Assessing Memphis Grizzlies after first 10 games
By Chip Crain
The Memphis Grizzlies have now played 10 games this year. How do they look so far? Have they exceeded expectations? Could they be better?
The Memphis Grizzlies start the second eighth of their season tonight in Portland.
With an eighth of the season gone, it’s a nice time to look back and see how the team has done so far. It’s also a good time to wonder how the team is prepared to do moving forward.
The Grizzlies have started 6-4, and that has them tied for 4th place in the Western Conference. The Grizzlies average have a 3.7 point differential, which is sixth best in the Western Conference as well (eighth overall). Despite injuries to two starters (JaMychal Green and either Wayne Selden or Ben McLemore), the Grizzlies are on pace to win 48 games, which should be plenty to secure their 8th consecutive playoff spot.
Injuries
What’s more important to the Grizzlies future prospects is the return of their injured players. Ben McLemore likely will be the first one back. He missed the entire training camp, preseason and first month of the regular season, but has been playing with the Hustle and should be back in game shape.
JaMychal Green is still recovering from his ankle injury and is expected to be back by next week. His return will be welcomed as the opening day starter has been replaced by an erratic Jarell Martin. While Martin may actually have more talent, he isn’t ready to contribute consistently like Green.
Finally, there’s last year’s surprise playoff starter and summer league All-Star Wayne Selden. He has been absent since the middle of pre-season, but there’s a lot of expected of him as a legitimate 3-and-D shooting guard. The Andrew Harrison experiment has run thin on fan’s nerves.
Issues
The real issue is not whether or not these players imminent returns will improve the talent of the team. The big question is, how will it affect team chemistry? Will moving Martin to the bench destroy his confidence? With Parsons out for back-to-back series, will Martin be able to contribute in far fewer minutes? How will McLemore and Selden’s return affect rookie Dillon Brooks’ minutes — and by extension his confidence?
Then, there’s the issue of Memphis’ ability to play the best teams in the league tough while losing to the worst teams. Memphis is a combined 4-0 against the Clippers (5-4), Warriors (8-3) and Rockets (8-3). The team is also 2-4 against the rest of the teams they have played. Those teams include the Pelicans (5-5), Mavericks (1-10), Hornets (5-5), Magic (6-4) and Lakers (5-5).
That’s just weird.
Fans also may want to keep in mind that since starting 3-0, the Grizzlies are 3-4 in their last 7 games. The next three games are at Portland tonight, at Houston and at Milwaukee. None of those games should be considered easy wins.
Next: Hot Take: Dillon Brooks won't stay in the rotation
So were the Grizzlies just surprising teams early on? The wins over Golden State and the first Houston win were in the first three games of the season after all. Maybe teams have caught on to the Grizzlies’ style and are denying them their favoured looks now. How Coach Fizdale and the team respond will go a long way toward answering the questions facing this team.
That and three more healthy bodies.