Memphis Grizzlies – NBA Season Preview
The Memphis Grizzlies took the Western Conference by storm last season with a 46-36 record in the regular season, a shocking first-round upset of San Antonio in the first round of the playoffs, and taking Oklahoma City to seven games in the second round.
2011/2012 NBA Team Betting Previews- Memphis Grizzlies
Odds to win the Western Conference +1400
Odds to win the NBA Championship +3000
As an encore to this performance, they will start this season as the sixth-favorite to win the conference at +1400 and a moderate longshot at +3000 to win the NBA title.
The Grizzlies’ roster remains pretty much intact from last season, but the road will undoubtedly be tougher as nobody will be taking this team lightly especially the Mavericks and the Spurs in the Southwest Division. If Memphis is going to raise the bar even higher this season it will be behind players such as Rudy Gay, Marc Gasol, Zach Randolph, and Mike Conley, who have all been signed to long term extensions. It will also need more consistent production from its role players, most notably O.J. Mayo, Tony Allen, and Chris Wallace. One name to keep in the back of your mind is rookie Josh Selby. While he is not expected to make much of an impact this season, he could work his way into being another key role player as the season progresses. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
The main intangible on the Grizzlies’ side in a shortened season is youth. They have the young guns that can come out and play with a high motor on a nightly basis in what will be a demanding schedule for every team in the NBA. While the youth aspect of this team is good, the depth of this team is not. It has to hope that Gay is ready to go after last season’s shoulder injury and that there are no other major injuries this season. This is the kind of team that needs everything to go right if it is going to seriously compete for the top spot in the conference.
Memphis will have a difficult time cracking into the top four seeds in the West, especially with a vastly improved LA Clippers team now in the mix, but it has a legitimate shot at improving from the eighth seed it garnered last season to as high as fifth or sixth. The Grizzlies are more than capable of knocking-off one of the big boys in the West in the first round just like last year, but that will be as far as it goes for this band of overachievers.
