Team identities are never static. When Rudy Gay was injured last season, the Memphis Grizzlies formed a new identity, one even more devoted to the interior game and feeding the ball to power forward Zach Randolph and center Marc Gasol.

Memphis Grizzlies forwards Marreese Speights, left, and Quincy Pondexter, seen here in a win against the Detroit Pistons, have displayed the “physical, aggressive” play that coach Lionel Hollins demands.
(Photo: AP Photo/Duane Burleson)

Randolph’s New Year’s Day knee injury in Chicago has required the Grizzlies to change their self-image yet again. Yes, they still pound the paint. And Gasol, among the league leaders in doubles-doubles, was just selected the Western Conference Player of the Week and probably deserves to be on the West’s All-Star team.

But with Randolph out, Gay is again in the forefront – the high-flying small forward averaged 22 points during the recent seven-game winning streak – and his dunks are finding a home on ESPN’s Top 10 Plays.

Point guard Mike Conley is coolly directing the offense – even as he takes his turn having a hot shooting hand – and through Jan. 24 his 3.08 assist-turnover ratio ranked third among the league’s assist leaders and was better than that of Steve Nash, Chris Paul, Rajon Rondo, Derrick Rose and rookie sensation Ricky Rubio.

So if it sounds like the Grizzlies are playing as a cohesive team that has integrated several new parts it’s because they are. They carried a 10-7 record into their Thursday, Jan 26, game in Los Angeles against the Clippers.

“Zach’s injury was big to our team, so we had to adjust,” Gay said late in the winning streak. “It took a couple, three or four games. With an injury like that, it’s going to change our team. It’s not going to just change overnight. Obviously we had to adjust and we did.

“This team is funny,” Gay added. “Once somebody comes back, somebody else goes down. It’s scary what this team could be like.”

It’s also perhaps a bit surprising what this team is right now: better than anyone outside of the team realistically expected. When the Grizzlies were 3-6, they were being dismissed from contention and relevance. And that’s when they reeled off seven straight victories, including national television thumpings of the New York Kicks and Chicago Bulls at FedExForum and a miraculous comeback at Golden State.

Power forward Marreese Speights, who came over from Philadelphia after Randolph was injured, and brought along the reputation as a soft, selfish big guy, sounds like a Grizzlies lifer, saying, “We have to do Memphis basketball. We are a good unit as a team. Everybody out there just wants to win.”

Just this week, the Grizzlies exercised the third-year contract option on swingman Quincy Pondexter, guaranteeing his contract through next season. The Grizzlies acquired him in December from New Orleans for backup point guard Greivis Vasquez.

“Chris Wallace and Lionel Hollins have done a great job of piecing this puzzle together,” Pondexter said of the Grizzlies’ general manager and coach. “Some teams look great on paper, not so much on the court.”

It is an excellent point. With Randolph injured, the Grizzlies do not have any player on their roster who has been selected to an NBA All-Star Game. When they employ their second unit, casual NBA fans in other cities might wonder, “What is this, O.J. Mayo and four guys from the YMCA?”

Forward Dante Cunningham is another newcomer who has embraced the Grizzlies’ Grit & Grind culture.

“I told them when they came here,” Hollins said of Cunningham, Pondexter and Speights, “this is how we play. We are a physical, aggressive team. I don’t like softness. I don’t like passiveness. You’ve got to get in it. If you can’t get in it, then you won’t play. When we went out to get them, we saw some of that in them.”

Another thing about this edition of the Grizzlies: Like last year’s team, the sum is greater than the individual parts. This isn’t to say some of the individual parts aren’t pretty good. Consider where some of the Grizzlies rank among NBA leaders through Jan. 24:

• Gasol – fourth in blocks (2.35), tied for fourth in double-doubles (10) and ninth in rebounds (10.2)

• Conley – second in steals (2.6), 10th in assists (7.4)

• Gay – 15th in scoring (18.4).

So far, the Western Conference is a muddled mess. No team has asserted itself as clearly superior and the Grizzlies have had a moment atop the Southwest Division standings.

“It’s too early to talk about that,” Gay said. “We just have to load up the wins.”

Said Hollins: “We were the eighth seed last year. I want to make the playoffs, but I want to be better than the eighth seed if we can.”

The Grizzlies lead the league in steals per game (10.59) and their defensive energy has been the igniter for their offensive success, their overall success.

Conley, who doesn’t expect that part of their identity to change, says it can’t change if the team is to achieve its goals.

“Defense is where we hang our hat,” he said. “We want to be labeled as one of the best defensive teams.”