In last night’s loss to the Trailblazers, four of the five starters shot better than 50% from the floor. The only one who didn’t — Mike Conley, who shot 5-14 — happened to be the starter who registered the most field-goal attempts. Meanwhile, Marc Gasol, who is currently ninth in the league in field-goal percentage after finishing as the league’s fourth best percentage shooter a year ago, registered only 6 field-goal attempts, only the sixth most on the team last night.
This was a slightly more extreme version of what has been a fairly normal dynamic this season. Conley, who is playing much better all-around basketball but not shooting well (42/29/71 percentages) is putting up 13.3 field-goal attempts a game — more than Zach Randolph, nearly as many as O.J. Mayo, and nearly twice as many as Gasol, who is averaging 7.4 field-goal attempts a game. (Less than Darrell Arthur and not much more than Tony Allen, who is averaging about a third as many minutes.) Foul trouble and the lingering effects of his preseason ankle injury are certainly a factor in Gasol’s so-far reduced workload, but even with that taken into account, he hasn’t gotten the ball enough.
This shot distribution is clearly out of whack with what would be most effective for the team, but the issues go deeper than just featuring too much Conley and not enough Gasol.
Twelve games in, I’ve developed a slightly different sense of the way I think the parts should fit in the team’s offense. Sticking to the starting lineup, for now, the short version goes something like this: The halfcourt offense should be primarily run through Rudy Gay and Gasol, with Mayo and Randolph used more as finishers (and, in Mayo’s case, simply used more). And Conley needs to find a better balance between his past deference and newfound aggression.
To elaborate:
The Inside Game: Last season, Zach Randolph was the Grizzlies’ leading scorer and all-star representative. But despite all that, I think de-emphasizing him — or maybe just differently emphasizing him — in the team’s halfcourt offense would be smart.
