Storyline No. 1: Will the Memphis Grizzlies’ star players be able to shoot the basketball well?
As a Grizzlies fan, you have to feel good about where your team is at right now. The squad, despite replacing Jonas Valanciunas with Steven Adams, remains mostly intact from a season ago. That said, one area on this team could see significant regression.
That area is three-point shooting, which seems rather important.
I don’t think the Grizzlies will suddenly become the worst long-range shooting team in the country. After all, they still have guys like De’Anthony Melton and Desmond Bane, who rank among the league’s best long-range shooters by percentage.
That said, with the absence of Grayson Allen, this team will miss out on some three-point attempts. Who will they be picked up by?
Hopefully, the answer is split between Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr., both of whom had underwhelming performances from beyond the arch in 2020-21. Morant knocked down 30.3% of his deep-range shots, while JJJ failed to hit the 30% mark.
Still, I believe Morant can be a serviceable three-point shooter, while Jackson can be an elite three-point shooter for his position. The mechanics are there, it just seems like there was a lid on the bucket for both of them last season.
Whether or not they can hit their three-pointers to start the year will be a big storyline to keep an eye on.