Memphis Grizzlies: Rookie reviews at the one-month mark

Xavier Tillman Sr.

Xavier Tillman Sr. is a unique player, Tillman is best suited as a center but only stands at 6’8” with a Draymond Green-like wingspan of 7’1”. He’s stockier than Draymond and more of a traditional center offensively.

Offensively

Tillman uses his sturdy 245-pound frame to set concrete screens, opening up the Grizzlies offense as well as Jonas Valanciunas does — just wait until Ja Morant and Dillon Brooks get to use his screens. Tillman at the time of writing ranks 37th in screen assists per game (2.9) and second among first and second-year players.

Tillman’s scoring is more based around the traditional big man skillset, crafty footwork in the paint, rolling of screens, and floaters — which are especially useful for an undersized center.
He has only attempted 10 3’s this season but it’s not a requirement for Tillman to be a shooter because the Grizzlies have a lot of shooters both in the front and backcourt.

Defensively

Tillman was touted as one of the best defensive prospects coming out of college, winning the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year in his final season in college. And he has come into the NBA as a very intelligent defender, both of the perimeter and interior.

On the perimeter, Tillman is nimble and slides very well laterally against bigger forwards like Tobias Harris. When switching on guards Tillman is slow-footed compared to the likes of Chris Paul, but it hasn’t been a liability thus far.

Tillman is most comfortable defensively in the post, his frame allows him to bruise against centers and contest an array of post moves with his cartoonishly long arms.

The only two areas of concern for Tillman defensively are his rebounding and vertical contesting. Tillman at the time of writing is averaging 3.9 rebounds in 20.8 minutes per game, he boxes out well but upping those rebounds per game would be helpful for this smaller Grizzlies team.

Tillman is solid, but possibly too solid, he isn’t a vertical defender like Rudy Gobert so in the pick and roll he’s unable to contest lob running centers — the Suns exploited Tillman’s lack of verticality by featuring Ayton heavily as a lob threat in the pick and roll.

Tillman could steal the Draymond Green technique; jump vertically but fade backward to contest the shooter.

Xavier Tillman Sr. has the upside of an extremely intelligent and efficient defender for the Grizzlies. It’s difficult to know what the best of Tillman could look like because we haven’t seen a second of Jaren Jackson Jr. alongside Tillman in the frontcourt.

Whatever that may look like, Tillman at least will be a very solid small-ball defensive center like a Daniel Theis or P.J. Tucker.

The Grizzlies have bet on selecting older and more polished prospects, who fit the timeline but also provided instant impact around their young nucleus of Morant and Jackson.

So far it’s worked and the Memphis Grizzlies will be dangerous in years to come if they continue the trajectory they are currently on with this young group.