The Grizzlies should lean into the unconventional with Marcus Smart

The Memphis Grizzlies' offense needs a spark, and so does the team's biggest offseason acquisition. It's time to lean into his unconventional strengths to jumpstart the offense.

The Memphis Grizzlies’ offense just isn’t clicking. Overall this season, the team is last in offensive rating (106.6), field goal percentage (43.7), and 3-point percentage (33.3). Since Ja Morant’s return, they rank in the bottom 3 in last these marks — 108.7 offensive rating, while shooting 45.2% from the field and 33.2% from 3-point range.

There’s no culprit to pinpoint. It could be a blend of coaching and personnel. The team only has 3 players shooting at or above league-average from 3, and no one is above 40% — Kennard and Bane should get there, especially with more sample data with the former. Because of the team’s lack of shooting, opponents are packing the paint, which is impacting their efficiency there. The team is also deploying similar actions they ran with Steven Adams and Brandon Clarke when they don’t have the personnel to do so.

Adams and Clarke provided connectivity and dynamism from the high post. While their passing — out of DHO’s, hitting cutters, or short-roll playmaking — stands out in the “connector” role, they added a dynamic within it. For Adams, it was extra possessions and screen assists, because he’s the strongest dude on the floor. With Clarke, it was pick-and-roll prowess and offensive rebounding, because he’s typically the most athletic player on the floor.

Tillman and Biyombo are solid screeners that make pretty nice reads every now and then, but they don’t possess these dimensions to really elevate their offensive impact.

So, adjustment idea…

Utilize Marcus Smart more in this high-post connector role and less as a wing.

Granted, we aren’t even a quarter of the way into the Marcus Smart experience because of his foot injury. His defense has been as advertised. He’s actually boasting a higher defensive EPM (estimated plus-minus) this season (+3.0) than his Defensive Player of the Year season (+2.6), per dunksandthrees. He generates defensive events, averaging a career-high 2.1 steals per game. He’s taken on and excelled in various assignments. Yes, the charges are electric.

However, the offense has been wildly inefficient due to his high turnover rate and brutal 3-point shooting. It’s cultivating to a career-low offensive EPM of -2.3.

He’s turning the ball over 3.1 times per game, and his turnover percentage (19%) is in the 2nd percentile among combo guards, per Cleaning the Glass. With his turnovers, he’s always been a risky playmaker, but he was probably overtaxed in a point guard role where he was tasked with running an offense with guys he hasn’t played with before. He hasn’t turned the ball over more than 3 times since his return — not great, but not horrific.

Smart has never been a lights-out 3-point shooter, possessing a streaky outside jumper capable of swinging a game. This season, he’s shooting 26.3% from 3 on 5.8 attempts per game. He’s been rough specifically above-the-break, where he’s connecting on 24% of his 3’s in this area — per Cleaning the Glass. It’s fair to suggest and stress that Smart is dealing with a nasty ailment on his non-shooting hand from diving on the floor against the Pelicans, a note he shared with the media at Tuesday’s shoot around.

So, how should the Grizzlies pivot? Play to his strengths and utilize him as a connector near the high post.

The thing that was fascinating with Marcus Smart’s fit with Boston is how he was utilized in multiple areas of his game — as a screener, as a pick-and-roll ball-handler, as a complementary offensive piece. The Grizzlies have done okay functioning in the high post, and are still looking to figure out how to integrate that skillset alongside Ja Morant, Desmond Bane, and Jaren Jackson Jr.

Slotting him into more of a connective piece rather than a “wing” could help capture the vision of Smart’s arrival here, while also alleviating offensive concerns — both for himself and for the team. We’ve already seen some examples of this strategy.

This play is Marcus Smart’s only play-finishing possession as the “roll man.” Granted, not totally optimal for all 4 of Morant, Smart, Bane, and Kennard to be on the floor together. However, the Kings defenders can’t tag the roll because of Kennard and Bane’s presence — opening up room in the paint. Sabonis helps off Biyombo, as Smart waits for his man to recover to draw the and-1 opportunity.

As Morant doesn’t turn the corner how he’d like, he brings the ball back out above the break. Smart gets the ball and immediately flows into a DHO with a brush screen to draw an open-look from 3.

This play could encapsulate what he could do as a short-roll playmaker, even though it’s not a traditional pick-and-roll. Smart finds Santi Aldama at the elbow, comes over to fake a screen for Bane, and cuts to the basket. Once he draws the help, he slips a pass to a cutting Bismack Biyombo for the bucket.

Deploying Smart more at the center of the offense gives the Grizzlies someone that can reorganize the offense — allow the team to quickly get into 2nd and 3rd actions, or to pivot when the defense cuts them off.

Marcus Smart starts the action at the nail and comes up to receive the ball. Desmond Bane brushes past the defender as a ghost action, then runs off the flare screen from Biyombo. He didn’t get the desired look because of Wembanyama’s switch. So, Smart — still at the top of the key — comes over for a Boomerang (pass into a repass) to allow Bane to gain an extra step on Wemby downhill for a layup.

In other instances, this flare screen out of HORNS can draw a clean look from 3, and Smart in these actions is a playmaker that can get the ball to those spots.

The Grizzlies start the possession in HORNS with Smart as the initial screener. When Morant gets trapped in the paint, Smart relocates to a passing window and drives off the pass. He draws the help to find Desmond Bane to hit a crucial corner 3.

The Grizzlies utilized Smart at the elbow in HORNS. When he gets the ball, they throw the Blazers off with a flare screen action with Kennard and Biyombo. In the meantime, Smart and Bane tease a DHO. Bane takes advantage of the cheating defense to cut backdoor, and Smart leads him with a bounce pass with no source of rim protection nearby.

Deploying Smart in these sort of fashions to unlock him as a cutter and scorer. He’s currently shooting 65% at the rim, tied for a career-high, and has scored on all 5 of his field goal attempts as a cutter this season — per Synergy Sports.

These sequences also allow him to decoy a screen or handoff action to cut to the basket, while the big man is defending the weak-side to cut to the basket.

Smart doesn’t even have to do this while slotted at the elbows or top of the key. He could crash from the corner — which is also a naturally better spot for him from distance. He’s making 36% of his corner 3’s this season, but only 25% of his 3-pointers come from there (38% of total shots are above the break, and 13% are from the corner). Trimming this ratio could help boost his efficiency as an outside shooter.

The other night against Toronto, Smart slid down the baseline as Morant probed his way downhill. He crept his way into a passing window where Morant could find him for an easy layup.

Lastly, this option is more of a curveball than anything, but the Grizzlies have ran PUNCH (post) actions for Marcus Smart. He’s 6-11 (54.5%) on post-up’s this season, often going to the post in order to capitalize on a mismatch. Worth noting, he’s also shooting a career-high (54%) in the “short mid” range (per Cleaning the Glass).

His physicality against opposing combo guards should be utilized. It could also open passes, like this example in this rip screen en rout to an open layup:

If the Grizzlies lean into Smart’s unconventional game, it could allow them to run more lineups with Jaren Jackson Jr. and Santi Aldama at the 4 and 5.

(Note: Don’t worry about the rebounding. Aldama has a higher rebound rate than Tillman, and is 2nd on the team in rebounds per game (5.7). If the Grizzlies need additional rebounding, Biyombo can be the backup big off the bench.)

In these situations, the Grizzlies could use Jackson and Aldama as floor spacers, or even in the dunker spot, and have Smart handle the connective elements at the middle of the floor. It plays to their strengths more — as Aldama is a better floor-spacer, Jackson could draw isolation spots in different angles, and Smart’s playmaking in second and third actions could be advantageous.

If teams adjust and place their big on Smart, then they can seek a mismatch with Jackson. They don’t even need to deploy Smart as the high-post connector all the time. He can initiate actions or be slotted in the corner, biding time for a kick-out or to cut for a layup.

The 3-guard lineup isn’t the problem. The Grizzlies boast a +6.4 NET rating in 220 possessions with Morant, Bane, and Smart, and they’re 2-2 in games with all 3 of them available.

They just need to score.

Shifting Smart’s responsibilities from “off-ball wing” to “connector” could open up more possibilities and add some variance to an offense that needs an injection of life.

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There's no magical trade that’s happening today … or tomorrow … or maybe not for a couple weeks before the trade deadline. Maybe later, but not now. There won’t be any sweeping changes or anything.

Right now, it’s all about adjustments.

Taylor Jenkins and the Memphis Grizzlies have to adjust. These next few weeks are going to be crucial for the Grizzlies’ postseason chances — currently sitting 5.5 games back from the play-in.

It’s time to get weird, especially as the team misses two crucial connectors this season. And deploying Smart in this capacity is something we’ve seen contenders do in years past — Brooklyn with Bruce Brown, and Golden State with Gary Payton II (maybe better saying would be a shorter Draymond).

The smart thing to do is to lean into Marcus Smart’s unconventional strengths to see if it could help spark the Grizzlies’ sputtering offense.

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