Patience is a virtue for team building

The longer society has been around, the more impatient we have become. Instead of cooking popcorn on a stove, we frequently cook it in the microwave. When the newest iPhone comes out, people camp out days before so they can pay 1400 dollars for a device that is eerily similar to their current one. Professional basketball team building is no exception to this.

It’s no secret that like many fanbases, Memphis is hungry for the Grizzlies to bring home a Larry O’Brien trophy. However, if they were so easy to attain, they’d be sold at your local Walmart or Target, with instructions on how to acquire one. It’s not that simple. There is no formula to winning a title, it’s a long and rigorous path that requires different things from each champion. With that being said, there are some fundamental principles that generally stand true for all of them.  

By trading away a haul for a player like Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, or Jaylen Brown, Memphis will leave themselves in a knot that will be difficult to untie if the deal does not pan out as anticipated.

While media experts, basketball connoisseurs, and the average fan are supremely infatuated with every team’s ability to acquire a star player and what it does to their championship odds, we forget to reflect on how that team fared after acquiring the star, and the impact it had on the rest of the roster. 

A major reason why superteams like the Kevin Durant led Brooklyn Nets or the 2012 Lakers, and other teams that traded away a significant amount of their draft picks and young players never panned out is because they had thin margins for success. 

Once James Harden and Kyrie Irving got hurt for the Nets two years ago, they had to heavily rely on Kevin Durant to carry them to victory. Consequently, the superteam Nets were eliminated by a complete team like the Bucks that made a trade for Jrue Holiday at the right time, without gutting their roster. The 2012 Lakers lacked depth and youth, making them not equipped to deal with injuries to Steve Nash, Dwight Howard, and Kobe Bryant.

While there are examples in recent NBA history of teams that have been able to acquire a star player and win the championship, they do not appear to be comparable to the path that the Grizzlies would have to take to acquire an elite level talent through trade.

The Toronto Raptors were able to trade for Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green with only giving up Jakob Poetl, Demar Derozan, and a first round pick to help them win their first title in franchise history in 2019. Trading for Leonard did not force Toronto to blow up their roster for Leonard because they were trading their own star player for another team’s star player. The team was still able to acquire more elite talent after his arrival, highlighted by the Marc Gasol trade they made at the 2019 trade deadline. The 2018-2019 Raptors had four players who were all stars at least once between the 2016-2017 and 2021-2022 season outside of Leonard. 

The Lakers had to pay a hefty price to acquire Anthony Davis ahead of the 2019-2020 season, helping them win their first title in 10 years. However, no matter what one thinks of Ja Morant, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Desmond Bane, none of them are LeBron James. No one is LeBron James, he is a winning machine and when you have him on your roster, you can take risks that other teams can’t afford to do so. 

While I am not against Memphis adding an elite wing or another offensive playmaker, it has to be for the right price. I would not give up more than 3 picks for any of the rumored stars available. The Grizzlies are still young. LeBron James, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetekounmpo all were at least 26 years old when they won their first title. Jaren Jackson and Ja Morant are not even 24 years old yet. Patience must be exercised, even amid the recent regular season success of the team.

Winning a title is at the forefront of all Memphis basketball fans minds, but that desire should not cloud the vision of what history shows it actually takes to win one. Ask Denver fans, they’re probably fine with how everything has panned out with them playing the long game.