Grizzly Bear Blues Apr 20, 2018
Grizzlies end of season awards - Part 2: The Players
MVP? LVP? Let’s discuss. If you missed part 1 of our awards, check them out here. Is it possible to have a MVP in a 22-60 season? Sure, why not. The season ended over a week ago, and the attention has turned from an abysmal campaign for the Memphis Grizzlies toward the steps needed to insure that this type of season doesn’t happen again next year. GBB is knee-deep in draft preparation and looking at the roster’s key pieces moving forward, but we also are in the middle of our Season in Review series (catch up here) and this edition of the Roundtable will focus on the good, bad, and...
Grizzly Bear Blues Apr 20, 2018
NBA 2018 Mock Draft: Memphis Grizzlies at 2nd
What if the lottery stays the same and the Grizzlies get the second pick? Right now, the Grizzlies are set with the second-best lottery odds. Obtaining such odds guarantees a top-five pick and gives the team the second-best chance of attaining the number one pick. The March Madness is over, and there will be little movement in the big boards until the draft combine and workouts. How could the lottery shake out if things stayed the same? Who would the Grizzlies draft with the second pick? Could this prospect help them win immediately? Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports No. 1:...
Grizzly Bear Blues Apr 20, 2018
Mike Conley is at a crossroads
Next season may very well define the final story of Mike Conley’s career. Who exactly is Mike Conley? For the Memphis Grizzlies, he has been the leader, the conductor, of the franchise’s greatest run of excellence. Although his closest competition might be Damon Stoudemire, he is still easily the best point guard in franchise history. His importance to what the Grizzlies have built was never more clear than it was this year, as the Grizzlies were 7-5 with him on the court and 15-55 when he wasn’t. But that’s the easy stuff about him. For Mike Conley, it really is not a question of...
Grizzly Bear Blues Apr 20, 2018
Season in Review: Myke Henry, thief in the night
Fact: Myke Henry was one of the team’s top takers this year Catch up on previous entries in our Season in Review series here. Unlike Kobi Simmons, we didn’t have a full season to check in on Myke Henry. If you remember, the Memphis Grizzlies’ initial two-way contracts belonged to Simmons and forward Vince Hunter. However, the team waived Hunter in January and on the same day signed Henry to that vacant two-way deal. Before being signed, the 25-year-old Chiacgoan played in 27 G-League games for Oklahoma City’s affiliate, the creatively named Oklahoma City Blues. In that time he...
Grizzly Bear Blues Apr 19, 2018
Grizzlies end of season awards - Part 1: The Moments
Who was the MVP of the Grizzlies? This and other awards in our latest Roundtable. Is it possible to have good moments in a 22-60 season? Sure, why not. The season ended a week ago, and the attention has turned from an abysmal campaign for the Memphis Grizzlies toward the steps needed to insure that this type of season doesn’t happen again next year. GBB is knee-deep in draft preparation and looking at the roster’s key pieces moving forward, but we also are in the middle of our Season in Review series (catch up here) and this edition of the Roundtable will focus on the good, bad, and...
Grizzly Bear Blues Apr 19, 2018
GBBLive Preview: Lottery dreaming with the Memphis Grizzlies
It’s an early summer vacation for the Memphis Grizzlies, but as they get some much-deserved rest the GBB crew is getting revved up for the offseason to come. We’re talking 2018 NBA Draft and more on this episode of GBBLive! Listen to the show in the player below or via this link. Hosts Joe Mullinax and Brandon Conner welcome the two newest members of Grizzly Bear Blues, Senior Writers Parker Fleming and Nathan Chester, on to make their GBBLive debuts. The fellas will discuss what the Grizzlies should do if they’re fortunate enough to win the NBA Lottery, season grades for the Bears of...
Grizzly Bear Blues Apr 19, 2018
Season in Review: The curious case of JaMychal Green
After signing his off-season deal, JaMychal Green had an up and down ride after battling injury for the first part of the season. Brandon Connor, nba.com/stats JaMychal Green started his Grizzlies season at a personal high. Last September, he inked a 2 year, 16.8-million-dollar deal with the Memphis Grizzlies. Green finally got the contract he deserved after being a key piece for Memphis over the past two season. Now, as Zach Randolph left for Sacramento, JaMychal knew he was going to be the pairing force next to Marc Gasol. There were question marks in how that would...
Grizzly Bear Blues Apr 19, 2018
Season in Review: Not-so-Super Mario
Chalmers return wasn’t exactly what Grizzlies fans expected Brandon Conner, NBA.com/stats Mario Chalmers was supposed to be better. When signed towards the end of the offseason, Grizzlies fans rejoiced thinking they were getting the same player who averaged over 10 points and nearly 4 assists a game in the 2015-2016 season. Unfortunately, Chalmers never seemed to fully recover from his ruptured achilles which ended that season short. Sure, he never missed any games with an Achilles injury, but his on the court play, the worst of his career, shows he may never fully...
Grizzly Bear Blues Apr 18, 2018
NBA 2K League games will broadcast on Twitch
You’ll be able to watch Grizz Gaming games on the live-streaming website The NBA 2K League and Twitch announced a multiyear partnership today that will include all NBA 2K League games being broadcast on Twitch, the live-streaming network. Fans will also be able to go watch the games on demand if they miss the live broadcast. The direct link to watch the games will be at twitch.tv/nba2kleague once the website is up and running. This partnership means that all Grizz Gaming, the team for the Memphis Grizzlies, and eSports fans will be able to watch all games and tournaments throughout the 2K...
Grizzly Bear Blues Apr 18, 2018
Offseason Priorities for the Memphis Grizzlies
What are some of the Memphis Grizzlies’ biggest offseason priorities? To say this season didn’t live up to the Memphis Grizzlies’ standard is putting it lightly; it was disastrous. Mike Conley’s injury played a huge part in its collapse, but there are plenty of other factors as well — ones that’ll factor into the Grizzlies’ offseason decisions. They made an apparently impulse-driven decision (at least that was the public appearance) to fire Dave Fizdale after losing his eighth straight game and benching Marc Gasol in the fourth quarter. The team’s lone playmaker, Tyreke...
Grizzly Bear Blues Apr 18, 2018
Season in Review: Tyreke Evans out of nowhere!
One of the main surprises of the season was just how good Tyreke Evans was. Check out previous entries in the Season in Review series here. Tyreke Evans bet on himself this last offseason, signing a one year deal with the Memphis Grizzlies for right at $3 million. He spent previous seasons with New Orleans and Sacramento struggling to stay on the court and health was a huge issue for Evans coming into this season. He was supposed to be the wing coming off the bench that could get buckets for the Grizzlies and starting off the season he was well on his way to being the sixth...
Grizzly Bear Blues Apr 18, 2018
Season in Review: The Other Guys
A look back at the handful of players who briefly graced the roster with their presence. Catch up on previous entries in our Season in Review series here. While it wasn’t quite the record-setting 28 players of the 2015-16 season, the Grizzlies used 24 players this season. Most of them played reasonable minutes, but there were a handful who spent barely enough time on the roster to even register in the average fan’s memory. This is our look back at those Other Guys: Vince Hunter, Brice Johnson, Xavier Rathan-Mayes, and Briante Weber. Vince Hunter Shooting profile per...
Grizzly Bear Blues Apr 17, 2018
Season in Review: Grizzly Likes and Dislikes
It wasn’t all doom and gloom. (Editor’s note- welcome Parker Fleming to GBB! He formerly was the Site Expert at FanSided’s Beale Street Bears and now joins us as a Senior Staff Writer.) There aren’t many words that could describe the Memphis Grizzlies’ season. Awful. Terrible. No good. A crapshow. Miserable. And my favorite, tanktastic. Mike Conley was out for all but 12 games. Chandler Parsons didn’t play much… again. The Grizzlies spent over $5,000,000 for Ben McLemore to be…well…Ben McLemore. They fired the wildly popular Dave Fizdale because of a lackluster...
Grizzly Bear Blues Apr 17, 2018
Season in Review: Dillon Brooks spreads his wings
The rook established himself as a key player in a rough season. Check out previous entries in the Season in Review series here. Dillon Brooks shooting stats Anyone who payed any sort of attention to the Grizzlies this season knows the story of young Dillon Brooks. Drafted by the Rockets and traded to Memphis on draft day, Brooks came into the season at the bottom of a rotation, not expecting to see much time. However, injuries and Tyreke Evans spending more time as a point-forward forced Brooks into action. He came out with a bang, scoring 19 points in that first game...
Grizzly Bear Blues Apr 17, 2018
Season in Review: Jarell Martin finds himself
The forward had some ups and downs but his game was certainly more solid than in his previous two seasons. Check out previous entries in the Season in Review series here. Jarell Martin has just completed his third season in the NBA. His first two years were full of inconsistency, including stints in Iowa with the Memphis Grizzlies G (then D)-League team affiliate. He did show some flashes of potential as a member of the Grizzlies but overall his play and his numbers were rather disappointing. In the 2017-2018 season, Martin had more continuity. He has been healthy for the majority of the...
