Summer League: Grizzlies 89, Hawks 85

Before analyzing last night's Griz summer league game, it is important to remember that summer league games are only 40 minutes long, as opposed to a 48-minute regular season game. Other than that, however, a summer game is basically an NBA game (except without 3rd-year-and-older players, structured offensive sets, defensive intensity, head coaches, regular season pressure, real jerseys, packed arenas and thousands of fans).

Heading into the summer season, the big question surrounding the Grizzlies was, how will OJ Mayo perform as the starting point guard? Although we have only one game to analyze right now, the answer is: not well. Sure, OJ was his usual high-scoring self (20 points on 8-13 shooting), but his presence at the 1 created more problems than it solved. With the ball in his hands more often, he was especially turnover-prone and finished with a game-high 8 (against just 3 assists). Additionally, he was a defensive liability and could not guard the Hawks' point guard (often Jeff Teague). He routinely allowed Teauge to penetrate into the lane and create offense and could not contain the Hawks' fast breaks, on which they scored 21 points.

We knew that OJ would not be a traditional point guard, that he would simply get his touches earlier in the posession. We didn't know, however, that he would turn the ball over more often than Stuart Scott says "boo-yah!" and that he would defend opposing point guards worse than the state of Massachusetts defends the sanctity of marriage. In OJ's defense, though, the entire game was extremely sloppy and both teams combined for an astounding 40 turnovers (for all you math majors, that's one TO per minute).

OJ aside, how did the rest of the Grizzlies do? Second-year guard Sam Young played a great game, scoring 19 points (on 6-11 FG, 1-2 3-pointers and 6-6 FT). Power forward Darrell Arthur, who missed most of last season, was impressive as he tallied 17 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists in just 25 minutes of play. Rookie point guard Greivis Vasquez played so-so (4 assists, 3 turns), but gelled well with backcourt teammate Mayo. Fellow rookie Xavier Henry did not play since he has yet to sign a contract with the Grizzlies. The minor contract dispute should be settled soon and I look forward to seeing him compete.

All in all, it was a good summer league game: it allowed the coaching staff to evaluate Mayo and allowed all of our young players (save Xavier) to get more experience.

The Grizzlies next game is tonight against the Milwaukee Bucks.

Keep it real out there,
Owen