Timberwolves Free Agency: Memphis Grizzlies Edition
By Ben Beecken
The fourth edition of our series examining the rosters of recently-eliminated playoff teams takes a look at the surprising Memphis Grizzlies.
In 2016-17, the Memphis Grizzlies essentially did what the Memphis Grizzlies always do: they ground-out a solid, above-.500 regular season and outperformed expectations despite a series of season-long, nagging injuries.
No, the team wasn’t nearly as banged-up as they were a year ago when former coach (and current Sacramento Kings head coach) Dave Joerger had to field an ungodly 28 (twenty-eight!) players over the course of the campaign and they still won 42 games and finished seventh in the Western Conference. But no single player appeared in more than 74 games and there were still 17 players that saw the floor throughout the season.
First-year head man David Fizdale did a fantastic job with a middling roster of mostly aging veterans, and the team won 43 games and finished seventh in the West for the second consecutive year.
The grit-and-grind Grizzles are finally in danger of being broken up, however, as Zach Randolph and Tony Allen will hit unrestricted free agency this summer, as well as veteran forward Vince Carter. To further complicate things, emerging big man JaMychal Green will be an unrestricted free agent.
Let’s take a look at what could be a potential fit with Tom Thibodeau’s Timberwolves.