What the James Ennis trade means for the Memphis Grizzlies

James Ennis has been traded to the Detroit Pistons. Let’s break down what it means for both Detroit and the Memphis Grizzlies.

There were a lot of paths for the Memphis Grizzlies to consider leading up to the trade deadline this season. With the team’s record not being anywhere close to what the organization would like, the front office had important decisions to make on its players.

Should they move on from their best players like Marc Gasol, Mike Conley, and Tyreke Evans? Or should they punt on the season and just trade away their expiring contracts and focus on next season?

Ultimately, they mostly did neither, but they did do some things with their expiring contracts. The four expiring guys they had to make decisions on going into the deadline were Evans, Brandan Wright, Mario Chalmers, and James Ennis III.

With Evans, they stood pat. With Wright, they went the path of a buyout. Chalmers has no value, so they kept him. Thankfully, with James Ennis III, they were able to do the right thing and trade him for at least a modicum of future value.

Ennis is the type of player all teams crave – a reserve wing who has no real weaknesses. Granted, Ennis doesn’t do anything exceptionally well, either, as he averaged just 6.9 points and 3.5 rebounds per game for Memphis this season. Not being a liability in any aspect of the game is incredibly useful though, and Ennis is a perfect guy to have on your bench if you are a contender or even just a playoff team.

For Memphis, this is a classic case of something being more than nothing. If they held on to Ennis, he likely would’ve left town and gone to play for another team. The Grizz were his third team in four seasons, so the free agency period would have been time for Ennis to take control of his future and go wherever he wanted.

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Instead, they took control and got some assets for him, albeit some underwhelming ones. Let’s start with the second round pick. Memphis acquired a 2022 second round pick from Detroit, but it comes with strings attached. That draft pick will be the worse of the Chicago Bulls’ and Pistons’ second round picks in 2022, with the better of the two picks goes to Chicago. Ironically, this pick changed hands earlier in the day, with the pick swap being created in the Willie Reed–Jameer Nelson trade.

The Bulls are in a state of disarray, but appear to be trending up. Meanwhile, the Pistons just acquired Blake Griffin, and his contract expires in 2021. Given that the Bulls are trending up and the Pistons will be trending down at the time of the pick, one would guess that the Grizzlies will get the Bulls’ 2022 second-rounder, but that is just a guess.

In Brice Johnson, the Grizzlies get a someone that they can tell their fans is a “young, promising player.” In reality, Johnson likely isn’t an NBA player. He is in his second season in the NBA and yet he has only played 47 total minutes. He was drafted with the 25th overall pick in 2016, so there is a chance that he becomes an okay player someday, but it doesn’t look very likely.

Watching his film doesn’t show a ton, considering he mostly plays in garbage time and doesn’t do anything impressionable. He’s a pretty good athlete and a decent finisher above the rim because of this, but he can’t shoot or defend at all. You can see his athleticism on display here as he flies up for a rebound and put-back:

Unfortunately, you won’t see many clips of him doing much else. Memphis has some time to try and develop Johnson, but he doesn’t show a ton of promise.

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The Memphis Girzzlies did the right thing and traded away Ennis and his expiring contract. They didn’t get much for him, but it is better than nothing. Who knows? Maybe one of those middling assets will turn into something good.

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