New Memphis Trio Flashed in Debut Together

Memphis Grizzlies

New Memphis Trio Flashed in Debut Together

February 20, 2019

4570

Memphis dropped a 108-107 heart breaker to San Antonio just before the all-star break. The Grizzlies kept the game close throughout, despite being the clear inferior team and not having the services of Mike Conley for the evening. On the final possession of the game, Memphis was down only two points. Jaren Jackson Jr. took the ball from the top of the key and drove by LaMarcus Aldridge to the rim.

Jackson was fouled by Aldridge on the way to the basket with 1 second remaining. Jackson missed the first free throw and then accidentally banked in the second when attempting to intentionally miss. The Spurs escaped with a 1 point victory.

However, there is a lot of good that came from this game. An easy takeaway is how competitive the game was despite Conley’s absence. Furthermore, newcomers Avery Bradley and Jonas Valanciunas were fantastic. A third new Grizzly, Delon Wright, also provided some hopes of optimism moving forward.

Avery Bradley

We previously discussed the Avery Bradley trade. The diagnosis of the trade at the time was, in a word, terrible. Bradley did not appear to be the same player outside of Boston as he was in Boston. The sample was 95 games in two different ecosystems. His grades backed up the on court performance drop.

Well, for at least one night, we can forget all that noise. Bradley dropped a career high 33 points in his second career game with Memphis. He went 7/7 in the first quarter, on his way to finishing the night going 15/21 from the field and 3/5 from three.

Bradley was shooting with complete confidence, repeatedly pulling up in the mid-range and draining his attempts.

More encouragingly, Brady was shooting threes with no hesitation.

And the absolute best play of the night came on this coach’s dream display of hustle (if your coach is modern enough to accept the corner three as the shot attempt).

It’s only one game, but it is known that Memphis wants to remain as competitive as possible this season so the first round pick they owe to Boston conveys in this upcoming draft. If Bradley can get back to where he was in just two areas, perimeter shooting and perimeter defense, that will contribute mightily to winning winning basketball.

Jonas Valanciunas

Valanciunas came off the bench in his first appearance as a Grizzly. He then proceeded to put up a 23 point, 10 rebound stat line in 21 minutes. Not bad for someone that hasn’t played in two months due to a thumb injury.

As stated when examining the Marc Gasol trade, Valanciunas and Conley will never have time to develop the same level of pick and roll chemistry shared between Conley and Gasol. However, for his career, Valanciunas has an A grade in both our roll gravity and finishing categories. For comparison, Gasol is a B- and B for his career in both categories, respectively.

His pick and roll, roll man ability was on display immediately last night, showing chemistry with Avery Bradley almost instantly.

Watching Gasol this season, it was self evident he is no longer the same brute force he used to be. Often times he would get stonewalled by a defender or bumped off his spot. While a downgrade in terms of three-point shooting and passing from Gasol, Valanciunas is currently strong and better equipped to muscle through contact.

Valanciunas is a different player from Gasol, and we will no longer see the pick and roll magic of Mike and Marc. In replacement, however, Valanciunas is well equipped to contribute to winning basketball, which is the goal of Memphis this season.

Delon Wright

As part of the package for Gasol, Memphis is getting a free look at Wright to determine if he might be the point guard of the future. In two games for the Grizzlies thus far, Wright has shot poorly. What is important, though, is that last night he displayed some passing prowess to run a functional offense without Conley on the court.

Wright clearly has tools to work with, as he exploded to the rim here before finding Bradley for a corner three.

Wright has regressed from his breakout season last year, evidenced by our grades.

Despite this, Wright was worth the look by the organization. He is a career 34.6% three-point shooter. Not great, but not terrible. He clearly has athletic tools and some passing savvy.

Seeing how these three newcomers finish the 2018-19 season in a Memphis jersey will be interesting to watch.

Contact Us

Your Bag (0 items)