Marreese

Speights

This will be Speights’ second stint with the CBA club in China, which likely indicates that his stateside playing career is over. Even if he were to ink another deal with an NBA team at some point, he wouldn’t be anything more than an emergency depth kind of guy at the end of the bench.

Speights spent last season overseas. He last played in the NBA in 2017-18, when he appeared in 52 games for Orlando, when he averaged 7.7 points and 2.6 rebounds in 13 minutes. The Lakers are also expected to work out Dwight Howard and Joakim Noah, as they search for center depth.

Gortat started 43 games for the Clippers last season, before being waived by the club in February. He averaged 5.0 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 16.0 minutes. Woj also tweeted on Tuesday that the Lakers planning individual workouts to evaluate Joakim Noah, Dwight Howard and Mo Speights this week in Los Angeles.

Miller didn’t deny the team’s interest, but Speights apparently isn’t headed overseas after all. It’s interesting timing to say the least, but don’t read anything into it in terms of the labor negotiations.

He’ll replace Byron Mullens, who has decided to leave the team. The two players have the same agent, and that could’ve played a role in the decision. Speights will return stateside once the lockout lifts.

The earliest Randolph will play is Wednesday’s game against the Warriors, and that certainly isn’t a lock. There’s no setback, but the Grizzlies are wisely exercising extreme caution in order to make sure Randolph is fully healed. “Whenever Zach returns, there’s obviously going to be a ramp-up period for him,” GM Chris Wallace said. “He’s not expected to come in and carry the team right away.”

It’s performances like this that drove Speights into Doug Collins’ doghouse in Philadelphia. He turned it over four times, shot 1-of-5 from the field and failed to get to the foul line. Speights’ natural talent and starting role will yield some big games, but wild inconsistency is a guarantee. As soon as Zach Randolph (knee) returns, Speights will struggle for relevance.

This certainly isn’t set in stone as Randolph has been extremely cautious with his return. But it’s confirmation that there have been no setbacks and Z-Bo remains close. We should know more after Thursday’s practice.

Z-Bo exploded for 25 points and 9 rebounds in his first game back from his MCL injury back on March 16th, but his value has been plummeting ever since. His conditioning has been less than stellar in his return and while you may be tempted to let him go for a player getting more consistent minutes, keep in mind that the Grizzlies have five games next week before you do anything rash.

It’s outings like these, imperfect as they may be, that will make Speights worth using during the Grizzlies’ upcoming five-game week. The good news is that he performed well with Zach Randolph also playing 29 minutes and going for 14 and 14. It’s worth nothing that Tony Allen was out tonight, however.