After being last year’s playoff darlings, Memphis was picked as a dark horse contender for this season’s Western Conference crown. Things have been up and down thus far for the Grizzlies, however, and now they find themselves fighting for their playoff lives. The main problem has been their offense, or more aptly put, their lack of it. Memphis currently sits at 24th in the Hollinger’s Offensive Efficiency rankings with the potential return of the injured Zach Randolph looking like the most practical way of improvement.

The pieces outside Rudy Gay, Mike Conley and Marc Gasol aren’t exactly equipped to light up scoreboards. The rest of the surrounding personnel in Memphis probably could be best described as “athletic” more than anything else. Jeremy Pargo, Quincy Pondexter, Tony Allen and Sam Young compromise a group that lacks polished basketball skills but can certainly fly around the floor, particularly on the defensive end. Perhaps that is why, last night, Lionel Hollins threw a small twist at the Jazz; he pressed.

At the start of the second quarter, the Grizzlies pressed the Jazz for back to back possessions with mixed results. In the first possession, coming right at the start of the quarter, a Grizzlies unit Pargo, Pondexter, Gasol, OJ Mayo and Dante Cunningham forced a 24-second violation on the Utah. Make sure to note the time in which the Jazz finally were able to settle into their offense after working hard to get the ball up the floor.

With only 14 seconds left on the clock, the combination of Utah’s lack of flex set and poor clock awareness led to a wasted possession. However, the next time the Jazz inbounded under their own basket, they handled the pressure much better and the result was two foul shots for Paul Millsap. The key to Millsap’s layup attempt came early from a blown coverage during the initial trap.

Take a look:

After this, Hollins called off the dogs outside of a few token man pressures from time to time. But this series brings up a more interesting point. To help make up for their woeful offense, and perhaps find more rest for the overworked trio of Gay, Conley and Gasol, should the Grizzlies press more?

Memphis could trot out a designed pressing lineup of Pargo, Allen, Pondexter, Young (if healthy) and either Cunningham or Hamed Haddadi for 3-4 minute stretches to perhaps confuse wear down an opponent. Unlike high school or college, the press’ goal wouldn’t be to turn the other team over. At the NBA level, there are too many composed ball handlers for that to happen with any consistency. The press would have three distinct goals:

- Wear the opponent down for the final quarter
- Shorten their operating time in the half-court
- Allow more rest time for Gasol, Gay and Conley without completely sacrificing the minutes due to playing non-productive players

(To elaborate on point three a bit more, a struggling player like Pondexter or Pargo has a bigger negative effect on the team when employed for long stretches in their standard scheme. However, when employed with a bigger purpose that doesn’t show up on a stat sheet, their negative impact is minimized justifying them being on the floor for more minutes.)

It’s a certainty the Pargo-Allen-Pondexter-Young-Haddadi/Cunningham group would be a trainwreck offensively, but Memphis could simply look to run at every opportunity and use some basic dribble-drive concepts when stuck in the half-court. Again, this lineup would only be on the floor for brief stretches and, if they accomplish their intended goals, punting offense during this time wouldn’t be a total killer.

The final upside is that by using Allen in this role if could switch up the substitution pattern in a way that allows a much better shooter (Mayo) to be on the floor with Gay, Conley and Gasol during crucial stretches. And let’s face it, those three could use the operating room. With eleven teams competing for eight spots, the Grizzlies should explore any avenue they can in order to stay in the thick of the playoff race.

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