. During his four years there, he averaged 3.5 points, 4.2 rebounds and 0.5 blocks per game. Henderson-Niles went undrafted in 2010. He bounced around overseas up until the past two seasons, where he played in the D-League for the Iowa Energy.
So far during his tenure for the Energy, Henderson-Niles has averaged a paltry 3.5 points on 56 percent shooting and 3.0 rebounds. He is also a poor free-throw shooter, averaging only 47 percent, although he managed to get up to 50 percent this season.
Henderson-Niles also recently participated in the 2016 PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals (There are some odd stipulations, such as playoff teams being able to import non-Filipinos who have to be under 6’9.” Non-playoff teams don’t have a height restriction.). During this cup, Henderson-Niles was imported by the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters. The team won the cup, but did not seem to be too impressed with Henderson-Niles initially, citing his over aggression leading to foul trouble.
2015-2016 D-League Stats: 11 G, 2 GS, 11.6 MPG, 1.4 PPG, 0.3 RPG, 0.4 APG, 0.5 SPG, 1.1 TOPG, .500 FG%, .512 TS%, .500 FT%, 0.3 BPG
Odds of receiving a call-up
Pierre is almost as big as his birth name (Jartavious Pierre Henderson-Niles). At 300 lbs, he’s one of the league’s biggest guys. He can easily hold his own down on the block.
From limited exposure to him (the above highlight video along with a couple others), you can see that he does have good footwork in the post and is a solid screen setter. He uses his girth to put a body on the defender and can then hit the block and establish himself quickly.
However, his height is definitely an issue when relying on going down in the post so often. If he were to make it to the NBA, he can’t just rely on his mass to move people in the post. Although his footwork is good, it takes a lot more to score on the block in the NBA. Defenders won’t be pushed around as easily and length in the post could bother him.
With the way the league is trending, Henderson-Niles could also be a liability on defense against faster, more explosive, big men such as Blake Griffin and taller forwards who could shoot over him like Chris Bosh and LaMarcus Aldridge. He’s already not that great of a defender on paper, averaging only a 0.3 Defensive Box Plus/Minus.
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Henderson-Niles will most likely stick around the D-League and overseas. He seems to want to continue playing in the PBA for Rain or Shine. Besides, how likely is it that Memphis adds a large big-man when they already have two athletic specimens for big men in Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph? (Please, note my sarcasm.) There’s not much of a fit here for Henderson-Niles, especially since he hasn’t been able to make it yet into the league at age 29. If Memphis desperately wants an overweight NBA ready guy, I’m sure they can find a more talented one that wants to be back in the league.
