Last month’s signing of Kyle Anderson will enable Mike Conley to adopt a different role for the Grizzlies this season, according to Peter Edmiston of the Memphis Commercial Appeal. A point guard throughout his 11-year career, Conley will be used off the ball more frequently and will be counted on to provide more scoring.
The Grizzlies are an interesting franchise to keep an eye on moving forward this season and beyond, as they are somewhat in a state of limbo – not quite rebuilding but not close to being a serious contender either – writes Mark Giannotto of The Commercial Appeal.
To be sure, Memphis had a relatively nice offseason. They drafted a potential future franchise cornerstone in Jaren Jackson, they signed Kyle Anderson to the full non-taxpayer mid-level exception, and traded for veteran guard Garrett Temple. By midseason, all three could possibly join Mike Conley and Marc Gasol in the Grizzlies’ starting lineup.
Yet, as Conley says, because of the new pieces learning to fit in and difficulty of the Western Conference, it may turn out to be an “awkward” year in Memphis.
“This season, expectations are still try to be that playoff team, that team that comes out and really makes it tough on everybody. But it is an awkward year with so many teams getting so much better [with] different acquisitions they made in the offseason.”
In addition to adding Jackson, Anderson, and Temple, the Grizzlies also traded away relative disappointments Ben McLemore, Deyonta Davis and Jarell Martin, while adding rookie Jevon Carter, a potential throwback-type player to the Grit ‘N’ Grind era.
Ultimately, it’s probably still going to be difficult for Memphis to make the playoffs in the West, even assuming a 22-win improvement from last year that would see Memphis literally double the amount of victories from a season ago. As such, a rebuild is probably closer to fruition than title contention.
As Giannotto notes, only seven players (not including Gasol’s player option) are signed beyond this season, and only rookie Dillon Brooks had a meaningful role on last year’s team. Accordingly, one would think that most teams would begin rebuilding this season. Only time will tell if the Grizzlies choosing to do otherwise was the right call.
- In the second part of his interview with Peter Edmiston of The Memphis Commercial Appeal, Grizzlies executive VP of basketball operations John Hollinger discusses the decision-making process in the front office, team ownership, expectations for 2018/19, and the club’s focus on player development. On Tuesday, we relayed several of Hollinger’s comments on the Grizzlies’ offseason moves.
After winning just 22 games in 2017/18, the Grizzlies entered the summer as a capped-out team with limited resources to make major upgrades. Still, the club made use of its lottery pick, the mid-level exception, and various trade assets in an effort to improve its roster and return to playoff contention for 2018/19.
Grizzlies executive vice president of basketball operations John Hollinger spoke to Peter Edmiston of The Memphis Commercial Appeal about the club’s offseason, addressing Memphis’ major personnel moves, the decision not to bring back Tyreke Evans, the team’s proximity to the tax line, and more.
The conversation is worth checking out in full, particularly for Grizzlies fans, but here are a few highlights from Hollinger:
On whether the Grizzlies’ achieved their primary offseason goals:
“People have this idea that you come in with a plan, when you really need about 20 or 30 different plans that are contingent on other things that may or may not happen. I’d say the outcome here was close to our best- or better-case scenario. We were able to get a player we really wanted (Jaren Jackson Jr.) with our pick, using our mid-level exception to get what we see as a long-term piece in Kyle Anderson. Those were two huge things for us, not just for the present but for the future of this team. I guess it’s too early to say whether we nailed those or not, but we feel pretty good about the outcomes we had from that. Those were probably the primary goals and we achieved them.”
On the Grizzlies’ decision not to trade Tyreke Evans at last year’s deadline because they planned to re-sign him:
“Hindsight is always 20-20. You make the best decision you can with the information you have at the time. We had no idea that MarShon Brooks was going to emerge as a potential bench scorer for us that could make it easier for us to go in a different direction and go after someone like Kyle with our mid-level.
“I look at it like it was a stock option. We knew there wasn’t a 100% chance we were going to be able to re-sign Tyreke. There was some percentage chance we had to estimate based on the factors in the market, and we had to weigh that relative to the return that we were looking at on trading him, which was likely to be pretty paltry.
“When you’re dealing with second-round picks in the 50s that end up on playoff teams, now you’re getting into a scenario where there’s been six rotation players picked in the last 10 years, so you’re getting into pretty low odds you can get anything out of that.”
On the impression Brooks made on the Grizzlies late in the 2017/18 season:
“There’s obviously an eye test element to this, because we’ve all seen people do things in April that aren’t necessarily replicable in November. But at the same time, these weren’t garbage games for our opponents on most nights. Minnesota’s fighting for a playoff spot, and he’s basically our go-to guy in the fourth quarter to help win that game. Utah, at Utah, is playing for seeding with their best players, an elite defensive team, and he’s getting buckets.”
On the Grizzlies’ team salary currently sitting narrowly below the tax line:
“We’re comfortable where we’re at, there may be one or two small moves still coming as we optimize things a bit, but I don’t really see any haymakers coming. I think we’re pretty happy with how our offseason has gone, and the types of guys we’ve brought in. The luxury tax dance is one I’m familiar with — this is my seventh season, and in six of them we’ve danced right up to the line, so this is not unfamiliar territory.”
Sixers forward Jonah Bolden has received the largest contract of any rookie second-round pick this summer, tweets Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders. The 36th player taken in the 2017 draft, Bolden spent a season with Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel before coming to the NBA. Philadelphia gave him a four-year, $7MM deal with a starting salary of $1.69MM, although the third and fourth seasons are non-guaranteed.
The Nets signed Rodions Kurucs to a similar arrangement, Pincus adds (Twitter link). The 40th pick in this year’s draft, Kurucs will make $1.62MM in his first year and has incentives that could bring the value of his four-year contract up to $6.96MM. The first three seasons are fully guaranteed.
Pincus passes on a few more details about deals signed this summer:
- Although Jevon Carter was taken 32nd overall, he signed for just the minimum salary over two seasons, less than others in his draft range (Twitter link). However, he received a full guarantee from the Grizzlies on both years. Jalen Brunson, taken at No. 33 by the Mavericks, makes more per season but is locked into a four-year deal (Twitter link). He will receive $1.23MM in his rookie year, with minimum salaries for the next three seasons. The first three years are fully guaranteed. Elie Okobo, the 31st pick, signed a four-year agreement with the Suns that will pay him $1.24MM in his first year, with three seasons at the minimum to follow. Only his first two years are guaranteed, and Phoenix has a team option on the final season (Twitter link).
- Among the two-way contracts handed out this summer, only four players signed multi-year deals. Kostas Antetokounmpo of the Mavericks, Billy Preston of the Cavaliers, Yuta Watanabe of the Grizzlies and Thomas Welsh of the Nuggets all have two-year agreements (Twitter link).
- The Clippers will pay Montrezl Harrell $6MM in each season of his two-year, $12MM deal (Twitter link).
- Celtics guard Marcus Smart has a base salary of $11.16MM in the first year of his new deal, but $500K of likely incentives place the cap hit at $11.66MM. The incentives remain in effect for each season of his four-year contract.
Grizzlies point guard Mike Conley is currently with Team USA training camp but unable to fully participate as he recovers from surgery on his heel in January. However, Conley expects to be healthy for the start of Memphis’ training camp in September, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst writes.
“I’m doing really well. I wish I could’ve participated in contact stuff,” Conley said. “I think I could, but we’re being cautious and allowing me to get a full summer of rehab. I should be ready to go by training camp — I expect to be ready.”
Conley, 30, played in just 12 games with the Grizzlies last season while dealing with heel and Achilles injuries. Earlier this week, the point guard noted this is the first time in two years that his foot and heel are pain-free.
While Conley is not yet cleared for five-on-five work, he is doing halfcourt workouts with mild contact, Windhorst adds.
“With anything dealing with Achilles, it takes time and you got to be patient to deal with it,” Conley said. “Right now, it’s all starting to come together. I’m so used to making a move and I expect pain. I got used to pain with some of the moves. Now I make the moves and there’s nothing there, so that’s exciting.”
Conley signed a five-year, $153MM deal with Memphis in July 2016 and is expected to be an integral part of the team’s offense next season.
As ESPN’s Zach Lowe writes in his latest column, the “super-max” extension, also known as the Designated Veteran Extension, was included in the NBA’s latest Collective Bargaining Agreement in part as a reaction to Kevin Durant signing with the Warriors in 2016. The thinking was that giving a team the opportunity to give its star player a larger contract (35% of the cap instead of 30%) earlier in his career would help clubs keep their very best players.
However, as Lowe writes, while offering the super-max to a top-five player is a no-brainer, it becomes a dicier proposition for a top-10, top-15, or top-20 player.
The Bulls decided to trade Jimmy Butler rather than having to decide on a super-max offer, and according to Lowe, some members of the Pacers‘ front office had “qualms” about making such an offer to Paul George. John Wall and Russell Westbrook both received super-max extensions, but those deals will run through 2023 and could very well become albatrosses before they expire.
While there’s no indication that the league is considering any changes to the Designated Veteran Extension at this point, Lowe offers up some potential tweaks to the rule, along with thoughts from NBA executives. One idea, for example, would see super-max contracts become exempt from luxury-tax penalties — that proposal wouldn’t do much besides save owners money though, and would complicate potential trades. For more of Lowe’s ideas, be sure to check out his piece in full.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- With Team USA’s mini-camp in Las Vegas continuing today, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst has published an FAQ explaining the purpose of the camp and why certain players aren’t attending, and looking ahead to the next major competitions for USA Basketball.
- A group of NBA.com reporters and analysts weighs in on the offseason’s best under-the-radar moves, with the Pacers‘ signing of Tyreke Evans receiving multiple votes. The Nerlens Noel (Thunder), Anthony Tolliver (Timberwolves), and Isaiah Thomas (Nuggets) deals are also mentioned.
- Mike Bibby took a step toward his goal of coaching the NBA by helping out with the Grizzlies‘ Summer League squad earlier this month. The former NBA point guard spoke to Michael Wallace of Grizzlies.com about the experience.
- ESPN’s Kevin Pelton and Mike Schmitz (Insider link) identify the candidates for the NBA’s 2018/19 Rookie of the Year award, with Pelton identifying Deandre Ayton as his frontrunner while Schmitz picks Luka Doncic.
- Grizzlies point guard Mike Conley is participating at the minicamp but will not compete in full scrimmages or contact drills, Michael Wallace of the Grizzlies’ website reports. Conley said his foot and heel are pain-free for the first time in two years after undergoing season-ending surgery in January.
- The Magic completed a pair of trades within the last week, acquiring cash in both deals. According to Bobby Marks of ESPN.com (Twitter link), Orlando received $2MM from the Thunder and $1MM from the Grizzlies. In addition to the money they acquired, the two trades allowed the Magic to turn Rodney Purvis and the draft rights to 2015 second-rounder Tyler Harvey into Jarell Martin.
9:00pm: The trade is official, according to press releases from the Magic and Grizzlies.
3:31pm: The Grizzlies have agreed to a trade that will send Jarell Martin and cash to the Magic, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter). Memphis will acquire Dakari Johnson in the deal. Joshua Robbins of The Orlando Sentinel adds (via Twitter) that the Grizzlies will also receive the draft rights to 2015 second-rounder Tyler Harvey.
It’s the second time in the last week that Johnson has been traded. On Friday, Orlando acquired Johnson and cash from the Thunder in a deal that sent Rodney Purvis and his non-guaranteed contract to Oklahoma City. The move was a purely financial one for the Thunder, who figure to replace Johnson on their roster with a slightly cheaper rookie, reducing their projected tax bill.
Because Johnson wasn’t in the Magic’s plans, they’ll flip him to Memphis in another deal that has cap implications. The Grizzlies are right up against the luxury-tax line, so exchanging Martin and his $2,416,222 salary for Johnson ($1,378,242) will create a little extra breathing room for the club. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Grizz waive Johnson after acquiring him.
Martin, who was in danger of being cut by the Grizzlies last fall, had a strong camp and earned a spot in Memphis’ rotation for the 2017/18 season. In 73 games (36 starts), the 6’10” forward averaged 7.7 PPG and 4.4 RPG with a .446/.347/.767 shooting line.
Having played primarily at power forward last season, Martin likely would’ve seen his role reduced in Memphis this year — JaMychal Green, Kyle Anderson, Chandler Parsons, Omri Casspi, and Jaren Jackson Jr. could all see action at the four. It’s not clear whether the 24-year-old will get more opportunities in Orlando, with Aaron Gordon and Jonathan Isaac expected to earn most of the power forward minutes.
Johnson, 22, was selected by the Thunder with the 48th overall pick of the 2015 draft but didn’t sign his first standard NBA contract until 2017. The seven-footer appeared in 31 games last season for Oklahoma City, averaging 1.8 PPG and 1.1 RPG in just 5.2 minutes per contest.