The Memphis Grizzlies have excessive aspirations. They wish to be the following massive factor within the West, however they already fell in need of that lofty objective this previous season. Now, Ja Morant shall be suspended for 25 video games to start out the season, so the remainder of the workforce must set the stage for a extra profitable run with out their celebrity. This comes along with the truth that there’s nonetheless a gaping Dillon-Brooks-shaped gap on the roster that desperately must be stuffed.
Between Morant and Brooks, the Grizzlies are dropping round 40 factors per recreation, and there’s solely a lot the Grizzlies can anticipate from David Roddy and Zaire Williams at this level of their careers. Morant put his teammates in a tough state of affairs, forcing them to navigate two massive obstacles on the identical time and discover success between them. So, let’s take a look at 4 Grizzlies gamers who should step up in his absence.
Grizzlies participant #4: Tyus Jones
Tyus Jones is the obvious decide right here. Their place to begin guard is out, so the backup has to step in. Jones has massive sneakers to fill, nonetheless. Final season, Morant averaged 26.2 factors and eight.1 assists per recreation. Changing that type of manufacturing is hard.
Fortunately, the Grizzlies have needed to collect some expertise enjoying with out Morant over the previous two seasons and have fared fairly properly. In 2022–23, Jones averaged 16.4 factors on environment friendly capturing, 8.1 assists, 4 rebounds, and 1.8 steals as a starter. These are the numbers of a starting-level level guard on a contending workforce, however it’s nonetheless an enormous step down from Morant’s scoring. Then again, Jones could be very cautious with the ball and a greater defender than Morant. He solely averaged 1.5 turnovers per recreation as a starter, in comparison with Morant’s 3.4.
This isn’t the primary time that Jones has needed to fill in for Morant, however he must do it for an prolonged interval this time round. He must be at his finest to not solely preserve the workforce afloat but additionally to set a constructive tone for a season that’s beginning on a damaging be aware. The Grizzlies want Jones to indicate the identical effectivity, ball safety, and playmaking he has displayed earlier than whereas ideally including a few factors scoring-wise.
