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.
Patrick Christopher, Guard
6’5,” 210 pounds
Patrick Christopher is a graduate of University of California, Berkeley and a member of the two first names club, along with Paul George, Chris Paul and the infamous Ricky Bobby.
During his time at Cal, he was a first-team all-conference selection after both his junior and senior seasons and finished ranked third in Golden Bear history in scoring and fourth in 3-pointers. For his college career, Christopher averaged 12.7 points, 1.8 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 0.8 steals. (which was greatly inflated by his 1.6 steals per game during his senior season.)
Christopher went undrafted in 2010 and started his professional career with a brief stint on the Detroit Pistons Summer League team before signing with Antalya BB in Turkey. He then bounced around a couple of European teams before coming back to the states and signing with the Iowa Energy in 2013. During this stint, he had an outstanding 47 point game.
In 2014, he was signed to the Utah Jazz, where he managed 1.5 points, 1.5 rebounds and 0.3 steals in 4 appearances. However, he was waived days after he managed to crack the starting lineup (of an injury-depleted team) due to a dislocated kneecap.
After being waived by the Jazz, Christopher re-signed with the Energy. Last season, Christopher showed some scoring ability by putting up 15.3 points. He also managed 2.5 assists, 2.7 rebounds and 0.8 steals. He showed improvement from his last time in the D-League and despite both his field goal and 3-point attempts going down, managed to increase his points per game. This was mainly due to him doubling his free throws attempted per game. His player efficiency rating also made a big jump from 10.5 to 14.
Odds of receiving a call-up
Patrick Christopher COULD get called up, but his clock is ticking. He just turned 28 and although that is generally the prime of players, there are several younger, more raw talents available in the ranks of the D-League that he has to compete with. His injury history shouldn’t be a problem as he seems to still have his athleticism, though. He has the chance to be a solid 12th man or even come in and fill a hole for a team who is thin at the shooting guard position.
The fact that he also has already been called up and was able to contribute somewhat is also a good sign. During his season in the D-Leauge in 2013, he shot nearly 45 percent from three on 3.5 attempts per game. If he can get close to that mark again, while still racking up steals, teams will definitely have to take a long look at him.
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