Memphis Grizzlies: NBA Draft Prospect Jarrett Culver Leads Texas Tech To The Final Four

The Memphis Grizzlies have many NBA Draft prospects who should excite them, and Texas Tech’s Jarrett Culver is at the top of the list. His college career came to an end in Saturday’s loss against Gonzaga.

Jarrett Culver has been absolutely sensational during the NCAA Tournament. He has continued to improve his NBA Draft stock and the Memphis Grizzlies will have him very high on their draft board.

His ability to make plays on both ends of the floor makes him a very intriguing prospect. He plays for a Texas Tech team that is elite on the defensive end of the floor. They held a Buffalo team that averages 84.4 points per game to just 58 and a Michigan team that averages 69.6 to just 44. That is a big reason the Red Raiders advanced as far as they did.

This is a team that struggles some on the offensive end though and Culver has been huge on that end of the floor for this team. In the 35 games, he has played this season he is averaging 18.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 1.4 steals. He does a little bit of everything for this team and during the NCAA Tournament, he has taken it to another level.

Their closest game prior to Gonzaga actually took place in their first-round matchup against 14th seeded Northern Kentucky in which they won 72-57. That game was very competitive, but Culver was able to help Texas Tech pull away late. He finished with 29 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists. In that game, he showed he can create for both himself and others which is a weakness for him at times.

That game was Culver’s best offensive game, but he has been very good in the other games as well. Against Buffalo, it was the defense that stood out as they won 78-58. In that game, Culver finished with 16 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 blocks, and 2 steals. He went just 6-17 from the field and 1-4 from three-point range though so he did struggle some with his shot.

The way he filled up the stat sheet showed he can make a big impact even when he isn’t shooting the ball particularly well. The 10 rebounds show he is bigger than a lot of guards he goes up against and has the tools to be a very good rebounder which is an area you see many NBA guards becoming more successful in. Russell Westbrook is the top guard rebounder, but many other guys such as James Harden and Khris Middleton also do a good job in that area.

The win over Michigan was impressive as they were dominant on the defensive end for 40 minutes and when you pair that with just an average offensive performance like the one they had it leads to easy wins such as their 63-44 win on Thursday. Culver was very good in that game as he ended up with 22 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals.

One area of concern is his 0-5 mark from three-point range in that game. He is shooting just 32% this season after making 38% last season. Part of it could be fluky, but it does lead to the concerns that he could struggle to shoot the ball from deep at the next level.

The three steals in that game show how good he can be on the defensive end. He also had three blocks and two steals against Buffalo so he has shown he can make a big impact on that end of the floor every night. The Grizzlies are still a team that wants to pride themselves on the defensive end so Culver would be a great fit in that.

Texas Tech was able to take down top-seeded Gonzaga despite some struggles from Jarrett Culver. Some of his weaknesses were on display in this game, but he still played very well. He finished with 19 points, 5 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2 assists.

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His shot was not falling in this game as he finished just 5-18 from the field, including just 2-8 from three-point range. The Bulldogs did a good job making it tough on him offensively and he was unable to ever get going. Despite some of those struggles he still finishing with 19 points so he clearly was doing something right. He wasn’t making shots, but he was still aggressive which led to him going 7-8 from the free-throw line.

Some of the offensive issues he had in this game raise some questions about his ability to be a star at the next level. If you’re going to be a star in the NBA you have to be able to take over down the stretch of games. It’s not enough to drop him down your draft board as teams should’ve already seen some of these issues, but this just showed some of them on the big stage.

Against Gonzaga, he certainly did struggle at times, but he also was fantastic in other ways. We’ve discussed his defensive ability in prior games, but he was great in that area again in this one. His three steals were key as he did a good job pressuring the Gonzaga bigs inside which was a point of emphasis for the Red Raiders. They forced 16 turnovers which were how they were able to overcome their lack of size at times when they would run smaller lineups.

All of these performances show why he is one of the top NBA Draft prospects in this year’s draft. The Memphis Grizzlies very likely will have a high pick and they certainly should consider taking him, wherever their pick is at.