They were pulverized by the injury bug and torn down by trades in 2015-16. By season's end, they had suited up a league-record 28 different players and entered the playoffs with only one opening-night starter in action.
Rather than bank on good health and a familiar formula to reascend the Western Conference ladder, Memphis spent the summer modernizing its strategies.
Skipper Dave Joerger—a reluctant-but-willing grit-and-grind overseer—was ousted and replaced by longtime NBA assistant David Fizdale. Mike Conley and Chandler Parsons collected more than $247 million in free agency to juice a Grizzlies attack finally ready to embrace pace-and-space.