The Memphis Grizzlies are building around Jaren Jackson Jr. and that is off to a good start. They have now found a good center in Jonas Valanciunas to pair with him.
Jaren Jackson Jr. has shown that he is becoming the next face of the Memphis Grizzlies. They are trying to build a successful team around him going forward and it seems as if Jonas Valanciunas could be one of those guys.
Jackson has had an up and down season but whatever way you look at things you can tell he is the real deal. He does have a lot to work on but he has already shown what he’s capable of on both ends of the floor. If he puts in the work he has the potential to be a franchise star.
Him becoming a star isn’t enough to make this team a championship contender by itself. He will need a lot more help for this team to compete at a high level. Just look at the New Orleans Pelicans, Anthony Davis is one of the best players in the game and they have never been a true contender.
Putting a quality center beside him long-term is a good first step towards building the rest of this team. They did a good job at the NBA trade deadline acquiring talent but Valanciunas was the main piece brought to Memphis.
In today’s game, he may not be a great fit but he is still more than capable of making a big impact. Having a center you can trust to rebound and do some of the dirty work alongside Jackson is going to help him immensely.
He also showed he can dominate on both ends of the floor if given the chance. He finished with 23 points and 10 rebounds in his Grizzlies debut. His ability to impact the game was in full effect no matter how much people discredit his defense. He did play just 21 minutes off the bench but expect him to slowly take minutes from Ivan Rabb before eventually taking over the starting spot.
Many teams play a smaller player at the four spot which has given this team some issues in the past and that was very evident in the Tuesday night loss against the San Antonio Spurs as Rudy Gay and Davis Bertans played at the spot a large part of the game and they finished with a combined 32 points.
One area of concern is Jackson being able to guard smaller players on the perimeter. He has the length to make up ground on drives for sure but he has struggled a little bit to defend the three-point shot which will be an area in which he needs to improve upon.
Valanciunas being able to set hard-nosed screens the way he does is going to be a big part of this offense. For a team that has guards who use screens often, he will really help.
We have seen Mike Conley use Marc Gasol‘s screens in many different ways so he will be glad to have a guy like Valanciunas even though he won’t be the pick-and-pop threat that Gasol was.
We have also seen Avery Bradley catch fire with his mid-range jumper so being able to come off good screens will be good for him. CJ Miles is another guy who has been using screens successfully as the top of the key three-pointer off of a wing screen has been one of his favorite shot attempts so far in Memphis.
One other way Valanciunas has been a factor is his ability to take it to the basket from the top of the key. His ability to catch it at the free-throw line area and bully his way inside is a huge threat and is very difficult to defend.
This pairing is going to take a lot of time to gel but it is going to be very exciting along the way. Both of these guys are very good players so we can expect these two to lead to a lot of wins for this team. It’ll take some good play from everyone else to be successful as a team but we can expect a fun journey along the way.