![]() ![]() ![]() His second was similar and he picked up no silverware for it, which is noteworthy given that in his third he won the Most Improved Player Award, was voted to the All-NBA Second Team and was an All-Star for the first time, while he was also an All-Star last season. In his first season, he won the Rookie of the Year Award. He wasted no time proving that it was the right pick for the team. He flew up the draft board in the lead-up to his 2019 draft and the Grizzlies were the lucky recipients, selecting him behind Zion Williamson with the second pick. Hopefully, within a few years Ja Morant will find himself right at the top of this list. Rudy Gay (Pick 8, 2006)Ģ way-too-early trades Grizzlies must pull off in 2023-24 NBA season Jackson Jr has the potential to be a stalwart of the team as they enter what might be the most successful era of their team, and by the end of his career could easily be a lot higher on this list. In those two seasons in which he led the league in blocks he was also named to the All-Defensive First Team, while in 2023 he was the Defensive Player of the Year. Blocks aren't everything, but he gets heaps of them – in his five seasons in the NBA to date he's averaged 1.4, 1.6, 1.6, 2.3 and then 3.0, the latter two being the most in the league. Offensively Jackson Jr has plenty to give, as he's shown by his ability to consistently average close to 20 points per game throughout the course of his career, but it's at the other end of the floor where he really thrives. Jaren Jackson Jr (Pick 4, 2018)Īfter a 22-win season in 2017-18, the Grizzlies picked up Jaren Jackson Jr with the fourth pick in the 2018 draft, and he has been a key cog behind their ascent up the standings over the past few years. Unfortunately, in 2001 he was shipped off to the Hawks, and after having a similarly productive season there to what he had enjoyed over the previous few years with the Grizzlies, he was rewarded with his inaugural All-Star appearance. They were the lowest numbers he would ever average during his five-year tenure with the Grizzlies, with each of his ensuing four seasons yielding 20 or more points per game to go with plenty of rebounds. He was a productive player as soon as he hit the NBA court, averaging 18.7 points and 6.9 rebounds in his first season. In fact, Abdur-Rahim was just their third pick ever, and he proved to be a pretty good one. Shareef Abdur-Rahim (Pick 3, 1996)īefore Mike Bibby was the highest draft pick the Grizzlies had ever had, Shareef Abdur-Rahim owned that title having been selected with pick 3 in 1996. Bibby was traded to the Kings alongside Brent Price for Jason Williams and Nick Anderson in the summer of 2001, and went on to play ten more seasons in the league. But just when he looked set to establish himself as one of the Grizzlies' early stars, he was gone. Invariably that resulted in a lot of expectations, but he quickly showed he had the ability to live up to them, averaging 13.2 points and 6.5 assists in his first season and improving that to 15.9 points and 8.4 assists by his third. Mike Bibby (Pick 2, 1998)Īt the time he was drafted, Mike Bibby was the highest pick the Grizzlies had ever had. He burst out of the blocks in his first year, playing 39.7 minutes per game and averaging 14.4 points, 5.4 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.6 steals, and while he wouldn't repeat those numbers again in Memphis – or in his NBA career at all – he continued to be a consistent and dependable presence on the team during their initial years in Memphis. He spent the first five of his 13 seasons in the NBA with the Grizzlies, and the reliability which saw him play at least 78 games in each of those seasons extended beyond just his physical health. ![]() Shane Battier (Pick 6, 2001)īattier was a quintessential glue guy, a player who was decent enough on offense, a strong defender, and who would make contributions well beyond the box score virtually every night. As a result I've cut the list from ten to eight, but while it starts a little slow there are, at least, a couple of really good pick ups towards the top of the list, a couple of whom are playing a leading role in ushering in their exciting new era. But even for a side which only joined the league in 1995, there is a serious dearth of options to put on a list of the best draft choices the Grizzlies have ever made. With less than 30 years of history to go by, the Memphis Grizzlies history of quality draft choices was never going to be as deep as some of their older opponents.
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