Two Better Than One?

The Kufere Laing Lounge

The Grizzles have the second pick in the NBA Draft and no chance of drafting Blake Griffin, the Memphis Grizzlies have a lot of tough decisions to make. The Grizzlies are in dire need of another scoring guard who can help their young stars in OJ Mayo and Rudy Gay. The Grizzlies also lack a dominate big man who can stop drives to the hoop in addition to being able to score in the low post. Of the two weaknesses the Grizzlies have, filling the need of a dominate big man would seem to be the most important. However, this draft lacks a dominate big man on both ends of the court, excluding Blake Griffin who will be taken with the first pick.
Due to this, the Grizzlies may decide to choose a guard with their first pick, and in this draft there are plenty of great guards to choose from. Ricky Rubio, James Harden, Tyreke Evans, and Stephen Curry seem to be the most highly touted guards in this year’s class and the Grizzlies may choose to take one of the three.
For the Grizzlies, Ricky Rubio seems to be the most “attractive” player to draft. He has played professionally in Europe for three years, he has a great deal of hype surrounding him, and most draft analystshave Rubio as the best point guard in this draft. However, there have been questions on whether or not Rubio wants to play in Memphis. In the past Memphis has had problems drafting players who don’t want to play for them, most notably Steve Francis.
On the other hand, Stephen Curry seems to be the most unlikely taken here. Curry is not the best athlete, is a bit undersized for the NBA, and has a frail frame. There have also been questions about Curry’s ability to defend at the next level. Nevertheless, OJ Mayo is a versatile defender and would allow Curry to guard the other teams point guard, while Mayo guards the bigger two guards.
With Curry and Rubio seemingly out of the picture, the Grizzlies may have to choose between Tyreke Evans and James Harden. Unlike Rubio and Curry, neither have expressed concerns about playing in Memphis nor are they undersized. Evans and Harden are listed at 6-6 and 6-5 respectively and have the ability to play off the ball and allow Mayo to run the show. Harden seems to be the most compatiable with Mayo because Harden does not handle the ball as much as Evans. Still, if the Grizzlies select Evans (who played college in the same city), it will give Memphis one of the best defensive backcourts in the NBA, and one of the most aggresive.
With their late first round pick and early the second round pick, the Grizzlies may look to draft a big man. Jeff Pendergraph and Taj Gibson may hear they’re names called here. Both could be solid role players who give the Grizzlies depth off the bench and play a fair amount of minutes as rookies.