Next Day Notes, Preseason: Rockets 113, Grizzlies 93

Larry Kuzniewski

Tayshaun Prince rejoined the starting lineup last night, although it was probably temporary.

If last night’s painful-to-watch loss to the Houston Rockets had been a regular season game and not a preseason game, this piece would consist of a great deal more weeping and gnashing of teeth. The lineups were mostly bad, the starters didn’t look good (mostly because it was the 2nd preseason game and they knew they’d only be playing about 10 minutes each, at 75% effort), and the guys fighting to get signed by somebody somewhere—Kalin Lucas, Earl Clark, Patrick Christopher, et al—were an object lesson that playing hard is sometimes not as important as playing well.

But. It was a preseason game, and the only starter who played more than nine minutes was Courtney Lee (mostly so he could get some minutes with a couple different second unit lineups), and there were a few positive things to take away from the performances of some of the team’s younger players.

The big news before the game was that Michael Beasley’s “flu-like symptoms” that caused him to miss the team’s Green Bay/Houston road trip may have actually been something Asian in origin, as he left the Grizzlies’ camp to sign a deal with the Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association, the team owned by former Rockets big man Yao Ming. (Insert joke about Beasley being “Shanghai’d” or whatever.) It wasn’t that surprising, honestly, because I had serious doubts that Beasley was going to make the Griz roster to begin with, and apparently he did too. The CBA seems to be acquiring quite a cast of NBA castoffs and burnouts (no pun intended in B-Easy’s case), but Griz fans should probably just wish Beasley the best and hope he can make a good living playing basketball going forward.

Herewith, some reflections on last night’s game:

Game Notes

• Like I said, the starters (Conley, Lee, Prince, Randolph, and Gasol—the starters from the end of last season) didn’t play much and when they did they weren’t exactly playing for their lives. The early preseason games are more like tune-ups for these guys anyway, where they play just enough to keep from getting rusty. Gasol still managed to have 6 points in 9 minutes, Z-Bo went 1 for 5 (which, I mean, preseason, but that still ain’t good), and Tayshaun Prince had a steal, a block, and an assist. Preseason basketball on the second night of a back to back from a veteran group is, well, less than excellent.
• The starting lineups the last two games—Conley/Allen/Pondexter/Randolph/Gasol and Conley/Lee/Prince/Randolph/Gasol—are this close to being meaningless pending the return of Vince Carter to basketball action. Carter’s return will have a huge effect on the Grizzlies’ wing rotation, because he’s probably the best offensive wing on the team at this point.
• The crappy play last night did bring up an interesting point: Should Dave Joerger be pushing the team harder in these preseason games? Last year’s preseason was disjointed and ugly, with lineups never settling and the team never once really playing a solid game, and that malaise carried over into the regular season. Would playing some of these games with a little more focus and a little less “hey let’s see what random crap I can do today” get the team in a better rhythm headed into the season? It’s too early to really worry about this, but I, like others, am a little skittish about preseason blowouts now, given the way last year’s exhibitions presaged the November 2013 Grizpocalypse.
• The second unit of Beno Udrih, Tony Allen, Quincy Pondexter, Jon Leuer, and Kosta Koufos last night—the unit that played most of the 2nd quarter—looked like garbage, and they spent most of the time getting housed by Memphian Tarik Black^[1], who racked up 10 and 15 for the Rockets.

What To Watch For

The preseason rolls on, with the first Grizzlies home game Saturday night against perpetual regional preseason opponent the Atlanta Hawks. Here are some things worth watching for:

• Jarnell Stokes and Jordan Adams both looked good against Houston, and they should both be getting as many minutes as they can possibly get. Stokes and especially Adams could be major rotation pieces by the spring, and they should be treated as such. Adams had several times last night where he just looked like an NBA player, getting to the line for 8 FTA’s in 16 minutes. The Grizzlies need that kind of guy, and Adams (early on, anyway) has looked like he can be that guy. Stokes also looked good, but a little less polished than Adams—but he can clearly be a 2nd-unit player this year (and I have high hopes for a Leuer/Stokes combo that I haven’t sufficiently written up yet). Play these guys, Joerger. Let them learn. They’re the future.
• Earl Clark should probably be playing somewhere on a guaranteed one-year contract. I’m not sure there’s room on the Grizzlies’ roster for him—though I do like him and like the way he plays—so I hope that he’s able to show enough in the preseason that somebody picks him up.
• Joerger threw out a Calathes/Udrih/Lee/Leuer/Koufos lineup last night. I like the idea, but I really did not like Courtney Lee, small forward. I think the two point guard look is one that the Griz should capitalize on, because having two ballhandlers on the floor, whether it was Conley and Bayless, Conley and Calathes, or Calathes and Udrih, has always worked out well in the past, but you can’t have a poorly-performing Courtney Lee out there. I’d like to see that lineup again, but with Adams at the 3. I think that’s a lineup that has real potential.

All in all, nothing last night worth getting too worked up about. The rookies look like they belong in the NBA, the starting lineup is still in flux, Quincy Pondexter is still trying a little too hard, and the second unit didn’t play very well against a much faster Houston lineup. It’s still early. At least we all got to watch this one on TV.