Greivis Vasquez has a chance to get significant minutes as a rookie backing up Mike Conley as the Memphis point guard this season, if he can get a few things worked out.
One of those things was worked out Tuesday -- he had surgery to remove bone spurs from his right ankle. The team announced that the surgery went well and he is expected to be ready to go when training camp opens.
Now it’s just a matter of getting his head on right.
Vasquez has an opportunity. Mike Conley is the starting point guard but that is largely by default, the Grizzlies don’t love him but if you can’t be with the one you love, love the one your with. They tried to experiment with O.J. Mayo at the point in Summer League, but that was a failure.
Greivis, the ACC player of the year last year out of Maryland, showed he has good shooting range and played better defense than expected at Summer League in Vegas. That was the good news. The bad news is he struggled with some basic decision making and running of the offense. He had multiple 8-second back court violations called on him. He had trouble adjusting to the NBA game.
He’ll get plenty of opportunities come the fall. The Grizzlies want him to succeed, they want him to be part of a stronger bench. We’ll see. But his ankle will be better.