Memphis Grizzlies: Biggest strengths and weaknesses for 2017-18

Weakness No. 2: Wing Depth

The Grizzlies relied on a 35-year-old Tony Allen and a 40-year-old Vince Carter for major minutes on the wing last year. Carter is gone to Sacramento, and Allen remains unsigned. Memphis has replaced them with younger options in Ben McLemore and Tyreke Evans, but it’s unclear if they’ve gotten any better.

McLemore has yet to play at anything other than a below-average rate, and while Evans has had a perfectly mediocre career, he’s never lived up to the potential he flashed since winning Rookie of the Year eight seasons ago. They’ll join Parsons, James Ennis, Troy Daniels, Andrew Harrison, Wayne Selden and Dillon Brooks as the players most likely to compete for non-point guard perimeter minutes.

That’s an uninspiring pool of players. Parsons was once good. Ennis has turned himself into an interesting, if not potentially valuable player, and Troy Daniels is capable of getting unconscionably hot from outside. But at the end of the day, not one wing on the Grizzlies’ roster inspires confidence as a consistently competent two-way player.

Let’s be clear here, that doesn’t mean no one will function as such. There is always room for growth, and many of Memphis’ options on the wing are young enough to have several developmental jumps left in them. Maybe, alternatively, Evans puts it all together, or Parsons returns to health; both have had a lot of utility at prior points in their respective careers.

The odds aren’t in the Grizzlies’ favor though, and they shouldn’t have much hope until someone gives them a reason to feel otherwise.