Marcus Smart had 6 assist in his first Grizzlies appearance (24 minutes). that equals Dillon Brooks’ season high last year. I think the offense will flow a lot better without Brooks taking his highly contested fadeaway step back jump shots and 3 pointers.
Well no shit Marcus is better at every aspect of basketball than Brooks
I think framing this as “without Brooks” instead of “with Smart” is kinda unfair
They will be in the playoffs that’s for sure
Brooks lowkey underrated at this point
Not really
Nah losing Brooks, Clarke and Tyus Jones (plus Ja for 25 games) will be felt by the Grizzlies big time.
Well they did get smart who is a much better player than brooks could ever be
Brooks is a decent player but Smart is clearly better
I agree with you.
Bane will take off — he’s a smart player who lets the game come to him, so Brooks being a black hole took shots away from him. He is going to break out even more this year.
Smart will handle backup PG duties and is a better player than Tyus overall. He can also handle the on-ball defensive duties that Brooks was taking.
I see it as an upgrade once Ja is back.
If they lose Brooks and don’t get Smart they are worse off than they were. Losing Brooks wasn’t as bad as it could have been because they got Smart to replace him.
Not signing brooks frees up cap space to sign or resign other players. Even if the Tyus/Smart trade doesn’t happen, the grizzlies probably still don’t resign Dillon at the price he was asking for.
It’s not so much that the grizzlies didn’t want Dillon, they just didnt want him pay him above a certain price.
Those 3s won games though. Smarts a pg-he can’t hit long range like brooks and he’s supposed to assist it’s his job, and he normally does not get that many assists in 34 minutes of a non-preseason game. You see Brooks in the FIBA games? I think we’ll be a comparable team. I love Smart’s game. He’s the closest thing to Tony Allen that we’ve had. Brooks is a 2-way player also. I think he’ll get more humble and polished up later, but for right now, we may need offense that smart can’t provide.
Ok. But they will be a worse team without tyus jones
This isn’t a hot take…
So did they
I don’t know why you are bringing up Brooks passing when that has never been a part of his skill set.
Yes Smart is better than Brooks at passing but Smart is worse than Jones which is the main difference.
Jones has been the best backup PG for years and has been t a major reason why even when Ja misses games they still have a winning record. I am really worried about the flow of their offensive over those 25 games. Smart is a solid PG but from watching him with the Celtics a decent amount he is looking for his shot more than the pass. He isn’t a true game manger/floor general. That is going be a problem IMO. I wouldn’t be shocked if they are around .500 or just below it when Ja gets back.
Here’s the thing Smart isn’t the only play maker on this team. Luke Kennard Desmond Bane Derrick Rose Marcus Smart Santi Aldama and Stephen Adams are all very capable and versatile play makers. I think not relying on just one person to initiate the offense will make the grizzlies a much better team.
The reason I brought up Brooks is because he an offensive negative he literally would kill the Grizzlies ball movement and chuck upshot’s whenever he felt like it. The Grizz will be a much better offensive team just with him not being in the rotation.
Most of those names are considerable reaches as reliable playmakers. I think naming Kennard, Aldama, and Adams as playmakers is making the opposite point you want. And Rose will be 35 and played 12 mpg last season.
Kennard came into the league as a playmaker and if you don’t think Aldama and Adams are playmakers just watch and see.
No, Aldama and Kennard arent definitely playmakers. Adams’ playmaking is just about screens and holding the ball on the top, it’s a kind of playmaking but he’s not a ball handler or similar
That run 2 seasons ago was an outlier. Expecting almost any team to be better than .500 without their best player is pretty unreasonable.
They were above .500 again this year without Ja and have been pretty much his whole career
People assume Ja is the only good player on our team, for some reason.
When you give up a good player a first round pick, you would hope the team improves…