Memphis Grizzlies: Top 5 offseason questions to answer

Can Ja Morant add on more weight?

Ja Morant is one of the most explosive players we’ve seen in years — he even might remind you of Derrick Rose… oh well prime Rose. That first ACL injury was a freak incident for Rose but everyone knew a guy that small, both in weight and height putting that much twerk on his body could have been and eventually was an issue.

Morant does something ridiculous with his slight frame basically every game, even his misses are highlights.

Morant is listed at 6’3″ and only 174 lbs, (with time to still grow into his body) when compared to All-Stars like Kemba Walker (6’0″, 184 lbs) or Donovan Mitchell (6’1″, 215 lbs) Morant could definitely pack on some more muscle and still be as athletic and fast as he is now.

During the NBA’s hiatus, it was reported that Morant put on 12 lbs of muscle. Hopefully, in a real offseason, Morant can get into a body shape that is both comfortable to him but durable for years to come.  Memphis head Coach Taylor Jenkins echoed the same view

"“Gaining strength has been a priority of his and continues to maintain his supreme athleticism,”"

TNT studio analyst Charles Barkley spoke about the balance between being more athletic but using is weight to still be a post threat and his overall “playing weight” in an interview with Graham Bensinger.  

This can be applied to Morant even if it could take three Morant’s to match one Barkley in weight. If Morant puts on more weight it will help him in slaying giants around the rim but he still needs his speedy enough to still be ‘Ja Morant’

What can the Memphis Grizzlies bench improve on?

Memphis bench was surprisingly great this season, leading the league in assist percentage and assist per games while being the seventh-best bench in points per game.

Tyus Jones was the floor general, only starting six games for the regular season the bench was his domain and he averaged 4.4 assists per game (his per-36 was 8.3 assist per game!)
All good generals need soldiers and his best solider was Bradon Clarke who averaged 12.1 points and 5.9 rebounds per game while shooting 36.0 percent from behind the arc.

Clarke made All-Rookie First Team and was only eight points from being the runner up to teammate Ja Morant.

Next season the Grizzlies will have Justise Winslow to insert into the lineup and depending on his health I think it would be best to have him be in the second unit and prompt Clarke to a starter as mentioned with moving Jaren Jackson Jr. to center.

During this offseason, the Grizzlies are ranked 18th among cap space used, so the best course of action is to try dump Gorgui Dieng’s contract. He has a hefty $17 million remaining in his final season. The team could possibly open up space to sign some shooters as the bench was 20th in 3-point percentage and 21st in attempts.

As suggested prior moving Brooks to the bench could provide some shooting but depending on who they sign they could have the hypnotical shooter alternate with Brooks in the starting lineups depending on matchups and hot streaks.