RealGM

This is pretty simple, and hopefully it will be a fun discussion during the lockout. If there were to be an expansion draft, what 8 players from your roster would you protect?

The rules:
1. Unrestricted free agents are not available to an expansion team to draft.
2. Unsigned draft picks are not available for the expansion team to draft.
3. Restricted free agents are available.
4. Each team must have at least one player unprotected, so if team x had 8 players under contract and 4 that were UFAs, it could only protect 7 players.
5. The expansion team can only draft one player from each roster and must have at least 14 players.

Off the cuff, the Grizz are in good shape to determine who to protect. The first 7 were pretty simple choices, the 8th (for me) Xavier Henry, was kept due to potential:

Tony Allen
Darrell Arthur
Mike Conley
Marc Gasol
Rudy Gay
Xavier Henry
OJ Mayo
Zach Randolph

I like GrizzFan's list, but I'm a little torn on Young vs. Henry. I actually think Sam is going to keep getting better and really like what he has shown in his increased time.
Obviously the same applies to Henry (especially in terms of "potential" and ceiling) so it would be a tough choice for me.

I think you gotta go with Sam Young over Henry because we have more invested from him at a standpoint of development and chemistry. Henry is probably the better long term asset but for the Grizzlies they're better off with what they have created and started with Sam Young on this team than letting him go and risking the development of Henry (which is not 100% guarantee at this point, especially with 11.8% 3PT shooting thus far).

so glad we're not debating whether to protect Thabeet or not on here! !

Can't argue with either of your takes - I think, in this scenario, the Grizz would be in the catbird's seat, compared to some teams.

GrizzledGrizzFan wrote:Off the cuff, the Grizz are in good shape to determine who to protect. The first 7 were pretty simple choices, the 8th (for me) Xavier Henry, was kept due to potential:

Tony Allen
Darrell Arthur
Mike Conley
Marc Gasol
Rudy Gay
Xavier Henry
OJ Mayo
Zach Randolph

Yup, this would be the list.

It's easy to forget Sam Young is already 26, so he pretty much is what he is at this point.