The jury’s still out on Jake LaRavia

With the 19th pick of the ’22 NBA draft the Grizzlies drafted Jake LaRavia. Memphis actually traded up to snag the young wing out of Wake Forest, sending away the 22nd and the 29th pick in this draft to Minnesota to do so.

It was another selection in a long line of selections where the Grizzlies get their man despite what others around the league may think. The Memphis front office has developed a reputation of selecting prospects that my be undervalued by others for one reason or another (wingspan, size, shot look, etc.) despite having massive upside. Desmond Bane and Brandon Clarke were both prospects lots of organizations passed on, ditto LaRavia. Not Memphis though.

Now LaRavia, along with the rest of Memphis’ draft class, would be somewhat at a disadvantage starting out his rookie campaign. With the exodus of key rotation guys, Grizzlies GM Zach Kleiman and the rest of the Grizzlies’ front office signaled they were fully investing in their youth and development. There were palpable expectations in Memphis from the rooks; rather this was fair to them or otherwise is an entirely different story. At the end of the day, they were asking a collection of rookies and second year players to account for 12 years of NBA experience they lost.

The Buddha once said “Don’t blame people for disappointing you. Blame yourself for expecting too much for them.” Smart dude. Keep that in mind when examining Jake’s rookie campaign.

It started out not with a bang, but a whimper of a Summer League for LaRavia. In 4 appearances his per game averages were 2.5 points, 2.8 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.0 steal, and 1.0 block in 24.4 minutes/game. I think it’s safe to say we were all expecting a bit more; he was by far the least effective of the 5 rookies over the summer. His lack of production had myself theorizing that maybe the coaching staff told him to take his foot of the gas. Turns out… he was just a rookie.

As such, his regular season wasn’t much better than his summer. He definitely showed flashes, particularly in the early days of the season. Unfortunately for Jake not only would he have to deal with the usual rookie hiccups, but he would have to contend with the injury bug as well. A litany of lower body and back injuries would limit him to only 35 games. As he would miss time, other guys on the roster would seize the minutes opportunity and made the most of it (looking at you David Roddy). Such is the nature of the NBA.

The season wasn’t a complete loss by any stretch of the imagination though. Between his stint on the main roster and his trips to the G-League, LaRavia would actually be able to cobble together a completely acceptable rookie campaign. Basketball moves fast, especially on the NBA level, and sometimes it takes first year guys a little longer to get acclimated to the flow of the game. This is to be expected. Remember what Buddha said about expectations though; they’re constructs we put on ourselves.

Jake is actually an excellent case study for the timetable on rookies getting comfortable with the NBA level of play. His stats were less than desirable on the main roster, lower than his Summer League averages actually. Per game averages of 3.0 points, 1.8 rebounds, 0.6 assists, 0.3 steals, and 0.1 blocks in 11.8 minutes/game. Not what I would call great. However, he would take his bumps with the big guns, and this would only have him better prepared for the Hustle. Compare the above to his G-League per game averages: 18.8 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.1 steal, and 0.6 blocks in 29.2 minutes/game.

Now, that’s what I would call improvement.

The question at the end of Jake’s rookie season would be this: is this level of improvement enough to warrant his roster spot with the Grizzlies next season? I’m not trying to sound overdramatic. It’s just the front office has already moved on from one of the five rookies they drafted. Additionally during exit interviews Kleiman stated “We’re going to take a different approach as it pertains to that next season.” Clearly the team’s resiliency on youth is something they look to break away from next year. As Memphis heads into the offseason, look for them to deliberate the future of Jake LaRavia.

The young wing will continue to have value, it’s just up to the Grizzlies’ to decide if that’s on the roster or a part of a trade.