The Memphis Grizzlies were down by a single point entering the fourth quarter of their game against the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday. Eight minutes later, they were down by 13, on their way to a second consecutive disappointing loss at home.
For most of those eight minutes, Grizzlies star Ja Morant was on the bench. Jaren Jackson Jr. sat for more than four minutes, too. While the Nets had at least three starters on the court for the entire competitive portion of the fourth quarter, Memphis went with two different all-bench lineups — Scotty Pippen Jr., John Konchar, Jake LaRavia, Santi Aldama and Jay Huff, then a unit with Jaylen Wells and Brandon Clarke in place of Konchar and Huff — from the 9:20 mark until the 5:58 mark, during which time the deficit grew to double digits.
In this case, there were extenuating circumstances leading to coach Taylor Jenkins going deep into his bench in the final frame. The Grizzlies’ Desmond Bane had exited the game in the third quarter with an oblique injury, and Marcus Smart had left the game in the first quarter with a right ankle injury.
Even before the 119-106 loss against Brooklyn, though, Memphis’ rotation had attracted some attention. Neither Jackson nor Jackson has logged 30 minutes in a game this season. Aldama is averaging a team-high 27.7 minutes. In the Grizzlies’ first five games, there have been only five instances of one of their players logging 30 or more minutes. Four of them came in their 126-123 loss against the Chicago Bulls on Monday; Morant missed that game with right thigh soreness and Konchar missed it because of right foot soreness.
For context: The Golden State Warriors, who have taken their “strength in numbers” motto to an extreme this season, are the only other team that is not playing anybody at least 30 minutes per game. All of the starters for the Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks, Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets are averaging at least 30; Denver’s are all averaging at least 35. (The Nuggets, whose entire starting lineup has played together for 25.9 minutes per game, are an anomaly. Memphis only has three individual players — Aldama, Bane and Morant — averaging that many, and Aldama is the only one who has logged 35 minutes in a single game.)
Aside from when they were shorthanded against Chicago, the Grizzlies have used an 11- or 12-man rotation in all five games. It is unclear how long Jenkins will stick with this approach, and it is unclear when they will ramp up their best players’ minutes. Jackson missed all of the preseason and the first two games of the regular season because of a left hamstring injury he sustained at the beginning of training camp. Morant was listed as questionable for the Nets game leading up to it. If Bane and/or Smart have to sit out, this will all be more complicated.
“There’s a lot of things on the table,” Jenkins told reporters Wednesday. “We have guys getting hurt in the middle of the game, so we’re having to adjust. We’re having guys out in the starting lineup, in and out, all that, so that kind of changes things. I mean, Trip’s only been back three games. Ja was out the other night. Thankfully, he was able to go tonight. So, every game is presenting a new opportunity to try to find chemistry.”
Last Friday, after Morant logged just 24 minutes in Memphis’ 128-108 loss against the Houston Rockets, Jenkins told reporters that he could have played more if the game hadn’t been out of reach down the stretch. “We’re working with him and the medical team about how we want to deploy him over this stretch right now,” Jenkins said, via the Memphis Commercial Appeal. “Obviously, he was out for a portion of preseason, so getting his game legs and conditioning right.”
Morant only played in two of the Grizzlies’ five preseason games, and they started the season with a six-games-in-night-days stretch that ends Thursday against the Bucks. “Obviously, it’s a process,” Morant told reporters in Houston. “You got to be smart. You don’t want to go throw me in there for 36 minutes. God willing, nothing happens, but you just got to be smart.”
After the loss against Brooklyn, all Morant said about his playing time was that he would “live with it,” per the Memphis Commercial Appeal.
Memphis is second in the league in offensive pace (and first in offensive pace after makes), per inpredictable. It makes sense that it would want to use players for shorter stints, especially early in the season, and it makes sense that it would want to experiment with different lineups. If the Grizzlies were 4-1 while carefully managing everybody’s minutes, this would be nothing more than an interesting early-season subplot. Maybe that’s all it should be, but they are 2-3 and, if they keep losing games, their commitment to taking the long view will be tested. The players’ patience might be, too, if it isn’t being tested already.
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