The Memphis Grizzlies recently traded for Justin Holiday to add some shooting to their roster. In his first few games with the team, he has yet to make a three-pointer.
The Memphis Grizzlies finally broke their losing streak when they beat the San Antonio Spurs Wednesday night. They’ll need Justin Holiday to be more involved if they want to pick up more wins.
His ability to shoot the ball is a weapon that they need to use and so far they haven’t been able to. In Chicago, he had more freedom to do so than in Memphis but they just have to figure it out.
You don’t trade two second-round picks away for a guy who is just a role player that you aren’t going to play to their strengths.
It’s a tough process in Memphis since they play so much two-man game its hard at times to get everyone else involved.
They wouldn’t have traded for Holiday if they didn’t want him to shoot a bunch of threes as he did in Chicago though.
The Grizzlies are a team that loses the three-point shooting battle every game it seems and Holiday can help with that, they just need to give him a chance.
He was a starter the past two seasons with the Bulls so it’s a big adjustment for him as well. He was playing 35 minutes a game in Chicago and is just at 18 minutes in his three games in Memphis.
His role should continue to increase as he becomes more comfortable but it’s going to take some time for him to do so.
The problem is that this team can’t afford a bunch of loses while he gets adjusted. It’s not like he’s a star player either, so while he certainly will help, he isn’t a guy who is going to lead this team back from a big deficit in the standings.
The Grizzlies have to find a way to get him his three-point shot attempts. He was shooting 36% of his 7.1 attempts in Chicago and he hasn’t even shot that many so far in his three games combined.
In his first three games with the team, he has only attempted six three-pointers while he hasn’t made a single one.
He was making plays on the defensive end as well. He was averaging 1.8 steals with the Bulls and he has yet to record one so far in Memphis.
It’s still just three games so it’s too early to nitpick but the way this team is playing suggests that these issues will continue.
Getting his role is far from the only problem surrounding this team. Nearly every player has a major weakness in their game that has kept this team from winning.
The whole Chandler Parsons situation seems to be over as he has left the team while the Garrett Temple and Omri Casspi postgame altercation was also very recent.
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The point is this team has had a lot more drama than they are accustomed to in the city of Memphis.
This is a team full of veterans so we know they have what it takes to move past it.
They have to find a way to incorporate a key piece amongst all the other issues and everything is magnified as this team continues to lose.
The next couple of weeks are going to be huge for this team and if Holiday was able to provide a couple of three-point shots in each game that would go a long ways towards securing a win.
If these next few weeks go south change will continue to come to the Grizzlies. If they fall out of striking distance for the 8th seed then Holiday’s stay in Memphis could end up being much shorter than he expected.