Memphis Grizzlies: 5 takeaways from 2017-18 NBA season
By Max Carlin
1. Hitting in the first round is imperative
Back to the negative, unfortunately (honestly, you should be impressed that I found a positive to sneak in there).
The Grizzlies’ last five first round picks: Traded, Wade Baldwin IV, Jarrell Martin, Jordan Adams and Traded.
My. Eyes.
Only one of those players (Martin) is still with the Grizzlies, and I have very serious doubts about his NBA future. Given the cap implications of their disastrous selections, the Grizzlies honestly would have been better off passing on draft picks (this is not a joke).
The draft, ultimately, is why Memphis is where it is. The team has never replenished talent or built up a rotation behind its two franchise stars. This is impressive, given that the Sacramento Kings exist, but Memphis has consistently been the worst drafting team in the NBA for the better part of a decade. That’s what’s doomed them.
Feel free to make the argument that the team’s missed mostly with late picks, and that’s true to an extent (though no other team consistently fails this miserably even at that stage of the draft), but we have seen the Grizz graced with a top-five pick in the not-so-distant past.
Next: 2017-18 Week 26 NBA Power Rankings
That was a different front office, of course, but come draft night, I’m sure Grizzlies fans will be emboldened by memories of NBA legend Hasheem Thabeet.