2017-18 Finish: 40-42

Season Highlight: 

GM Rasho brought an NLL title to Memphis. But then he got bored with his toy team and left the team in a bad state, out of the playoffs. They were worst team in NLL just two years ago (current GM jessedune took the team in that period) and slowly clawed their way back. Last year they finished with 23 wins and got awarded Jason Tatum for their trouble. This year they made an unbelievable turnaround, and won 40 games, which was enough to make the playoffs. Grizzlies only missed a winning season by an inch due to bad play in last month. First playoffs for GM jessedune and first for the franchise after Rasho left 5 years ago.


Season Lowlight: 

Sad story of Georgios Papagiannis.

PapaG was a feel good story for the NLL Grizzlies and GM jessedunne. Greek giant from Marousi was drafted 24th in the NBA (NBA GMs were much more cautious then Vlade Divac) he told after the draft how his dream was to play with Giannis in Milwaukee but was turned down three four times and how he'll make it his mission to always target his compatriot and his team. Georgie had a really solid rookie season, with a double double in stats on a solid all around impact and efficiency. He worked hard on his game and came into a season determined to make an impression. And boy he did. He was a star, MVP candidate. PapaG was scoring 20+ points on 60%+ fg% - fifth in NLL in rebounds and blocks, 8th in fg%, probably est in ts% at 0.706. Sadly, he fell out with the ownership and was sent to the G-league. His contract wasn't extended and he went back to his old team Panathinaikos. A truly tragic NLL story.

The Memphis Grizzlies renounce Chris Bosh. The guy that brought the title to Memphis retired with his old team.

Best Trade: 

Exum and Faried for Schroeder and 2nd

It all really comes down to what you think about Schroeder. Is he an inefficient score first point guard that doesn't make his team mates better, thinks he's better then he is, complains and might end in jail? Or is he a great understudy for Westbrook, will learn a lot from him and is a dynamic scorer that will only grow from here on? Exum is an epitome of injury. Still has potential to be a solid player in this league, but is mostly forgotten and only got a small prove it deal from NBA Jazz.

Worst Trade: 

I know it's an NLL mantra to preach how picks are overrated and that you should always get players over picks. But Memphis might be a case study those guys should read. 

First they traded Darrell Arthur and 2018 Pistons pick for Kenneth Faried. That pick was later 5th and is now Mo Bamba. 

Then they sent out two 2018 picks and Taj Gibson for Danilo Gallinari and Caris Lavert. Those picks were later 18th and 20th pick in first round. Lavert is a solid player and 2nd they got in this deal, Keita Bates Diop could be ok. Gallo is very valuable as he adds a lot of salary for a team struggling to meet the salary floor (I once picked Mozgod in free agency for that exact reason).

And then right after the draft they sent another (fringe lottery pick), let's call it, #15 for Thin Maker (pun intended). Grizzlies GM is probably the last known believer in Maker. Bucks signed two guys who do what he does in broLo and Ilyasova. It makes sense as Grizzlies are thin upfront and Thon showed some flashed during playoff series vs Celtics. Then again so did Jerome James. Thon definitely showed improvement over summer and easily dispatched former NLL legend Andre Blatche with some fine ninja skills. 

Could have a really promising young lineup of DiVicenzo - Robinson - Tatum - 16 next year - Bamba.

Other Notable Trades:

A bunch of small trades that didn't move the needle much.

Nwaba for Burks. Alec had a solid season once he got back. Grizzlies gambled on Nwaba and didn't get much in return.

Jerebko for Okafor got a lot of discussion. Okafor was still a 'could put it all together' kind of prospect at that moment. Jerebko was solidly rated in the NLL at that time and oak didn't get any chance in NBA. bith guys more or less turned into nothing long term. JAh played really well for the Grizzlies when available.

Nwaba and pick 45 for Juancho Hernangomez. Nothing really to see here.

Free Agency:

Grizzlies will have a lot of cap space available to add some muscle in free agency. But it remains to be seen if any big players will be there to pick from. Lebron ain't walking through that door. Best option would be taking a flyer on Cousins or Jordan, though both are just short term additions. Another wing like Ariza would also be a welcome help. 

Star:

Jayson Tatum. Yeah, Papagiannis was better, but only played 24 games and was unceremoniously dumped later, so he doesn't get the nod. And Jahlil Okafor was really only there for a third of the season and also got unceremoniously dumped. Tatum was close to be dealt, but Jesse never pulled the trigger. And he is a keeper. Jayson had a really solid season, scored almost 20 with great percentages and was the main reason grizzlies got to the postseason (again a shout to the bigs).

Goat:

Danilo Gallinari. Gallo is such a nice player in theory. basically your team's version of Kevin Durant. Problem is he's an slways injured homeless version of KD. Gallo played in 9 games for the Grizzlies after coming there in january and scored 11 points on putrid efficiency. memphis was lucky he went out with injury in playoffs after game 1. All that at 20M and more per season.

Draft Grades :

With 35th pick the Grizzlies selected a freshman from Kentucky PF Jarred Vanderbilt,
(from Insider) The Grizz decided they loved Vanderbilt and so dumped Kent Bazemore’s salary and picked up a selection that would likely, and did, land him. With a lack of big bodies that will actually be around come the new season, getting a PF seems like a good choice. If his feet opt not to drop off, he could be a nice swing. Grade: C+

My take: Grizzlies reached a bit and got a guy that missed most of the season due to various injuries. His long term health might be questionable. if he's healthy he might turn out to be a really solid hustle and rebounder guy. but he's stuck in deep frontcourt in NBA and is likely looking at a year or two in G-league. C seems about right.

The Future:

Did Grizzlies overachieve last year? Will they fall back down out of the playoff spot this season? Is the West's 2nd or 3rd league even strong enough for someone not tanking to fall that far down? Grizzlies have two players currently rated over 80, Tatum and Schroeder. They might add someone solid in free agency and this team will could look much different when the season start.

They have no picks in 2018 and their current projected starting lineup (Schroeder, Levert, tatum, Chriss, Maker) doesn't really scream playoffs to me. As a win now team they really need two things. Tatum should progress to a (super)stardom, which wouldn't surprise me, he's as good a prospect as there is in this league. The second one is much more questionable, one r two of their youngsters should make a big jump. But Maker, Chriss, Lavert, Ntilikina, Dekker, Hernangomez, Jones and Ferguson haven't really shown there's an NLL starter among them (glitches like PapaG aside).

A betting man would go for 35 wins and lottery projection.