MEMPHIS: Its All About the Memphis Swag

“….I guess I got my swagger back, truth!” This is one of the opening lines from the summer 2011 hit song “Otis” by Jay-Z and Kanye West. This particular line is especially appropriate when mentioned in reference to team Memphis Swag. Even with GM and team captain Taylor Faught doing a masterful job of rebuilding his roster for this Spring season they’ve suffered the same slow start as the Winter incarnation.

After opening the season with a win against league new comers Double-Up, Memphis Swag spiraled their next four games, all by single digits, but losses nonetheless. It was painfully evident that Memphis Swag was going through some growing pains as they tried to get accustomed to playing with each other and players learned their different roles when on the floor. In their defense starting PG Jay Foster has been hampered by a lingering hamstring injury and shots just weren’t falling as effortlessly as usual for Faught but they seem to have righted the ship. Faught is back to his old sharpshooter ways and Foster is knifing through defenses with acrobatic finishes at the rim in his best Tony Parker impersonation.

Someone else who was struggling to find his place on the floor was scorer extraordinaire Ken Taylor. Taylor had been playing much more reserved than before, almost as if he was afraid of taking shots away from teammates, something he never struggled with before when he was the unquestioned scorer on the Free Agents squad. Taylor has settled in and become a Jamal Crawford/J.R. Smith type spark coming off the bench for Memphis Swag and has that scorer’s mentality that defenses have come to fear. With Taylor being aggressive again and Faught hitting shots at his normal rate opposing teams are having a devil of a time trying to cover both shooters.

A player who hasn’t had any issue finding his role is rookie forward Jesse Johnson, Jr. In fact Johnson’s play has been a contributing factor in turning things around. Johnson has emerged as a low post scoring threat for Memphis Swag chipping in as a third 20ppg+ player and the team’s leading rebounder at better than 7rpg. Johnson is responsible for about 1/3 of the team’s total rebounds. With Johnson contributing inside scoring teams can’t just abandon the low post trying to defend against shooters which had been the strength of Memphis Swag.

With player roles more clearly defined the team chemistry is much more evident on the floor and it has translated to W’s. Memphis Swag seems to be hitting their stride having won their last three games to get back to .500 and climb into 2nd place heading into the home stretch of the season. Things should get interesting down the straightaway