With the Denver Nuggets about to play in their first ever NBA Finals, the Memphis Grizzlies who have struggled throughout the years to attract star players, should rejoice. Denver proved once again it is possible to have a great team through building, not buying.
It’s been a long and bumpy path for Denver to get here. Since Mike Malone and Nikola Jokić became members of Mile High City in 2015, Denver has had their fair share of terrifying lows and dizzying highs, as Homer Simpson would say. To help add context to the journey Denver took to get here and understand what it takes to create an NBA finals caliber team, Action Network and Locked on Nuggets writer Matt Moore so kindly chipped in.
“Team building is always such a mash of trying to learn from other experiences and fitting to the contests of what happens with the direct team being built,” Moore said when discussing how Denver got to the point that they are at today, four wins away from their first title in franchise history. “One thing that was surprising for the Nuggets is how much mental toughness they had. The Bubble broke a lot of people. So when Denver was able to enter the Bubble with less than ten players available and then come back from down 3-1 twice, that instilled something in them. They found a mentality and a toughness that helped them down the line.”
After a disappointing first round playoff loss and Ja Morant’s inevitably long suspension looming, the Memphis Grizzlies have hit their strongest patch of adversity during their rebuild that started in 2018. However, unlike Denver, the Grizzlies issues revolve around what is in their control.
“The injuries to Murray and MPJ were of course difficult and frustrating,” Moore said. However, he noted that, “the bigger adversity came from things beyond their control. The team traded a first for Jerami Grant, a perfect solve for what the team needed and he was a huge part of that Bubble run, and then Grant elected to leave despite being offered the same money and years to play for a better team. They added Facu Campazzo, a European legend whose game simply didn’t translate at all. Bones Hyland was such a great talent, but his approach and attitude wasn’t on the same page with the rest of the roster.”
In order for Memphis to get through the rough patch that they are currently enduring, they must learn to not try to control the uncontrollable, and instead embrace the adversity that they are in, no matter where it stems from. Many young teams in recent NBA history have had similar rebuilds to the Grizzlies. The Thunder had an array of young talent back in the early 2010s, the Golden State Warriors dynasty is rooted by three players who complement each other perfectly, and the Boston Celtics recent success is rooted in the unwavering belief of Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, and Marcus Smart to one day deliver Boston their 18th title.
The hardships of all of the aforementioned teams helped display the legitimacy of their abilities to capture reach the Finals, and when their backs were pushed against the wall to make major decisions revolving around their future, their choices severely impacted their teams.
Oklahoma City traded James Harden just 128 days after being in the finals and they never got back and are still recovering from it although their future is bright. The Golden State Warriors made the tough decision to cut ties with Mark Jackson after two successful seasons behind the helm, but fortunately for them, it helped develop one of the best dynasties in recent sports history.
For the Boston Celtics, after their underwhelming 2020-2021 season where they finished as the 7th seed in the Eastern Conference and lost in five games in the first round to the Brooklyn Nets, they decided to fortify their team by reacquiring Al Horford, a pivotal part of their success from 2016 to 2019, and were willing to give up draft assets to acquire players that they felt complemented their team like Derrick White and Malcom Brogdon, which has significantly helped Boston in their efforts to consistently be one of the final teams remaining year after year.
For Denver, Murray and Porter’s injuries, “allowed for Jokic and Aaron Gordon to develop chemistry and find things that worked, and instilled a sense of resolve for those two players having to watch their teammates struggle without them. The front office kept the faith in the formula off the five games they [Murray, Porter, Jokic, and Gordon] played together,” Moore said.
The next few for years will be very telling for the title hopes of the Memphis Grizzlies. Will they end up being like the other young teams with boatloads of talent that could not overcome their roadblocks? Or will they prevail during this time of vulnerability, uncomfortableness, and tension to bring home the team’s first finals appearance, just like Denver did.
Up to this point, The Grizzlies have had an impressive amount of continuity through their rebuild. Taylor Jenkins is now the fifth longest-tenured coach in the league, and has had six players who have been a part of the roster his entire tenure. That number will almost certainly go down to five with Shams Charania reporting that Dillon Brooks will not be re-signed earlier this month, it is yet to be seen how much more turnaround there will be in the upcoming offseason that will tell us a lot about the direction of the Grizzlies moving forward.