Memphis Grizzlies: Courtney Lee is Off to a Hot Start
The Memphis Grizzlies are very good at flying under the radar. Even when they win games, they tend to stay out of the headlines for some reason. Until Saturday’s tough loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, the Grizzlies had been one of only three undefeated teams remaining but the Warriors and Rockets seemed to be getting most of the attention from fans and media.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Memphis’s defensive style and the low scoring nature of their games may not catch the eye of the casual NBA fan. The “grit and grind” style that defines them is an acquired taste.
That being said, this 6 and 1 start has not gone completely unnoticed. Marc Gasol is getting well-deserved praise for his MVP level start to the season and the team defense as a whole is getting recognition. One player flying under the radar on this low profile squad is guard Courtney Lee.
When Memphis signed Vince Carter this offseason, many assumed that Carter would replace Lee in the starting lineup. Carter is the bigger name, and has turned himself into a very good three point shooter after spending most of his career as an athletic high-flyer. I assumed Carter would become a starter, and Lee would be jettisoned to the bench.
Lee has responded by keeping his starting job, and he is off to the best start of his career. In five games played (he missed two due to a concussion) Lee is averaging 15.2 points, 2.4 assists, and 3.8 rebounds per game while shooting 55.3 percent from the field, and a ridiculous 66.7 percent from three point range.
The six-year veteran Lee is a bit of a journeyman. He started his career with the Orlando Magic, developing into a key role player on the Dwight Howard led team that fell to the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2009 NBA finals.
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Since then Lee has moved around the league. The next year he played with the Nets, followed by the Rockets, Celtics, and now Grizzlies.
Lee is a good defender on the wing, and his three point shooting has been outstanding so far this season. Against Phoenix, he went 4 of 5 from outside on his way to 22 points and against Oklahoma City, he hit all three triples he took helping Memphis just scrape by the feisty Thunder.
Without Lee’s timely shooting, Memphis would have gotten their first loss a night earlier. Every time it appeared like the Thunder were going to steal away the momentum Lee would knock down a big shot to give Memphis some breathing room.
Other than Lee this team does not have much three point shooting. Their offense revolves around Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol, with a dash of Mike Conley’s drives to the basket mixed in. The ball sticking in the post can get a bit predictable and makes it easy for teams to shut them down for long stretches.
This was especially true at the beginning of last season, when the Grizzlies would sometimes feature a starting lineup including both Tony Allen and Tayshaun Prince. That lineup packed very little offensive punch, a problem that acquiring Lee partially improved.
This is still not a good offensive team. They are 25th in the league in field goal percentage and points per game at 43 percent and 93. They are also tied for 23rd in adjusted field goal percentage at 46.5 percent. They will continue to be successful by being elite defensively and scoring just enough to win, and Lee will be an important part in reaching the level of “just enough”.
Whether or not Lee keeps up this hot start remains to be seen. He is not going to keep putting up Kyle Korver type numbers from behind the arc, but he is a career 38.6 percent three-point shooter. So it is not unreasonable to believe Lee could keep that number above the 40 percent threshold this season.
If the Grizzlies are going develop into the title contenders I believe they can be, they will need his three point shooting to balance an offense that can sometimes get stuck in the mud. It seems as if every championship team has that key role player that ties the rest of the team together.
These players are not stars, but they know their role perfectly and perform it well. The Heat had guys like Chris Andersen, and an aging Ray Allen. The Spurs had Tiago Splitter, and Patty Mills. Will Courtney Lee be that “glue guy” for Memphis?