The Memphis Grizzlies are trending downward right now, but a championship is still the goal. How many more years until they reach championship-caliber?
It’s been fun to be a Memphis Grizzlies fan for the past decade. You had fun fan favorites — and core players — in Zach Randolph and Tony Allen. Marc Gasol and Mike Conley have been brilliant. There was always Memphis basketball in April and May. However, there was never a championship parade on Beale Street.
Now, the Grizzlies are trending downward and heading towards the lottery. We don’t even know when they’d reach the playoff again. Yet alone, we don’t know when they could reach “championship contender” once again.
Let’s address the question:
Ask me again in 2020
In regards to tanking, this topic is definitely worth bringing up. In all honesty, the dream of Marc Gasol and Mike Conley leading you to a championship is dead. Actually, their playoff dreams may be dead, as this year’s potential playoff teams aren’t going anywhere and lottery teams like the Lakers and Suns (I know… sounds funny, given how many 20+ point blowouts they’ve received) will rise.
In addition, the Dallas/Houston version of Chandler Parsons may never be seen again, and you don’t know if Tyreke Evans will return.
That’s where rebuilding comes in. They should listen for trade offers regarding everyone — even Marc Gasol and Mike Conley. They should also pray for a top-five pick.
If they nail this year’s pick with say Michael Porter, Marvin Bagley or DeAndre Ayton, that’s a great start to reaching championship-caliber again.
Presumably, the plan for next year is to run it back with Conley and Gasol. If the playoffs look unlikely, that’s when the fire sale starts. From there, you can potentially get a decent package for Gasol and maybe Conley. For those two players, you could acquire the combination of young talent and first-round draft picks — which is essential given the state of Memphis’ protected first-round pick from 2019-2021.
In the 2019 draft, they should target one of the players from Duke’s Big 3 — RJ Barrett, Cameron Reddish and Zion Williamson. If they’re still bad in 2020, they could easily target hometown product James Wiseman.
How the Grizzlies attack the draft going into 2020 will answer this question more. If they nail each draft pick and build a dangerous core, they could easily become contenders in the middle of the 2020’s. However, botching these picks could set this team back for another decade.
Next: Grizzlies 2018 Draft Big Board 1.0
When do you think the Memphis Grizzlies can become championship-caliber again? Comment your thoughts below.