What has been different about the Memphis Grizzlies’ “Process”

A championship is still a long way down the road, but how the Memphis Grizzlies have swiftly moved from one era to the next has been remarkable to watch.

Nothing was supposed to happen this quickly for the Memphis Grizzlies.

The Grit and Grind era had long passed its heyday, but the organization was still trying to squeeze every last sentimental drop from the greatest stretch in franchise history, not knowing when similar success would come again.

Noticeable free-agents weren’t willing to take what little money the small-market franchise had to offer. Even the highest of draft picks could only guarantee so much on their own — if one was fortunate enough to land them — requiring a combination of prior research and future development to amount to anything significant.

The circumstances weren’t in their favor. It’s why Memphis clung so hard to the past. But once the franchise let go, the early returns were better than what they or anyone around the NBA could’ve expected.

At the forefront of any bright future is talent, of which the Grizzlies have an abundance at every position with room to grow.

Jaren Jackson Jr. was a First-Team All-Rookie big man who has increased his scoring and 3-point shooting as a sophomore. Ja Morant looks like the next great point guard as the front-runner for Rookie of the Year honors. Dillon Brooks’ career-year resulted in a three-year, $35 million extension.

When teams at the 2019 Draft saw no more than a proportionally average 22-year-old going on 23, Memphis saw Brandon Clarke’s junior-year averages of 16.9 points and 8.9 rebounds at Gonzaga and bought in.

A deal was made with the Oklahoma City Thunder requiring only the addition of a second-round pick to move up and select Clarke. In just 22.1 minutes a night, the rookie is averaging 12.3 points and 5.9 rebounds, and fingers are flying across the NBA world to determine who missed the mark with this guy.

By trading Marc Gasol at the 2019 deadline, the Grizzlies had finally shifted their approach to the future. Instead of pursuing patchwork to re-enter the playoff picture, the goal became to enact savvy trades to fill a barren chest of assets.

The first step in that newfound strategy was parting ways with the last remaining holdover from the Grit and Grind era, Mike Conley. In a trade with the Utah Jazz, the Grizzlies didn’t acquire much notoriety outside Jay Crowder and a first-round pick, but shedding the remaining $67 million owed to Conley allowed the front office the flexibility for future deals.

Memphis wasn’t content to let that empty cap space collect dust, looking instead to open its doors as a dumping ground for unwanted contracts with attached compensation.

In most deals of similar ilk, the player on the move isn’t typically coveted by either side, but Andre Iguodala’s availability materialized out of unique circumstances, one that required the Golden State Warriors to actually attach a first-round pick to move the former Finals MVP.

Iguodala and Crowder were then packaged for Justice Winslow, a talented 23-year-old forward who’s admittedly dealt with injuries this season having only played 11 games.

The Grizzlies had also taken advantage of a desperate Phoenix Suns team looking to part ways with Josh Jackson, so much so that along with the former No. 4 overall pick came two second-rounders and De’Anthony Melton in exchange for just Kyle Korver and Jevon Carter.

Korver was waived soon after. Carter has been subpar. Melton, meanwhile, is posting per-36 minute averages of 15.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 2.4 steals per game.

Brooks was the 45th overall pick in 2017. Clarke fell to No. 21 in 2019 before Memphis seized his availability. Both Golden State and Phoenix were willing to attach further assets to the players they were looking to trade and didn’t care where the landing spot was.

There was no violent strip-down of the roster. Tanking was never even considered. Remember, it’s been less than 13 months since Memphis truly began to pivot towards a rebuild, yet the results have materialized at a rapid pace.

There’s a budding nucleus of young players with high floors and loftier ceilings, four extra draft picks — two firsts and two seconds — along with some leftover cap space to execute moves similar to the one that netted Winslow.

Luck played a part in their rapid ascension from Western Conference cellar dwellers to playoff hopefuls. Rarely is it absent from any NBA success story.

Despite falling in the 2018 Lottery — they dropped two spots from the second-worst record — the Grizzlies were lucky not to fall too far to miss out on Jackson. They were even luckier when, despite just the eighth-worst record in the NBA, they jumped six spots thanks to flattened lottery odds, bringing them Morant.

Those two make up one of the more promising young duos in the league, and that’s as good a place for any lottery team to start, but the beauty of the Grizzlies’ unexpected success lies in the moves available to all that only they were smart enough to make.