Who have been the 5 best Memphis Grizzlies players in 2021?

Justise Winslow makes a huge defense impact for the Memphis Grizzlies

Justise Winslow may be the biggest surprise on this list so far, especially considering his lack of offensive production. In fact, he sits near the bottom of the team when you’re looking at Player Efficiency Rating.

That being said, the PER metric does not account much for defense, and that has been Winslow’s bread and butter so far since his return to basketball.

Even with a small sample size, Winslow sits at 40th in the NBA in Defensive Rating. He doesn’t show up much on the stat sheet, with just a half-steal and half-block per game, but he makes a huge difference for this Grizzlies team.

The Grizzlies bench unit has been strong all year, but has struggle defensively at times. Winslow has turned that around. When he’s in the game, there is no noticeable drop off from the starters to the role players on the defensive end.

He has managed to clamp up anybody you put him up against and his presence has been felt in the city of Memphis. He hasn’t put it all together offensively, but we did get a glimpse into what he’s capable of in a 20-point game a few weeks ago.