Memphis Grizzlies: 2017-18 season preview

Storyline 3: Are the Grizzlies a playoff team?

This is the real question everyone is curious about. For the first time in a long time, the Grizzlies shook up their roster in a substantial way, and it’s really hard to predict exactly what that means for the team’s overall performance.

Maybe Conley and Gasol were all the team ever really needed. Maybe they’re not. Maybe the Grizzlies’ defense will fall apart without Allen. Maybe Chandler Parsons returns to health, and Memphis becomes a top-15 offense, and the defensive slippage they realize with a new roster has an in-house antidote.

There are a lot of new variables in play, and almost all of them have an above-average level of unpredictability tied to them. This isn’t the same Memphis team we’ve always known — the one that will win between 45-50 games, and finish the year with one of the 4-6 spots in the West. It’s entirely possible that this iteration of the Grizzlies finish in a similar place, but the certainty of that outcome has reduced drastically.

Add in the insane level of competition projected in the West, and identifying paths to the postseason for the Grizzlies becomes a difficult task. Make no mistake, Conley and Gasol are good enough to get them there. They are elite-level talents, and Memphis will win more games than they lose when both are available to play.

See how you can talk yourself in and out of this? Contention for a championship isn’t a realistic expectation, but playing in the postseason is. It’s just not the only realistic expectation. Let’s take a look at some of the more extreme possibilities.