Grizzlies big Xavier Tillman gets brutally honest on weakness in his game
By Mark Nilon
The Memphis Grizzlies have one of the most entertaining young cores in the association, with headline talents such as All-Stars Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr. leading the charge into the future.
Recently, in a sideline interview during this year’s Las Vegas Summer League, one of the club’s rising talents, Xavier Tillman, suggested that he’s looking to add two specific advancements to his game as a result of their first-round exit against the Los Angeles Lakers last season.
"“Two things. Physicality, I felt like [the Lakers] were the more physical team in that series. From crashing the offensive glass to just attacking the paint, it was hard for us to keep them out of the paint. And then me personally, shooting. I felt like they were sagging off of me a lot so this whole summer has been mainly focused on me working on my outside jumper to make sure it’s respectful going into the year,” Tillman said."
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Throughout his soon-to-be four-year career in the association, Xavier Tillman has predominantly gone about and earned his points as a result of his high-end strength and enthralling power when finishing at the rim.
Of course, this is not to say that he has shied away from laucnhing up shots from beyond the paint and into three-point territory, though he may have regressed in attempts from such distances during the 2022-23 campaign as he took 34 shots outside the paint and cashed in on just 12 of them (a mere 35.2 percent clip).
The Grizzlies big is already an impressive talent who finds himself coming off a career-best season, posting averages of 7.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.0 steals, and half a block per game on 61.4 percent shooting from the floor.
That said, there are still plenty of areas within Xavier Tillman’s on-court skill set that needs some fine tuning. Adding a trusty shooting stroke would be a blessing to add into head coach Taylor Jenkins’ scheme and would likely be just enough to thrust the 24-year-old into the modern-age of big men.
Per his own words, it seems he’s well aware of his current limitations and is looking to address them head on heading into 2023-24.
