Bleacher Report has the Memphis Grizzlies picking 3-and-D forward

The Memphis Grizzlies have been doing a strong job improving their 3-point shooting over the past couple of seasons. They’re still a subpar team, sitting in the bottom ten of most NBA team statistics, but they’re moving in the right direction.

With a handful of options presented to Memphis with the 17th overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, the Grizzlies front office will have a decision to make. Should they use the pick to bolster their 3-point shooting or should they trade up for a key player to add to the starting lineup?

That decision may be made easier by the fact that this year’s draft is loaded with talented shooters. One of those shooters is Corey Kispert, who is arguably the best shooter in the draft. We talked about his fit with the Grizz already, but he doesn’t have a defensive game capable of functioning at the NBA level quite yet.

The Memphis Grizzlies could turn to Virginia’s Trey Murphy III to grab one of the draft’s best 3-and-D players

Trey Murphy III is not a name that has been spoken of in the top-20 of most NBA mock drafts. Instead, he was generally thought of as a late first-rounder who could fall into the second. Lately, however, he has been skyrocketing up mocks.

One of those Mock Drafts was done by Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Wasserman, who predicted Murphy to go to the Grizzlies in the first round at 17. Here’s what he had to say about Murphy.

"“Scouts could see Murphy rise into the top 20 with his convincing shooting stroke for a 6’9″, switchable defender. He’s an easy plug-and-play stretch forward with a translatable core skill and valued archetype.”"

Murphy is one of the best shooters in the draft who played at a well-respected university for one of the best coaches in college in Tony Bennett after transferring from Rice. The Virginia forward has a prototypical body type for the modern NBA at 6-9, which allows him to play defense against virtually any position on the court.

He will have to work on his defense against larger power forwards or centers but for the most part, he shouldn’t have any trouble assimilating to the NBA level. His transfer from Rice to Virginia indicates that he is ready to step into a bigger role with a higher level of competition.

The one-year cavalier shot the ball over 43% in two of his three seasons at the college level, proving that he can be extremely consistent. He wasn’t the team’s first scoring option, which is good, because the Grizzlies are looking for more of a supplementary scorer.

Anything that can be considered a hole in Murphy’s game can be improved upon. He doesn’t have any huge disadvantages like shooting or defense that would nag the entirety of his career.

He may not be the popular choice, but Murphy is one of the more underrated prospects as we approach the 2021 NBA Draft. Grizzly fans could not be upset about their team picking up this player.