The Memphis Grizzlies made one of the more high-profile trades of the offseason when they decided to ship Jonas Valanciunas off to New Orleans in order to move up in the draft. In exchange for JV and their 17th-overall pick, they received the 10th-overall pick, which they would use to draft Ziaire Williams, a future first-round pick, Eric Bledsoe, and Steven Adams.
After a few days of fans believing that they’d be able to trade the 17th-overall pick in exchange for the Pels’ 10th pick and Eric Bledsoe, this deal actually came as a slight disappointment. That said, taking a step back, it was a pretty good deal for the Grizzlies.
Even though a lot of fans wanted Moses Moody at the 10th spot, the upper management in Memphis seems to do the same thing every year — draft and an unexpected player who exceeds expectations.
To get the player they wanted in the draft, the Memphis Grizzlies had to take a step back in the immediate future
Among the excitement of the NBA Draft, it was easy to get caught up in the Grizzlies’ young acquisitions and forget about the two veteran players that Memphis just nabbed. For starters, the Grizz now have Eric Bledsoe, who may not get trade after all.
More specifically, however, the Grizzlies switched their veteran big in Jonas Valanciunas for an objective downgrade in Steven Adams. That said, this isn’t necessarily a gigantic downgrade, as Adams has more than a handful of redeeming qualities.
Today, I’m going to discuss the pros and cons of having Steven Adams around as opposed to Jonas Valanciunas, starting with the cons. If you don’t want to read the negativity, feel free to skip to the third slide for the pros.
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.
The Memphis Grizzlies should improve drastically on the defensive side of the ball
You’re probably worn thin emotionally after reading that last slide. Don’t worry — there are actually quite a few pros associated with swapping Jonas Valanciunas for Steven Adams.
For starters, Adams is an elite defensive big man. While Valanciunas was a strong offensive player, we saw him get bullied by a few players, including Nikola Jokic and Rudy Gobert. With Adams, that won’t happen — at least not to the same degree.
Adams is arguably the strongest player in the league and he plays smart on the defensive side of the ball. In his best years with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Aquaman averaged 1.5 steals and 1.0 blocks per game, a unique stat line for a player his size. This is due to his elite positioning on the defensive side of the ball. While JV got lost at times, we shouldn’t see any more of that with Adams.
Adams is also one of the better perimeter defenders at the center position in the league. Time and time again, opposing teams attempted to get a mismatch on a switch with Adams, only to have the shot clock run low and force up a bad shot. Adams is long enough and smart enough to stay disciplined, even when he’s put in tricky situations.
The Memphis Grizzlies got as much of a fit as they could ask for on the offensive end in Steven Adams
This slide was not actually planned, I just kept thinking of more pros when it comes to having Steven Adams on this team. Outside of the defensive side of the ball, there are actually a handful of pros.
For starters, Adams will take no time at all getting comfortable with the Grizzlies’ offense. This is the same center that played with Russell Westbrook for years — he knows how to mesh well with a fast, explosive point guard and clear space for his counterpart in the paint. In fact, Adams’ best years came as Russell Westbrook’s sidekick. This fares well for the Memphis Grizzlies, who have the most similar player to Westbrook in NBA history in Ja Morant.
Even more specifically, Adams has a mean floater game. As we know, nobody hit more floaters last season than the Memphis Grizzlies. Do not be surprised when Adams averages a career-high in scoring next season.
This last part is more of a twist on the actual narrative. While Adams will still be a downgrade from Valanciunas on offense, he’ll open the door for more development from Ja Morant and other young Grizzly players.
There isn’t a lot of purpose behind giving a center who is nearing the age of 30 the reigns on a young team’s offense. As great as JV was, it felt like a waste to devote time to his development over other players. That said, this part may be a bit of a stretch. Even so, I think this move will pay off in the end for the Grizzlies.