The Grizzlies' last season ended before the month of May began, after being the first team eliminated from the NBA Playoffs. The opponent that eliminated them, the Oklahoma City Thunder, won the NBA championship, but with more resistance along the way, specifically in the second round and the NBA Finals.
The Denver Nuggets have the best player in the NBA in Nikola Jokic, so the Thunder having to take seven games to beat them in the second round wasn't much of a shock to anyone. However, their NBA Finals opponent, the Indiana Pacers, surprised everyone with their run through the Eastern Conference to the Finals.
Then they proved it wasn't a fluke as they pushed the Thunder to a deciding seventh game before missing out on their first NBA title. While no team had the blueprint to defeat the Thunder last season, the Grizzlies will look to follow the Pacers' blueprint to compete in the Western Conference under their new head coach, Tuomas Iisalo.
Defensive pressure was a priority for the Grizzlies' offseason
The Grizzlies' defense ended last season ranked in the top 10 of defensive efficiency and11th in defensive rating for the entire season, but they clearly took a step down during the second half of the season. Before All-Star break, the Grizzlies ranked 7th in the NBA in defensive rating, which led to a 36-18 record and a top two seed in the Western Conference at the time.
However, their post-All-Star break decline to a 12-16 record coincided with their drop from a top-seven defense to 18th in the NBA. The Grizzlies tried to implement changes to their defensive philosophy after the coaching change, but with only nine games remaining in the regular season they didn't have enough time to reverse their misfortunes.
Their offseason strategy of roster building included adding more defensive-minded players like Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to implement more full-court press. Last season, Jaylen Wells and Scotty Pippen Jr. pressed throughout their minutes on the court, but Tuomas Isalo figures to utilize all players in that strategy, similar to the Indiana Pacers.
The Pacers might have fallen short of defeating the Thunder in the Finals, but their press gave them the best opportunity to pull off the upset. The NBA is a copycat league, but Iisalo was known for that type of style coaching in Paris Basketball. Expect the Grizzlies to mimic a lot of what the Pacers do now that they have additional defenders on the team to keep pace with their opponents.