SR – NBA Bubble Breakdowns: #14 Memphis Grizzlies

Another day closer to the return to the NBA means yet another team on our NBA Bubble Breakdown. The return of the NBA is now exactly two weeks away. As the #14 team on our breakdown the Memphis Grizzlies have control of the valued 8th seed in the Western Conference.

Memphis has had quite the season, with the year being centered around the young and talented Ja Morant and getting him comfortable playing in the NBA and seeing how he and teammate Jaren Jackson mesh as the future core of this Memphis team. Few would have predicted that this team would be in control of the 8th seed in the Western Conference over a more veteran team in the Portland Trailblazers and arguably deeper roster in the New Orleans Pelicans. Both Blazers and Pelicans are 3 and 4 games behind the Grizzlies, respectfully. However, with a more limited number of games to finish off the regular season in the Orlando bubble the Grizzlies have a much better shot just keeping that 8 seed and looking to a first-round playoff match with the LA Lakers.

Memphis Season in Review (32-33, 8th in the west)

Memphis has come a long way since the Grit and Grind era. With a phenom in Ja Morant and lots of young talent around them, I’m not sure anyone expected this team to be this good this quickly. It’s no doubt Ja Morant has had an exceptional transition to the NBA. Morant, who in his rookie season is averaging 17.6 points per game and about 7 assists per contest, has led his team with tons of highlight plays this year yet he’s also leading with such solid and efficient play. At the beginning of the 2019-2020 NBA season, it was a bit far-fetched to think that the Grizzlies would hold a playoff spot over the Portland Trailblazers who reached the western conference finals just last year. This is credited to guys like Dillon Brooks who quietly averages a very effective 15.7 points per game and is shooting 37% from beyond the arc. It’s important to also consider the consistency this team has been able to get out of their center Jonas Valanciunas who also in contributing a solid 15 points per game but more importantly has been very effective in ball screen citations with Ja Morant. Another player on this roster who has had an impact this year off the bench for the Grizzlies is Brandon Clarke. Clarke who averages 12 points and about 6 rebounds in his 21 minutes a game off the bench has been a very important piece for them. He can defend at every position for the most part which must make it easy for coach Taylor Jenkins to keep him in games late down the stretch. He’s just a very high motor guy and you can see the level of intensity he brings on defense for this squad as well as another level of offensive tenacity fighting for rebounds and catching lobs.

Looking into the Bubble:

To finish out the regular season Memphis will take on Portland, San Antonio, New Orleans, Utah, and OKC in their first 5 games. They have the 5th most difficult schedule of any NBA restart. It will be fun to see if they can hold on to the 8 seed or if they will end up in a play in with the rest of the teams competing for the 8 seed since the NBA has the new playoff format for the bubble where there will essentially be a play in for the last playoff spot. If it does end up going to a four-team play in for the 8 seed meaning all the teams finished out the season at least all within a game of each other it is the most experienced team, Portland will be the favorite in that to get the 8 seed. With this being said, if Memphis wins at least 6 of their remaining regular-season games they have a great chance of keeping that 8 seed and taking on the Lakers without any type of play in. The combination of teams fighting for the spot from the Grizzlies is going to be determined so it will be all more important for them to finish out strong so that they leave less of their playoff hopes up to chance.

The rest will serve the Grizzlies well. Although very young, when the season was suspended earlier this year the grizzlies were 4-6 in their last 10 games and were just banged up. Lots of nagging injuries were starting to catch up to the young roster after playing one of the toughest schedules in the first half of the 2019-2020 season. The rest will help their young core get back to being able to perform at their highest level. They will be very interesting to watch in the bubble because in having so many games in so many days teams with younger rosters are going to have even more value. Memphis just needs to get back in their rhythm as quickly as possible because their chance at the playoffs this year has largely to do with if they will be able to get back to winning quicker than the other 4 teams in the hunt. They seem poised to do so, and so long as they can be solid defensively and get production out of their top offensive guys like Ja and Jaren and hoping teams like the Pelicans or Trailblazers don’t get hotter than them they would have the same control over the 8 seed when playoffs come around.