Southwest Notes: Caboclo, Brooks, Wright, DeRozan

#DmtDaily

The move toward small-ball lineups throughout the league has convinced the Grizzlies to often utilize Bruno Caboclo as an undersized center, Omari Sankofa II of The Athletic reports. Caboclo needs to show his versatility to stay on the roster, since his salary of $1,845,301 doesn’t become fully guaranteed until January 10. He played 34 games with Memphis last season, including 19 starts. “We’ll probably utilize him in a lot of different spots, four and five,” head coach Taylor Jenkins said. “We put him at (center) in Summer League and are just really getting him comfortable offensively where he has to be at his spots on the floor.”

We have more from the Southwest Division:

• Dillon Brooks is looking to secure the shooting guard spot in the Grizzlies lineup after an injury-marred second year in his NBA career, Michael Wallace of the team’s website writes. He played in all 82 games as a rookie but lost his starting spot last season, then wound up playing just 18 games due to a toe injury that required season-ending surgery. “It really humbled me and made me take the game more professionally,” Brooks said of last season to Wallace. “At first, with the glitz and glamour and all that other stuff, it kind of came too fast to me. Once it got taken away, it was like, ‘I’ve got to be serious. Be professional, but still have fun with it and understand that (basketball) always comes first.’ That’s what I’ve been doing throughout the summer.”
• Delon Wright believes he’ll have a breakout season after joining the Mavericks in a sign-and-trade with the Grizzlies, Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News relays. “I feel like I’m at that point of my career where it’s time,” Wright said. Wright, who could be paired in the backcourt with Luka Doncic, received a three-year deal with just over $30MM.
• An extension might be the way to go for both the Spurs and DeMar DeRozan, Mike Finger of the San Antonio Express News opines. A report surfaced on Friday that the two parties were in extension talks. As previously noted, the 30-year-old DeRozan could get a maximum of approximately $149MM over four years, starting in 2020/21. That would require him to decline his 2020/21 player option and replace it with the first year of the extension.

Sports

via https://DMT.NEWS

Dana Gauruder, DMT.NEWS