Memphis Grizzlies: 15 players who defined Grit and Grind
By John Buhler
211. . SF. (2013-15). Tayshaun Prince. 6. player
Tayshaun Prince was already a grinder by the time the small forward came to Memphis. He was a standout college player at Kentucky and was one of the most important players on the Detroit Pistons for over a decade. Prince won an NBA Championship as a member of the Pistons in 2004, earning four-straight All-Defensive Teams during his time with Detroit.
He may have his No. 22 jersey retired by the Pistons someday. However, he did not get to play out the rest of his NBA career with the team that drafted him in 2002 out of Kentucky. In January 2013, Prince would be part of the three-team trade between the Pistons, Grizzlies and Toronto Raptors that send small forward Rudy Gay north of the border.
Gay’s stint in Toronto was short-lived. Frankly, so was Prince’s time in Memphis. However, his two-year stint in Memphis coincided with the peak years of “Grit and Grind” from 2013 to 2015. Prince brought a veteran workmanlike mentality to the small forward position. He played in 139 games over parts of three seasons, making 121 starts.
Prince was certainly past his elite prime defensively, but helped give the Grizzlies the physical mentality they needed on defense to become an excellent NBA team.
After joining the team in January 2013, Memphis would go on to have its best season to date. They went 56-26 and made it all the way to the Western Conference Finals before falling to the division rival San Antonio Spurs.
In short, Gay might have been significantly more talented than Prince on the offensive end of the floor. However, it was Prince who provided the defensive excellence to the Grizzlies that Gay frankly could not provide.
In 27.0 minutes per game with the Grizzlies, Prince averaged 7.0 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.7 assists per contest. Those numbers jump off the page by any means, but Prince’s contributions were more than that. He gave the last little bit of his basketball prime to Memphis and the team got better because of it.
Prince’s time with the Grizzlies would come to an end midway through the 2014-15 NBA season, as he was dealt to the Boston Celtics in a three-team deal with the New Orleans Pelicans involving Jeff Green and Austin Rivers. Prince last played with the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2015-16 at the age of 35.