Memphis Grizzlies: 3 players who disappointed this season

To begin with, the Memphis Grizzlies had another forgettable season both on and off the court. After finishing 14th on the West leaderboard last season, Memphis ended their 2018-19 campaign out of the playoff picture yet again. Their regular season record of 33-49 (win-loss) ended up being a tie for the 12th position (with the Pelicans and Mavericks).

The most recent jolt to the Grizzlies' landscape came when the management decided to fire coach Bickerstaff right after the regular season wrapped up. Bickerstaff was named the interim coach back in November 2017 following the abrupt firing of the-then coach David Fizdale.

"In order to put our team on the path to sustainable success, it was necessary to change our approach to basketball operations," controlling owner Robert Pera had said in a statement.

When the franchise decides to put their two biggest names (in Mike Conley and Marc Gasol) on the open market midway through the season, you know they are looking for a drastic rebuild. Moreover, in what was another chaotic year for them, the players on the roster did not prove to be of much help either. The team did make some splashes on the Western Conference standings early on in the season but eventually, their inconsistency got the better of them.

Let's talk about the three most underwhelming individual performances in a Grizzlies uniform during this past season.

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#1 Garrett Temple

Temple got into a physical altercation with Casspi following a loss in January.

Temple was brought in this past summer as a veteran to aid the offensive end alongside Conley and Gasol, but things didn't quite turn out well. He kicked off the season with eye-popping (45% from the field and 56% from deep) shooting numbers but cooled off eventually, to a point of no return.

Before being traded to the Clippers on February 7th, Temple had started all 49 games for Memphis and averaged 9.4 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game. During his time with the Grizzlies, his shooting spiral ended at 42% from the field and 35% from beyond the arc.

Being an ordinary defender with inconsistent shooting performances, Temple couldn't really deliver as expected. His role with the Clippers has severely diminished, coming off the bench in 20 of his 26 games so far.

#2 Kyle Anderson

Kyle Anderson was the 30th overall pick back in 2014.

Anderson joined the Grizzlies when they offered him a 4-year $37.2 million dollar offer sheet to occupy their small forward position. Despite shooting over 54% from the field in the 43 games he played this year, the glaring fact that his scoring numbers are subpar and his three-point shooting is miserable, still remains.

In a season that was cut short by a shoulder injury, Kyle failed to make an impression in his first year with his new team. Anderson underwent a shoulder surgery on April 17th and will be able to get back on court by June.

"I believe I'm going to come back much better," Anderson said. "I have a long summer to work on things I need to improve. I'm excited about this."

His underwhelming debut with the Grizzlies organisation saw ordinary averages of 8.0 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game. Along with posting the best FG% of his career, he shot a career-low 26% from beyond the arc at the same time.

#3 Shelvin Mack

Shelvin Mack played 53 games for the Grizzlies this year.

The 29-year-old was picked 34th overall in 2011 by the Wizards. Shelvin Mack's job was to play as a backup point guard and in his last 33 games, he averaged abysmal numbers such as 6.8 points, 3.3 assists per game along with 37.0% shooting from the floor and 31.5% from the distance.

To make matters worse, the Grizzlies were worse off by 8.3 points per possession when he was on the court. Memphis' reliability on Mike Conley can not be understated and that makes it even harder for the team to score consistently when he sits down for a while. Grizzlies expected Shelvin to take some load off him but apparently that was too much to ask.

Moreover, his average plus-minus per game turned out to be a whopping -6.2, along with 102 offensive rating, 112 defensive rating, 11.0 PER, .045 win shares per-48 minutes.