If the Memphis Grizzlies could select Zion Willamson in this summer’s NBA Draft that would exponentially speed up the rebuild.
The Memphis Grizzlies‘ goal is to convey their pick in this year’s NBA Draft to the Boston Celtics but if that doesn’t happen they shouldn’t stress about it. There are plenty of good players they could select and maybe they could even get lucky and get a chance to pick Zion Williamson.
It is important to note that this is very unlikely at the moment and the Grizzlies are going to continue to play to win games the rest of the way. The NBA Draft Lottery has changed from previous years as the bottom three teams all have the same 14% chance of securing the top pick.
Memphis currently has the 6th best odds at 9%. Even if they did move up in the standings to the 7th or 8th spot they would still have a 7.5% and 6% chance at securing the top pick. We’ve seen chaos in the lottery before and it’s possible that happens again this season.
If the Grizzlies do end up with the top pick it is very likely they would use that to select Williamson. Yes, it is unclear where he would fit with guys such as Kyle Anderson, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Jonas Valanciunas locked into the frontcourt but that’s a good issue to have.
Valanciunas and Anderson are good players but Memphis would be more than willing to move on from one of them or give them a lesser role for a guy as skilled as Williamson. He is more than capable of playing both the three and the four despite being shorter than many post players in today’s game.
He and Jackson could form one of the best young duos in the game and they could build something special in Memphis. They will need to find some good guards who can score the ball but Williamson is capable of playing a lot of point forward minutes. He has shown on many occasions at Duke, how good of a passer he is.
His freshman season at Duke has been nothing shy of spectacular. He is averaging 22.4 points, 9.2 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 2.3 steals, and 1.9 blocks per game. His one weakness may be that he is shooting just 29% from three-point range.
That is the Blue Devils biggest weakness as a team but they more than make up for it in other ways and Williamson is a big part of that. He is making 75% of his two-point shot attempts and they also make a big impact in transition off all the steals and blocks they get on the defensive end.
His free-throw percentage is also just 67% but that is something he can continue to work on and we can expect that to get into the ’70s sooner rather than later. He gets to 22.4 points per game while shooting just 12.8 shots. His overall 68.4% shooting from the field is the third highest in the country.
His season-high scoring game this season actually came in a home loss against the Syracuse Orange. In that game he finished with 35 points, 10 rebounds, 4 blocks, 1 assist, and 1 steal. That was one of the best games of the college basketball season and one of just two Duke losses thus far this season.
In that game, he shot 12-20 from the field including 1-5 from three-point range. He also made 10-14 free throws. That was the most shots he has attempted in a game this season. One crazy stat is that his lowest field goal percentage in a game was when he went 4-9 from the field in a neutral court win against Texas Tech.
If the Grizzlies are able to get Williamson it would completely change their plans for free agency this offseason. They would probably prefer to keep Mike Conley going forward as they would try and push towards the playoffs.
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It would be a longshot to make the playoffs but that was their goal coming into this season as well and a roster featuring Conley, Jackson, and Williamson would be better but they had last season. It could also send them into the opposite direction, knowing the Grizzlies’ front office I do find it unlikely though.
They could instead send Conley away for picks or young players in hopes of finding a young guard to form a big three this team can build around for at least the next decade. The rumors have been that Memphis would explore trading Conley this summer and I expect that to remain the case no matter who they select.
Grizzlies fans have fallen in love with Jaren Jackson Jr. since he was drafted so just imagine what the vibe will be around Williamson. This team doesn’t have a lot of young assets to build around but if they’re able to bring in another potential superstar that narrative suddenly pulls a 180.
Again it is very unlikely but the lottery can provide some crazy moments, the ping pong balls could completely shift the direction of the Grizzlies franchise for the next 15 years.