Memphis Grizzlies: 2017-18 season preview

Storyline 1: Can everyone stay healthy?

I’m going to bang this drum until it breaks. The Grizzlies’ season hinges on health, a reality that holds true across multiple levels of the roster. The most critical is obviously Chandler Parsons. Memphis signed him to a max contract last year in hopes of adding something of a missing piece (I’m happy to entertain the possibility that this was a foolish hope in the first place, but it was the hope).

Live Feed

Beale Street Bears

Parsons represented the kind of sweet-shooting, high-end talent that the Grizzlies had traditionally struggled to attract. Their brand was one of unearthing hard-working diamonds in the rough, not making flashy free agent signings.

Landing Parsons was supposed to be the spoils of having built a competent franchise out of the depressingly incompetent mess that Memphis had traditionally been — a new roster-building tool afforded to them as a privilege of consistent winning. That’s not how things have played out.

Parsons managed just 34 games before suffering a season ending knee injury, his second in as many years. It’s an upsetting reality for Grizzlies fans, particularly given the financial implications. Almost a quarter of the team’s cap space is committed to Parsons. To get next to nothing from him is a massive handicap. And yet, Memphis managed to make the playoffs last year.

That came thanks in large part to Conley and Gasol, both of whom have struggled with fairly major injuries of their own in the not so distant past. Should either of them miss significant time in the upcoming year, the Grizzlies may have difficulty staying afloat, even if Parsons is able to stay on the court. If two of those three are out, losses may pile up quickly, and if both Conley and Gasol miss major games simultaneously, then Memphis could be looking at a win total in the low 30s.

The dangers don’t stop at the top either. Tyreke Evans, Mario Chalmers and Brandan Wright have all dealt with severe injuries throughout the course of their careers, and each projects to be a key bench cog. Suffice it to say, there is a lot riding on health here. If the Grizzlies hit a critical mass of injuries, they may have further to fall than any other team in the league.

Of course, there is the possibility that things swing in the other direction. If Memphis gets even relatively healthy years out of all of their injury risks, they should compete for a playoff spot.