The Grizzlies were supposed to be rebuilding this season. Instead, they’re the only undefeated team left in the NBA.
So much for that plan.
Memphis is 5-0 after Thursday’s 21-point win over the previously unbeaten Trail Blazers. And after the Rockets lost to the Mavericks on Friday, the Grizzlies have the league’s best record all to themselves.
Not bad for a team that won 25 games last season, traded Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr., and was expected to spend another year figuring things out. Apparently, nobody told the players.
“One, I think we are better than people give us credit for,” rookie Cameron Boozer told Jason Quick of The Athletic. “And two, it shows our toughness and competitiveness.”
Boozer added that the Grizzlies are winning because they’ve been tougher and more competitive than their opponents.
That’s a fairly bold assessment from a rookie. Then again, Boozer has earned the right to say a few things. The No. 3 overall pick recorded 18 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists against Portland, becoming the second-youngest player in NBA history to register a triple-double, as Law Murray of The Athletic noted.
He’s hardly doing it alone. Ty Jerome has been terrific, Zach Edey is healthy, and young players such as Cedric Coward, Jaylen Wells and GG Jackson II are giving Memphis plenty of reasons to believe this isn’t just a nice little October story.
Jerome, the reigning Western Conference Player of the Week, said the Grizzlies were actually showing signs of becoming a good team last season, even when the victories weren’t coming.
“Even though we weren’t necessarily, like, winning games, we were in every game,” Jerome told Quick.
He pointed to the additions of Boozer, Jerami Grant and Isaiah Stewart, along with the return of several healthy players, as reasons for his optimism.
“And I was like, ‘Oh, we got a good team,'” Jerome said. “Like, I think everyone’s gonna find out what we have on the team.”
Well, they’re certainly finding out now.
Coach Tuomas Iisalo has been using an 11-man rotation, which you don’t see much in today’s NBA. But it’s working.
Everybody plays, everybody contributes, and nobody seems particularly interested in worrying about who’s supposed to get the credit. Iisalo, meanwhile, isn’t ready to declare anything after five games.
“The word I’ve used is promising,” he told Quick. “It’s only the beginning of the season. We are five games in, we all understand it and anything can happen.”
He also praised the Grizzlies’ resilience and their ability to find different answers from different players.
“It’s just an incredibly cool feeling as a coach,” Iisalo said.
And why wouldn’t it be? This is only the second 5-0 start in franchise history. The first came in 2014-15, when Memphis went on to win 55 games.
As Quick noted, only two teams in the past 30 years have started 5-0 and missed the playoffs. That doesn’t mean these Grizzlies are headed for 55 wins. But it does suggest they’re worth taking seriously.
As I wrote in my five NBA thoughts Saturday, every year somebody surprises us. Maybe this is Memphis’ turn. The Grizzlies are young, deep, confident and playing like a team with something to prove. They also seem to be enjoying themselves.
I’m not ready to call them contenders. I’m not even ready to say they’re definitely a playoff team. But I am ready to say this: The Grizzlies don’t look like a team waiting for next year. They look like one that’s pretty happy with this year.
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