Memphis Grizzlies: Why De’Anthony Melton needs more minutes
The Memphis Grizzlies will finally be at full health pending Jonas Valanciunas’s return to the court after a concussion. Even short-handed, they’ve been playing better basketball than this franchise has played in a long time.
With every piece of this team intact, we’ll finally get an idea of what the Grizzlies’ true potential looked like. And they’re continuing to develop.
The issue here is that we’ll never find this out if the right players aren’t receiving minutes. It’s never a good idea to criticize NBA coaches, so I hope I’m wrong, but there are a few players who should be getting more minutes
Memphis Grizzlies G De’Anthony Melton is the team’s best two-guard
The more the season progresses, the more a single fact seems true: the Memphis Grizzlies are stacked at the shooting guard position. From top to bottom, this holds true for every player at that position on the roster.
With Jaren Jackson Jr. back, Dillon Brooks will eventually slide down to the 2-guard spot, pushing Grayson Allen to the bench. This will, in turn, move Desmond Bane and De’Anthony Melton even further down the rope.
That said, these two guys have been extremely good. Too good to be rotting away on the bench.
As a rookie, Bane has been elite, but you can understand the hesitance to put him into the starting lineup. De’Anthony Melton, on the other hand, has been arguably the best shooting guard on this team throughout the season.
Grayson Allen may have the flashiest performances, but he doesn’t bring the same level of defense to the court that Melton does.
Pair that with the fact that Melton is the second-best shooter on this team and you have to wonder why he’s spending so much time on the bench. Did the coaches miss a stretch of basketball where he hit three 3-pointers in a minute?
He has only seen a single minute per game increase despite improving more than anybody else on the roster. The positive here is that there is so much depth at the two-guard spot that there’s really no losing.
Next. Ja Morant quietly had the best game of his career. dark
Melton should be getting more minutes, but nobody will complain about how Allen, Bane, and Brooks have been playing.