Memphis Grizzlies: Pros and cons of having Steven Adams instead of JV

Steven Adams is technically a downgrade for the Grizzlies, specifically on the offensive end

I won’t sit here and lie to you — this is a pretty drastic downgrade on the offensive end for the Grizzlies. This isn’t so much a knock against Steven Adams, rather, this is a compliment to Jonas Valanciunas, who was the Grizzlies’ most consistent offensive player in 2020-21.

Jonas Valanciunas averaged 17.1 points and had a team-high 24.4 Player Efficiency Rating. For Adams, those numbers drop to 7.6 and 15.1 respectively. The Kiwi center was once a young, promising offensive player, but as his career has developed, he has become more dominant on defense.

This leads me to my next point — Adams never developed a 3-point shot. It is still theorized that he would attempt to do so, but as of right now, he’s a 7% deep-range shooter. Valanciunas wasn’t an elite shooter, but his 36.8% 3-point shooting last season was huge in spacing the floor for Memphis.

In the immediate future, offense will get trickier for Ja Morant and company.

The Grizzlies will also feel the effects of this trade on the glass. JV is a more traditional big, and as such, was one of the best rebounders in the NBA. His 12.5 rebounds per contest came third in the NBA, behind only Rudy Gobert and Clint Capela.

That said, Adams wasn’t a significantly worse rebounder. He averaged 8.9 rebounds, a solid total for an NBA center. With Jaren Jackson Jr. back and fully healthy, the Grizzlies’ total rebounds next season shouldn’t plummet drastically, but you should expect them to drop out of the top-5.