Happy Thanksgiving! It’s as good a time as any to reflect on the Grizzlies’ start to the season and express why we are thankful. Memphis is atop the Western Conference standings as of this writing, so there is much to be thankful for. The Grizzlies have gotten star impact, surprising impact, and youth driven excitement.

Marc Gasol

Marc Gasol is ageless, and it’s awesome. The Grizzlies big man is leading the league in D-PIPM and DRPM. He is also 1st in the league in RPM, 3rd in RPM Wins, and 3rd in PIPM. Given his impact and the fact Memphis is atop the Western standings, Gasol has to get MVP consideration through the first 18 games.

Gasol is shooting 39% from distance this season. Over his last 665 three-point attempts Gasol has shot 36.5%. We know it takes 750 attempts to learn the true marksmanship of a three-point shooter. We are closing in, quickly, on a reality where Gasol is a stretch-5.

Mike Conley

Mike Conley is still excellent. The Grizzlies’ floor general has re-found his shooting touch from distance. Through the first 10 games of the season Conley shot a dreadful 28.1% from behind the arc. However, over the past 8 games Conley has been on fire, shooting 43.1% from three.

Conley is also currently posting the third best assist rate of his career, only eight-tenths of a percentage point behind his second best rate. At this point, the Conley-Gasol two man game is going to be awesome until the Sun runs out of gases to burn.

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Shelvin Mack

Shelvin Mack is providing the Grizzlies some of the best backup point guard minutes in the league. Mack is currently 17th in RPM among point guards. He is currently posting career high marks in both eFG% and true shooting percent. He is snatching the most steals per 36 minutes of his career.

His shot profile is also excellent. A combined 66.1% of his field goal attempts are coming either at the rim or from behind the arc. The 30.1% of his attempts at the rim would be the second highest mark of his career. He is currently  shooting 57.5% at the rim, which is below his career average of 62.7%.

Mack is shooting 45.8% from deep, well above his 33.3% career average. While this mark figures to regress to the mean, so does his shooting percentage at the rim. Point being he may be able to sustain posting the best shooting efficiency numbers of his career, even if they dip a tad overall.

Jaren Jackson Jr.

Question: From memory, do you remember a time where Ryan Anderson was blocked on a three-point attempt? No? It’s not something you’d expect to happen to a 6’10” guy who spends most of his time spotting up from 28 feet. Welp, here is Jackson closing a two step gap with ease before using his behemoth wingspan to block Anderson from behind the arc.

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Jackson is currently 5th in the league in block rate.

JJJ has also demonstrated an ability to finish through contact despite his slight frame.

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Once his three-point shot starts falling, Jackson is going to develop into something awesome.

The Front Office

Hear me out. Yes, general manager Chris Wallace has made some interesting decisions during his tenure with the Grizzlies. However, Wallace nailed the moves around the margins this offseason and it has made a significant difference.

Wallace swapped out the likes of Andrew Harrison, Jarell Martin, Ben McLemore, and Deyonta Davis for the likes of Kyle Anderson, Garrett Temple, and Shelvin Mack. Regardless of each new player’s ceiling, the basketball IQ of the rotation improved, which has been seen in the execution this season and the return of an elite defense that plummeted to 26th in defensive rating last year.

Wallace also chose Jackson with the 4th pick. He had two obvious other options. The plan for 2018-19 was always to run it back with a healthy Conley-Gasol duo, and compete for a playoff spot. Wallace could have targeted a more immediate impact prospect, such as Wendell Carter Jr.

The other option was to get in on the basketball revolution, cringe at the sight of the Conley contract after an injury shortened season, and take Trae Young. Well, Memphis doesn’t care about your revolution, and they want to compete with Conley, not cut bait.

Jackson was the long-term play for a franchise looking to compete with two stars in their 30’s. It was the right call with the 4th pick. If everything goes according to plan the Grizzlies won’t be drafting that high again for years. They utilized their shot to take the guy they viewed as having the most upside.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!