The Memphis Grizzlies have crossed over to the point where even happy-go-lucky Santi Aldama isn’t smiling.

At practice Tuesday, Aldama was visibly ticked. He wasn’t mad at anyone in particular, just the situation.

It comes a couple of days after Coach Taylor Jenkins said Sunday the team was “p-----” about its 3-13 start.

Grizzlies schedule updated; Memphis picks up games vs. Detroit, Minnesota

“That’s the right word to use,” Aldama said. “There are more words, for sure, but p----- is one of them. We are not happy. 

“This is a winning team and a competitive team, but we haven’t been so far. The games have showed it. It’s not about talking and saying, ‘We’re good;’ it’s about going out there and being a good basketball team. We just have to do it.”

Wednesday night, Memphis will take on the Utah Jazz at FedExForum (7 p.m., Bally Sports, 92.9 FM). If the Grizzlies do not win, they will enter December without a home victory for the first time in franchise history. 

The start has been so frustrating that veteran leader Marcus Smart, who is out with a foot sprain, could be seen trying to galvanize his teammates during their latest performance by calling their effort “embarrassing.”

Away from the team, finger pointing is happening. Social media is predictably toxic. The Grizzlies aren’t going to focus on it but know it’s not completely unfair.

So let’s take a deeper look at what has gone so wrong this season while addressing some of the public fan frustrations out there in Grizzlies land.

Here are six things I have noticed while digging through the numbers:

1. Overall shooting has stunk.

• Overall scoring is down 11.3 points per game.
• 3-point shooting is at 32.7% thus far, which would be the lowest mark in franchise history.
• Overall field goal percentage is 42.2%, which would be the lowest mark in franchise history.
• Free-throw attempts are at 20.4 per game, which would be the second fewest in franchise history.
• 451 of the Grizzlies’ 1,455 field-goal attempts are coming from less than 5 feet from the basket. That’s 30% of their overall attempts. Last season, the Grizzlies attempted 37% of their shots from inside 5 feet.
• Effective field goal percentage inside 5 feet:
  2022-23: 63.6%.
  2023-24: 57.9%.
• Percentage of shots blocked inside 5 feet:
  2022-23: 10%.
  2023-24: 15%.
• Non-rim 2-point percentage:
  2022-23: 43%.
  2023-24: 40%.

This is as bad as it will likely get.

The decline in shooting percentage and offensive production in general falls on the shoulders of all involved.

Ja Morant’s NBA suspension has put Desmond Bane and Jaren Jackson Jr. in a tough spot offensively because opponents are selling out defensively to stop the two stars. Both players have seen their shooting percentages take a dip as field-goal attempts increase.

Injuries have played a big role, too, especially when a team loaded with young players is now forced into playing them in roles they have never played before. 

Jenkins’ choice to tweak the offense entering this season also added a new wrinkle to an already imbalanced roster that may not have been ready for it, although he couldn’t predict he would have eight players unavailable on a nightly basis. 

It has been ugly. The Grizzlies rank No. 29 in the league in offensive rating, over only the Detroit Pistons.

Jenkins can’t force his players to make shots, but the offensive system needs to prevent the long lulls without scoring that have repeatedly been costly. That must stop, and the responsibility will first fall on him. 

2. Where are the drives?

2022-23

• Total shots attempted: 7,551.
• Alley-oops: 133 (1.7%).
• Cutting dunks/layups/finger rolls: 303 (4%).
• Driving dunks/layups/floaters: 1,952 (25.8%).
• Floaters of any sort: 1,166 (15%).
• Jump shots: 1,984 (26.3%).

2023-24

• Total shots attempted so far: 1,455.
• Alley-oops: 12 (0.8%).
• Cutting dunks/layups/finger rolls: 59 (4%).
• Driving dunks/layups/floaters: 288 (19.7%).
• Floaters of any sort: 156 (10%).
• Jump shots: 489 (33.6%).

Look no further for the difference between the Grizzlies with Morant and without him.

Two seasons ago, Morant was one of the top paint scorers in the game and one of the league’s most efficient players from inside 10 feet. Only one player drove more than Morant last season: Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Memphis misses Morant’s driving ability and his knack for getting off a floater, which was also a strength of former backup point guard Tyus Jones.

Without either player in the fold, drives to the basket are down and jump shots attempted are way up. 

Some wonder how many of the Grizzlies’ problems Morant can fix when he returns from suspension.

Like Jenkins, Morant can’t force his teammates to make shots. But Morant will certainly help the team break down a defense and get back to more drives and fewer perimeter heaves. This team desperately needs that. 

3. Pass, pass, pass, pass, pass.

• Frequency of attempts in the final seven seconds of the shot clock:
  2022-23: 15.6%.
  2023-24: 22.3%.
• Frequency of open or wide-open shots (no defender within 4 feet):
  2022-23: 48.7%.
  2023-24: 53.4%.
• Effective field-goal percentage on wide-open shots (no defender within 6 feet):
  2022-23: 56.5%.
  2023-24: 51.8%.
• Frequency of field-goal attempts defended very tightly (defender inside 2 feet):
  2022-23: 7.0%.
  2023-24: 12.5%.
• 7+ dribble frequency (per touch):
  2022-23: 10.9%.
  2023-24: 8.4%.
• 6+ second touch time frequency (time with ball):
  2022-23: 14%.
  2023-24: 11.6%.

Yes, you’re reading that correctly.

The Grizzlies are taking open and wide-open shots more frequently than they did a season ago, according to the NBA’s tracking data.

Schematically, the ball is moving hands quicker with fewer dribbles. 

You would think that is probably a good thing, right?

Well, not exactly.

Part of the reason for the increase in quick passes and decrease in dribbles is the absence of Morant and his one-man offense, which may balance these numbers out after his return. Part of that could also be general unease with the ball in the hands of inexperienced players.

Think about it this way: The first open shot is not always the best open shot. That would depend on the shooter and the situation.

Two major problems are standing in the way of a better offense: Memphis isn’t making the open shots at the same rate as anyone else, and it is shooting more tightly contested attempts because shot creation inside the paint is lacking. 

This is what happens when efficient shooters are unavailable (like Luke Kennard) or out the door (like Tyus Jones). More on that next.

4. Injuries and wacky usage rates

Usage rate indicates how much of the offense the player is used by shooting, assisting or turning the ball over. These stats come via Cleaning the Glass, which filters out garbage time.

Year-over-year usage rate increase from 2022-23 to 2023-24:

• *David Roddy: 14.8% to 15.5% (+5.5 minutes per game).
• *Desmond Bane: 25.6% to 29.5% (+2.4 mpg).
• *Jaren Jackson Jr.: 22.1% to 26.5% (+3.1 mpg).
• *Ziaire Williams: 15.7% to 17.4% (+8.1 mpg).
• *Marcus Smart: 20.6% to 23.2% (-2.1 mpg).
• *Santi Aldama: 14.9% to 22.0% (+5.3 mpg).
• Bismack Biyombo: 12.8% to 11.3% (+14.8 mpg; his 28.5 minutes per game is a career high).
• *Jacob Gilyard: N/A to 13.3%.

*= Career-high usage rate

Teams with the most player games missed this season due to suspension and injury, with thanks to Grizz X, formerly known as Twitter, friend Steven Adams Stats (@funakistats):

1. Memphis – 87 games (11 players), $12.9 million contract value.
2. Detroit – 73 games (8 players), $10.0 million contract value.
3. Charlotte – 72 games missed (10 players), $7.6 million contract value.

Bane explained this best when he was asked if the team has lost its edge after last Sunday’s loss to Minnesota.

“I wouldn’t say that we’ve lost our edge,” Bane said. “We have guys that are in new positions and new roles, and we are trying to find our new identity and our new mantra.

“We’ve had a lot of turnover. We had guys that had been in the program for a while, and it was all natural. But we’re still a work-in-progress early in the season.”

It is particularly frustrating for fans because the Grizzlies have had players step up when called upon throughout Jenkins’ tenure.

Why has that not happened this season?

That is something the coach must navigate, and if you want to question if he’s done the best job setting them up to succeed, that’s fair.

On The Daily Memphian columnist Geoff Calkins’ WMFS-FM radio show this week, a couple listeners called in to say injuries are just part of the game, so they don’t want to use them as an excuse for poor performance. 

But let’s not lose sight of what a challenge this has become. Jenkins is not asking a couple guys to step up and replace a star or a pair of role players.

The Grizzlies essentially have eight players being asked to do more than they ever have.

Eight.

That includes two stars who are being doubled by every opponent, four players with fewer than three years of experience and two veterans stepping into a new situation and playing a different role than their previous stop.

This is not the 2021-22 post-COVID 19 season when every team was missing players on a nightly basis and the Grizzlies rolled along. This isn’t even last year when Morant or Bane could go out and Adams, Clarke, Kennard and others were available to step up. 

5. Role player dependability

Key role players to exit since conclusion of 2021-22 season:

• Tyus Jones (WAS): 27.3 MPG, 10.9 PPG, 4.9 APG, 34% 3-point.
• Kyle Anderson (MIN): 24.5 MPG, 7.3 PPG, 4 APG, 3.8 TRB, 0.9 STL, 0.9 BLK.
• Dillon Brooks (HOU): 31.2 MPG, 13.4 PPG, 1.9 AST, 3.8 TRB, 46% 3-point, 1.1 STL.
• De’Anthony Melton (PHI): 30.1 MPG, 12.3 PPG, 3.8 AST, 4.3 TRB, 40% 3-point, 1.2 STL.

Key role players extended, retained or added:

• Steven Adams: Unavailable to play.
• Brandon Clarke: Unavailable to play.
• Xavier Tillman Sr.: 9 games played, 9.3 PTS, 6.7 TRB.
• Luke Kennard: 8 games played, 8.3 PTS, 2.0 AST.
• Marcus Smart: 11 games played, 12.5 PTS, 5.0 AST, 2.5 TRB, 29.5% 3-point.

2022 Draft picks:

• David Roddy (No. 23 overall): 16 games played, 7.9 PTS, 1.0 AST, 3.8 TRB, 25.5% 3-point.
• Jake LaRavia (No. 19 overall): 5 games played, 3.4 PTS, 1.6 TRB, 16.7% 3-point.

Grizzlies general manager Zach Kleiman publicly questioned some of his own decisions at the end of last season.

“You want to be upfront with yourself about building a team that can compete at the highest level in the playoffs,” he said.

Jenkins throws Morant ‘in the fire’ as his return gets closer

Later in the same answer: “Did we really need to triple down on youth?”

The Grizzlies are paying for some of those moves now, but it would also be unrealistic to believe Memphis could have held onto all its experienced role players and locked down Morant, Jackson and Bane for the future.

Memphis happened to bet on the two players who suffered season-ending injuries. They signed Clarke and Adams to extensions, which at the time felt like perfectly reasonable decisions.

Now, those choices can be simultaneously regrettable and unlucky.

This team could surely use a Jones, Kyle Anderson or De’Anthony Melton right now. They are being forced to play late first-round picks that haven’t met the same level of production, and that was probably to be expected.

Grizzlies podcast: Playing the blame game

Excluding Roddy, only six non-lottery selections from the 2022 draft have played at least 1,500 minutes. Of those six, only Utah’s Walker Kessler, Denver’s Christian Braun, San Antonio’s Malaki Branham and Indiana’s Andrew Nembhard are meaningful starters or rotation players this season.

The chance of finding a serious contributor that late in the draft is very low. History tells us this.

Memphis hit on Bane, Clarke and Aldama late in the first round, which is impressive. But Kleiman has not been perfect, and no general manager is.

Ziaire Williams has not lived up to his top-10 expectations, and LaRavia hasn’t found consistent rotation minutes. Those were two players the team traded up to get. 

Additionally, Memphis used a roster spot on veteran Derrick Rose this offseason as a locker-room presence and filler for the first 25 games of the season. The returns on that deal won’t be known until Morant is back on the court.

6. Defensive adjustments

Let's save the long list of jumbled numbers here and get straight to the point. 

There has been a lot of commotion around the Grizzlies’ 3-point defense this season, and for good reason.

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The Grizzlies have been poor at defending the 3-point line this season, allowing 20.6 wide-open 3-point attempts per game. That’s the seventh-worst mark in the league.

But it’s also true Memphis has had to pay for giving up those open attempts more than any other team this season.

Opponents are shooting 42.7% on wide-open 3-pointers against Memphis, which is the highest percentage in the league and 4.7% better than was shot on wide-open 3s against the Grizzlies last year.

I know, I know. Grizzlies fans don’t want to hear that. They just want the team to defend the 3-point line better. But it’s the truth.

A wide-open shot is a wide-open shot, no matter what team is giving them up. Opponents have the highest effective field goal percentage in the league against Memphis when shooting with nobody around. That’s bad luck.

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In fact, it doesn’t only apply to the 3-point line; Grizzlies opponents have the highest field-goal percentage on wide-open shots from anywhere on the floor. 

The problem is that the Grizzlies are giving up way too many of them. 

Memphis is allowing 27.7% of opponent shots to be wide open. That’s undeniably bad; the sixth-worst mark in the league. If the Grizzlies can stop giving them up so often, maybe some luck will come with the adjustments? Maybe?

Jenkins has tried multiple adjustments to try to slow down opponent offenses this season. 

Memphis went under screens early in the season and opponents made them pay by shooting the open 3s. Recently, the Grizzlies have chosen to switch on every ball screen, which allows for more sound defensive positioning but often creates mismatches.

Grizzlies guard Marcus Smart calls out ‘embarrassing’ effort by team

Neither formula has been enough to offset the team’s poor offense, but the defense has improved from its league-worst ranking early in the season. 

So it’s not for a lack of trying, although some fans are clearly frustrated no matter what adjustments Jenkins tries to make.

That’s just part of the territory when a team is 3-13 and it entered the season with playoff expectations. The criticism and the ugly online comments are unavoidable. 

“When you play well, there’s a lot of good stuff going around,” Aldama said. “When you’re not doing well, there’s criticism. We are our hardest critics.

“Believe me, there’s nothing out there that we haven’t told ourselves or we haven’t thought about. So, the outside stuff is going to be the outside stuff. There’s a level of accountability that we have within ourselves that we are trying to get over.”