Memphis Grizzlies 2024-25 season: Yes Morant and the most intriguing prospect

The 2024-2025 NBA season is here! We analyze the biggest questions, best- and worst-case scenarios, and fantasy prospects for all 30 teams. Enjoy!

MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES

End 2023-24

Off-season moves

• Additions: Zach Edey, Jaylen Wells, Cam Spencer, Jay Huff

• Deductions: Ziaire Williams, Trey Jemison, Derrick Rose, Jordan Goodwin, Timmy Allen, Zavier Simpson, Jack White, Lamar Stevens, Yuta Watanabe (holy crap, the Grizzlies had so many players last season)

• Complete roster

The big question: can they stay healthy and find the right balance?

Memphis was always going to start behind the 8-ball last season, with Ja Morant starting a 25-game suspension. But the project to stay afloat until the superstar’s return quickly turned into the Grizzlies’ drowning.

Starting with the announcement just before opening night that Steven Adams would miss the entire season, virtually every mission-critical Memphian missed extended periods of time. As Zach Kram of The Ringer notes, last year’s Grizzlies used more players And more starting lineups than any team in NBA history – the result of twenty individual players missing an absurdity 577 total games.

By the time Morant made his debut, Memphis was already 6-19. When he tore the labrum in his right shoulder after a nine-game cameo, all the Grizz could do was stump the rest of the schedule and wait until next year.

There were silver linings. Desmond Bane, deployed as the primary option in Morant’s absence, averaged 23.7 points and 5.5 assists per game, both career highs, and maintained an above-average shooting efficiency at by far his highest usage rate as a professional. Jaren Jackson Jr. somehow helped coach Taylor Jenkins coax a near-top-10 defense out of a MASH unit. And while he wasn’t as adept at the usage efficiency curve as Bane, Jackson also scored and facilitated the best clips of his career in a role that required him to cook for himself; nearly 41% of his baskets last season were unassisted, and after Morant went down this season, JJJ ranked fourth in the NBA in usage percentage, behind only Joel Embiid, Luka Dončić and Jalen Brunson.

Memphis’ roster turnover left Vince Williams Jr. on, a tenacious 6-foot-4 stopper with a 6-foot-10 wingspan who showed flashes as a complementary scorer and playmaker. It gave GG Jackson II, the youngest player in the NBA, more than 1,200 minutes of reps to suggest his play translates to the NBA level — even if it’s best suited for a reserve role right now. It gave Scotty Pippen Jr. a chance to prove he could make an impact as a backup point guard for the defense and the table; he made the most of it and put in strong performances in the Summer League and pre-season to earn a guaranteed deal.

It also gave the Grizzlies the No. 9 pick in the 2024 NBA Draft – a chance to take a big step in adding a big piece to a 50-win team. They took the biggest piece on the board: 6-foot-4, 305-pound Purdue center Zach Edey, the kind of shredding screener, dominant offensive rebounder and tremendous low block target that could transform Memphis’ offense:

The theory of the case is clear: bring the wounded to health; pair them with the young boys; add a giant; resume that trick. But it’s not as simple as “respawn where you were before Ja’s suspension.”

Is Edey ready to immediately start at center on a championship contender? How quickly can JJJ adjust to a new offensive partner and return to Defensive Player of the Year-level effectiveness? Is Brandon Clarke, who played just six games last season after suffering a ruptured Achilles tendon, ready to play again as a premier backup?

How does Memphis integrate Smart and Kennard, neither of whom have played much with Morant, once everyone is available? (Also, I know Smart is a stretch-6, but… is he basically a 6-foot-4 combo forward at this point?) How busy will the half-court offense be if questionable shooters Morant, Smart and JJJ (just 32.6% from deep over the past four seasons) share the court with Edey? And if Jenkins shrinks down to get more shots on the floor — the Morant-Bane-Kennard three-guard lineup outscored opponents by 91 points in 102 minutes two seasons ago — how can the Grizz avoid getting cut up and on the boards be beaten? ?

To answer these questions, everyone has to get on the field… and Memphis is off to a difficult start there too. Williams and Jackson will both miss the start of the season. JJJ did not play in the preseason with a strained hamstring. And while Morant’s preseason premiere brought back some exciting memories…

…he also left early after rolling his ankle, and has been sidelined since with a ‘mild sprain’.

It is expected that both Morant and Jackson Jr. be ready for the season opener; this is of course good. These restored Grizzlies have a lot of potential answers to the questions they face in a fraught West. But they need all hands on deck to find them.

At best

Morant’s return and Edey’s arrival transform a team that finished last in the NBA in points in the paint last season back into the team that led the competition the previous four campaigns. The growth of self-creation that Bane and JJJ showed makes them even more dangerous when, with Ja back, they don’t have to do as much. The return of Smart, Kennard, Clarke and John Konchar gives the Grizzlies a full complement of capable veterans they can rely on; The continued development of young players Williams, Jackson, Pippen, Santi Aldama and Jake LaRavia gives Jenkins new legs to deploy in a faster offense. It all comes down to top-10 finishes on both sides of the ball, 50-plus wins and a deep postseason run – the Grizz picked up right where they left off when everything went haywire.

When everything falls apart

The disparate pieces never quite come together. The new attacking plan is neither fish nor fowl, with the idea of ​​a more fluid and decentralized attack that minimizes Morant’s ball-dominating effectiveness, and a higher-octane ethos that makes it harder to play through the towering Edey at low level. For as many intriguing plays as he has to play, Jenkins struggles to find consistent two-way lineups with enough shooting, defensive steel at the point of attack and rebounding to compete with the monsters in the West. Morant, Bane and/or Jackson miss an extended stretch, and suddenly Memphis looks a lot thinner than we thought. The Grizz rush to the play-in, fail to make the postseason and face even bigger questions in the summer.

Fantasy twist

The Grizzlies are loaded with fantasy talent, starting with Jackson. JJJ is one of the more reliable defensive assets available, and his contribution in scoring and 3s makes him a high pick in the third round. Bane ranks higher than Morant in my rankings, but Morant’s ADP is about six spots better than Bane’s. For me, Bane gets the edge in category competitions because he is more efficient and turns the ball over less. Morant is better suited for points competitions like Paolo Banchero.

I drafted Edey more aggressively as a late pick. Edey has the tools to be a good fantasy player; his blocking, rebounding and shooting efficiency can help fantasy managers immediately. Even if he plays 20-25 minutes a night, his profile can be identified as a player who will have an impact in a limited number of minutes. Edey goes in the ninth round, but I would spend up to the eighth if you feel he won’t be available. — Then Titus

Schedule 2024-25

I’ve been in the tank for the Grizzlies for a long time…and that’s not going to change here! A jump of 21 wins sounds ridiculous, but the last two mostly healthy iterations of this team have won 56 and 51 games, and this one power are deeper than that. Place that 47.5 on a table; Super Grizz is about to dive off a ladder and send it crashing into oblivion.