Never Too Soon Player Profiles: John Konchar

John Konchar

SG – 6’5 210 lbs

27 years old

Entering his fifth year in the league

Quick Rundown

Konchar played the fourth most minutes on the Grizzlies last year. Read that again. He played the fourth most minutes on the Grizzlies. Now you can call that injury luck, but he’s now coming off back-to-back years playing 72 games for them. Ja is out for the first 25 games (which adds up to about 8 matchups) and new addition Marcus Smart is sliding into the starting lineup. And, I believe, Konchar will be their first guy off the bench.

Raw Stats

GP – 72

GS – 23

Mins – 20.8

FG% - 43.1

3PT% - 33.9

FT% - 77.8

PTS – 4.6

AST – 1.4

RBD – 4.3

TO – 0.5

Deeper Breakdown

With Ja out the first 25 games, Dillon Brooks getting the boot, and the Marcus/Tyus trade, the Grizzlies have some decisions to make. To start the year Smart will be the PG, and let’s go with Bane at the 2 for now. With Smart for Tyus straight up, essentially, the Grizzlies still have no guard depth. Which leaves us with a mess to sorted out for the 3 by October.

PG – Marcus Smart John Konchar

SG – Desmond Bane Luke Kennard

SF - ???                         ???

PF – JJJ                         Santi Aldama

C – Steven Adams         Xavier Tillman

Here are the question marks:

-Jake Laravia: There was buzz around the Grizzlies liking Laravia last year. At 6’8 235 he’s built for the position, but he’ll be a second-year player. With Smart and Adams bringing some veteran-ness to the lineup, Memphis might not have a problem starting the kid.  

-Big Body Roddy: Roddy played in 70 games last year, and at 6’5 255 he’d be a big bundling ball of wonder at the 3. I’m all in, but could he make the leap from starting 4 games to being in the lineup? 

-Kenny Lofton Jr: The darling of the G League (in fact, the G League MVP) and I think the 6’7 275 lb sophomore should get the job, just because I love him so much. 

-Ziaire Williams: In his rookie year he played in 62 games and started 31 of them. Then last year he was out pretty much the whole time with an injury and he couldn’t crack the rotation. There are rumors that he’s taller than 6’9 now. Don’t know what to do with those rumors, but I like hearing them. Williams is my guy, I think he’s got the range to float between 2 and 3 and provide that MPJ kind of role for this team that still desperately needs shooting.

As an alternative, if they want to forego all that forward mess, stretch their guard depth tissue paper thin, start Kennard at the 2, and bump Bane to the 3, they have a pretty good shooting lineup.

I drag you through all of this just to tell you that I don’t think that starting spot affects Konchar at all. With all of those forwards giving the Grizzlies so much roster flexibility, they’re still thin at guard. They have Bane, Jones, Kennard, and Konchar. That’s it.

Upside

If the roster stays as is and the Grizzlies do what they’ve done for two years now and trust their own guys to step up and fill in, there will be an argument for Konchar to go in the first round. Even if the Grizzlies aren't done this offseason, with the loss of Jones, Konchar is their steady hand on the bench.

Downside

The only potential hazard with drafting Konchar is if the Grizzlies decide to drop Bane to the 3 and start Konchar at 2 instead of Kennard. It’s certainly possible, but after looking at their forward-heavy roster, I doubt it.