3 starting small forward options for Grizzlies heading into 2023-24
By Mark Nilon
This summer, the Memphis Grizzlies made a slew of quality moves to better their overall talent strength and, in some analysts’ eyes, inched their way closer to title favorites as a result.
However, in doing so, they also went about and created a few rotational voids that, prior to the start of the 2023-24 campaign, will need to be sorted out.
Perhaps the biggest question mark pertaining to this club is the current conundrum of who will serve as the replacement for recently departed Dillon Brooks at the small forward position.
While there may be many possible ways to find an answer to such a situation, today we pinpoint three potential options the Grizzlies could and should consider.
Starting small forward options for Grizzlies
3. Desmond Bane
To start the season, the Memphis Grizzlies are all but guaranteed to roll out a backcourt tandem of Desmond Bane at the two and offseason trade acquisition Marcus Smart at the one while superstar Ja Morant is serving his 25-game suspension.
However, once the 23-year-old makes his way back to the lineup, Taylor Jenkins will certainly have a tough decision to make when it comes to whom amongst the trio (specifically Smart and Bane) he’ll look to send to the second unit.
That said, there is a way where none are sequestered to the bench and, instead, are seen rolling within the first-five lineup alongside one another, and a way to do that is by sliding their newly-minted $207 million man down to the three.
Though an ideal shooting guard, possessing greater size (6-foot-5, 216-pounds) compared to the likes of Smart (6-foot-3) and Morant (6-foot-2), Bane is the clear choice of the bunch to leave the backcourt rotation and enter into the uncharted territory of the three position should this be an experiment the coach staff wishes to toy with.
Considering his phenomenal shooting touch (boasts a career 42.5 percent 3-point shooting clip) he’d already provide more upside in this particular area than the previous holder in Dillon Brooks while his ball handling and sound court vision (averaged 4.4 assists per game last season) would do wonders for the Grizzlies ball movement with this proposed three-guard set.