Where the Grizzlies rank amongst the NBA’s young cores
By Ethan Becker
Phoenix Suns (24.5 years old)
The Phoenix Suns are the youngest team in the league, though it is a close race between the top four. Still, they’ve got some talent to show for their youth.
Both Devin Booker and DeAndre Ayton are in the early stages of what look to be solid careers, and although he is a bit older, the presence of Ricky Rubio has really helped this team in their rebuilding process.
One big problem that the Suns face is shooting, an area where the Grizzlies excel. Phoenix as an organization shoots 46.3% from the field, and is 13th in that category. While Booker has been having an excellent shooting year (going 50.5% from the field), their numbers are definitely hurt by the shooting troubles of Rubio (41.3%) and the newly acquired Dario Saric (43.7%).
The shooting struggles that the Suns face have hurt them over the course of the season in a tough Western conference, as they have a point differential of -0.6. Memphis’ differential is lower (-2.0), but they average more points per game than the Suns, but Memphis is able to run away with a game better, as they’ve had 17 clutch games (i.e. games that have a point differential of five or less in the last five minutes) as opposed to 23 clutch games from Phoenix. When the game is on the line, Memphis is 9-8 while Phoenix is 9-14.