24-year old power forward Marreese Speights is a pretty good basketball player but he seems to rub his coaches the wrong way sometimes.  He has played in 15 games (13 starts) so far this year for the Grizzlies and he is averaging 20.7 minutes, 7.7 points, 5.8 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game.  But, Speights is only shooting 41.2% from the floor, which isn’t good for a player his size.  If Speights ever really turns up the fire inside his body, he could really be a very solid basketball player.

32-year old small forward Shane Battier is having a rough time adjusting to a role off the bench for the Grizzlies since coming over in a deal with the Rockets.  Battier has played in 10 games (0 starts) for the Grizzlies so far and he is averaging 26.1 minutes, 5.2 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game.  His shooting has been horrible so far as he is only 18 of 49 (36.7%) from the floor and 7 of 25 (28%) from three point range with the Grizzlies.  The Grizzlies need Battier to get his shot back so that he can help them get to the playoffs this year.

The Grizzlies need 23-year old shooting guard O.J. Mayo to step up.  Mayo was nearly traded to the Indiana Pacers at the trade deadline but the deal fell through in the last minute.  In his first 7 games back for a league suspension (for drug enhancers), he has averaged 20.3 minutes, 9.7 points, 2.0 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.4 steals per game.  Mayo has now played in 52 games (15 starts) for the Grizzlies so far this year and he is averaging 27.7 minutes, 11.9 points, 2.6 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.0 steal per game.  Look for the Grizzlies to deal him before next season starts, but for now they need all hands on the deck so they need Mayo to step up.

The Memphis Grizzlies will be without 24-year old shooting guard Rudy Gay for at least the next four weeks due to a subluxation of his left shoulder.  Gay has played in 54 games (all starts) for the Grizzlies so far this year and he is averaging 39.9 minutes, 19.8 points, 6.2 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.7 steals and 1.1 blocked shots per game.  To survive without Gay, the Grizzlies need 25-year old Sam Young and 29-year old Tony Allen to step up.  Young has played in 53 games (21 starts) for the Grizzlies so far this year and he is averaging 17.6 minutes, 6.4 points, 1.7 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game.  He will likely move to small forward with Tony Allen playing shooting guard.  Allen has played in 49 games (8 starts) for the Grizzlies so far this year and he is averaging 16.9 minutes, 6.9 points, 2.1 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 1.7 steals per game.  With the trade deadline looming, I wouldn’t be suprised to see the Grizzlies add either a small forward or shooting guard to help out off the bench until Gay returns to action.

23-year old center Hasheem Thabeet continues to disappoint for the Grizzlies.  He has played in 41 games (0 starts) for the Grizzlies so far this year and he is averaging 8.5 minutes, 1.2 points, 1.6 rebounds and 0.1 assists per game.  Thabeet has now played in 109 games (13 starts) in his first two years in the NBA and he is averaging 11.3 minutes, 2.4 points, 2.9 rebounds, 0.1 assists and 1.0 blocked shot per game.  Thabeet was the overall #2 pick in the 2009 NBA Draft!  The Grizzlies are looking to deal Thabeet by the trade deadline later this month.

With O.J. Mayo to miss the next 10 games and Tony Allen still a tad gimpy, the Grizzlies need 25-year old SG/SF Sam Young to step up.  In his last five games, Young is averaging 20.2 minutes, 6.0 points, 0.8 rebounds and 0.2 assists per game.  That just isn’t going to get the job done.  The Grizzlies need more out of Young.  Young has played in 43 games (11 starts) so far this year for the Grizzlies and he is averaging 13.5 minutes, 4.7 points, 1.4 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game.  His play is regressing after he turned in a solid rookie year last season.

23-year old shooting guard O.J. Mayo is still in Lionel Hollins’ Dog House.  Mayo has played in 13 games in December so far and he is averaging 12.2 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game.  Mayo is shooting 40% from three point range so far this month.  Mayo has now played in 31 games (14 starts) so far this year and he is averaging 28.8 minutes, 13.1 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game.  Mayo is better than anyone the Grizzlies have tried to replace him with so it’s just doesn’t make any sense to have him keep coming off of the bench.  Maybe the Grizzlies should try to deal Mayo if they dislike him so much because I’m sure they could get a pretty nice haul for him.

23-year old center Hasheem Thabeet has played in 16 games (0 starts) for the Grizzlies this year and he is averaging 8.8 minutes, 1.3 points, 1.5 rebounds and 0.1 assists per game.  The Grizzlies thought he was going to give them more this year but they have been wrong up to this point.  Thabeet played in 68 games (13 starts) as a rookie last season and he averaged 13.0 minutes, 3.1 points, 3.6 rebounds, 0.2 assists and 1.3 blocked shots per game.  The Grizzlies sent Thabeet to the D-League for a while to get his attention and it seemed to work but I don’t see them doing that to him again this year.  They just need him to step up because with his size he could really help the second unit with rebounding and defense.

The Grizzlies have sent 23-year old shooting guard O.J. Mayo to the bench.  Mayo has played in 17 games (13 starts) for the Grizzlies so far this year and he is averaging 31.9 minutes, 13.9 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game.  The Grizzlies have replaced Mayo in the starting lineup with 19-year old rookie Xavier Henry.  Henry has played in 15 games (4 starts) so far this year for the Grizzlies and he is averaging 15.1 minutes, 5.4 points, 1.3 rebounds and 0.5 assists per game.  Henry is only shooting 37.7% from the floor and he is 1 of 11 from three point range so far this year.  I really don’t like this move for the Grizzlies as starting Mayo gives them a much better chance to win on a nightly basis.

If the Grizzlies are going to make a run for the playoffs they need to get more from their rookies who get a lot of the bench minutes for the team. Forward Sam Young has played the best ball of the rookies this season for the Grizzlies. He has played in 54 games (1 start) in which he has averaged 16.2 minutes, 7.3 points, 2.2 rebounds and 0.6 assists per game. Power forward DeMarre Carroll needs to step up if he wants to keep getting P.T. Carroll has played in 52 games (1 start) for the Grizzlies this season and he is averaging 11.9 minutes, 3.1 points, 2.1 rebounds and 0.5 assists per game on 39.3% shooting from the floor. The Grizzlies are bringing center Hasheem Thabeet along slowly. He has played in 50 games (0 starts) for the Grizzlies this season and he is averaging 10.3 minutes, 2.5 points, 2.9 rebounds, 0.1 assists and 1.2 blocked shots per game. On the plus side, Thabeet is shooting 58% from the floor this year. Shooting guard Lester Hudson started the season with the Celtics. He has played in 8 games (0 starts) for the Grizzlies and he is averaging 7.4 minutes, 4.3 points, 1.3 rebounds and 0.5 assists per game on 38.2% shooting from the floor. Overall for the Celtics & Grizzlies, Hudson has played in 24 games (0 starts) in which he is averaging 5.4 minutes, 2.3 points, 0.8 rebounds and 0.5 assists per game.