Memphis hasn’t been shy about hitting the reset button. The Grizzlies traded away Jaren Jackson Jr. and Desmond Bane for a pile of draft picks, tore things down to the studs, and then this week used the No. 3 pick on Cameron Boozer. The guy is the fifth freshman ever to win national player of the year, and he showed up to a local radio spot already talking like the team’s leader.
“We are going to be shockingly good to people,” Boozer said on the Chris Vernon Show. “I think people don’t really understand that just because obviously it was kind of a rebuild, but you look at the players we have, the roster, who we are bringing in this year, and I think we are going to have something pretty special.”
He’s not wrong about the parts. Boozer brings inside-outside scoring and a winning pedigree — his dad Carlos won two All-Star nods and played in the NBA Finals. Cameron also has the kind of feel and toughness that doesn’t always show up in box scores. Add in the fact that Memphis grabbed Karim Lopez at No. 21 (the first Mexican-born player ever selected in the first round) and sharpshooter Richie Saunders at No. 32, and there’s actually some intriguing young talent in the building.
Ja Morant and Zach Edey still factor in
Let’s not pretend this is a full youth movement. Ja Morant is still on the roster. He’s had a rough couple years with injuries and off-court problems, but before all that he was looking like a top-five player in the league. If he’s healthy and locked in, that changes everything for Memphis. And Zach Edey at 7-foot-4 is a walking mismatch in the paint, assuming he can stay on the floor for more than 50 games this season.
Edey and Boozer in the same frontcourt is an interesting combo. Boozer can score from midrange and operate in the high post, which gives Edey room to work down low. Defensively they’re both big and smart, though neither is particularly quick on the perimeter. Teams will try to pull them out and attack. But in a half-court game, that pairing is going to be a problem for a lot of opponents.
The West is brutal but Boozer has a history of winning
Nobody is pretending this Grizzlies team is a lock for the playoffs. The Western Conference is absolutely loaded. You’ve got Denver, Oklahoma City, Minnesota, Dallas, Phoenix, the Lakers — it’s a bloodbath every night. Memphis missed the postseason entirely last year and the year before that. But winning has followed Boozer everywhere he’s gone. High school state titles. FIBA gold medals. The guy just knows how to win games, and sometimes that matters more than the raw numbers on a scouting report.
He said they’ll be shockingly good. We’ll find out soon enough if that’s confidence or just a rookie being optimistic.
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