The Grizzlies' pick just took another hit

We checked in on the Grizzlies pick last week here at BSJ as Memphis trended closer towards the bottom of the standings in the Western Conference. While the team remains intent on doing what it can to convey the top-8 protected first round pick for the Celtics in 2019 to rid themselves of the obligation with a rebuild in sight, life just got harder on that front following some injury news on Wednesday.

Chris Herrington of the Daily Memphian confirmed on Wednesday afternoon that scoring wing Dillon Brooks will likely miss the remainder of the regular season for the Grizzlies to undergo surgery on his toe in an injury that he suffered during Monday's loss to the Pelicans. The situation is a tough break for the 6-foot-6 wing, who was the subject of trade confusion in the failed three-way deal with the Wizards and Suns last month.

Brooks is a top scorer off the Grizzlies bench (14.7 points per 36 minutes) and one of the few reliable 3-point weapons (37.5 percent) on one of the worst perimeter shooting teams in the league. The wing spot has been an area of weakness all year long for Memphis, to the point that the team tried to upgrade the spot last week by acquiring Justin Holiday from the Bulls for two second rounds picks, Wayne Selden and MarShon Brooks.

That trade has not stopped the freefall in the standings for Memphis, who have now lost six consecutive games to fall to 18-22 and the list of potential internal solutions for the Grizzlies bench unit in Brooks' absence is not very appealing either.

Chandler Parsons is reportedly away from the team to rehab in LA as his representation tries to find a new home for the max free agent bust. Shelvin Mack has been benched in favor of rookie Jevon Carter with both players struggling at reserve point guard. Omri Casspi can score but struggles to defend. Joakim Noah hasn't brought much to the table in his recovery, putting a heavy onus on Marc Gasol and Mike Conley to play big minutes. Both of those guys have seen their play trail off in the last month as the toll of playing 34-plus minutes a night has started to add up for two guys in their 30s.

The road is not going to get much easier for the Grizzlies. Take a look at their upcoming schedule for the next two weeks.

vs. San Antonio
@ Miami
@ Houston
vs. Milwaukee
@ Boston
@ Toronto

It's quite possible that six-game losing streak could hit double digits if Memphis doesn't win in Miami later this week.

At some point, the Grizzlies will have to make a decision between trying to tank for a high pick in this draft and trying to finish high enough in the standings to get rid of their pick obligation to Boston. General manager Chris Wallace addressed the issue last week.

“We’ll see where the season takes us at this point in time," Wallace said when asked about the team's pick to reporters. "We still have half a season to go. We’ll be prepared for either eventuality.”

So while the Grizzlies might want to get rid of that top-8 protected pick now, it's fair to wonder if they will cut their losses and try to get into the tanking mix over the final two months if they continue their struggles in January against a loaded Western Conference field. At this point, there are only five clear-cut tanking teams (Phoenix, New York, Atlanta, Cleveland, Chicago) in the NBA so the Grizzlies would have a strong chance of getting into the bottom six if they sold off some expiring contracts (Garrett Temple, JaMychal Green) at the trade deadline for future assets.

Wallace could also try to boost his roster in the interim with another trade, but he has very few assets to do that with after already using a couple of second round picks. He can't move a first round pick until 2023 (due to the Celtics pick protections) and the Grizz don't have any second round picks until 2022.

Either way, January will be a very important month for the Grizzlies and Celtics when it comes to this pick. Boston will be very content if the obligation rolls over to next year (top-6 protected, giving it more value in a trade), but the worst case scenario right now for Boston looks like a selection in the high teens and that's a far brighter outlook than they could have expected last month.