Memphis Grizzlies Report Card: Grades for All Key Players Through First Quarter

Amazingly, the Memphis Grizzlies are leading the Southwest Division a quarter of the way through the season. While tied with the San Antonio Spurs and Dallas Mavericks, the Grizzlies have a higher winning percentage right now.

The Grizzlies are riding a seven-game winning streak, their longest in six seasons.

Memphis claimed that seventh straight victory with a huge comeback 91-90 win against the Golden State Warriors. Rudy Gay scored a game-high 23 points as the Grizzlies rallied from a 20-point fourth-quarter deficit to win. The Grizzlies rattled off 39 points in the fourth quarter.

Mike Conley added the rally with 20 points and nine assists.

Conley and Gay have done particularly well to this point in the season. Read along for grades of each player for the Grizzlies for the first quarter of the season.

Note: Only those players who have played at least half the Grizzlies games and have played at least 17 minutes per game are included.

Rudy Gay

Rudy Gay: A-

Rudy Gay has returned to form in the last two weeks. After averaging 16.3 points per game and shooting 42.8 percent from the field in the first 10 games, Gay has picked up the pace. He's now averaging 18.6 points per game while shooting 47 percent from the field.

Gay has raised his three-point shooting figure by 9.2 percent to 29.2 percent by going 6-of-15 in the last two weeks.

Gay has begun to put up solid scoring numbers consistently. Gay has scored 20 or more points in six of the last seven games.

In an impressive display of hustle, Gay is averaging 6.2 rebounds per game.

He's also doing well defensively, averaging 1.6 steals per game.

Marc Gasol

Marc Gasol: A

Gasol is doing a fantastic job with Zach Randolph out. He's averaging career highs in scoring (15.2 points per game) and rebounding (10.6 rebounds per game). He's eighth in the NBA in rebounds per game and 10th in field-goal percentage (53.4 percent). Also, Gasol is fourth in blocks per game (2.5).

Gasol has been a valuable part of the Grizzlies success to this point, as shown by his 2.6 win shares, fifth in the NBA, and 115 offensive rating.

Gasol has been a solid double-double threat, notching 10 in 16 games. He's on pace for 40, which would beat his 2009-10 total by 12.

Mike Conley

Mike Conley: A

Conley has done a solid job, staying healthy in the last couple weeks and facilitating the offense tremendously.

Conley is currently sporting career highs in field-goal percentage (48.7 percent), scoring average (13.9), assists per game (7.4), free-throw percentage (87.9 percent) and three-point percentage (39.6 percent).

Also, Conley is showing a solid defensive effort, as he places fourth in the NBA with 2.4 steals per game.

He puts up a solid 34.8 assist percentage.

Tony Allen

Tony Allen: A

Allen is doing an excellent job. Just as he did when Rudy Gay was out last season, Allen is raising his offensive game. Allen is averaging 9.8 points per game while shooting 48.2 percent from the field. Also, he's shooting a career-high 81.8 percent from the line.

Allen has scored in double figures in five of the last seven games.

As usual, Allen is doing a solid defensive job. He's averaging a career-high 2.1 steals per game while pulling down 3.5 rebounds per game.

In nine games, Allen has racked up multiple steals. He's picked up five steals three times.

O.J. Mayo

O.J. Mayo: B

Despite the trade rumors that constantly swirl around him, Mayo is doing a good job off the bench. He's averaging 11.8 points per game while shooting 45.4 percent from the field. Also, Mayo is shooting 44 percent from three-point range and 80.8 percent from the line.

Mayo has been quite active recently, scoring in double figures in seven of his last nine games.

Mayo isn't grabbing steals at the rate he did in his first three seasons. He is averaging 0.8 steals per game, whereas he averaged at least a steal per game in each of his first three seasons.

While coming off the bench, Mayo is quite involved in the game. The USC product has a 22.4 usage percentage, which leads the team, and averages 24.8 minutes per game.

Marreese Speights

Marreese Speights: B-

Speights has been a nice contributor for the Grizzlies since being acquired from the Philadelphia 76ers. He's averaging 8.7 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. He hits free throws at an impressive 86.7 percent clip.

Also, Speights is tied with Gasol for the team lead in total rebounding percentage (16.2 percent).

His rebounding makes him the most valuable of the Zach Randolph fill-ins.

At times, his scoring also makes him a valuable asset. Speights has scored in double figures in five of the last 10 games.

However, Speights doesn't shoot at a satisfactory clip. He hits 43 percent of his field-goal attempts, which is not a happy clip for a power forward. In five games, Speights has hit less than 40 percent of his field goals.

One would expect him to do better than that.

Dante Cunningham

Dante Cunningham: B-

Cunningham, another Randolph replacement, has done a nice job in his role.

Cunningham is averaging 4.8 points and 3.5 rebounds per game. His rebounding makes him valuable for the Grizzlies, as he picks up some of the slack with Zach Randolph out. Cunningham has a 14.2 percent defensive rebounding rate and an 11.5 percent total rebounding rate.

Cunningham had his first double-digit rebounding output of the season on Saturday, when he pulled down 10 boards against the Sacramento Kings.

Meanwhile, Cunningham's 47.1 percent field-goal percentage is unimpressive.

Since Speights has acclimated to the Grizzlies, Cunningham has been coming off the bench. Still, Cunningham is a regular contributor, averaging 17.5 minutes per game while playing in every game.