The NBA draft is about four weeks away, and there’s a strong case to be made that the Grizzlies should be in trade mode with their No. 9 overall pick. Perhaps packaging that pick with a future pick and current player to bring in meaningful, immediate help. Perhaps adding a future pick to move up for whomever they really want out of this draft. Perhaps moving back to pick up a veteran role player if they don’t love their options at No. 9.

We’ll mull over all of those notions more in the weeks ahead.

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For today, let’s contemplate the path of least resistance: What if the Grizzlies just take a player at nine?

This will be an elaboration, and slight alteration, on something beat writer Drew Hill and I did on The Daily Memphian Grizzlies podcast last week.

I’m going to set aside two players who now seem wildly unlikely to still be on the board when the Grizzlies pick and also seem unlikely to be trade-up options: Australian league big man Alex Sarr and French league forward Zacharrie Risacher.

Here are nine other players I’d consider at number nine, in order of preference. At least three of them will be available:

1. Stephon Castle (combo guard, Connecticut)

The looming reg flag for Castle, who played a key role as a true freshman on Connecticut’s title team, is the suggestion that he wants to be a point guard immediately at the NBA level and reports that he’s declining workouts with teams that have their starting point guard set. That would definitely be the Grizzlies with Ja Morant.

Perhaps this is a ploy to maneuver to San Antonio, which has two picks in the top eight and a hole at the position. 

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But it’s not at all clear that point guard is really Castle’s best position in the NBA, and it seems unlikely a team will have much success putting the ball in his hands to run their squad as a rookie.

I think Castle wants to win and can thrive on a Grizzlies team that has space for more playmaking on the depth chart. 

My main thing with Castle is that in a weak-at-the-top draft, he seems like the safest bet to be a good NBA player. 

He’s a 6-foot-6 guard who is long and strong and a dogged defender. He can defend three positions, at least. Offensively, he’s got great feel. He can handle, slash, pass and cut. 

The shooting is really the only serious question. Castle only shot 27% from 3 in the relatively small sample of one college season. He’s considered a better shooter than that and is so strong at everything else that his shooting seems to be a tipping point to becoming a star, not to becoming a quality rotation player. 

Castle is compared a lot to Marcus Smart, and the Grizzlies have that at home. Castle is three inches taller, 10 years younger and would be under contract for less than half the price for twice as long.

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2. Reed Sheppard (combo guard, Kentucky)

Sheppard might be the most talented all-around offensive player in the draft. He shot 52% on 3-pointers and 55% on two-pointers and averaged nearly five assists a game coming off the bench as a freshman at Kentucky.

Sheppard’s on the small side at 6-2 and is probably best suited to play point guard in the NBA. But his shooting is so good and his defensive get-after-it meaningful enough that I think he can play him with Morant. And he’d be great alongside Desmond Bane. 

Sheppard’s size is a concern, but he’s just too solid across the board to imagine he won’t find a way to help a team. The Grizzlies are forever in search of more shooting. Sheppard is a dead-eye shooter who can also make plays with the ball and on defense.

3. Donovan Clingan (center, Connecticut)

I’ve been a little up and down on Clingan, who seems to be the obvious best draft fit for the Grizzlies.

On the plus side, I think he’s got All-NBA upside as a paint defender and rim protector, probably the most important things to have in a center. 

I think Clingan passes well enough to play in the high post and have the ball go through him some. Not a Nikola Jokic or Marc Gasol, but maybe a Steven Adams. I think he can set picks for Morant and roll to the rim as both a lob threat and offensive rebounder. 

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The shooting? I don’t believe in it, but I think it’s possible he develops enough of a set shot to be a threat on wide open shots, off kickouts or trailing the break. 

On the downside, I think he needs to get stronger, and his medicals will be important. I don’t see a lot of scoring upside or defensive versatility. 

But if Castle has the clearest path to just being good in the NBA, Clingan might have the clearest path to being a top 15 player at his position. You can be a vanilla big center like the Clippers’ Ivica Zubac or Toronto’s Jakob Poeltl and sniff that territory. Clingan could easily be at least that, and center is the Grizzlies’ position of clearest need.

But does the team really want a traditional big center like this, or want it enough to invest a top 10 pick? Do they want it enough to trade up within the top 10, which might be necessary to nab Clingan? It’s not crystal clear that this is what the organization wants. 

But this is a list of Grizzlies draft recommendations, not predictions. 

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4. Ron Holland (small forward, G League Ignite)

Holland is young, and his shooting is questionable. But he was considered a potential top overall pick going into the last season and then had a highly productive season for the generally troubled G League Ignite program.

The Grizzlies could stand to get bigger and more athletic across the board, not just at center. Holland is 6-8 with a 7-1 wingspan and seems to be one of the best athletes in the draft. He profiles as a tough defender, aggressive slasher and someone who could thrive in the open floor alongside Morant. 

Holland is probably the first name on this list who has a good chance to still be on the board when the Grizzlies select. I think he’s the best combination of talent and fit available at this point, but the Grizzlies will need to ask: Is Holland ready to contribute this season? Can we improve his outside shooting? 

5. Kyle Filipowski (combo big, Duke)

This is the point where we need to account for a few players common in the top 10 on most mock drafts but not on this list. 

International prospect Nikola Topic and Kentucky’s Rob Dillingham are both offensively talented lead guards with defensive questions. The Grizzlies are already built around such a player. Topic seems to need the ball. Dillingham is tiny. The former doesn’t seem like a good fit to play alongside Morant. Dillingham and Morant together just seems too small. 

You’re not necessarily drafting a starter here, but I’d have a hard time taking a player in the top 10 that can’t log meaningful minutes alongside the team’s best player. 

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Teen forwards Matas Buzelis and Tidjane Salaun are much cleaner fits but also seem to be long-range projects. The draft is about talent first, fit second, yes. But the Grizzlies have a focus on the present now and need to use this asset — to draft a player or to trade — as a means of bolstering the rotation over the next two seasons. I’m too skeptical of Buzelis or Salaun being able to do that. 

At this stage of the list, I’m not eager to take anyone. If I’m the Grizzlies, I’m looking hard at trade options, period. If the top four guys on this list are all gone when the No. 9 pick comes up, I’m looking even harder. Perhaps at this point, this list is really trade-down candidates.

That said, I think Filipowski has become one of the most underrated players in the draft, and seems to be a particularly good fit for the Grizzlies. 

Filipowski’s wingspan and standing reach are both pretty meager. The biggest question about his game is the thing arguably most important for a center: Defending the paint. 

If you’re drafting Filipowski to be a traditional starting center that anchors team defense, that probably won’t go well. But the Grizzlies have Jaren Jackson Jr. to provide rim protection. Filipowski would instead give the Grizzlies more options to play “five out” basketball without going small. 

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Filipowski seems to have elevated dribble-pass-shoot skills for a seven-footer and seems to be an above-average perimeter defender for someone of his type, with a little “dog” in him to boot. 

So far, the idea of Filipowski’s shooting is ahead of his actual college percentages, but he’s shown the ability to shoot comfortably under pressure. If you believe the shooting will come along, it’s easy to envision Filipowski’s serving as lubricant for an offense focused on Morant, Jackson Jr. and Bane: Running pick-and-roll plays with Morant, finding Bane as a cutter, hitting Jackson with high-low feeds, running dribble-handoff plays and being a threat to shoot or drive against a defense that has to be focused elsewhere. 

And while Filipowski probably won’t be a great rebounder, he’s likely to be an upgrade on the roster alternatives. 

6. Zach Edey (center, Purdue)

The best player in college basketball is a hyper-specific type, a one-position, half-court-bound behemoth, and people are not wrong to wonder about his translation into an NBA context. But I do think it’s been wrong to think of Edey as something of a novelty player. 

Edey is so comfortable with his size, has such good footwork and touch and has been so productive — big numbers while carrying big minutes — that I think he’s much more likely to have a Jonas Valanciunas-like career than a Boban Marjanovic one. 

Edey will be less of a post-up fixture in the NBA and will have to play more screen-and-roll with a dynamic guard, something he didn’t get to test out at Purdue, which lacked NBA-level guards.

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The Grizzlies have had great success with this dynamic alongside Morant, both with Valanciunas and then Adams. It’s easy to see it working with Edey, to see Edey setting massive picks for Morant, then rumbling behind him to clean up misses on the offensive glass or provide a massive lob threat. 

I also think there’s enough shooting potential for Edey to be a pick-and-pop option or to be a shooting threat trailing the break.

Of course, trailing will be all Edey will be doing on the break, and there’s no evidence he’ll juice transition play with outlet passes the way Adams did.

Defensively, Edey will be susceptible if he can be drawn onto the perimeter. But the Grizzlies can drop him back into the paint, where he’ll block out the sun.

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It’s pretty easy to envision Edey as a productive starting center for the Grizzlies, and then often giving way to Brandon Clarke as the team closes games. There’s a direct path to major playing time in Memphis. 

But do the Grizzlies really want to incorporate a player of this type into the rotation when they otherwise want to play fast and space the floor? 

7. Ja’Kobe Walter (scoring guard, Baylor)

Walter’s stats are a little troubling because he shot under 40% from the floor last season and only 34% from 3. I feel like those percentages are going to improve in the NBA when he’s a fourth or fifth option and isn’t taking as many tough shots. 

When you watch Walter, you see real versatility to his shot-making. He can shoot catch-and-shoot 3s from NBA range, but also seems to be comfortable coming off of picks and cuts and firing on the move. You’ll see him attack close-outs and pull up for mid-range shots off the dribble.

Whether he can do anything with more than one dribble or as a playmaker is sketchier. Walter might be just a jump shooter, but seems to be a versatile one. 

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There seems to be a good baseline to work with defensively as well. Walter is 6-5 with a 6-10 wingspan and had good defensive activity production at Baylor. 

I don’t know that he’ll be a great defensive player in the NBA, but Walter seems to have all the tools to be a good one. 

A common comp for Walter is current Denver starter Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. It’s easy to see Walter being a little better than that offensively and a little worse defensively, adding up to a similar package: A quality role player who can be the fifth or sixth-best player on a really good team. There’s always room for guys like this who can defend on the perimeter and make shots. 

8. Jared McCain (combo guard, Duke)

Seemingly a more limited version of Sheppard. 

McCain is a dynamic shot-maker who can play on or off the ball and puts in the effort defensively despite lackluster size (6-2 with a shortish wingspan). 

He probably profiles as more of a third-guard/sixth-man, but at this stage in this draft, that’s worth having, and the Grizzlies need more dynamic shooting in their rotation. 

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9. Dalton Knecht (wing, Tennessee)

I’m somewhat skeptical of Knecht’s ability to defend in the NBA and of his advanced age in his college breakout season. But he’s a 6-6 wing who’s a pure scorer and proved a real gamer during his lone season in the SEC. Sounds like someone who would be useful for a team whose best players are in the backcourt and frontcourt and just finished dead last in team offense.