The Grizzlies Are Starting a Lineup That Looks Like a 2K Glitch
Underdog NBA tweeted: 'Lineup alert: Grizzlies will start Jerome, Coward, Wells, Boozer, Edey on Monday.'
The are rolling out a starting five on Monday that looks like it was pulled out of a hat by a blindfolded fan. According to Underdog NBA, Memphis will start Tyrese Jerome, Cedric Coward, Jaylen Wells, , and against the Utah Jazz.
If you are holding a prop ticket for this game, you have my deepest sympathies. Oddsmakers and fantasy managers are currently staring at a blank whiteboard trying to figure out how a rotation featuring a , a giant, and a point guard with a heavily documented injury history is going to function on a professional basketball court.
Let us start with Jerome. He is somehow putting up 19.7 points and 5.7 assists per game this season, which is a minor miracle considering his calves have spent the last few years acting like they want to retire early. He has missed massive chunks of time, yet here he is acting as the veteran anchor for an absolute wild-card lineup.
Then you have the youth movement. Boozer is fresh off bullying college kids for 22.5 points and 10.2 rebounds a night at Duke. Wells is logging heavy minutes after surviving a terrifying wrist and head injury last year.
Throw Edey into the paint to clog up the spacing, and this offense is going to be a fascinating mess to watch.
Memphis just handled the 123-112 on Sunday, but rolling this specific five out on a back-to-back in Utah is a completely different social experiment. This is the kind of lineup that either loses by 30 or somehow shoots 60 percent from the floor because nobody on the Jazz scouting report has any tape on them playing together.
We will see if this chaotic experiment actually works or if it gets scrapped by halftime. Adjust your fantasy lineups accordingly, because Monday night in Salt Lake City is going to be a highly unpredictable ride.