20-year old shooting guard Tony Wroten didn’t get a chance to play much for the Grizzlies last year.  Wroten played in 35 games (0 starts) for the Grizzlies last year and he averaged 7.8 minutes, 2.6 points, 0.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game.  Wroten only shot 38.4% from the floor, 25% from three point range and 72.4% from the free throw line last year.  In his 9 games in which he played at least 10 minutes last year, he averaged 16.6 minutes, 6.4 points, 2.3 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game.  Look for Wroten to see his P.T. start to increase in 2013-14.

The Grizzlies have not had much P.T. available for their rookies so far this year, and I don’t see that changing any time soon.  19-year old guard Tony Wroten has played in 22 games (0 starts) for the Grizzlies so far this year and he is averaging 8.5 minutes, 3.1 points, 1.0 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game.  Wroten is only shooting 37.5% from the floor, 30.8% from three point range and 72.7% from the free throw line so far this year….and that’s not too good.  22-year old SG/SF Chris Johnson has played in 8 games (0 starts) for the Grizzlies so far this year and he is averaging 12.8 minutes, 3.6 points, 1.4 rebounds and 0.3 assists per game.

The Grizzlies have sent 19-year old rookie point guard Tony Wroten to the D-League, where he can get some P.T.  He has played in 3 games (0 starts) for the Grizzlies so far this year and he is averaging 2.7 minutes, 0.3 rebounds and 0.3 steals per game.  It makes no sense at all to keep Wroten on the roster right now as he is buried on the depth chart and would only get to play in garbage time, so I agree with this move by the Grizzlies.

The Grizzlies are a young, but veteran team that had their eyes on  a deep playoff run in 2011-12, so they didn’t have much P.T. for their rookies.  26-year old point guard Jeremy Pargo played in 44 games (5 starts) for the Grizzlies last year and he averaged 9.6 minutes, 2.9 points, 0.8 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game.  He had issues shooting the ball however, as he only hit 33.3% of his shots from the floor, 26.3% from three point range and 59.3% from the free throw line as a rookie.  21-year old shooting guard Josh Selby also had shooting problems as he only shot 34.7% from the floor last year.  He played in 28 games (0 starts) for the Grizzlies last year and he averaged 8.5 minutes, 2.3 points, 0.5 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game.

The Grizzlies don’t use their rookies much as they have their eyes on returning to the playoffs in 2011-12.  26-year old undrafted point guard Jeremy Pargo has played in 27 games (3 starts) for the Grizzlies so far this year and he is averaging 10.7 minutes, 3.0 points, 1.1 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game.  Pargo just can’t shoot.  He has only made 33% of his shots from the floor, 21.7% from the three point range and 68.8% from the free throw line so far this year.  20-year old shooting guard Josh Selby has played in 20 games (0 starts) for the Grizzlies so far this year and he is averaging 9.8 minutes, 2.9 points, 0.7 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game.  He is also having trouble shooting the ball as he has only hit 39.7% from the floor.

25-year old undrafted point guard Jeremy Pargo is ice cold as a shooter for the Grizzlies so far this year.  He is only hitting 32.5% (27 of 83) from the floor so far this year, and that is pathetic.  Pargo has played in 19 games (3 starts) for the Grizzlies so far this year and he is averaging 11.9 minutes, 3.5 points, 1.2 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game.  20-year old shooting guard Josh Selby has played in 18 games (0 starts) for the Grizzlies so far this year and he is averaging 10.3 minutes, 2.9 points, 0.7 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game.  He is only shooting 38.9% from the floor (21 of 54) so far this year and that just isn’t going to cut it.  Look for Pargo and Selby’s playing time to start to diminish if they don’t start shooting a little better soon.

25-year old point guard Jeremy Pargo and 20-year old shooting guard Josh Selby are not shooting well enough this season to get a lot of playing time right now.  Pargo has played in 9 games (3 starts) for the Grizzlies so far this year and he is averaging 17.9 minutes, 5.2 points, 1.6 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game.  But, he is only shooting 35.1% from the floor so far this season.  Pargo will continue to backup Mike Conley at the point for the Grizzlies.  Josh Selby has played in 4 games (0 starts) for the Grizzlies so far this year and he is averaging 14.8 minutes, 4.5 points, 1.0 rebound and 2.8 assists per game.  But, he is only shooting 38.1% from the floor and that’s not too good for a shooting guard.

20-year old shooting guard Xavier Henry’s season ended early due to a knee injury.  Henry played in 38 games (16 starts) for the Grizzlies this year and he averaged 13.9 minutes, 4.3 points, 1.0 rebound and 0.5 assists per game.  24-year old SG/PG Greivis Vasquez played in 70 games (1 start) for the Grizzlies this year and he averaged 12.3 minutes, 3.6 points, 1.0 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game.  He played a little better as the year went on.  22-year old PG Ishmael Smith came over along with Shane Battier in a deal with the Rockets.  He played in 15 games (0 starts) for the Grizzlies last year and he averaged 7.5 minutes, 1.8 points, 0.3 rebounds and 1.0 assist per game.  Smith played in 43 games (3 starts) for the Rockets & Grizzlies and he averaged 10.3 minutes, 2.3 points, 1.1 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game.  The Grizzlies hope that these guys will improve as players and help them down the road.

The Memphis Grizzlies are finally in the playoff hunt and they have a really deep roster.  With that in mind, the rookie players are going to do a lot of sitting and watching the rest of this year.  19-year old shooting guard Xavier Henry has played in 38 games (16 starts) so far this year and he is averaging 13.9 minutes, 4.3 points, 1.0 rebound and 0.5 assists per game.  The Grizzlies gave Henry more than he could handle early this year so look for the Grizzlies to let him do a lot of watching and learning the rest of the year.  24-year old PG/SG Greivis Vasquez has also had a rough time so far this year for the Grizzlies.  He has played in 54 games (0 starts) so far this year for the Grizzlies and he is averaging 12.3 minutes, 3.3 points, 1.1 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game.  Vasquez is only shooting 37.1% from the floor and that just isn’t good enough to get him on the floor for the Grizzlies right now.  22-year old point guard Ishmael Smith came over in the Shane Battier deal with the Rockets last week.  He has played in 1 game off the bench for the Rockets and he worked 9 minutes in which he had 4 points, 1 rebound and 1 assist.  Smith has now played in 29 games (3 starts) overall this year and he is averaging 11.7 minutes, 2.7 points, 1.5 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game while only shooting 38.8% from the floor.

19-year old shooting guard Xavier Henry and 24-year old PG/SG Greivis Vasquez were supposed to give the Grizzlies scoring punch off the bench but it hasn’t worked out that way so far this year.  Henry has played in 28 games (16 starts) for the Grizzlies so far this year and he is averaging 17.4 minutes, 5.6 points, 1.3 rebounds and 0.6 assists per game.  Henry got a chance to start earlier this year when O.J. Mayo was in the Dog House but he couldn’t keep the job as Tony Allen has it now.  Greivis Vasquez has played in 35 games (0 starts) for the Grizzlies so far this year and he is averaging 13.2 minutes, 3.6 points, 1.0 rebound and 2.4 assists per game.  But, he can’t shoot as he is only hitting 36% of his shots from the floor so far this year.  The Grizzlies hope that Henry & Vasquez step up in the second half of the year.