As the current holder of the worst record in the NBA, the Memphis Grizzlies will likely have one of the top picks in the NBA draft. The NCAA tournament has not made their potential pick any easier.
The NCAA tournament has not been kind to the top prospects in the upcoming NBA draft.
Before the tournament began, many believed that Deandre Ayton would be the number one pick in the draft. He was a 20 and 10 machine at Arizona and is an athletic anomaly, a unicorn. If the Memphis Grizzlies were to select him, the idea was that he could play with Marc Gasol.
And then Arizona was humiliated in their first round game against Buffalo. Ayton was certainly nothing special as he finished with 14 points and struggled mightily on the defensive end.
Trae Young also did not help his stock, although that may not be entirely his fault. He scored 28 points and had 7 assists in Oklahoma’s first round game. Nonetheless, Oklahoma fell short in overtime to Rhode Island, and Young still struggled in his usual areas. His turnovers, poor defense and bad shot-selection came back to haunt him in the final period.
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Mohamed Bamba, also known as Hasheem Thabeet 2.0 in some Memphis circles, couldn’t carry Texas to a win over Nevada. The Longhorns led for nearly the entire game before losing a close game in overtime. Bamba also seemingly vanished at different points in the game.
And finally, Michael Porter Jr. and Missouri were beaten soundly by Florida State. Despite his rust from missing most of the year, Porter was solid, finishing with 16 points and 10 rebounds. However, his conditioning kept him from being as good as he could have been.
So all of these games raise a disturbing question for the Memphis Grizzlies. If this NBA draft has any generational talent in it, then why couldn’t any of these players lead their team past the first round of the NCAA tournament? That is not to say that these players will not have good NBA careers. On the contrary, I believe that most of them will be great. But the NCAA tournament has certainly not inspired much confidence in the Grizzlies’ future.
Happy tanking!