Are the Grizzlies Title-Contenders?

Gary A. Vasquez-US PRESSWIRE Coming into the NBA season, there was a ton of talk about basically three teams in the NBA: the Oklahoma City Thunder, Miami Heat and the Los Angeles Lakers. The first two teams made the NBA finals a year ago and had their core still in tact. The Lakers signed daily fantasy sports favorites Dwight Howard and Steve Nash in the off-season, so they instantly became strong contenders again. Just two weeks into the NBA season though, the three best teams have been the New York Knicks, San Antonio Spurs and the Memphis Grizzlies. The Knicks are going to get plenty of buzz if they keep winning, because well, it’s New York. All NBA fans know about San Antonio already as well. With all that being said, the Grizzlies could end up being the strongest contender to join the “big three” in June. Memphis has been solid for the past two seasons, but injuries have always occurred at the wrong times for them. Rudy Gay missed the 2011 postseason, yet the Grizzlies still upset the Spurs in the first round without him. Last year, Zach Randolph was often the most injured one. The power forward is the leader of this still relatively young team, and without him they just did not have the firepower to pull off a win. Joining Randolph and Gay in the starting lineup are Marc Gasol, Tony Allen and Mike Conley. Gasol might just be better than his brother Pau at this point in time of their careers, and he made his first All-Star team last season. Current players and coaches have voted Allen as the best perimeter defender in the NBA. He does not provide a ton of offense, but he does not have to. Finally, more dynamic point guards in the NBA overshadow Conley, but he is not too shabby himself. He runs the offense with a lot of maturity, and he has turned into a solid shooter as well. If those five can all stay healthy during the year, no team in the NBA starts a more balanced team. They have someone to fit every single role, meaning no player will be forced to do something they can’t. With a solid bench surrounding them as well, the Grizzlies might be finally ready to put it all together for their best playoff run yet. The Lakers and Thunder seemed destined to meet each other in the Western Conference Finals according to preseason predictions, but Memphis might have something to say about that. This article was a guest post by FanDuel.  The post Are the Grizzlies Title-Contenders? appeared first on FootBasket.