Memphis Grizzlies 2023 Summer League takeaways

The Memphis Grizzlies gave ample opportunity for players vying for increased roles on the main roster.

The Memphis Grizzlies didn’t win any hardware in this year’s Summer League. In the first time in this “GrzNxtGen” era, they didn’t have a first-round pick to monitor through the summer hoop festivities. However, the Grizzlies’ Summer League was still successful within the expectations. With a couple open roles, and with 4 sophomores on the roster, improvements was the most important element of the Utah and Las Vegas trips.

With open roles on the horizon, and with more playing time under some belts, could someone grab the coaching staff and front office’s attention to warrant more playing time?

Given the stakes at hand this Summer League, wins and losses aside, it was a pretty solid 2 weeks for the young Grizzlies.

Kenneth Lofton Jr. will force hard decisions

“Junior Mania” has run rampant over the past year, and this Summer League shined the brightest — more than his initial run, his G League Rookie of the Year campaign, and his 42-point double-double in last season’s finale. He flashed the necessary all-around improvements to put his name in the discussion for playing time on the main roster next season.

Per usual, Lofton was a bucket-getter. He bullied opponents inside, whether it was off drives or in the post. He also spread the floor out well, too — shooting 44% from 3 in 6 Summer League games. His scoring ability generates the attention.

How he’s improved his game launches him into the conversation for playing time. The main qualm with Lofton for rotation minutes comes with his defense, but he averaged 2.7 stocks per game (including 2 steals). At he center field of the defense, he demonstrated a knack of being at the right place at the right time, as well as interrupting interior passes.

Granted, Lofton has stout competition. Jaren Jackson Jr., Steven Adams, and Santi Aldama all are obviously locked in. Xavier Tillman is the last man in right now, with Brandon Clarke out to start the year. Could Lofton move the needle with his offensive skill with budding improvements? Junior made marginal steps to make the answer closer to a “yes.”

Jake LaRavia helped himself the most

The competition for playing time among the young wings will be the most enticing to monitor when training camp kicks off. Ziaire Williams, Jake LaRavia, David Roddy, John Konchar, and Vince Williams Jr. will be vying for playing time.

With Summer League impressions, Jake LaRavia helped himself out the most to emerge from the crowd to lock himself into the rotation. The allure is understandable — he’s a 6’8” forward with a sweet shooting stroke and possesses great traits to be a connector on both sides of the ball.

Shooting-wise, LaRavia only made 32.6% of his 3’s in 6 games (small sample sizes, you know). I’m not buying a lot of it, though outside shooting will be key for any of those wings to win rotation minutes. He does need to shoot the ball better, but his role was vastly different than it will be with the main roster, as his spot in the pecking order was higher with the Summer League. He shot way more 3’s off the dribble, off movement, and more contested. He performed well enough as a shooter where you see the vision of his role with the main roster, and he also flashed promise off the dribble — attacking the basket to draw fouls, and make plays for his teammates and others.

LaRavia flashed the aggressiveness and confidence you wanted to see, while impacting the game in multiple facets. He built a solid foundation for a strong sophomore season.

Interesting David Roddy playmaking flashes

David Roddy had the rockiest Summer League of the main roster. His offense came in waves — flashing steadiness offensively 1 game, then struggling the next. He only shot 40.3% from the field and 25.8% from 3 — 51.3 true shooting percentage and 46.3 effective field goal percentage. Again, it isn’t super bothersome since his role and shot variety will be different on the main roster, but he has to shoot better from deep.

However, Roddy was the main roster player with the ball in his hands the most often. Results could be murky when putting the ball in the hands of a non-guard — good exhibit: a game he dished out 6 assists was the same one he dropped 6 turnovers. Roddy though passed the test quite well, averaging 3.5 assists with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.50.

Obviously, some dimes come within the flow of the offense through swinging the ball around the horn. Roddy though made legitimately great reads when attacking closeouts, ones that feel translatable in NBA context. He’s shown the ability to create advantages off closeouts. Coupling strong drives and finishes with dime-dropping makes Roddy a compelling side-action creator or a short-roll playmaker.

If Roddy can elevate to the shooting closer to what we saw to end his rookie season, while materializing the upside he’s flashed as a playmaker, he becomes an interesting wrinkle to the Grizzlies’ offense.

Other notes

• Vince Williams Jr. is intriguing. Vince Williams didn’t play in all the Summer League games because of injury, but he impressed with his opportunity. The energy elements of his game — defense and rebounding — were known staples in his game. He also shot the ball incredibly well and confidently, making 11 of his 25 (44%) of his 3-point attempts. As a two-year two-way player, he’ll likely have more run on the Memphis Hustle next season, but his tools could make him a fascinating prospect to monitor going forward.

• GG Jackson, phew the flashes. GG Jackson will need a season with the Memphis Hustle. He’s only 18 years old and has room to grow as an on-floor decision-maker and with his skillset refinement. The flashes though are so damn enticing. He showcased his live-dribble juice we’ve know prior, but he also made big shots as a complementary scorer that leaves optimism regrading his fit. Zach Kleiman talked about the process with Jackson on draft night, and Summer League seemed like a step in the right direction for Jackson.

• Jacob Gilyard is ideal point guard on two-way. There was clamor for the Grizzlies to target hometown prospects like Kendric Davis — or even bring back Kennedy Chandler — for 1 of the team’s two-way spots. Jacob Gilyard remains on that contract after a late-season promotion, and it’s warranted. He does everything you could ask for as a two-way point guard, both in the sense of his contract and skillset. On the floor, he’s a great table-setter — seeking scoring opportunities for his teammates more than his own. He also can slot off the ball as a floor spacer. He doesn’t possess great size defensively but makes up for it with his quick hands to generate defensive events, a useful skill at the nail. As a two-way player, he may not get a lot of time on the main roster, but he’s a beneficial lead guard for the Hustle — a floor general that could organize the offense and impact the development of main roster players getting G League reps.

• Tarik Biberovic has a NBA skill. The Grizzlies shocked many people by selecting Tarik Biberovic with the 56th pick, as draft pundits didn’t even have him on their radar. Anyone else get Hustle/Adam Sandler vibes? Nonetheless, we actually got a look at Biberovic sooner than anticipated, and he flashed upside as a 3-point shooter, both in stand-still and movement capacities — shooting 42% from 3 in his last 5 Summer League games. It’s unclear whether Biberovic ultimately makes the move to the NBA, but it’s nice to see why the Grizzlies valued him as a draft-and-stash candidate.

• Roster foreshadowing? No Josh Christopher or Isaiah Todd in Summer League — and neither player were justified to forgo it, even as 3rd-year guys, with how their careers have gone thus far. Granted, the Grizzlies could have decided to not have them join in Las Vegas, because they didn’t want to thrust them into the system. However, their Summer League absences don’t leave a lot of optimism for their odds of sticking on the 15-man roster.

Stats and clips found from Synergy Sports.

Well, no more basketball for quite a bit. I’ll have some stuff on Jaren Jackson Jr. and Santi Aldama next month in their FIBA stints. Then, I’ll spread my player/season preview content over the next 2-3 months. Again, as always, I appreciate the support with SubTsakalidis over the first 2 months. Content will remain free, and any support will go to my wife’s St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital fundraiser team — Allie’s Allies.