Memphis Grizzlies: 30 Teams in 30 Days

2008 Statistics

Finished 24-58, fifth in Southwest Division, 12th in Western Conference

Missed Postseason

Key Additions

Hasheem Thabeet via draft, DeMarre Carroll via draft, Sam Young via draft, Zach Randolph via trade, Steven Hunter via trade

Key Losses

Hakim Warrick via free agency, Darko Milicic via trade, Quinton Ross via free agency, Greg Buckner via trade

A team like the Memphis Grizzlies is like many of the other cellar-dwelling teams in the league—in a rebuilding stage trying to stay afloat and gain some recognition in the league. The Grizzlies, though, have been blessed to be in arguably the best division in the NBA, making things all but more difficult for Memphis.

This past draft the Memphis organization had a number of candidates capable of the job of being the piece that makes the Grizzlies a legitimate team and a return to the postseason. They used their No. 2 pick in the draft to take center Hasheem Thabeet out of Connecticut and are really taking a risk with the pick.

Thabeet was one of the most intimidating figures at the collegiate level standing at 7'3" and could transition that to the NBA due to his large frame. He is well known for his defense, but even at the college level, he found difficulty scoring. This past summer league, Hasheem had trouble and could barely grab rebounds as well.

While summer league is hardly a good prediction, the Grizzlies should not expect Thabeet to be nothing more than an intimidating post figure. The best case scenario is that Thabeet turns into a Dikembe Mutombo-like player and becomes one of the top shot blockers in the league or that he could end up as Samuel Dalembert, a player with a lot of length and not much else other than rebounding and blocks.

Memphis also improved their scoring when they picked up Zach Randolph. The Grizzlies were one of the worst offensive teams in the league last year only averaging 94 per game and by bringing in Randolph who is a potential 20 point per game player, the team could expect the offensive production to improve. Randolph's defense and will come into question though as Zach has never been one of the hardest working players in the league. He averaged 21 points and nine rebounds in 39 games for the Los Angeles Clippers last season.

While Memphis is not a top team, it could expect to be one in a few years. They feature one of the youngest lineups in the league with Mike Conley running the point, OJ Mayo as the shooting guard, Rudy Gay at small forward and the possibility of having either Marc Gasol or Thabeet at the center position.

Gay is beginning to emerge as one of the stars of the league and is going have to perform at a superstar level if he wants to be the leader of this Grizzlies team and lead them out of obscurity. Rudy has been healthy his first three seasons in the league and averaged 19 points and six rebounds last year. His numbers actually went down from the 2007-'08 season thanks in part to the inclusion of OJ Mayo on the team.

Mayo, who finished second in Rookie of the Year voting, was a spark in the Grizzlies offense and had a stable, consistent enough shot to become a starter and a future all-star. With age will come experience which Mayo will get as the years pass and already a near all-star, OJ will complement this team very well and bring them a postseason in its future.

Speaking of the postseason, the Grizzlies are not too accustomed to the fact of winning a postseason game. At 0-12, Memphis has the worst postseason record in the sporting world. They made the playoffs three years in a row and each year ended the same as the other: a sweep in the first round. The Griz have hit the 50 win mark only once in it's 15 year history and are looking for their first winning season in four years.

The center position is the only one to battle for on the team as it will come down to Marc Gasol and Hasheem Thabeet fighting for the start. While Hasheem appears to be the better rebounder and defender, Gasol is most likely going to be a far better scorer. He averaged 12 points last year and played a full season which could also be a detrimental part of the position. Anyone with size like Thabeet's is more likely than other's to suffer season threatening injuries, and with a 7 footer like Gasol playing a full 82 game season is a positive for the young man out of Spain.

The losses the Grizzlies suffered are not franchise threatening, but the loss of Hakim Warrick could affect the team. Warrick was the team's high flyer and averaged 12 points as the fourth leading scorer on the team.

The team did manage to shake off Darko Milicic from the team which eliminates a fourth center from the roster. Milicic managed to average six points and four rebounds as the backup center for Memphis in his second season with the team.

The Grizzlies are one of the up and coming teams of the NBA and could be making an impact as soon as the upcoming season. The core of Mayo-Gay-Thabeet could become one of the elite cores of the league in a few years time and will bring the Grizzlies to a postseason and hopefully for their sake gain that first postseason win.

Projected Starting Lineup

PG-Mike Conley, Jr.

SG-OJ Mayo

SF-Rudy Gay

PF-Zach Randolph

C-Marc Gasol/Hasheem Thabeet

This is part 14 of a 30-day series of 2009-10 season previews of each NBA team. My profile will contain every other team that has been previewed before.