The Memphis Grizzlies entered this season a fresh team. Now, their season went awry, and their status in the NBA hierarchy has changed as well.
It seems like ages ago when the Memphis Grizzlies were one of the biggest dark-horse contenders in the NBA. They were a team you never wanted to face in a seven-game series. They had the pieces to make a run at the Western Conference Finals, or even the NBA Finals. Between the “Core Four” and some of the pieces around them — Rudy Gay, OJ Mayo, Tayshaun Prince, Courtney Lee, to name a few — they had the depth and the talent to go deep.
However, their status as “dark-horse contenders” has changed, and it didn’t even start this season.
In 2016, when the Grizzlies’ season went to shambles, they clawed out of the regular season for a first-round sweep. It could’ve been a time where they slipped from “dark-horse contender” to “playoff team.” However, the Chandler Parsons’ signing was supposed to elevate the Grizzlies back to “contention” status. Then, Kevin Durant’s decision made things unfair in the West.
After Parsons’ cursed season, the Grizzlies maintained their status as a “playoff team.” Between the “Core Four” and Vince Carter’s resurgence at 40, they were still good enough to be a top-eight team in the West.
This year’s offseason hit and transformed the dynamic of this team. The Grizzlies went from a steady, predictable team, to some sort of concoction of random elements that could either blow up in their face or work out nicely.
As this season has been disappointing, the Memphis Grizzlies are no longer a playoff team. They’re simply in the category, “playoff team if everything goes right.”
It’s a shame to see, but it is what it is. What are the dynamics that determine this team’s status in the NBA hierarchy?
The Big If’s
Coming into the 2017-18 season, here are the big if’s and how they’ve shaped out:
- If Ben McLemore bounces back.
- HAHAHA, that hasn’t happened at all.
- If Chandler Parsons’ knees hold up.
- It looked promising to start the season, but nobody knows what’s going on now.
- If Marc Gasol and Mike Conley stay healthy.
- Well, Marc Gasol has been healthy, but Mike Conley will finish this season with only 12 games under his belt.
- If Tyreke Evans is healthy.
- Well, he was awesome. Now he’s too good for this team and is trade bait.
- If some young guys develop.
- Lately, these young players have been pleasant surprises. Are they the right supporting cast for a playoff-bound team with Conley and Gasol leading? I have no idea.
- If Mario Chalmers is the Mario Chalmers from 2015-16.
- Yeahhhhhh, no.
- Dillon Brooks speaks out after beating former Grizzlies teammate in World Cup
- Jaren Jackson Jr. puts ex-Grizzlies teammate on notice
- 3 players Grizzlies would consider trading Ja Morant for
- Grizzlies star Jaren Jackson Jr. put on blast following FIBA elimination
- Ex-Grizzlies guard signs with title favorite, joins forces with 6-time All-Star
Related Story: Implications of Conley's injury
Closing Remarks
This category isn’t much of a knock on the Memphis Grizzlies. It’s sometimes just a NBA cycle. Not every team is built to last like the San Antonio Spurs.
Yes, drafting hasn’t gone too well, and they haven’t made the best use of the mid-level exception in free agency. However, the NBA is a cycle, and eventually most of the bottom-feeders evolve into playoff teams because of the young talent they collected.
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Right now, the Grizzlies are a team where everything must go right for a shot at the playoffs — this applies even next year as well. There’s young talent all over the Western Conference.
Andrew Wiggins, Karl-Anthony Towns, Anthony Davis, Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray are likely getting some postseason action this spring, and that won’t change. In the next few years, Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma, Brandon Ingram, Devin Booker and Dennis Smith Jr. are bound for playoff basketball as well.
With Conley and Gasol at the helm, they’ll be in playoff conversations, but the time for that is ticking. They’re on the last grains of salt in the hourglass.
The “playoff team if everything goes right” status is real for this team. More than 50 percent of the x-factors failed. There will be similar criteria next season.
But hey, it’s better than being a perennial lottery team, right?