Insider Special: Best and Worst ~ Memphis

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Best Case Scenario

Three things need to happen for the Grizzlies to win 42 games and slip into an eighth seed in the Western Conference this season.

Pau Gasol needs a little help from his friends on the boards.

1. Someone has to rebound. The Grizzlies ranked 28th in the league in defensive rebounding last season. With five bigs on their roster, there's no excuse for poor rebounding this season. Lorenzen Wright, Pau Gasol and Stromile Swift all have the potential to be solid on the boards. Bo Outlaw is the type of scrappy player that will also help in the paint and James Posey is a capable rebounder for a swingman. The Grizzlies can score all they want, but if they don't protect the glass, Hubie Brown's defensive philosophy of holding teams to one shot just won't fly.

2. Someone has to make the leap. Whether it's Gasol, Swift, Jason Williams or Mike Miller, one of the Grizzlies' young players has to step up and take over. This team lost an enormous amount of games in the fourth quarter because no one took charge with the game on the line. All four players have the talent to do it. If just one of them can give a consistent effort every night, at home or on the road, Brown will finally have the cornerstone he covets.

3. Jerry West uses that depth for a trade. There's another reason West stockpiled his roster this season. "When you have a lot of depth," West said, "that's your best chance to make a trade." If their top young players continue to develop, West may be able to package them together with a player like Wesley Person (in the last year of his deal) and land a true star in return.

Worst Case Scenario

The Grizzlies will be looking at 34 victories and a lottery pick next summer if the following three things happen.

1. The Grizz don't learn how to defend. The Grizzlies also struggled with their man-to-man defense last season. Coach Hubie Brown used a mixture of zone defenses to hide their inability to guard, but would like to utilize more man-to-man defense this season. James Posey will be called upon to guard the opposing team's best perimeter defender. New acquisitions Jake Tsakalidis and Outlaw are big defensive upgrades in the paint. Swift and Gasol have both bulked up this summer and appear more physically capable of guarding the position. But let's not kid ourselves, this team still has a long way to go defensively.

2. They continue to lose on the road. Under Brown, the team went just 2-21 against the West on the road. That's a sign of a young, leaderless team. All-Stars put up consistent numbers wherever they play. Last season, the Grizzlies' best players did not.

3. Too much depth hurts chemistry. West believes that there's no such thing as too much depth. Brown's 10-man rotation will provide lots of opportunities. But with several guys in contract years (Gasol and Battier will be looking for extensions, Swift will be a restricted free agent next summer) will everyone put the team above his own ambitions? Swift seems to be the guy to watch. He's developing rapidly, but it will be next to impossible for him to grab that starting four spot away from Gasol. If Gasol comes on as well, there may not be enough minutes to keep them both happy.

Chad Ford covers the NBA for ESPN.com's ESPN Insider.