Memphis sits 4th in the Western Conference after two excruciating recent losses. The Grizzlies blew an eight-point late 4th quarter lead to the Clippers, only to follow that up with a home loss to the Knicks. With Thanksgiving behind us and the holiday season before us, let’s look at what we know about Memphis.

Defensive Rebound Rate

Memphis is an average defensive rebounding team, by defensive rebound rate. The Grizzlies are 14th in the league with a defensive rebounding percent of 77.1 percent. The return of JaMychal Green should be a huge boon in this area. Green would rank tied for 17th in defensive rebounding percent among those qualified for the minutes leaderboard and playing at least 20 minutes per game with his 26.1 percent rate.

In the five games since Green’s return, Memphis has posted a defensive rebounding percent of 80 or higher in three games. Two of those games were over 85 percent. The other two games were a 76.7 percent mark that’s right in line with their season rate, and a terrible 71.4 percent mark against the Knicks. New York posted a 28.6 percent offensive rebound rate in that game, which is the exact number Oklahoma City has on the season, a number that leads the league.

Needless to say the rebounding effort against the Knicks was less than ideal, which brings us to our next point.

Rebound Rate

Memphis is 26th in the league in total rebounding percent according to NBA.com. That’s bad. The Grizzlies plummet in total rebound rate thanks to a 29th ranked offensive rebounding effort. There is clearly a problem on the boards for Memphis. This has lead to speculation that, and an attempt to justify the possibility of, the Grizzlies adding Joakim Noah.

The idea is Noah could help on the glass because two years ago he posted a 21.1 total rebounding percentage. Color me skeptical that Noah will walk onto a court at 33 years old and be his prior self in the rebounding department after logging a total of 40 minutes last season. It’s possible he is still effective on the glass, but it simply isn’t worth cutting into the power forward minutes shared between Green, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Kyle Anderson.

Free Throw Percent

Memphis is a below average free throw shooting team. They currently rank 19th in the league, shooting 74.7 percent from the line. They may move up incrementally. Marc Gasol is shooting 73.2 percent from the line so far, below his career mark of 77.7 percent. In fact, this would be the first year since the 2014-15 season that Gasol shot below 82.9 percent from the line, and even that season he shot 79.5 percent.

The surprising Shelvin Mack and Omri Casspi are two more individuals significantly below their career free throw norm.

Opponent 2P Percent

Memphis is 7th in the league in opponent two-point percentage. Teams are shooting 49.7 percent on two-point attempts against the Grizzlies. A large reason for this is how well Memphis is defending at the rim. Teams are shooting just 61.4 percent at the rim against the Grizzlies, the 3rd best mark in the league.

The team is anchored in rim protection by Jackson and Gasol. Among players that have appeared in at least 9 games this year, and are defending a minimum of five shots per game within 6 feet of the basket, Jackson Jr. is sporting the 9th best defended field goal percentage. within 6 feet of the rim. Marc Gasol, given the same criteria, is 24th in defended field goal percentage within 6 feet of the rim. The only other pair of teammates in the top 24 are Serge Ibaka/Jonas Valanciunas, and JaVale McGee/Tyson Chandler.

Jackson’s rim defensive field goal percent of 51.3 has him ahead, at the moment, of more glorified rim-protectors like Joel Embiid and Myles Turner. Gasol’s rim defensive field goal percent has him sandwiched between the likes of Anthony Davis, Al Horford, Rudy Gobert, and Steven Adams.

In an unrelated/shocking bit of information, Memphis is 5th in the league in blocks per 100 possessions.