The Friday Three: How Memphis Grizzlies can get better
They're very good. They can be even more.
Eight game winning streaks should be appreciated, regardless of the sport. This is especially true in professional sports, where it is quite literally the entire point to win for everyone participating (unless you’re tanking…but even then, the players playing the games are TRYING to win - they’re just not very good).
The Memphis Grizzlies should be commended, then, for the current run of success that they are enjoying. It’s not easy for string together such a hot run, no matter the competition. Three of the eight wins came against playoff competition. Against the San Antonio Spurs they showed the ability to “survive and advance”, as the legendary Jim Valvano once said. It won’t always be pretty. But a win is a win.
Close victories against a lesser team like the San Antonio Spurs do serve as a reminder, however. The Memphis Grizzlies are a very good basketball team. And yet, they still have areas of growth that would enable them to be in an even better position as the second half of the NBA season gets rolling…and the competition gets tougher for Ja Morant, Jaren Jackson Jr., Desmond Bane, and the rest of the squad.
Focusing on internal improvement (assuming there are no trades, as we do here at “Written in the Dark”) will be the name of the game for Memphis. And with limited practice time, finding the time to get better outside of actual reps in games themselves will be challenging. But if the Grizzlies can find even marginal gains in these areas, they may well be playing in the NBA Finals for the first time in their history.
Free Throws
Anyone who has watched the Grizzlies play basketball over this season knows the struggle is real for Memphis from the charity stripe. But maybe you’re not aware of just how bad it actually has gotten for the Grizzlies. There are 30 teams in the NBA, and Memphis ranks dead last in free throw percentage at a paltry 70.9%. This is shockingly not much worse than they were last season - about .025% worse, per Basketball Reference. But even when accounting for Steven Adams’ really, really bad 33% from the free throw line the team would be among the worst in the league.
It’s not just the shooting of free throws, however. The Grizzlies allow almost 2 more free throws per 100 field goal attempts, per Cleaning the Glass. That of course connects to the fact that Memphis fouls opponents more than the average NBA team. Memphis ranks 9th in total personal fouls, and some of that is unavoidable given how they play defense - especially their best defenders, Dillon Brooks (3.4 fouls per game) and Jaren Jackson Jr. (3.1). But some offenders like Desmond Bane (2.5 fouls per game) and Santi Aldama (2.0) can make some improvements to their positioning and foot work.
The free throw line is a challenge for Memphis. It can make players like Steven Adams unplayable, potentially. It can force Taylor Jenkins’ hand in terms of “foul trouble” with Dillon Brooks and Jaren Jackson Jr. And any disruption to rhythm can impact the Grizzlies not just defensively, but offensively.
Team shooting next to Ja Morant
If you were given an opportunity to guess the three players for the Memphis Grizzlies who the team shot the worst when they were on the field (among those that have logged at least 600 minutes), if you’ve followed the team this season you’d probably be able to guess one of them. While he has turned it around of late, David Roddy had a really rough start to his NBA rookie season. That is reflected in the Grizzlies shooting 1.3% worse with him on the floor.
The other two would perhaps be more surprising. #2? Brandon Clarke (-1.2%). Clarke has struggled himself at times this season, posting a net rating of -9.9. That is partially due to the company he kept while Jaren Jackson Jr. and Ja Morant were out. But still, BC needs to be better.
#3, though? He’s a shocker.
Ja Morant (-1.1%)
In fact, the team shoots at or below the 43rd percentile - so below average or worse - when Ja Morant is on the floor, per Cleaning the Glass. Safe to say, that is unexpected given Morant’s role on the roster. This is also rare - the team shot 0.9% better with him on the floor last season, and 3.4% better the season prior. In fact, this is the first time in Morant’s career this is the case - even in his rookie campaign the team shot 1.8% better alongside Ja.
Injuries have a lot to do with this. And even with Memphis’ schedule toughening in the weeks ahead, it seems unlikely this number will stay negative. With more minutes with the likes of Bane and Jackson Jr., look for the shooting efficiency next to Morant to grow.
“Stocks”
The decline in this area was to be expected with the departures of Kyle Anderson and De’Anthony Melton. Those two, while not the best players on the roster, were two of the rotation pieces most responsible for Memphis being ranked 1st in both steals and blocks per game last season. With them gone, even with the brilliance of Jaren Jackson Jr. defensively, Memphis has fallen almost 20% in steals per game and almost 7% in blocks.
The significance of this has been blunted in some ways - Memphis is the best offensive rebounding team in the NBA. They take the 3rd most shots per game in the entire NBA as a result, making up for some of those lost possessions that get generated by creating turnovers from those offensive boards. They’re also taking and making more free throws than they did last season, and quantity helps outweigh quality in terms of raw points being scored.
Memphis has adjusted how they score, and how they defend. But a gradual process allowing the team to attack passing lanes and search for more deflections and disruptive defensive plays could enable them to better their offensive standing even more. It’s unlikely given their current personnel they see dramatic three point shooting improvement. But they’ve shown the ability in the past to be great when generating opposing team turnovers.
Revisiting that could lead to a couple more points per game on average. And that could mean a win or two more, in a Western Conference where every victory matters.