Grading the Memphis Grizzlies' Final 14-Man Roster
The Memphis Grizzlies roster combines enviable ingredients—a pair of high-end players, a double-double machine and choice role players.
The Grizzlies core contains the NBA's best all-around center in Marc Gasol, a borderline All-Star in Mike Conley and one of the league's top double-double producers in Zach Randolph.
Gasol's presence last season was the difference between a world-class defense and a sievish one. Conley, who had his first full season as a key scorer, should continue raising his average.
Randolph is on the backside of his career, but he still can stack points and rebounds.
A strong supporting cast surrounds them. Tony Allen changes games nearly as much as Gasol defensively. Memphis brings three-point shooters Vince Carter, Jon Leuer and Quincy Pondexter off the bench.
Carter's effective bench scoring gives the Grizzlies hope of having one of the league's better offenses. Kosta Koufos is a starting-caliber center backing up Gasol.
After waiving five training camp invitees—shooting guard Patrick Christopher, point guard Kalin Lucas, small forward Luke Hancock, forward Earl Clark and center Hassan Whiteside—the Grizzlies enter the season with 14 players.
This allows them flexibility to sign a player or pull someone from the Iowa Energy, their NBA D-League affiliate, to address an injury or positional shortcoming.
The following evaluations of the five positions for the Grizzlies set the grades according to depth and strength at the top.
Unless otherwise noted, advanced metrics come from Basketball-Reference.com.
Center
1 of 5
Grade: A
Marc Gasol should be strong, healthy and back to being a threat on both ends after missing 23 games due to an MCL sprain in his left knee.
CBSSports.com cautiously placed him No. 16 in its Elite 100 while stating, "This is Gasol's prime, and his playmaking, defensive acumen, strength, skill and IQ combine to make him arguably the league's best center."
He shed the knee brace in the FIBA World Cup and resumed his role as a supportive facilitator.
The Grizzlies saw a glimpse of this in the playoffs, as he averaged 4.4 assists per game, moving the ball effectively from the elbow.
In the second half of last year, the 29-year-old made known that he keys the defense, as Memphis had one of the best defenses down the stretch, allowing 103.1 points per 100 possessions after his return.
Meanwhile, the Grizzlies shouldn't promulgate the idea that he'll become an aggressive scorer. Gasol tread carefully by telling NBA.com's Fran Blinebury, "I'll be more aggressive. It doesn't mean I'll score the ball more. It means I'll be on the go all the time."
Gasol averaged 15.7 points on 13 field-goal attempts per game, which was only a 1.2-point increase from the prior year.
Koufos stands out as a rim protector off the bench. He allowed 101 points per 100 possessions and had a 4.4 percent block rate.
He's a master of the boards, having quickly surpassed Zach Randolph as the team leader in rebounding percentages. He had a 14 percent offensive rebounding rate, 22.7 percent defensive rebounding rate and 18.4 percent total rebounding rate while pulling down 11.2 per 36 minutes.
The 25-year-old will create numerous second chances for the reserve unit.
Power Forward
2 of 5
Grade: B+
Zach Randolph isn't fading quickly. As he enters his age-33 season, Randolph retains most of his scoring and rebounding ability.
His stature on the boards faded a bit last season. He had a 23.3 percent defensive rebounding rate and 17.4 percent total rebounding rate, decreases of 1.8 and 1.9 percent, respectively, from the year before.
Those figures are largely due to playing part of the season next to an emerging rebounder in Koufos. Randolph won't slip further due to his outstanding positioning for rebounds. He'll still place in the top 10 in rebounds per game as he did last year.
He scored aggressively, raising his scoring average by two to a team-leading 17.4 points per game, but he shot a subpar 46.7 percent in the process.
But he'll cede the scoring lead to Mike Conley out of necessity.
As Chris Herrington wrote in an ESPN.com column, "Randolph has that demeanor, but no longer has that game."
That also means no longer leading the team in the playoffs after he shouldered the scoring load, averaging 18.2 points per game on a dismal 40.4 percent shooting. Conley and Gasol will need to take the burden from him in the postseason.
Jon Leuer will take most of the backup minutes behind Randolph. Leuer is an intriguing three-point shooter, having drained 46.9 percent last season.
In his column for The Commercial Appeal (subscription required), Herrington said Leuer was "showing signs of developing into a 'Matt Bonner-type'" with a post game.
To be sure, the 25-year-old is also a capable rebounder, having averaged 8.9 per 36 minutes.
Rookie Jarnell Stokes has potential as a defender and rebounder. He works hard on the boards. That was on display in the preseason, as he pulled down 10 boards per 36 minutes.
However, he'll likely wait until next season to show it with substantive playing time after averaging 11.3 minutes per game in the preseason and sitting out the last exhibition.
Small Forward
3 of 5
Grade: B
Head coach Dave Joerger announced in an Oct. 21 press conference, as reported by The Commercial Appeal (subscription required), that Tony Allen will start at the 3, but that doesn't mean those listed as small forwards are incapable.
Vince Carter, who averaged 11.9 points per game for the Dallas Mavericks last season, will be the top scorer off the bench. Carter's 39.4 percent on 4.6 three-point attempts per game represents an invaluable asset for increasing team scoring.
Also, Carter's preference for outside shooting creates space.
Carter gives effort on defense. Herrington called Carter a "vastly superior defender" to Mike Miller, whom he replaces (subscription required).
Quincy Pondexter may also be helpful from the outside. Memphis will hope to see him return to his 2012-13 form, when he shot 39.5 percent from three-point range, after he missed 67 games last season due to a stress fracture in his right foot.
The Grizzlies also need the 26-year-old to regain form defensively. He allowed 104 points per 100 possessions in 2012-13. In 15 games of 2013-14, he gave up 110.
Herrington stated the imperative for Pondexter to "find the right tone in his game—high-volume three-point shooting, low-volume ball-handling, more impactful rebounding and defense."
Tayshaun Prince might be in line for a dead-cat bounce after his worst year ever. He struggled from the start after missing preseason with a stomach illness. The 34-year-old had career lows of 8.4 points per 36 minutes, 40.7 percent from the field, 29 percent from downtown and 56.7 percent from the free-throw line.
In his 13th season, Prince likely won't pull off his career average of 45.5 percent shooting, but hitting the midpoint between that and last season's mark is reasonable.
Prince will be doing it in a limited role. In the press conference, Joerger said Prince will be a situational player, not an everyday contributor.
"Guys are at different points in their careers, and we've got a lot of veterans. At some point, I have to choose," Joerger said.
Shooting Guard
4 of 5
Grade: B
In the press conference mentioned in the previous slide, Joerger demurred when asked whether he's concerned about the negative offensive impact of starting Courtney Lee and Tony Allen.
"That's what gives us the best chance to win," Joerger said.
Lee, who started 47 of 49 games for the Grizzlies last season, was a given due to his upper hand as a shooter compared with Allen.
Lee's 38.2 percent career three-point mark is 11.8 percent better than Allen's, and his 113 points produced per 100 possessions were 11 more. The 29-year-old was fourth on the team with 11 points per game.
Joerger's decision to start both Lee and Allen says more about how much he values his top two 2-guards than it does about his reservations about starting a natural small forward.
Starting Allen showcases his world-class defense. The man whom NBA general managers called the league's toughest player has allowed 100 points per 100 possessions in his four seasons with Memphis.
The 32-year-old dogged Kevin Durant for much of the last playoff series between the two teams. He helped force Durant to shoot 35 percent from Games 2 to 4.
While discussing how Allen shook Durant's confidence, ESPN.com's Brian Windhorst quoted Durant as saying, "I'm worrying about a guy coming from behind trying to block the shot."
Differentiating between positions isn't important in an era when they've become fluid, especially for Allen. He isn't foreign to the 3, having played 11 percent of his career minutes at the position. Also, Allen's torture of Durant negates the height issue.
Allen's offensive issues don't stem from his stature, but rather his uncanny shot pattern. His three-point shooting—23.4 percent last season and 26.4 percent for his career—is unbearable.
While he managed to suppress the urge to take many long two-pointers, those jumpers still mar his reliability. He shot 28.6 percent from that distance last season and 30.6 percent the year before, while attempting 23 percent of shots in the troublesome range.
Rookie Jordan Adams could provide a bit of help on both ends. He's a playmaker on offense and grabs steals. The 20-year-old put this on display in the preseason, picking up 1.4 steals in just 18.1 minutes per game.
However, as Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress notes, Adams lacks athleticism and isn't a great ball-handler.
Point Guard
5 of 5
Grade: A-
A better situation at point guard for the Grizzlies would require small adjustments.
Mike Conley enters the year with hopes of an All-Star appearance.
"I want to do everything I have been doing but at an elite level," as The Commercial Appeal quoted him saying at the team's tipoff luncheon (subscription required).
In 2013-14, Conley stood on the cusp. He dropped his turnover rate from 15.1 to 11.5 percent, the lowest among anyone with six or more assists per game. His 18.5 points per 36 minutes and 45 percent shooting were career highs.
But the All-Star standard demands more aggressive scoring from the lead guard. Raising his scoring average by a couple points may do the trick.
He can boost his mark by continuing to attack the rim after he increased his clip in that area 5 percent to 61.3 percent, while shooting a bit better than his 36.1 percent from beyond the arc.
Also, Conley will need to regain his superior defensive form after allowing 106 points per 100 possessions, six worse than the year before. While much of that was symptomatic of the team's struggles during Gasol's absence, he could still recover some discipline.
Memphis must do without its No. 2 point guard—Nick Calathes—for the first 13 games, as he serves the remainder of his suspension for violating the NBA's drug policy. Calathes emerged as a capable backup last season when he averaged 14.7 points and 2.6 steals per game in seven starts with Conley injured.
Calathes finished with a strong rookie season defensively, holding a 3 percent steals rate and allowing 104 points per 100 possessions.
When he comes back, the Grizzlies will need him to continue working on ball-handling. He had a 26.5 percent turnover rate in 34 games before entering the starting lineup.
After committing a reasonable 2.9 turnovers per game in that stretch, the 25-year-old had a 22.2 percent turnover clip the rest of the year.
Beno Udrih will stand as Conley's backup with Calathes unavailable. The 32-year-old provides sound shooting, having hit 46.1 percent from the field and 35.6 percent from long range for his career. He had three double-digit scoring games for the Grizzlies in the playoffs.
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