Memphis Grizzlies sign MarShon Brooks to 10-day contract

The Memphis Grizzlies continue to sign point guards to 10-day contracts. The newest addition to the carousel is MarShon Brooks.

The Memphis Grizzlies continue to take as many bites of the apple as they can with their 10-day contracts. This time, the recipient is MarShon Brooks.

You might remember MarShon Brooks. He attended college at Providence University, and during his NCAA days, he once dropped 52 points against Notre Dame. That, combined with a solid senior season, propelled Brooks to be a first round pick in the 2011 NBA Draft.

It’s been a roller coaster since that day.

He was traded on draft night from the Boston Celtics to the New Jersey Nets. He was not a terrible rookie, being named to the NBA’s All-Rookie Second Team after averaging 12.6 points per game. Unfortunately, that was probably the apex of his career. Just one and a half years later, he was sent back to the Celtics in the infamous Paul Pierce–Kevin Garnett trade.

He was traded two more times, to the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers, but he never stuck anywhere and was out of the NBA after the 2013-14 season. A combination of inefficient scoring and rising age made Brooks unappealing to many teams.

He took his talents to Italy for the 2014-15 season, where he dropped 13.6 points per game in 40 appearances. He then ended up in China, where he has been since 2015, playing for the Jiangsu Dragons of the Chinese Basketball Association.

Shams Charania of Yahoo! Sports broke the news of the signing this morning:

Brooks actually fits a slightly different M.O. than the Memphis Grizzlies’ last two 10-day contracts: He doesn’t play the same position.

Xavier Rathan-Mayes came in during Andrew Harrison‘s injury and played at both point guard and shooting guard. He earned almost 24 minutes per game but made only 28 percent of his shots and was not brought back.

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Tyreke Evans was also injured at this time, but his return meant the need for a guard who could play both positions was no longer there. As a result, the second 10-day contract the Grizzlies gave out went to pure point guard Briante Weber. He played well for Memphis, scoring 4.8 points per game on 47.6 percent shooting. He also played some excellent defense, but the return of Andrew Harrison made the need for an extra point guard nonexistent, and Weber was let go.

Brooks is the newest 10-day addition and the first of the group who doesn’t play point guard. Brooks is nearly the opposite of a caretaker actually, as he has nearly the same number of assists as turnovers throughout his NBA career.

What he can do, as evidenced by his rookie season and his 52 point outburst at Providence, is score points. The Grizzlies need that, as they currently have the NBA’s 28th-ranked offense. He has some speed and can bury the 3, making 26 of his final 50 NBA 3-pointers. That skill carried over to China:

The Grizzlies need a shot creator off the dribble who isn’t named Tyreke Evans. Hopefully, Brooks can be that guy.

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At 29 years old, who knows if MarShon Brooks has any chance of making it back to the NBA long-term? The Memphis Grizzlies are hopeful the answer is yes, as they need all the talent (and excitement) they can get.