Sometimes things change.
This is a hard but true fact of life. As much as we crave constancy, the world
around us is always changing, and sometimes we have to change, as well. It isn’t
always easy, it isn’t always fun, but change is going to happen, with or without
you.
For the Memphis Grizzlies, perhaps the most significant personnel change in
organizational history came on Thursday, February 7, at the NBA trade deadline,
when the Grizzlies moved several players, including Marc Gasol, the franchise
leader in points and rebounds. “I’m not sad because it’s over, I’m happy because
it happened,” Gasol noted on Twitter following the trade.
As Grizzlies owner Robert Pera said in a statement: “.”
But it wasn’t just Marc. Along with Gasol, on deadline day the Grizzlies also
traded Shelvin Mack, Garrett Temple and JaMychal Green, plus released injured
forward Omri Casspi. It was a significant makeover to a roster that had
struggled the last two months following a 12-5 start to the season.
In return, the Grizzlies received a group of players tasked with leading this
team into the immediate future: Jonas Valanciunas, Delon Wright and C.J. Miles
from Toronto, as well as Avery Bradley from the Clippers. The Grizzlies also
signed former G-League forward Bruno Caboclo to a long-term contract. When you
include the December signing of veteran center Joakim Noah, the Grizzlies at
midseason have a decidedly different look than the Grizzlies team that began the
campaign.
According to general manager Chris Wallace, there is one thing that hasn’t
changed: The goal is to win. “It’s very clear what we want to do for the rest of
this season,” Wallace said. “Going forward behind that, we have flexibility now,
and we’re able to sit back and see what happens in the offseason, where the
draft takes us, are we in it or out, free agency, and we’ll evaluate what’s our
best of options going forward at the beginning of the summer.”
Valanciunas made a quick impact for the Grizzlies, scoring 23 points and
grabbing 10 rebounds in 21 minutes off the bench during his first appearance.
The 26-year-old big man showed his ability to play a physical brand of
basketball, as the Grizzlies worked to rebuild his stamina following an extended
absence due to a thumb injury. In his first four games with the Grizzlies,
Valanciunas averaged 20 points and 10.3 rebounds per game.
Jonas Valanciunas #17 of the Memphis Grizzlies handles the ball against the Los
Angeles Lakers on February 25, 2019 at FedExForum in Memphis, TN. Photo by Joe
Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images.
“He hasn’t played since December 12,” said Grizzlies head coach J.B.
Bickerstaff, “so we have to be patient with our expectations. He’s going through
that, plus he’s learning a completely different system. But the things that you
can tell: intellect, the willingness to compete, and an unselfish nature –
things we continue to preach to this group. We don’t have any expectations that
he isn’t capable of those things… He’s a team player. He’s got great size, he
can run the floor, duck in, get early post touches in the paint, and then he
also has the ability to spread you out and shoot the three. We expect him to
take some time to get there, get his lungs back and his back up after having to
take so much time off.”
Bradley arrived from Los Angeles with a reputation as one of the most dogged
perimeter defenders in the NBA. The eight-year veteran has also averaged 12
points per game during his NBA career. “I’ve tried to build over the last few
years and show people I’m a two-way player,” said Bradley, “especially when I
was in Boston. Hopefully I can get the same opportunity here. I take pride in
the defensive end–I know that’s my strength, and that gets my offense going.”
In his second game in a Grizzlies uniform, Bradley’s offense shined as he scored
a career-high 33 points shooting 15-of-21 from the field against the San Antonio
Spurs. His 33 points were the most ever by a Grizzlies player against the Spurs
in a regular season.
Wright immediately moved into the back-up point guard role with the Grizzlies,
after being caught in something of a numbers game with the Raptors. At 6-5, the
former 2015 first round selection (20th overall) gives the Grizzlies a lot of
versatility, and he has paid dividends already, scoring 9 points and grabbing 6
rebounds in a win over the Lakers.
“The speed he can play with and the way he can push the ball, get into the paint
and create for others,” said Bickerstaff, “the size and length that he has at
that position to defend, allows you to do some different things. We’ll see what
he looks like in an expanded role.”
Thirty-one year-old Miles was the most experienced player the Grizzlies added,
and his ability to score and switch between wing positions makes him a valuable
contributor off the bench. “C.J. Miles is someone who has a track record as a
scorer and outside shooter,” Wallace said. “He’s a veteran presence. If you talk
to anybody who’s been on the teams he’s been with, it’s always great reports.”
Delon Wright #2 of the Memphis Grizzlies handles the ball against the Cleveland
Cavaliers on February 23, 2019 at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, OH. Photo by
David Liam Kyle/NBAE via Getty Images.
The new lineup also affords the Grizzlies the opportunity to get out and push
the pace. After playing with the NBA’s slowest offense before the trade
deadline, the Grizz are hoping to use their newfound depth to change their own
tempo.
“I don’t know if it’s something they’ve been looking forward to,” Bickerstaff
laughed. “Everybody says they want to run until they have to run, because it’s
not easy to run every single time. You have to be built and conditioned a
certain way to do it. We’ll give the guys the opportunity to do it. It is a fun
way to play. The floor is open for highlight opportunities. It’s not going to
turn into some sort of jack-fest where we make one pass and this guy shoots it,
or we make one pass and this guy goes into his bag in isolation and takes a bad
shot. There’s a difference between the way you judge pace and playing with
thrust, and we want to play with that thrust. If that ends up in wide-open
layups, we’ll take them all. If that ends up with wide-open threes, we’ll take
them all.”
With a veteran guard like Mike Conley conducting in the backcourt and a
promising young forward like Jaren Jackson Jr. manning the frontcourt, the
Grizzlies are betting that by changing the players around them they can improve
the team’s status through the end of the season. “We want to get back to our
winning ways, and our young players, the Jaren Jackson’s, Ivan Rabb’s, we want
them to taste winning to see what that’s all about,” Wallace said.
“We have so many more assets to work with than we did when I came here back in
2007,” Wallace said. “We’re just so much further along. Very excited about the
future.”
The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Memphis
Grizzlies. All opinions expressed by Lang Whitaker are solely his own and do not
reflect the opinions of the Memphis Grizzlies or its Basketball Operations
staff, owners, parent companies, partners or sponsors. His sources are not known
to the Memphis Grizzlies and he has no special access to information beyond the
access and privileges that go along with being an NBA accredited member of the
media.
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