Memphis Grizzlies Find Themselves in No Man's Land

The Memphis Grizzlies are going through the motions as they find themselves several games back of the Play-In tournament.

The Grizzlies are the best of the worst, as they are clearly in that eleventh spot in the Western Conference standings, but there is still a considerable cushion between them and the rest of the teams in the West. That is reflected in this week's NBA power rankings across the internet.

NBA.com, John Schuhmann (24)

Memphis Grizzlies guard Cam Spencer shoots the ball while Indiana Pacers guard Kam Jones defends. | Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images

"The Grizzlies were the victims when the Kings ended their 16-game losing streak last Monday, but Memphis got back to its “best of the bad teams” status with wins in Dallas and Indiana over the weekend," Schuhmann wrote.

"The Grizzlies won 11 of their first 12 games against the other six Western Conference teams that currently have losing records, but they’re 3-5 within that group since Christmas. They have four games remaining within the West’s bottom seven, with two of them – home games vs. the Blazers and Clippers – coming this week."

SI.com, Peter Dewey (22)

"Memphis is looking to tank, but it has a pretty clear lead on Dallas for the No. 11 seed in the West," Dewey wrote.

The Athletic, Law Murray (24)

"The Grizzlies are in tank territory, but their roster is so banged up that you have to acknowledge how they were able to find a couple of wins while starting the 6-foot-7 Olivier-Maxence Prosper at center," Murray wrote.

"There are no bigs left here besides Prosper, second-year forward GG Jackson II and trade acquisition Taylor Hendricks. Brandon Clarke is on his third month of recovery from injury, Zach Edey needs another ankle surgery and Santi Aldama hasn’t been able to play since the trade deadline."

Overview

It's hard to evaluate the Grizzlies when so many players are on the sidelines due to injury. However, the team's record is what it is this season, and it's clear that changes need to be made. That's why the team traded Jaren Jackson Jr. to the Utah Jazz ahead of the trade deadline.

The Grizzlies are doing their best to try and draw up some excitement before the end of the season so that they can get some momentum going into the summer; however, it isn't as easy as it looks, and they find themselves in a tough spot.

The Grizzlies are 3-3 since the All-Star break, but all of those wins have come against teams that are tanking at the moment. One of their three losses came against the Sacramento Kings, who hold the worst record in the entire league.

For the final 23 games of the season, the Grizzlies will play mostly against teams that are fighting for a playoff spot, so it will be a challenging final month for the team. However, it will be a good test to see where their current roster stands as they go into the offseason needing to weed out those who make sense for the roster moving forward and those who do not.