The Grizzlies have recently dropped two straight home games. Despite the disappointing mini home-stand, Memphis has given us many gifts this season. For a team projected to be in the lottery by almost all entering the year, the Grizzlies have given us enough presents for all eight nights of Hanukkah.

Jaren Jackson Jr.

Is there a unicorn alarm? If there is, sound it. The anticipated immediate defensive impact is there. Jackson now ranks 14th in D-PIPM, 30th in DRPM, and 4th in block rate. He is posting a 56 percent eFG percentage to go along with a 59.9 true shooting percentage. Jackson is also hitting 72.7 percent of his shots in the restricted area, the 13th best mark in the league among those taking at least three shots per game that close to the basket.

Shelvin Mack

Mack has provided some of the best backup point guard minutes in the league this season. For a team that has been using Andrew Harrison regularly the past few years, this is a nice change of pace. Mack is posting what would be the second highest eFG and TS percentages of his career. He is also taking care of the ball, turning it over at a career low rate.

Garrett Temple

It’s amazing what swapping out low IQ players for solid veterans can do for your team. Among shooting guards, Temple is 2nd in D-PIPM, and 6th in DRPM. Temple may just be enjoying the best season of his career. To date, he is posting his best eFG and TS percentages. According to our grades here at The-BBall-Index, Temple is posting an A- or better in four categories. Those categories are perimeter shooting, off-ball movement, one-on-one, and perimeter defense.

This Pass From Marc Gasol

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Gasol is in the middle of a defensive player of the year candidacy. Never change, Big Burrito.

Winning Record

As previously mentioned, every projection system had the Grizzlies destined for the lottery this year. FiveThirtyEight still has the team at only 39 percent to make the playoffs. Perhaps that is fair, but FiveThirtyEight does have their priors heavily built into the model.

But after 29 games the Grizzlies win percentage stands at .552. That puts Memphis on a 45 win pace. They are outpacing their point differential, however. Their pythagorean record is 15-14, which would be a 42 win pace, exactly where FiveThiryEight has them.

Jacob Goldstein’s win projections puts Memphis at 41 wins, with their wins likely falling in the range of 39.0 to 43.5. At one point Memphis was sitting in the spot of having home-court in the first round of the playoffs. It is much more likely if the team does make the postseason that they will settle in between the six and eight seeds.

Either way, they’re doing better than anyone anticipated coming into the year.

JaMychal Green

Can we talk about how JaMychal Green is a blue check verified stretch-4? Because I would like to talk about how JaMychal Green is a blue check verified stretch-4. Including this season, Green has shot 36.5 percent from three over the past three years. This year, he is hitting 39.5 percent of his threes, and 50 percent of his corner threes.

Additionally, for his career Green has an A grade in defensive rebounding. If your idea of roster construction is to have your power forward play a particular role, wouldn’t you love a three-point shooting, rebounding monster?

Kyle Anderson

Kyle Anderson is the quintessential player target for the Grizzlies. Among small forwards, Anderson ranks 6th in D-PIPM, and 4th in DRPM. Perhaps most importantly to Memphis, Anderson is grading as an A- perimeter defender, and providing an A- impact as a defensive rebounder.

Some of his offense has dipped outside of San Antonio, but he is still posting an A- in off-ball movement, a B+ in playmaking, and a B in post play. These are the areas the Grizzlies need contributions the most on offense, and that is where Anderson is playing well.

Please Stick to the Rivers and the “Brooks” That You’re Used To

The three team trade debacle stemming from a confusion over the inclusion of which Brooks – Dillion or MarShon – will be the gift that forever keeps on giving. If you have alert notifications turned on for Woj, then Friday night was a hilarious experience.

In the span of approximately 12 seconds, the trade went from a done deal, to “in peril,” to “dead.” Phoenix thought they were getting Dillon Brooks. The Grizzlies only wanted to ship out MarShon. Many joked Washington should have to include Scott Brooks.

For what it’s worth, Memphis general manager Chris Wallace insists they were unequivocally clear that MarShon was the only Brooks available for trade.

I asked @memgrizz GM Chris Wallace if anyone is at fault or if miscommunication led to nixed deal
“It’s not us. We were very clear on what we communicated. We don’t have any issues on how we conducted this at all. You have to talk to these other teams. It was not our problem.”

— Rob Fischer (@thefishnation) December 15, 2018

There is also this exceptional shade thrown at Ernie Grunfeld as a result.

Basically, Ernie Grunfeld tried orchestrating a three-team trade and had no idea the Grizzlies had two players named Brooks on their roster.

Goodnight.

— Ben Mehic (@BenMehicNBA) December 15, 2018

In the end, the Wizards sent Kelly Oubre and Austin Rivers to the Suns for Trevor Ariza. Everyone named Brooks stayed with their team.