Historically (last 15-20 years) the Grizzlies have been a mid-level team that usually made it to the playoffs but never got very far (conference finals only once, we lost). We’ve been on the edge of greatness a couple times, but always stumbled due to injuries, mistakes, or tough match-ups.

However, despite this lack of success, we like to think that other teams hate playing us. One of our mottos is “Grit n Grind”, meaning we always play tough, physical basketball and always put in the effort to make the other team work hard to beat us. Because of this tough, defensive-focused play style, even if a team beats us in a playoff series, they come away exhausted.

Until the last few years, the Grizzlies never had a high caliber “star player” like Ja Morant. We didn’t win by one person going out and scoring 40 points, we won as a team. We found success with the “unsung heroes” of the NBA like Mike Conley, Tony Allen.

When Ja was drafted, we felt like we were finally about to achieve greatness. Between him and Jaren Jackson Jr and Desmond Bane, we have 3 all- star caliber players. With the right pieces around them, this core 3 should really be able to at least get us back to the conference finals. But unfortunately there have been some major roadblocks along the way.

This year, we are nowhere near the edge of greatness and we’ll be very lucky if we make the playoffs at all. This is a HUGE swing compared to last season, when we were the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd best team in our conference throughout the season. This swing from potential contenders to bottom of the league this year has a lot of people in despair.

It’s mainly due to injuries and Ja’s 25 game suspension, but we’re also seeing a lack of effort from the players that ARE healthy (except Desmond Bane, love that guy). It seems like some of them are falling into despair a bit too.