Gasol, Conley give the Grizzlies hope
Their lockers sit on either side of a gap used by reporters to enter the Memphis Grizzlies locker room, and their stalls face the entire team.
Mike Conley and Marc Gasol have been positioned this way for years now, at the front of the room and the front of this franchise. But this year, more than perhaps any other year, it gives off the impression of two teachers overseeing the postgame clutter of jerseys, sneakers and cameras.
The faces in this class have changed yet again. So much, in fact, that Conley smiled Friday night, after the Grizzlies’ preseason finale was over, as he recounted the moment when the team’s new end-of-the-bench players entered the game in the fourth quarter, and the FedExForum scoreboard accidentally flashed pictures of players from last season.
“I forgot about him,” Conley found himself thinking as he looked up, another reminder of what he realizes each time he and Gasol look out at their locker room.
“A lot of these guys, they don’t understand how long we’ve been here, I think,” Conley said. “It’s a turnover, and it happens. We’re just thankful to still be here.”
Why Grizzlies fans should savor Marc Gasol, Mike Conley
When the Grizzlies tip off the 2018-19 season against the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday, they will do so with the NBA’s current longest-running duo.
Conley and Gasol took over that distinction this offseason, once the San Antonio Spurs allowed Tony Parker to leave via free agency and Manu Ginobili elected to retire. It’s easy to forget, given how much Zach Randolph and Tony Allen embodied and embraced this city, that it’s Conley and Gasol who got here before them and it’s Conley and Gasol who are here now that they’re
gone.
But this could be their last season together since Gasol will have the option to leave after the year. So as you ponder the logic and potential effectiveness of the Grizzlies’ plan to fuse young and old together, and go against the grain of the rest of the NBA once again, let’s also remember to savor the stability these two provided the city’s only major professional sports team.
Because it can all vanish so quickly. Like last year, when Conley missed 70 games and a streak of seven straight NBA playoff appearances ended with a miserable 22-60 campaign.
Since Conley and Gasol first took the court together, on Oct. 29, 2008, they’ve watched 103 other players filter through the organization. The names are an eclectic mix of basketball history, from fellow “Core Four” pillars like Randolph and Allen to NBA draft busts like Hasheem Thabeet and Darko Milicic, or aging stars such as Allen Iverson, Jason Williams and Mike Miller.
Their first team featured five top-10 draft picks, including Conley, and the first of four teammates who would appear in just one game alongside them (Adonal Foyle). This year’s opening night roster will have eight new players, led by No. 4 overall draft pick Jaren Jackson Jr.
He’s the 19-year-old class clown this year, constantly reminding Conley and Gasol of their age. But it’s Gasol, 33, and Conley, 31, who continue to be the barometer for this team’s success.
They are more substance and subtlety than flash, which is exactly why they’ve become such a perfect match for Memphis.
They are the reason Grizzlies’ management keeps talking about returning to the NBA playoffs, even though the rest of the league believes that to be unlikely.
Over the past five years, Memphis is 155-97 (.615) when Conley and Gasol both play. The franchise is 57-101 (.361) when one or both doesn’t play during that time.
But those 158 games played without one of them is cause for concern, and a sign that this feeling, and this partnership, could be both fragile and fleeting.
Lasting impact on Memphis
For that reason, Gasol joked recently that perhaps only Conley’s wife was happier than him to see Conley healthy again, darting around the court and running pick-and-rolls this preseason.
“We think the game in a similar way. We grew up, pretty much, together as far as NBA goes,” Gasol said. “We have the same mind for the game offensively and defensively, so that’s really good to have somebody on your team that thinks the same way you think.”
It’s their shared history, and investment in this franchise, that drives them now more than anything. They both feel a responsibility these days, to pass on the Grit ‘n’ Grind lessons they learned when this team did incredible things and brought together a city like few other civic events could earlier this decade.
The hope is that they can usher in a new era of success
Conley compared it to a family, with players like Dillon Brooks and Jackson as their kids. Upon signing his five-year, $152 million contract extension in 2016, he viewed it as signing on to be with the Grizzlies for life.
But this can’t last forever. It won’t last forever. It never does in the NBA.
And so, as the Grizzlies begin their 11th season with Marc and Mike, don’t forget to consider how lucky they are that these two are sitting at the front of the locker room again.
“What we’ve been able to accomplish in the years we’ve been here and all the things we’ve built and been able to do it together, we wanted to ride that out,” Conley said. “Whether that means we win a championship or maybe never win another playoff series, or only get to the Western Conference finals, whatever it may be, but that we tried and we did it together and we tried to do it here in this great city and for the people that we love.”
Marc Gasol