Grit, Grind, And Guaranteed To Blow Your Mind

The Grizz have built a winning machine with an impressive young roster that combines flare and raw talent with great defensive prowess.

Ja Morant gets all the attention as one of the brightest stars in the NBA, and perhaps he deserves it. The Grizzlies aren't in a market like New York or LA and thus do not have the media attention that relays their triumphs or failures to the vernacular. Their season has been one of mostly highs, and they've built from the ground up as a non-free agent destination.

Last season ended with the Milwaukee Bucks winning the title, doing so in a small market with no free agent buzz. The path they've paved is not only good for the sport of basketball with regards to fan morale outside of big markets, and Memphis could be next on that list.

The Grizzlies might not make The Finals in 2022, but at their current rate of success they will continue to be a force in the Western Conference for years to come, assuming they remain healthy and committed to developing their young talent that seems to have tremendous chemistry.

The Oklahoma City Thunder have thee youngest roster in the NBA with an average age of 23.1 years old. The Pistons have an average age of 23.9 years old. Those squads are amidst heavy rebuilds and are the doormats of their conferences, typical for a group with that much youth. The Memphis Grizzlies have the same average age as Detroit at 23.9, and yet they command the Southwest Division and currently hold the second-best record in the NBA.

As mentioned, Ja gets all the praise as the superstar with highlight dunks and prime Derrick Rose-esque agility, but the Grizzlies are deeply structured as a powerful defensive unit (8th in DRTG) bolstering an offense that scores the fourth most points per game in the NBA (114.2). The Grizzlies lead the NBA in rebounds at 49.2 per game, blocks at 6.3 per game, and steals at 9.9 per game. Those three metrics are the epitome of grit and grind.

Co-star Desmond Bane is a lights out shooter, with numbers that reach the 40/90 club, with his 45.5% FG being a few percentage points of the real triad of significance. He's averaging 17.8 points per game in about 30 minutes of action.

Jaren Jackson Jr. and Dillon Brooks are also integral attention-grabbers on the roster, as JJJ is averaging 16.3 PPG, 6 RPG, and 2.2 BPG, and Dillon Brooks is pouring in 18.4 PPG in his brief 21 games.

There are deeper analytics that can be utilized to observe the measurable effectiveness of players, and the graph below indicates two of those metrics: PIE and NETRTG.

Ja, not surprisingly, is ahead of the pack in PIE, given his 27 PPG and high usage percentage, but the other variable of player effectiveness has him on the lower end. Net rating is tethered to +/-, and can be higher for hustle players who, when in the game, change the defensive presence and offensive fluidity without necessarily recording typical statistics. Dillon Brooks in limited playing time this year due to injury has been the best player on the Grizzlies according to player net rating, and the Grizzlies are doing well when he is on the floor.

The Grizzlies have always represented grit and grind, something that isn't always backed up by analytics and extends beyond what can be measured numerically. The hunger and determination from this young team is unparalleled, and truly quite impressive given their inexperience. So while it is good to use analytics to delve into what makes a team click, it is often the intangible factors that get a team to the promised land.

Memphis is a special team with a unique combination of age, defensive presence, and all-around team effort that hasn't been seen in this style before. They will be a fun team in the coming years, and Ja Morant is an instant ticket-seller in any city he plays.