Not a Great Start to the NBA Season for the Grizzlies

The Memphis Grizzlies are having a very rough start to the 2023-24 NBA season. They are currently the only winless team in the NBA. The Rockets have a win. The Pistons have two. The Trailblazers, tonight's opponent, have two.The Spurs have three. Even the Wizards have a single win. But the Grizzlies have that big goose egg. They are 0-5 and they have looked bad in almost every game so far this year.

I think a lot has caused this to happen. First off, missing out on Ja Morant, who deserved his suspension, has been very clearly an issue. The Grizzlies cannot generate much at the rim. The guards are not getting to the basket. There is no one to suck the defense into the lane and open up the outside. These are the things that Morants excels at as a basketball player. They are clearly missin Tyus Jones as well. He was the best backup point guard in the NBA and he helped to stabilize this team when Morant would miss games here and there. He was a vet the entire team trusted. I do like that they went out and traded for Marcus Smart, and I do think that it will work in the long run. But right now he has not had any impact. The Grizzlies were also dealt a blow when Steven Adams went down before the season with surgery. Losing Adams the whole year is going to make it difficult to scrounge out some wins due to his toughness. They cannot rebound the basketball without him in the lineup it feels, and him being gone has caused way more of a problem than I ever imagined it would. Brandon Clarke has not recovered from his torn achilles yet either. These two guys are crucial to their front court and it is showing how important they are without them playing. The Grizzlies are so thin in the front court that they went out and gave Bysmack Biyombo five million to finish out the season there. That is a desperate move in my eyes.

With Morant being suspended for 20 more games, with Adams done for the year, with Clarke not being ready until well after the all star break, I do not know how they recover from this bad of a start. I don't know how they are going to salvage the season. Smart has been average since the trade. His defense is still very good, but his shot looks bad. Jaren Jackson Jr is still fouling far too much. He is the reigning DPOY, but if he cannot stay on the floor it doesn't matter how good he is on that end. Desmond Bane is being asked to do way, way too much. The dude can score, but the number one option is not a suit that fits him well. He is so much better when he is not the focal point of the opponent's defense. Luke Kennard has been a total zero. I fear Kenny Lofton Jr was a nice story last season but is now being exposed. David Roddy doesn't play defense. Jake LaRavia can't get minutes. Ziaire Williams has been below average. Xavier Tillman has not progressed. Derrick Rose is older and hurt. Sant Aldama looks like he has taken a step back. The Grizzlies have a myriad of and it has shown in the first 5 games. The offense is stagnant. The defense is slow and fouling too much. Taylor Jenkins is a good coach. He should be able to fix this. But whatever his game plan is right now, he needs to change some stuff up. I know he didn't expect to see Morant suspended for 25 games to start the year, but they have won without him before. I know he was hoping one of Brandon Clarke or Steven Adams would be on the floor to start the year, but he found a way to stay the 2 seed last season when they both got hurt. I know he wants to trust some of the younger guys, but they haven't proven trustworthy. I feel like they can get out of this funk, but it needs to happen very fast. Being 0-5 in the Western Conference, and I fully realize it is very early in the season, can be a death blow to your playoff chances if they don't start stringing together some wins right now. I still have faith, but it is dwindling with each passing day. Hopefully they right the ship. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

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