The sudden and thorough collapse of the Memphis Grizzlies

At the end of October, the Memphis Grizzlies were 5-1, and looked like a story of resilience yet again. The expectation was that with Zach Randolph and Tony Allen gone, and teams like the Minnesota Timberwolves and Denver Nuggets rising towards playoff contention, the Grizzlies would have a difficult time maintaining their streak of playoff appearances, which began in the 2010-11 season. When the Grizzlies won five of their first six games, and beat the Warriors and the Rockets (twice, in Houston’s case), it looked like they were about to prove everyone wrong once again.

Now? The bottom has fallen out, and the Grizzlies are going through one of the most brutal collapses we’ve ever seen. They are 8-20, which means they’ve gone 3-19 since their 5-1 start. They are tied with the Dallas Mavericks for the worst record in the Western Conference, and only the Chicago Bulls and the Atlanta Hawks have worse records overall.

How did this happen? Losing Mike Conley was the start of it. The Grizzlies had already cooled off slightly when he injured his left heel a month ago, but this was sent them into free fall. Yes, Conley’s numbers had been off a bit from his career year in 2016-17, but he’s still the leader of the Grizzlies offense, and anyone who’s followed the Grizzlies over the years knows that no matter who the backup point guard is, they tend to flail when Conley is out of the lineup. Andrew Harrison and Mario Chalmers haven’t been able to pick up the slack, and the Grizzlies currently have the fourth-worst offensive rating in the league.

But Conley’s injury was only the start of the downward spiral. There was a disappointing loss to the Brooklyn Nets where Marc Gasol didn’t play in the fourth quarter. Gasol aired out his frustrations with coach David Fizdale in a post-game interview, commenting that the same thing would not have happened to Conley. The next day, Fizdale was fired, and, fair or not, Gasol now has the reputation of a coach killer. Interim head coach J.B. Bickerstaff has gone just 1-8 with the team, unable to get the season back on track.

Normally, when a season is going this badly, the question of tanking comes into play. The thing is the Grizzlies are kind of already there. They have the third-worst record in the league! Would Conley returning to the lineup in a few weeks be enough to get them anywhere near playoff contention? And if it did, would getting obliterated by the Rockets or the Warriors be worth passing up a chance at DeAndre Ayton or Luca Doncic? It’s hard to deny that the Grizzlies have reached a point where things will almost certainly get worse before they get meaningfully

better.

This brings up the question of what precisely they should do with this season. The possibility of trading Marc Gasol has been floated out quite a bit, but it’s worth noting that by firing Fizdale after Gasol’s post-game rant, the front office was taking his side. Knowing that, it would be unlikely to see a Gasol trade until at least the deadline. Where things get interesting is the Conley question. Should they shut him down for the season even if he’s more than capable of playing?

The fact is, Conley will make this team better, and that’s probably not what they want right now if they’re willing to admit it. The idea of shutting Conley down is probably a difficult one for Grizzlies fans to swallow (even if they’re realistic about the team’s situation), but in what has undeniably become a lost season, it feels like the most logical decision. Admittedly, Conley is a fierce competitor, and may not be initially receptive to the idea. In this case, the front office should attempt to sell him on the idea of having a full year to rest his heel, and the chance to get to play with and mentor any of the great young talents who the Grizzlies could take with a high lottery pick.

If you’re a Grizzlies fan, the first half of this season has likely been a jarring experience. The quick transition from “we’ve still got it!” to “ahhhh, what’s happening!” is a lot for any fanbase to take, especially when the Grizzlies have been competitive for so long. Seeing the Grizzlies near the bottom of the standings probably reminds fans of those fateful days when they somehow had Kwame Brown and Darko Milicic on the same team.

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Here’s what Grizzlies fans need to realize, though: For this season, respectability is a dead-end. If Conley came back, and got them to 41-41 and the 8-seed, it might be enjoyable to watch but it would ultimately lead them nowhere. The smartest thing the Grizzlies can do is throw this season out, and focus on gaining young talent to bounce back into the upper echelon of the West. The Grit & Grind era died in a particularly grim fashion, but right now, the only direction the front office and the fans should be looking in is towards the future.

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