It is only fitting that the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs will have a Game 7 in the Western Conference Finals. If the Grizzlies want to reach their level in the near future, they must address one key trait the Thunder and Spurs both have: They must aggressively boost the defensive quality on their roster.
One of the main things that made fans resonate with the Grit and Grind era and even the early stages of the Next Gen era was the strong commitment to defense. Other factors matter, such as having a defined #1 option and multiple quality shot creators; however, the Grizzlies' quickest path to being a contender is by becoming a much more formidable force defensively.
The Grizzlies need more quality defenders on the roster
When reflecting on what went wrong for the Grizzlies this past season, one of the biggest factors that led to the team tanking was how poorly their defense fared without Edey. In the short sample size of 11 games before re-injury, Edey helped to anchor a defense that had the 3rd best defensive rating in the NBA. Prior to his return, the team was in the bottom ten defensive ratings of the league, a staggering difference.
The Grizzlies had just the 18th best defensive rating in the NBA before the trade deadline and ended the year 27th best, largely due to tank lineups. However, it was blatantly clear that the defense was not close to good enough without Zach Edey. If the Grizzlies want to have more success in this rebuild, they need more defenders.
Zach Edey should continue being an elite rim protector, and players such as Jaylen Wells, Scotty Pippen Jr., and Taylor Hendricks should help as well. A defensive leap from Cedric Coward in year 2 is also very reasonable to expect.
If the Grizzlies want to speed up their rebuild, they will need another high-level rim protector and likely at least 2-3 more capable perimeter defenders to truly solidify their unit. That can either come with developing already promising young talent on the roster or using this year's draft and other roster moves to acquire more proven defenders.
The Thunder and Spurs are full of capable defenders
Victor Wembanyama became the first-ever unanimous Defensive Player of the Year and is arguably the best player in the NBA in just year 3. Beyond him, the Spurs still have other high-impact defenders such as Devin Vassell and promising sophomore Stephon Castle. Rookies Carter Bryant and Dylan Harper have shown promise on that end and will only continue to get better. All of them contributed to the Spurs having the third best defensive rating in the NBA at 110.4.
One of the driving forces in the Thunder winning a championship last season and getting back to this year's conference finals is their defense. The Thunder had a league-best 106.5 defensive rating, which was even slightly better than last year's team that won the NBA Finals.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has had another dominant scoring season, but it is hard to ignore the quality defenders the Thunder have. Players such as Cason Wallace, Lu Dort, and Alex Caruso make their perimeter defense truly menacing, and then there are Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein to deal with in the paint.
It is not a coincidence that both teams won 60+ games and that one of them will win the Western Conference. While it is another topic of conversation for the Grizzlies to find their #1 option, the best thing they can do in the short term to get back to winning is to boost the defensive talent on the roster.
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