Taylor Jenkins had a rough 82-game campaign with the Memphis Grizzlies during the 2023-24 season. The squad was clearly without direction due to Ja Morant's injury. Big injuries also derailed their chances of making it back to the postseason despite having the second-best record in the Western Conference the year before. Now, it looks like this squad is looking ready after huge performances from Zach Edey and GG Jackson during the NBA Summer League.
Obviously, there is still a large gap in terms of talent when it comes to players in the NBA Summer League and the actual league. However, the Grizzlies' core in their run proves that a lot of their guys can impact the game immediately when the season commences. In particular, guys like Jake LaRavia, Zach Edey, and GG Jackson could very well be the personnel that Taylor Jenkins' squad needs to get back into title contention.
Zach Edey and Ja Morant will ravage the NBA
A big issue that the Grizzlies encountered the year before was finding someone who could back up Jaren Jackson Jr. in their frontcourt. With the front office's surprise pick in the NBA Draft, they might have just solved that problem. Defensively, the Grizzlies are all set with the likes of Marcus Smart and JJJ. However, it is on offense where Edey can help them the most. His quick lateral movement, ability to set bothersome screens, and swift movement to seal his man under a post-up all but prove this.
By the end of the NBA Summer League, Edey had racked up averages of 10 points on a 66.7% clip from all three levels of scoring. The superstar out of Matt Painter's Purdue basketball program also still has board-crashing techniques. With this, he managed to grab nine rebounds a night for the Grizzlies. However, he was quickly shut down after suffering an injury. As a result, Edey only got to play two games with his last outing just amounting to eight minutes of action.
If he does make it back in time for the start of the season, his pick-and-roll mastery would be a perfect match for the Grizzlies offense. He could be the main screen-setter for Ja Morant while JJJ becomes the weakside lob threat out of the action. Edey opens up the Grizzlies' playbook options by a lot.
Grizzlies set to get certified bucket-getters
As aforementioned, the Grizzlies could not get enough of their offense started during their last 82-game campaign. Desmond Bane was the clear-cut number one option for getting points but there was no one who could follow up when he caught fire. In the latter part of the season, GG Jackson and Jake LaRavia started stepping up which means that the Grizzlies have more scoring depth now.
To put it into more detail, Jackson managed to play eight games and scored 20.75 points per game on a 43.2% clip from all three levels of scoring. All Coach Jenkins has to do is help him improve his outside stroke because he only knocked down 32.3% of those kinds of shots. LaRavia, on the other hand, averaged 17.6 points with an insane 45.8% field goal percentage. Defensively, he also got 2.8 steals per night.
The Grizzlies have developed their players well. Surely, they will give everyone in the Western Conference a headache.
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