What seemed like a dream season for the Memphis Grizzlies It can turn into a nightmare. The last week has been one of the most complicated of the last five years for the Tennessee franchise. First, the injury to his left Achilles tendon Brandon Clark, which will leave you out for the rest of the lesson. Later, his scandal Ha Morad, an event that will keep him out of the team indefinitely. A mix of conditions coming at a crucial time in the Regular Season, with less than 20 games to go and the goal of holding on to 2nd place in the West. Taylor Jenkins’ men will need to get the most out of their squad and that’s where his name is Sandy Aldama emerges strongly.
He Canary He is wrapping up a great season in his senior year sophomore and, even with everything, a year with ups and downs, with changes and where he had to adapt to the different conditions that have arisen.
Aldama began the campaign as a starter, switching to the position from four to Jaren Jacksonhe later became one of the pillars of the bench and, now, just weeks before it’s all over, the power forward must once again step forward.
🇮🇨 In Morant’s absence, Santi Aldama was there
✅ 9 points
✅ 4 of 8 field goals
✅ 20 minutes
❌ 129 to 135 loss to the Clippers pic.twitter.com/SgQJYFHUct
— Sportingnewses Spain 🇪🇸 (@sportingnewses) March 6, 2023
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The situation in grizzly it can’t be more thin.
Without the star tasked with scoring nearly a quarter of the team’s points and the lynchpin of its offensive game, nor the sixth man on defense and a key piece of the entire network, they will have to rework their plan a lot to secure the second place in the West. In Memphis’ favor, the fact that it has the most accessible schedule in all of the NBA games, having to face the entire bottom zone of both Conferences on several occasions. Which doesn’t remove a single minute of difficulty from the company in front of him.
It is at this point that Santi Aldama becomes important. To all this must be added the fact that Steven Adams He has been absent since January 23 due to a sprained posterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. Taylor Jenkins has gone from one of the largest and richest indoor exchanges in the West to Jackson, Aldama and Xavier Tillman, notably.
Santi Aldama has mostly practiced with a more classic pivot like Adams and Tillman, but has only shared 15 minutes all season with Jaren Jackson Jr. The union of both has left distorted performance due to low intensity, with +34.7 from net score, which should hardly be taken into account. However, the Grizzlies don’t have many other options to mess with and find the desired balance from here until the end.
On the other hand, the Canaries player always responded positively to the challenges presented to him.
As a starter and in his first real chance to show himself as an NBA player he went to 9.8 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1.2 blocks and 46.5% accuracy in 27.7 minutes. Some correct numbers that, over time, were difficult for him to maintain, but he managed to maintain thanks to his outward accuracy. 9.0 points and 36.5% on 3-pointers in 20 minutes over the next 46 games he has played.
Linking up with Jackson seems like the most logical thing to do, which should happen sooner rather than later because it allows Memphis more flexibility on both ends. Even if he doesn’t start as a starter, the important thing is that both share the court more regularly in favor of a more limited forward Tillman.
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