The Grizzlies are way ahead of schedule, but still have a long way to go

Every season comes with its own unique twists and turns. If it wasn’t that way, all of our offseason prediction pieces would be perfect and there would be no point in playing any games.

Fortunately, this year has been no different. Chief among all the unexpected outcomes are the Memphis Grizzlies, who, in what was supposed to be the first year of a rebuild, sit at 7-4 with the 10th-best net-rating in the entire association. 

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With teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder and Minnesota Timberwolves enduring significant injuries, and others like the Denver Nuggets looking too old for their own good, it is plausible that the West is more wide-open than we initially believed. But is it possible for the Grizzlies to be this ahead of schedule? Or is this just a flash of what they will eventually become?

How the Grizzlies keep winning

It feels cliche to say this given how much this team has permeated the NBA zeitgeist since they won it all, but this Grizzlies group really does resemble the 2013-14 Beautiful Game San Antonio Spurs. 

The Spurs were an incredibly deep team that reached the Platonic ideals for decision-making speed, spacing, and ball movement. Head coach Tuomas Iisalo has the Grizzlies on this current trajectory. 

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Iisalo basically load manages his team to ensure that they are as fresh as possible. This year, 13 Grizzlies have played at least 70 total minutes. The only other teams that can say that are the Indiana Pacers, Golden State Warriors, Oklahoma City Thunder, and Utah Jazz  – all of whom have had to deal with their fair share of injuries. So, their digging deep into their bench is more out of necessity than it is a tactical decision.

Under this new regime, the Grizzlies are deploying a multi-layered, ball-screen continuity attack predicated around the pick-and-roll and side-to-side ball movement. Iisalo quite literally refers to the concept as “flow,” which is poetic considering the way the offense softly cascades from action to action. The intricacies of their futuristic style are outside of the scope of the current discussion, but if you want to learn more, be sure to check…

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Publish date : 2026-11-13 14:53:00

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