If you’re not familiar with the Memphis Grizzlies‘ most recent trade with the Los Angeles Clippers, I’d recommend you check that out before diving into this article. In short, Memphis re-traded Eric Bledsoe in exchange for Patrick Beverley and Rajon Rondo. In addition, they brought in Daniel Oturu, a promising second-year big.
This trade should go a long way for the Grizzlies down the road, as they got Eric Bledsoe off of the books and picked up a pair of expiring contracts. That said, this trade will also have a ripple effect across the entire team, throwing some players’ futures into question.
Today, I’m going to go over the three Grizzlies most affected by the trade with the Los Angeles Clippers, starting with a positive.
Bonus: Memphis Grizzlies PG Ja Morant now has two potential mentors for the 2021-22 season
I’m considering this a bonus slide because I already wrote an entire post about Patrick Beverley and Rajon Rondo’s potential impact on Ja Morant’s 2021-22 season. Still, this was worth a mention.
Morant is a young point guard and up until this point in his career, he hasn’t had a real mentor to work with at the NBA level — at least not at the point guard position. He’s been surrounded by players like Tyus Jones and De’Anthony Melton, both of whom are young players themselves.
The first taste that Morant got of a veteran point guard pushing him to be his best was when the Grizzlies signed Tim Frazier, a reserve guard who was more of a leader than a basketball player. It’s hard to draw a direct parallel between Frazier’s presence and Morant’s success but it seemed like the veteran ball-handler had a huge impact on Morant. This, in turn, may have led to the Grizzlies wanting to bring in a veteran point guard behind Morant.
Ja will benefit hugely from the presence of Beverley and/or Rondo, both of whom are specialists in their own right in this league. It’s hard to see this situation resulting in anything outside of Morant becoming a better passer or defender.
But Ja is far from the most impacted Grizzlies player in this trade.
The Memphis Grizzlies finally found their backup point guard in Tyus Jones, who is now being shipped away
The 2019-20 season was… well, transitional. The Grizzlies had a rookie star in Ja Morant, who would eventually win the Rookie of the Year award, giving them strong play at the point guard spot. Behind him, however, they didn’t have much working for them.
Between Tyus Jones and De’Anthony Melton, there was a huge lack of experience when Morant was off of the court, and that had become an issue. Thankfully, Tyus Jones would eventually find his stride in the NBA in the 2020-21 season, leading the league in assist-to-turnover ratio, a statistic that should not be overlooked. In short, he quickly established himself as one of the best backup point guards in the league.
So what better way to celebrate this season than to put Jones on the trade block?
The reasoning behind this is actually pretty simple — Memphis has quite a few paydays coming up and they don’t want to spend too much money on their 25-year old backup point guard. It’s an unfortunate situation with no real way around it.
Still, it was sad to see him listed on the trade block, even if there was a shred of hope that he could return next season. If there was that shred of hope, it seemingly went out of the window when the Grizzlies brought two veteran point guards to town in Beverley and Rondo.
At this point, it seems like Memphis should look to trade Tyus in a trade package that could mirror that of their Grayson Allen deal. They may not get much in return, but they have to bunker down and hope for the best in the future.
Memphis Grizzlies F Brandon Clarke had a great rookie season and dipped
I don’t like talking about Brandon Clarke anymore. After a great rookie season, the former Gonzaga Bulldog sort of dropped off of the face of the earth. This is a big exaggeration, as he only regressed slightly, but his apparent value to this team completely diminished with that small setback. Here’s a stat comparison from the past two seasons.
2019-20: 12.1 PPG, 61.8% FG, 35.9% 3PT FG, 0.6 STL, 0.8 BLK
2020-21: 10.3 PPG, 51.7% FG, 26.0% 3PT FG, 1.0 STL. 0.9 BLK
As you can see, he regressed pretty significantly on the offensive end. Defensively, however, he seemingly took a big step forward, especially when you take a look at his steal numbers. His presence was felt on the defensive end too, as he was good for a block per game.
This trade, however, does not put him in a great spot — especially if you consider the fact that the Grizzlies are returning Jaren Jackson Jr. and have a couple of newcomer bigs in Santi Aldama and Daniel Oturu. The roster is also now at 17 players, two over the league’s maximum limit. When you’re looking at potential trade candidates on the Grizzlies’ roster, Clarke has to come up as an option.
That said, this is merely speculation — nothing has happened within the Grizzlies’ organization that would imply that they’re interested in parting ways with Clarke. Still, the third-year forward will not likely return to a point where he can produce in the same way that he did in his rookie season.
Memphis Grizzlies wing Dillon Brooks should benefit from the presence of defensive pest Patrick Beverley
This is another subject that I’ve already explored a bit. That said, I haven’t zoned in on just what type of effect Patrick Beverley can have on Dillon Brooks.
The two players are extremely similar defensively. They’re strong on-ball defenders who are well-known as elite trash talkers. They’re both among the ranks of Draymond Green, Russell Westbrook, and Matthew Dellavedova — guys who everybody loves to hate. They’re great players to have on your team and terrible players to play against.
If you’re comparing Beverley and Brooks directly, however, the newcomer veteran point guard has a much more refined defensive game. He may be aging, but Beverley’s All-NBA Defensive First Team and two All-NBA Defensive Second Team honors speak for themselves.
As ridiculous as it sounds, Beverley will go a long way in teaching Brooks how to be a better pest defensively. The difference between the two? Brooks has a higher ceiling on that side of the ball, standing four to five inches taller than his new teammate.
Brooks will come out of this partnership as a better basketball player, no doubt about it. Generally speaking, this will also help him put his name on the map in the NBA world.