Tyreke Evans, Rudy Gay filling similar roles for surprising Grizzlies, Spurs

San Antonio Spurs and Memphis Grizzlies: Two franchises you'll pretty much never see dominating offseason headlines.

Occasional medium-level splashes aside - a Chandler Parsons max contract here, a Richard Jefferson trade there - these two franchises traditionally use the summer to fortify, rather than to build up or tear down. They re-up, they restock, they retool within reason, but rarely do they reinvent.

And while that's largely why it's unlikely for either franchise to ever make a major year-to-year leap in the standings, it's also a sizable part of why you haven't seen either plummet down them at any point this decade: They value culture over personnel on the fringes, and the signings they make tend to impose their team identity on the players, rather than the other way around.

A fascinating pair of test cases in this philosophy have emerged early on this season in Tyreke Evans and Rudy Gay. A decade ago, both were highly valued draft prospects and then quickly productive rookies, averaging 20 a game for a season early in their careers.

But, their statistical accomplishments were never accompanied by team success on their original squads - Evans ultimately floundering within the Sacramento Kings' perma-dysfunction, and Gay predating (then failing to find a role within) the Grit 'n' Grind-era Grizzlies.

Both bounced around as awkward fits on subpar squads - Gay on the Toronto Raptors and Kings, and Evans on the New Orleans Pelicans and Kings again - before largely being written off as players of ultimately minor NBA consequence, the infamous kind of empty-calorie stat-stuffers that fans of rebuilding teams dread seeing their franchise investing in.

Then a curious thing happened last summer: The Spurs and Grizzlies, two of the NBA's most reliable franchises, decided to bet on these historically unreliable players.

San Antonio's impeccable personnel track record at least meant that their Gay signing inspired a sort of general "If they say so..." shrug around the NBA; Evans' inking in Memphis barely registered as a Woj cherry bomb.

If anything, both deals were taken as illustrative of how their respective clubs were playing with a smaller buy-in than the Western Conference's ascendant big-stackers: While the Houston Rockets poached future Hall of Famer Chris Paul and the Oklahoma City Thunder landed a pair of perennial All-Stars in Paul George and Carmelo Anthony, the Spurs and Grizzlies were piddling around with half-hearted reclamation projects.

But now, we're ten games into the NBA season, and Gay and Evans have had as much positive impact on their new teams as any recently relocated West stars. Gay is averaging 20 and 8 per 36 minutes while shooting 47 percent - his highest FG percentage in seven years. Evans' numbers are even more impressive - 23-7-4 per 36, on 49 percent shooting and an easily career best 45 percent from deep.

Both players seem reborn as reserves and second-unit anchors, playing fewer minutes per game (about 27 for Evans, 23 for Gay) but producing at exceptional volume in their more limited stretches. They are allowed to essentially serve as second-unit anchors, without the core fit concerns that have plagued both players over their less-than-illustrious NBA careers.

Of course, volume is nothing new for these guys - box score numbers have never been their problem. But two things are new for Rudy and Tyreke this year. The first is efficiency: Both have PERs over 20 currently, something neither have ever managed for a full season.

Gay is scoring at his normal clip while also posting career-highs in rebound, steal, and block percentages. Evans' True Shooting percentage (60.7 percent) is easily his highest yet, and his turnover percentage (9.0 percent) is the first time he's ever approached single digits in that category.

Go a level deeper and you'll see the stats aren't illusory, either: Both the Spurs and Grizzlies have significantly higher offensive ratings and lower defensive ratings with Gay and Evans on the court - a +18.6 differential for Rudy, and an absolutely staggering +30.6 differential for Tyreke.

In fact, as of writing, Evans' Player Impact Estimate, as calculated by NBA.com, ranks among the entire league's top 10 overall thus far, higher than Blake Griffin, James Harden, and Stephen Curry. (Gay also ranks in the top 50.)

The second new development for these guys are that they're winning. Both San Antonio and Memphis have cooled somewhat after hot starts - each currently sitting at 6-4 overall - but for two players with a combined two playoff appearances, even a 60% winning percentage is a major step up.

It's especially impressive considering that both franchises have had major early-season injuries, with the Spurs missing franchise wing Kawhi Leonard and the Grizzlies lacking starting forward JaMychal Green while seeing max point guard Mike Conley struggle through (and sporadically miss time with) foot soreness.

Though both San Antonio and Memphis were expected to take a step back this season - if for no other reason than the rest of the conference taking a step forward - they've stayed consistently competitive thusfar, with Gay and Evans among the biggest reasons why.

Of course, ten games is still a relatively small sample, and we've seen both players get off to such emphatic starts - Gay when he was first traded to Sacramento, Evans at the outset of (and in spurts during) the 2014-15 season as part of the temporarily surging Pelicans - without it ultimately sustaining in any meaningful capacity.

Both look like model citizens of their new respective cultures at the moment, but it's a long season, and some regression to the mean may ultimately be in order for each. But for now, at least, they're co-examples of one of the most heartening phenomenons in sports: That of the wayward veteran pro finally finding his place.

Gay and Evans have spent their careers exemplifying the shallowest form of basketball success, but now they instead get to evidence that no matter how ill-fitting a piece you've proven over the course of your career, there's somewhere out there where you fit just right, even if it takes you four teams and ten years to arrive there.

And if you're searching for NBA salvation, San Antonio and Memphis seem like two pretty good places to start.

(Photos courtesy: Getty Images)