The Memphis Grizzlies are off to an extremely disappointing start as they are 3-4 and have lost three of their last four games by double digits. Things have started bad enough that there are reports of head coach Dave Joerger already being on the hot seat. After the Grizzlies lost on Saturday night to the Utah Jazz Joerger said that he will shorten his rotation and that could mean less minutes for Tony Allen, according to Ronald Tillery of The Memphis Commercial Appeal.
So far this season Allen has started six out of the Grizzlies seven games while playing 21.9 minutes per game but it is possible that those minutes could creep even lower. Allen is averaging just 5.3 points and 5.0 rebounds per game while shooting 38 percent from the field so the Grizzlies might have to change their lineups to get more offense on the floor.
The problem the Grizzlies have is that their other options haven't played all that well either. Allen has been starting alongside Courtney Lee and Lee is fourth on the team with 10.9 points per game but he is shooting just 37 percent from the field. Behind the two starters are Jeff Green and Matt Barnes who have PER's of 7.5 and 8.5 respectively and that is just not going to cut it.
Even though Green and Barnes have gotten off to extremely slow starts this season Joerger has reportedly loved the combination of those two playing together on the wings. In Saturday night's loss Allen played zero minutes in the fourth quarter while Lee played about a minute and a half. None of Joerger's wings have done anything to distance themselves with their play, particularly on the offensive end, but it seems like Barnes and Green is the duo he likes best right now.
The interesting thing to look at here is the fact that the Grizzlies have also really struggled on defense and although Allen doesn't bring much on offense he has easily been their best wing defender this season. Both Lee and Green have struggled on that end of the floor so if Joerger wanted to go with his best defensive pairing of wings he would go with Allen and Barnes who have both been plus defenders so far.
Besides saying he is going to "tighten the rotation" Joerger didn't really give much of an indication as to where he was going to go with that. Based on the playing time in the fourth quarter of the last game though, it may be Allen and Lee who lose some minutes as the Grizzlies look to right the ship.
