827: A Champion Is Always a Champion Until They Fall

The days in preseason training camp always flew by. In the blink of an eye, it was already early October.

The streets on either side of Link's house were blanketed with maple leaves. It signaled that the feverish summer had ended, and that everything ahead was a fresh start.

With less than a month remaining before the regular season began, the preseason was also getting underway in full swing.

This preseason, Joerger and Snyder were, as always, focused primarily on experimenting with different lineups.

Although the Grizzlies had not made many personnel changes this year, it would not be accurate to say the entire team was exactly the same as last season.

First, Marc Gasol had made tremendous strides offensively. This season, whether from mid-range or in the low post, his offensive efficiency had taken a qualitative leap—without sacrificing any of his defensive quality.

ESPN had previously ranked Gasol twenty-fourth among the top fifty stars of the new season, which now seemed highly prescient.

Randolph's offense had indeed become much less potent than before, but considering his advancing age, his offensive decline had been expected and remained within an acceptable range.

Joerger's response was to increase Gasol's offensive workload while also giving Tobias Harris more playing time!

Tobias Harris's preseason performance was a pleasant surprise. Last season, his inconsistent three-point shot had made a qualitative leap this year. That allowed him to remain on the floor as an off-ball scoring threat, while his own strengths in ball-handling offense and low-post offense had not diminished in the slightest.

For the shooting-starved Grizzlies, this was undoubtedly good news.

Harris's biggest weakness now was no longer his three-point shooting, but his low-post defense. Harris, whose style leaned more toward the small forward position, still seemed somewhat lost when faced with powerful power forwards.