The Grizzlies of Memphis are currently undergoing their greatest bit of adversity of the 2024-2025 NBA season.
Their MVP, Jaren Jackson Jr., is out for the immediate future. Their superstar, Ja Morant, has not played more than five games in a row this season (or in the last two years).
The team is 2-5 since the All-Star break, and over the last two weeks boasts one of the NBA’s worst defenses per Cleaning the Glass. A place that was once a position of strength is a glaring weakness. And their likely 1st Team All-Defensive player — the previously mentioned Jackson Jr. — is out.
All seems lost, at least for the moment. But thankfully, an example of overcoming adversity within the organization’s history can serve as inspiration.
Tony Allen, lovingly known as “The Grindfather” in Memphis, will have his number retired next weekend by the Grizzlies. He is, in many ways, the spirit animal of the franchise’s greatest era, “Grit and Grind.”
After all, he coined the phrase, and the documentary about his life and career debuts tonight on YouTube.
If it’s anything like the team’s last foray into this kind of work — Marc Gasol: Memphis Made — it will be a tremendous walk down memory lane. But it should be required viewing for this generation of Grizzlies.
Here’s why.
Find, and embrace, a role
Young GG Jackson is going through some growing pains this season.
After enjoying a 2nd Team All-Rookie campaign in 2023-2024, injury issues and the return of key Grizzlies this season have limited his impact. The 20-year-old GG is scoring less and turning the ball over more per Cleaning the Glass. He also is arguably the team’s worst defender to this point in the season, as opponents are scoring 15.5 points more when GG is on the court as opposed to off of it.
All that is a recipe for a reduced role, and fewer minutes and opportunities than young GG would like to have. But part of the maturation process for any athlete is realizing what the team needs you to be to win. Jackson’s scoring acumen — especially in a reserve role — should provide the Grizzlies with a needed offensive boost. But that cannot be negated by the lack of defensive prowess currently on display.
Tony Allen was the opposite of GG in that TA was an offensive liability most nights. He only posted a points per shot attempt of over 110 once in his entire Grizzlies tenure. He shot 34% or better from three only twice.
But that wasn’t what Memphis needed him to be.
They need him to be a defensive stopper— as he would say, to “turn off the water” against the opposition’s best scorer. And most nights, he did just that.
He was among the best perimeter defenders in the NBA. TA consistently ranked among the top-ranking players in the league in steals rate. He also was a strong offensive rebounder and an above-average blocker of shots for his position.
In short? He knew who he was.
GG being less clear on that makes total sense. But with Jaren Jackson Jr. out for the time being, it is the 6-foot-9, 245-pound GG that stands to take on the most of those minutes. Can he be a scorer and play within himself as a creator of offense for others? Is it possible that he rises to the moment defensively?
Opportunity will knock. Tony Allen answered when his moment arrived. GG will too…hopefully.
Wear your heart on your sleeve
For better or worse, Tony Allen cared an awful lot.
His energy and passion were contagious. If you experienced the Grit and Grind Era, you know this to be true. It wasn’t always executed efficiently. You can use kicking Chris Paul in the face pairs nicely with his famous-in-Memphis “First Team All-Defense” quote to prove that point.
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But his authenticity was endearing. Coming out of Chicago the way he did, finding his way to Oklahoma State and then the NBA, is a true underdog story. And while TA may not be getting his number retired for literally any other franchise in the league with his career resume, in Memphis? It makes total sense.
It’s a truth that you can’t explain. You just had to feel it.
It remains true in Memphis that if you play your tail off in a losing effort, fans would prefer that to winning in a way that is perceived as “soft”. The Grizzlies are absolutely in a tough spot. They are tumbling down the Western Conference standings. Their injury reports look more and more familiar – in a bad way.
Will this next generation of Memphis Grizzlies lie down and accept their fate? Or will they rally and play with improved effort and emotion, especially on the defensive end, just as Tony Allen did?
A lesson (hopefully) learned
You don’t have to be a perfect basketball team to win in Memphis.
The Grizzlies have been far from elite in terms of talent a vast majority of their existence. But when facing a difficult matchup, or enduring a tough time, you must go harder in those moments. Tony Allen would do just that. There was a time when Future’s “Go Harder” would echo through FedExForum in clutch moments.
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The home arena of the Memphis Grizzlies became known as “The Grindhouse” in part because of Allen. And “The Grindhouse” would be rocking, or waving Growl Towels if a playoff game, as Tony Allen bobbed his head to the beat. Here’s the start of the chorus:
“I done been lied to, I been neglected. I done had all kind of people turn against me. You try to bring me down, I’m ‘a go harder“
It’s all a memory now. A moment that only lives in the hearts and minds of those lucky enough to experience it. But the realities of the difficult NBA season are currently trying to bring the Memphis Grizzlies down. But they can take a lesson from their past, and one of their all-time greats, and make the choice to go harder.
It may be the difference between a season to remember, and a season to forget— followed by substantial change.
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