Colin Rafferty –
Your Memphis Grizzlies will take on the 12-39 Sacramento Kings at the Golden 1 Center tonight.
The Grizzlies will be without a litany of players as they announced the movement of Jaren Jackson Jr. and others to the Utah Jazz yesterday.
They have decided on a complete rebuild and within the next coming days, I would expect Ja Morant to be moved, where and for what remains to be seen.
The “Nxt Gen Grizz” era is over, there is no link from the ‘Grit and Grind’ era anymore. They will move forward with Cedric Coward, Zach Edey, Jaylen Wells, and Cam Spencer.
Outside of not having Kyle Anderson, Walter Clayton Jr., Taylor Hendricks, and Georges Niang, all players from Utah that are “trade pending,” the Grizz have Santi Aldama listed as QUESTIONABLE and Scotty Pippen Jr. is listed as DOUBTFUL.
With the limited number of players available for the Grizz it would be nice to see Santi out there, but at this point, what is the point. The Grizz have decided to tank and see if there two picks they have in this year’s draft can stay in the top 15.
Photo Credits: Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images
The Kings come into the game on a 9-game losing streak. They are one of the worst teams in total offense, defense, and point differential. This could be a game the Grizz win, could not.
Losing one of the core guys to not only the city but the team itself is hard to get over, but it is a business and he had the most trade value left on the team.
If you were deciding to move on, this was the time, it just sucks.
He is arguably one of the most decorated Grizzlies players we have had, 2x NBA All-Star, Defensive Player of the Year, 2x NBA All-Defensive First Team, NBA All-Defensive Second Team, 2x NBA blocks leader, and NBA All-Rookie First Team.
He never really panned out to be the dominating player we thought he would, but I felt he was always best suited for playing the Power Foward position and let the Center handle the big guys while he plays free safety on defense.
This game will be interesting to watch, two teams struggling and looking forward to next year.
The Kings will potentially be without Domantas Sabonis who is listed as QUESTIONABLE and Keegan Murray is OUT.
This will mark the third time these two teams will play, the last game the Grizzlies won 115-107 they were led by Zach Edey’s 32 point game.
We have been given an opportunity to turn the page on a tumultuous few years and look ahead to hopefully greener pastures.
It might not be quick but with the number of picks they have in the upcoming years, they can make moves within the draft and in free agency to take on some interesting pieces.
Who or what those pieces are, are still up in the air as they try to figure out and manage what it will look like in the next year.
Do they move on from Ty Jerome? How long of a leash does GG Jackson have? Where are our big men? These are things that coming down to the end of the season they will need to address.
Hell before the trade deadline would be good to get a Center, the only one they have available is Olivier-Maxence Prosper.
The Grizzlies currently sit at 9th in the draft order tied with Milwaukee, the pick they have from the Magic sits right at 15.
According to draft experts this draft is a loaded one and could be beneficial to teams with multIple picks in the lottery.
So, load up Tankathon.com, give it some looks, and keep your eyes out for those top college guys and where they might fit in with this current Grizzlies roster.
Tip-off is at 9 PM CST in Sacramento, California.
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