What is krack Alakin Fellows thermonuclear A Efforts. I am Dan Valley, joined
by my certified fantabulus co host, mister Grant Hughes, and also joined by
the equally certifiably fantabulous that is a mouthful. Keith Parish the host of the
Fast Break Breakfast podcast, the Hardwood Knox favorite. He also hosts the Gritzing
Grinds podcast a Grizzlies podcast. Follow him on Twitter at fast Break break That's
at fs F A s T excuse me, b r e K b r
e k, and then follow the Gritzing Grinds podcast at Grizzlies Pod spelled exactly
as it sounds. The link to both of those podcasts will be in our
YouTube and own podcast to script and so got subscribe. Keith, welcome back,
Thank you for coming back. Everyone knows we're gonna be talking about the
Grizzly at this point, but first we have to ask how the heck are
you do it? I'm doing great. I appreciate being described as a mouthful.
It's one of my favorite favorite personal adjectives. So I'm happy to be
here. Grant, how are we care about how you're doing? Too?
How are you doing. No, No, nobody cares. We have Keith
Parrish and we have Keith Parrish's cat. It's of secondary importance, which I
hope my cat is right now nipping under the heel of me, just running
under this table. It's a continual like, it's a challenge. It's become
an obstacle. It's a new cat. We've had her for a couple of
weeks and she is very excited and things she loves. She loves podcasting,
she loves microphones, she loves little ring lights, she loves wires. She
like it is non stop. As if podcasting isn't enough of a challenge on
its own, now I have like I've raised the difficulty level and it's a
it's a fun challenge. Imagine the disappointment of this cat had had been brought
to a house that did not have all these things. You know. I
feel like this cat is adaptable enough where it would have found its own passion
wherever it ended up. Yeah, good cat. How old is this cat?
Uh indeterminate, Let's say five months. We it was a foster situation
where a friend of ours was fostering it, and then we took it in
and so it's it's I'm no animal expert. I believe they told us it's
maybe five or six months old. It's pretty tiny, it's very adorable,
it's very loving. It just gets filled with a rage induced jealousy whenever she
is not the center of attention, of attention, and thus lashes out with
the hey, what happens if I chew on that wire as hard as I
can? I get the same way when talks about his children and not me
enough, ye going to say all the things you're describing sound like children to
me, The like no, no, see, here's the thing. Do
you have children? But great? Do you have children? I? Okay,
So I don't know if you've tried this. If I ignore my children,
they get the hint and they eventually after I don't know. It might
take you years. For me, it only take a few months. They're
like, oh, this guy's not gonna play with us. We'll go to
our own thing. Okay, so you can maybe give that a go.
I don't think that's gonna work on this cat. I do a lot of
scowling that which is still attention. So I should probably yeah, no,
no, no, that's exactly what they want. Yeah, Yeah, they're
they're just looking for a reaction. The worst thing slash best thing you can
do. Give them nothing, no response, and then they tire of it
and then they go to something else. I'm gonna I'm denoting all of this
for tips if I ever have children. Well, it's similar to when you're
on social media and you say you see a particularly egregious post, the best
thing you can do is nothing. That's right, I understand. Like everyone's
like, oh, guys, the Athletic posted that the Anthony Edwards is too
big of a fish for the pond of Minnesota. What's wrong with journalism?
Look at this and it's just like, good job that was their most interacted
with tweet of the past twelve months. Like you taught them by quote tweeting
dunking on this thing. Like no, we're in a rage based click economy,
and it's like it's like, guys, I don't know what the numbers
were, but I'm guessing, like, hey, eighty million people saw this
tweet or something so like same with maybe a few. I joke with the
kids. Don't ignore your children, but the best thing you can do sometimes
just give no reaction and then they move on like I tell my I tell
my oldest when his young when the younger sister's picking on him, I'm like,
if you don't react, she will stop doing it. They're just you're
just going for the reaction. If we all is a society stopped retweeting the
terrible tweets, they would go away because there'd be no points. But of
course society is lost. What do you want to talk about now? Do
we need to talk about the grizzlies or can we just continue really solving all
the problems? Right? Well, like if you if you listen to my
show Fast Break Breakfast, Yes we talk about the NBA, and that's I
think the majority of what we talk about, but we also we just talk
about the world. We solve the world's problems. We point out the things
that are obviously wrong, and we provide no helpful solutions to correct them.
And speaking of rage bait, now give us your ten best John Morant trades.
So obviously, if we could get all right, I've been saying,
if we could get these five guys, I would know I wanted to start
with I was actually gonna start with the Marcus mart trade, but I know
you had some pretty strong thoughts about the John Morant suspension being docked twenty five
games for I believe it was contract detrimental to the league. I know you've
talked about it after it came out. You also kind of talked about it
when there's been other things that happened with other players and any like. I
can't remember was the Spurs was a DeVante Graham got a d wee or something
was suspended two games? Where do you just land on what the disciplinary action
was here for John Morant? I mean, I don't know if I had
a strong reaction to the John Morant suspension because it was My strongest reaction was
like I thought John Morant's behavior was just like indefensible, and like it followed
on it fell into the what in the world are you doing? Category?
Like you know, so like the when we talked suspensions, it's always awkward,
I guess to kind of like just try to adjudicate like what behavior deserves
what suspensions And of course when it comes to sports leagues, there some of
it is covered by the collective bargaining agreement. Some of it there's like this
weird leeway where Adam Silver can determine conduct detrimental to the league. And so
I think my initial reaction the nightclub gun video in Colorado last year, you're
like, all right, this is a problem. And then there's just this
like there's this groundswell of other events and there were there was the interaction with
jamarant and his friends and his associates with the Pacers team bus. There was
allegations of like a laser pointer, like nothing was ever proved. There were
these other things that were on TMZ, the Washington Post about like these fights
after basketball games whatever, like it was all this different stuff and so that
like had been growing for a while, and then when you had the Colorado
video, like there were a lot of concerning elements to that, like yes,
you have a gun at a nightclub, which you shouldn't have that like
how did the gun get there? Then it became the whole was it on
the team plane? And that's a whole new thing because of you know,
previous NBA history of the Gilbert Arenas problem and the Jabbar's cridin so like all
that to say, just to retread where we were, like the eight game
suspension back then, you're like, okay, fine, but also it was
those it's like what else are you gonna do? Because like there has to
be normally these precedents for what a suspension can be. And as much as
like everyone agreed, like no one was defending Jamrans right, I mean maybe
some people were like I wasn't defending jam rants right to have just a random
gun at a drinking establishment like that felt that felt to me. If I'm
on my moral high horse, I'm like, that feels wrong, but like
there's laws and he wasn't charging anything. So anyways, when Adam Silver did
the whole all right, you're suspending for eight games and he missed a couple
more and like think Chriss's you know, had him go away. And then
there was like the weird PR spin and I don't know how much of that
was literally PR. There was the awkward ESPN interview where I'm more of a
cynic just with everything, and I'm like, this is this does not feel
like an honest interaction between two people. And so there was last year's thing
and you're like, all right, whatever, eight games, that's that's fine,
or ten games, and like, am I skeptical of the steps taken?
I am? But that's who I am as a person, But I'm
obviously I think with most people who aren't monsters, we're just wishing for the
best. We want John Reren to take care of himself, you know,
if he's really dealing with all the things he says he is. By all
means, we hope he can find helpful ways to deal with the stress of
being a professional athlete, of being this like high profile star. And then
we want him to stop handling guns on social media because that's just your responsible
period, Like I am so anyway, well, fast forward to the new
thing and my take on the twenty five games suspension for him flashing another gun
on Instagram. My opinion was, I consider that it's indefensible that he would
do that, but also it feels like this punishment is based on the fact
that he's seemingly like offended Adam Silver or like he told he told the league,
I got it, I got it. No more guns on Instagram.
I got it, all right, let's say no more And then he does
it again, and they're like, what in the world, And like,
I understood him getting suspended, and I thought, you have to increase the
suspension. I thought it would be like ten games or whatever. When it
came out with twenty five, Like I wasn't shocked or surprised, but like,
I guess what you're maybe you're referring to Dan. My strong take was
this is going to feel weird whenever someone does something that's like actually illegal or
wrong. And so this is where it goes to, like how do you
compare different behavior? You mentioned DeVante Graham, Like on the day before we're
recording this, h Kevin Porter Junior gets arrested for what sounds like, I
mean, I guess, I don't want to I guess rank domestic violence,
but particularly heinous domestic violence. And it's like, there's no there's no history
going back to gun stuff. There's no big history of the NBA suspending guys
for these massive amounts of games, like the Gilbert Arenas suspension, whatever it
was. If it's like a half a season. He had a gun in
the locker room and pulled it on some boy, like they pointed guns at
each other like that, And it's like the difference between that and like holding
a legal gun now be getting the semantics and it's not fun to talk about
of like because again like we you me, we which want to talk about
basketball, and like my my views on guns are probably radical compared to maybe
normal people, and especially compared to like guns rights advocates. I'm just like,
let's get ready guns, Like what in the world. But so like
what jod did, I thought, it's twenty five games suspension, is like
that feels extreme to me. But of course he didn't appeal. The Grizzlies
seemed all on board with it. I mean trying to read between the lines
of like the way they dealt with a lot of the stuff that happened around
John Morant. It felt like the organization was frustrated. And I don't have
any personal knowledge if anyone in the organization was actually frustrated, but it's like
they were like when that Instagram the second Instagram video dropped, they were like,
yeah, he's suspended. It was just like it was within hours,
like they didn't wait for the league to do anything, and so like they
and then when the twenty five games was announced, they're like, yeah,
it works for us, Like they put out a team statement basically saying that
works for us. So I think my strong opinion was like I feel like
when we do the really uncomfortable thing of comparing various crimes and non crimes like
are waving a gun irresponsibly or handling a gun irresponsibly even though it's legal to
have guns in cars in most states in the South. Like, it's like,
like, he didn't break a law, and then when you compare it
to actual law breaking, it becomes like, well, what are we gonna
do now if we set this this precedent of like twenty five games for this
and again maybe this right, I don't know. I'm talking about when it
comes to like legal matters that is covered in the CBA, doing things that
the commissioner finds unsavory, there's there's more leeway, and especially then the gun
issue, there's even more leeway. Simula. Yeah, that I just you're
making me re hash all of the stuff that I thought. I think we're
very much aligned. That it did feel like it's I and I had to
tread very carefully, much like when you're trying to parse the significance of domestic
violence or various rule breakings of legal and non legal issues with the NBA.
I talked about it in like a parenting context, and it seemed like Adam
Silver is the parent here and he's sort of the first time through said is
everyone clear on the expectations? Now do we all see that you cannot do
this thing? It doesn't even matter what the thing is. We get it.
Yes, yes, absolutely got it. Won't do that. And then
the thing happens again, and it's just like, well, now what we
have to escalate? And that I totally agree. I think you're dead on
that. It felt like it was just the defiance of a clearly laid out
expectation. It almost doesn't. I mean it, guns in the NBA have
something of a history and there are serious punishments for that sort of thing.
But I totally agree with you. I think that's really what it was.
Is that's how you get from eight to twenty five is we all understood what
the expectations were, and then do you just get you broke the exact rule
we laid out and talked about and made clear. Also, and I don't
know if this is right or wrong, like, but this suspension is heavier
because John Morant is a marquee name. Like if John conchar had done this,
like John Conchart does not get suspended twenty five games by the NBA.
And I don't think anyone clamors for John Contrarty to get suspitted. I'm not
even trying to pick, like I mean, maybe that's a weird because you
feel like the maybe just societally we look at like, oh, white guy
with gun, that's a hunting tradition, and there's like all these terrible stereotypes
of that, Like I mean, like just if it's like if Taias Jones
had been caught with like guns twice. I don't think he's getting suspended a
total now of thirty three games for these two things because there was something about
And again I don't know if that's right or wrong, because the league has
literally made a financial investment in promoting Jah Moran. They put him on national
TV aton last year, he was on Christmas Day. He's one of the
bright young stars that they are promoting, and it is detrimental to the league
when he gets suspended when he I mean, I don't know exactly like how
it affects the NBA, like their bottom line, their ability to make money.
But I would assume Jah Morant making these negative headlines they consider that to
be bad to their bottom line. So that part of it also makes me
feel weird as a very partisan biased Grizzlies fan where I'm like, like,
it's like it's like if you do the parenting analogy, it's like if you
like tell your kid, we had very clear expectations and you broke them,
and then the kid you're talking to is like, my sister is playing with
the gun in the street. You're like, yeah, but what do you
expect from her? Like you, we actually have expectations for you. That
kid, we can't. We can't control that kid. So it's weird.
There's there is a double standard, and there can be double standards, Like
we don't have to pretend that everyone gets treated equally in the NBA. James
Harden doesn't have to come to every practice if he doesn't want to quietly play
every half of basketway, he doesn't want to like pretending everyone has to get
treated the same in professional sports. We don't have to do that. But
like, it just adds more of this stuff. When you're thinking about John
Morant, we're like, this is strange. Well, I think most of
us like which words to be over. We want to fast forward to the
end season tournament just finished, and now John Morant's coming back and hopefully he
doesn't do anything dumb on social media again because it's not fun to talk about.
And I don't pretend I have all the answers, like what is correct
here, what the league should be doing, what job Morants people should be
doing? I mean, first and foremost you got to say it, I
guess in sports podcasting, first and foremost was want John Morant, like to
take care of himself, take care of his family, take care of his
career, take care of his financial situation, Like he's lost a ton of
money, Like this has cost him a massive in calculate it is calculable,
it's like forty million dollars, and like just stuff he's lost from this,
like the loss of the supermac's contract extension, Like there's all this stuff that
like he's lost because of it. We just want John Rant to be safe
and healthy and everyone around the NBA and their families to be healthy. And
then like once that's taken care of, okay, then we can complain about
like wait, it was twenty five, really did we didn't really need to
be that much? And then again, like what's next, Like what happens
when the next player like Stephen Jackson back in the day got arrested for firing
a gun outside of his strip club and like he was guilty, Like it
went to court and he I think he got eight games. And so so
it's like comparing it to old things in the past doesn't work. This is
a new precedent, and now it's going to be like what happens if something
worse or weirder, if that doesn't specifically fall under like the already established legal
guidelines, such maybe like domestic violence are getting arrested that falls under. It
just all becomes uncomfortable conversations. There is no natural segue to the basketball.
Ask let's just talk about me to do it? Dan, I got one.
Yeah, I've been thinking of it. So we will move forward.
But there are those twenty five games that John Rant will not be participating in
to start the season, and we also you Keith, you mentioned Tyas Jones
also not there. Marcus Smart is the guy is on board now and will
be very much tasked with filling that void. It seems to me like he's
kind of replacing two people. Maybe you can speak to just the Marcus Smart
trade in general, what you think he means for this team? Are they
asking too much of him? Just give me, give me, give us
your your take on the Smart acquisition and sort of what will be asked of
him for these twenty five games and beyond. So I think a lot is
being asked of him. I think you correctly state. And I've been putting
this out on my shows where it's like, all right, he's he's the
Tias Jones replacement. He's the extra ballhandler, and he's also the Dylan Brooks
replacement. And when John Morant suspended, Wait a minute, all right,
he's now he's the John Morant, Tias Jones, and Dylan Right. Like
that's a that's a lot for a guy who only plays about seventy five percent
of his games, you know. Like he's also kind of like the oh
we always wanted this wing type player. Yeah, he's filling that void that
already existed, in addition to the ones that were created by departures the John
Morands mentioned and the trade itself. Yeah, so, like I do worry
like if he has to be primary initiator on offense and also guard the best
not like guard, and he's probably better guarding wings than than like you know,
your deer and foxes. Now anyways, but like it does feel like
we're asking a lot of him in a broad sense, though I do like
the exposition of Marcus Smart. Once John mart comes back, I think the
exquisition of Marcus Smart over Dylan Brooks it's gonna be I think a big win.
I think just having another ball handler and another passer and a guy who
can play alongside Jaw without I think a defensive drop off actually with the defensive
boost, Like, I think one problem that everyone knows the Grizzlies have has
been half court scoring. And I do not think it like necessarily adding Marcus
Smart helps with the half court that much, but I do think it gives
you another look you can have, and I think he can be more effective
than Dylan Brooks was in those situations. And like with Tias Jones, they
likes playing ti Us and Jaw together, it seemed like, but I really
disliked it, Like I kind of hated it. I was like, we
can't, we can't guard any any like backcourt players. Won't we do this?
Two years ago they had some really good net ratings when ti Us and
Job played together, but every other year when they played together, they just
got destroyed on defense. And it's like I don't care, Like if you
post a one twenty offensive rating, that's great, but like we're giving up
one thirty and it's like that just we're losing every time, and it doesn't
take like a you know, you know, stats and numbers lie, but
it's like, well that matches my eye test. We can't contest any three
pointers because everyone on our perimeter is like six foot two or something. And
so I think the extraction of Marcus Smart should help the team a lot.
When fully healthy, you get someone who can replicate I think Dylan's defense with
strengths. But I think one thing Dylan was really bad at is like actual
maybe like you think of him as like a nitty gritty player, but he's
actually really bad at like rebounds, chasing down loose balls. Like he's good
at navigating screens, he's good at one on one defense, but like you
know, he's bad at offense. And then he's bad at actually rebounding too.
And we saw a lot of what Steven Adams went out. This team
went from the elite rebounding team to hey, they're actually bad at rebounding,
and a lot of people saw it watching the Feeble World Cup you're like,
oh, Jaren is not a good rebounder, and I don't know why.
Steve Kerr and the TMSA was like, what if we surrounded a one bad,
big rebounder with a bunch of guards who are also not good at rebounding.
What if we just blame that all on Jaron for not getting rebounds.
But I digress Marcus Smart, like he's a pretty he's pretty solid. He
was a rebounder, but he's like the hustle guy, and he's like the
deflections, the steals, the blocks, And I do think the Grizzess Devens
is gonna be great. I think it actually could be better than it was
even with Dylan Brooks, with Marcus Smart in the fold before. Though to
like go back to the suspension part, it might be a little bit rocky
because you are asking Marcus Smart to do quite a bit with the with the
loss of Tias Jones, Dylan Brooks and also, oh, by the way,
John Rant, was this like the guy that you would have been smart
that you would have wanted them to consolidate some of their assets into or do
you think that this might have been more influenced by oh the job Rant suspension,
like now we kind of need to this other sort of box rather than
just going to get not a Brookshire placement or just someone on the wing who
can play with both Bane and Jaw at the same time. Like with Smart,
if you would have maybe not someone who identified I don't think a lot
of people thought he was available until the actual trade went through. Would he
have been someone that you would have wanted on the Grizzlies radar if they were
looking to make that consolidation trade. Okay, So to answer, I'm gonna
answer part of the question, like, was was the ja Morant suspension like
to that way in their decision to target and pursue Marcus Smart, I would
say absolutely not, just under the very simple like you would not trade Tias
Jones if you were considering the jah Morant suspension, like you just flat out
wouldn't do it. Like that doesn't make it, That doesn't make any sense.
And so I think, no, I don't think this the suspension weighed
in at all. Like maybe they said we had to get literallyast somebody who
can dribble a basketball, but I don't think that had any factor. I
think they got Marcus Smart for how Marcus Smart fits when John It is back
and they're focusing on the playoffs. They've had a ton of regular season success
the past two years, and I think they knew two years ago. They
were like, all right, I don't totally trust our fifty six wins.
We're maybe not totally built for the playoffs. And like they made some theoretical
moves like these are better archetypes of players for the playoffs. I thought they
were horrible moves because you're like, yeah, Jake la Rabia in theory is
maybe like a postseason player, but like he's an unproven rookie, and so
like they got a bunch of rookies last summer, and so I think Marcus
Smart continues the idea of like, this is a postseason guy we can depend
on. This is a guy with experience, you know, late rounds of
the playoffs, and he does provide some extra ball handling while also not sacrificing
our perimeter defense. Now, the very first part of your question, you're
like, was this the right guy for the consolidation trade? As a fan
or an analyst or a fanalist, if you will, the the trade for
Marcus Smart, Like I like it, and I think Marcus Smart is a
great fit on the Grizzlies. But the only times I don't like it is
when I think of it in the context of the idea of this being always
was this our big move that like we've been waiting for for years, And
when I think of it in the context of, like, oh, we
traded that Warriors first round pick, that top four protected Warriors first rounder in
twenty twenty four that we've been holding forever, it's like we made andre Igdala
mad for this. We like did set like like we've had so much,
we went through so much stuff like to get this pick, and it was
always like years ago, it was man, we got the we got the
Jazz twenty two pick, we got the Lakers twenty three pick, we got
the like it was always like you're you're always counting your future assets, and
it's like one day we could trade all those picks and we could get whoever,
And it was like, we could get Jalen Brown if we traded all
these picks. Wait, so like and then as the years went by,
and this happens for everybody, like heads up, Sam Presty, Like this
happens for everybody that you eventually you start using those picks and you're like,
oh, we used two of our picks on Jake la Ravia. And then
it's like, oh, fast forward, all right, now we finally made
our trade and we sent two future picks and Tias Jones for Marcus Smart and
you're like, uh, that's okay, but like it's not like a super
excited. It's like you get super excited about it. And then when you
like, you further like draw the whatever the view back and you're like,
oh, so a year after we traded the Anthony Melton for David Roddy,
we then traded Thias Jones and two firsts for a better Melton and Marcus Smart,
and it's like Melton plus Tias Jones plus two firsts for Roddy and Smart,
Like that's kind of a it feels like a lateral move, not like
a super It's like we like, I think getting Marcus Smart made us better,
but only because we made ourselves worse last off season. And so like
again, when you this is maybe this is like podcaster brain problems. We're
like when you cover the team like daily or multiple times a week for years
and you remember back to all right, trade deadline at twenty twenty two,
it was like, all right, we're gonna have cap space, We're gonna
have three extra picks. We're gonna have We have Melton and we have Brooks,
and we have Tias Jones, and those are all tradable contracts, and
we have these guys and these guys and if we package all that together,
we can get all that stuff. And now you're like, Tias Jones has
gone, Dylan Brooks has gone, Kyle Anderson he left, Danthy Melton he's
gone, Brendan Clark's injured, and all of the extra picks we had that
became Marcus Smart and Jake Larevia. And it's like if you like cause,
because like, I'm generally optimistic, but I do get criticized. We're like,
hey, you're you're kind of down on the Grizzlies a lot, and
I'm like, I'm not really, Like I don't think I am. Like
if you're telling me you went back in time two years ago in the middle
of the twenty twenty two season, and you're like, hey, guess what
going into the twenty twenty twenty four season, John Rand's gonna be suspended twenty
five games. Brandon Clark's gonna have a torn achilles, and all of our
bench that we're so proud of, and Dylan Brooks and all of our draft
picks turned into Marcus Smart and jakela Rabia. You would not be happy.
You would be like once, yeah, like that, we didn't get anything.
We thought we were adding Pascal Siakam or og An Andobi or whoever else.
We thought we were gonna trade all of our future picks for these things,
and now we don't have any extra future picks going forward. The guys
who still have their own picks, like they could still trade, but like
you no longer have that. Oh it's I'm super optimistic for our bright future.
The bright future is the guys you have in house. You have John
Moran, you have Desmond Bandy, I have Jared Jackson junior on Honestly,
like no other teams probably have as good of a young core, or you
know, you can argue a few like maybe the Thunder or the Pelicans or
whatever, but like we're still have all these great things and we're still have
a bright future because of that. But my pushback is like, yeah,
but I had those things two years, Like I already had those things.
I thought I was getting those things and more, and now you're telling me
what about Marcus Smart? Like Okay, that's kind of fun, Like it's
pretty good, Like it's pretty good, but it's no longer this like,
oh my god, we're gonna be a dynasty. It's now like, yeah,
we should be competitive. We we we got a chance, you know,
like we got a chance to make the conference finals. Probably we're not
a favorite mighty stretch of the imagination, but when healthy, we should we
should be able to basically face down with anybody, and we're gonna be underdogs
to the best teams. But like that's fine. I don't know, it's
just like I know I've been going on for a long time now, but
the it's just like the change of perspective where it's like it used to be
so optimistic and now I'm like talking myself into yeah, this is why the
Marcus Smart trade is good. Yeah. I don't think that's unique too.
I can remember Dan and I specifically talking about, oh, the Grizzlies are
so primed, like look at all this young talent they have. It's so
projectable and they have all this stuff. What are they going to turn that
into it, and like you say, it's Marcus Smart, I do think
though, I mean all the other stuff they had, independent of the picks
and all this, you know, that's still really good. In Desmond Baine,
I think is kind of we haven't talked about him hardly at all,
and he's relevant for several reasons, not the least of which is his fat
new contract he got. What do you think about the numbers that he that
he you know, the years and dollars. And then with specific respect to
these first twenty five games, if you're looking for playmaking assistance, like,
is he someone that you could see we know what he does really well already,
is he someone that you could see expanding that aspect of his game to
where it's not just Marcus Smart trying to be a conventional point guard for you
know, more than a quarter of the season. Can Desmond Baine run more
pick and rolls? Is that something? Is that asking too much of him?
I feel like we're already talking about what we've asked too much of Marcus
Smart. Just what are your Desmond Baine thoughts? How how much better can
he get and in what ways? And will that be of particular? You
know, need especially early this year. We will ac like a warning for
any Celtics fans that might be listening. Yeah, big shout out to the
Celtics for salary dumping the draft rights of Desmond Bane to the Grizzlies. Yeah,
Deson means awesome. And anytime like you get down thinking about like maybe
the way you might have mismanaged the roster, it's like, but we still
have Desmon Baine, we still have John Morant, we still have Joan Jackson
Junior, and those guys are awesome. And Desmon Baine, they can talk
about the contract he got for me. It's a no brainer. I think
it was. It was technically not a MAX, but it's like the it
looks like the MAX. I mean, it's just look at look rank the
best shooting guards in the NBA. Just for me. It's that simple.
It's like, all right, Devin Booker and it's like all right, now,
now who are we talking about? Like, uh, you'd rather have
him than like like he's better than Bradley Beal And it's like he's better than
you know, like you just again look at it. It's like he's one
of the he's one of the best shooting guars in the NBA right now,
and I think he can improve the playmaking you mentioned Grant, like, yeah,
he's gonna be on the ball constantly the first twenty five games. I
mean, I think he's gonna average five or six assists. There was first
twenty five games he's gonna I mean, I like fantasy basketball people like he's
gonna average like twenty eight, five and five. I think the first you
know, two months of the season. And I think the way he can
improve is just continue the ball handling. I think any of the foul line
more. He's an elite free throw shooter, but he doesn't he doesn't totally
mastered the five or six free throw attempts per game, So I think like
he can improve that some. And honestly, like last year was a it
was a near all star level season. It was a breakout season, and
I think he was hurt for most of it, like his uh, his
first thirteen games, and that's including like I think the first two or three
games he couldn't hit anything, and then he had a ten game stretch where
he was like, I don't know what to call him, like it was
just like all NBA level Devin Booker like knocking down all except Devin Booker with
a better three point shot, you know, like he was. He was
outrageously good. Then he hurt his toe, he missed a bunch of time.
He came back, is all his shooting spots went way down. He's
still like you wouldn't know it if you were just like checking out his overall
splits, You're like, Okay, that's amazing. He is. I think
he actually was hurt most of last year, so I think he can get
better there and just then just the natural progression of a guy like you know,
getting a few years of the league under his belt. Yeah, I
think. I think dezon Bayan he's like a trendy pick, like first time
All Stars in the West, like Jamal Murray. He's gonna get it.
But like I think desmon Bain, especially because of the job Rand suspension,
like he's gonna go nuts at the beginning of the year. And I think
desmon Bayan is probably one reason why Grizzes fans can be super optimistic. Like
I don't know if Jared can level up again like he leveled up last year.
Job Moran already an All NBA type player. If desmon Bayan then becomes
like a top thirty, top twenty player there. Then you're like, well,
they have this big three, who cares if they're surrounded by Desire Williams
and John Conchar and whoever else you mentioned. Jared Jackson Jr. He feels
unnecessarily polarizing to me, just because I understand the criticisms the rebounding, the
fouling can still be a problem. But then I'm wondering, do we read
too much into the rebounding because he does spend he can spend a lot of
time, Like look at where he's defending away from the basket. If we
could track that relative to other bigs, I think he's gonna stand near the
top of that, Whereas like it's the same thing that could be with Evan
Mobley, even when he's kind of like the lone big lineups with with Cleveland.
How concerning our Jaren Jackson juniors continued weaknesses and you mentioned that you're wondering
whether he can continue to leven up, level up. What was something about
last season? And I'm assuming it came on the offensive end, because he
was just so much more or looked like he was so much more of a
complete player there. What is just something that really impressed you about his growth
last Well, it's it's it's wild. I mean he leveled up in every
area, Like he leveled up defensively. Sure, he left the NBA blocks
per game two years ago, and of course he did again last year.
He just he got better and better at defense. He can guard basically anyone.
His block numbers were ridiculous, They're spectacular. And yeah, his his
finishing got so much better this year. And even his point shot. It
went from he's been all over the place with a three point shot, and
it had been two years ago it was bad, and last year it got
back up to like no, okay, you know, and like just being
okay, he's really really good, but it's two point finishing skyrocketed and so
like he started making all his two pointers again. He had a really good
field goal percentage. And you mentioned, like it's weird how he's polarizing.
He's the most unnecessarily polarizing. Like this goes to how we talk about all
NBA players. Everyone's like, oh, Jaren should rebound better, Like it's
like, well, yeah, like if Jaren was Ben Wallace or Andre Drummond
on the glass. He's like a top five NBA player. He can't be
a top five It like why why does everyone have to be elite? This
goes back like Dan, we're talking about this a lot, or they're like,
oh, man if Dylan Brooks could like shoot less and be more efficient,
or like like like if you package that dress his strongest innermode. Yeah,
but it was just like, man if if this, if this all
defensive level like three could add a higher three point image or like better scoring,
You're like, yes, he would be an All Star, Like we
all wish he would be Paul George, but like planners aren't that. And
so like again Jared getting criticized last year, like the foul trouble is one
thing he does, get him foul trouble. It's overblown because I think when
we talk about sports, we have to have just like one single bullet point
thing to talk about. And maybe some of that's just the way ESPN and
other networks cover the league. Like Jared, I think found out of four
games last year he played low minutes because they the Grizzlies don't play anybody heavy
minutes just period Like they don't play anybody heavy minutes his fouls are still a
problem despite the fact, but there's nuance, like, yeah, he's not
always fouling out, but sure we wish the fouling was less. The rebounding
thing, it's just like, compare his rebounds per possession to like, who
do you want, like Chris Bosh, Like, they're pretty close. It's
like he's he's not elite at rebounding, and I would say I call him
like average. I was like showing people, I'm like, hey, who
do you think had more rebounds per possession? Pal Gasol on the Grizzlies or
Jared And again, it's really really close. They're like within like tents of
a rebound per pres like and so it's just like, I think Jared's weaknesses
are overstated. I think the rebounding he's not good at it. But like,
God, you can't be good at everything. You can't be the world's
best room protector or one of the five best room protectors who also can switch
out on the perimeter like he had all these games last year with like five
blocks and two steals and five whatever, Like no one else in the NBA
did that last year, And I legit saw someone be like, well,
like like you can you can average three blocks and one steal and also like
be a great reminder like look at kimolaj One. Okay, yeah, it's
like all mean, it's been done. It's like why does every player have
to be the best player ever? And it's like Jared is really good for
it. He is, so I do think he suffers some from uh,
like the Karl Anthony Towns thing of, like he is frustrating to watch at
times because of the fouls and like they've had some notable like when you lose
playoff games and like you fouled out, all right, people remember that when
you lose on Christmas date of the Warriors and you get in foul trouble,
it just reinforces the biggest stereotype because like, oh that's what I thought about
this guy, it's been reinforced. This one Grizzlies game I watched in December
was them losing on the road to the Warriors and he was in foul trouble.
So thus Jared has foul trouble. I think the fouls are legit thing.
He can clean up the rest of it. It's like, I mean,
like if you want a rebounder, go get a remounder. But Jaren
might be the best defender in the NBA. He was voted the best defender
in the NBA last year. I'll take that over, like whoever who's like
really great at Like I love Cavan Looney, but like, give me Jaron
over Kavan Looney. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, no, every Like I
don't know, I don't know when this is coming out Dan and Grant,
but like the talk this week is like what if Team US say had Kevan
Luney said Jared, it's like every game, they would have won every game?
Why not both It's an okay arguments and Bonus would have been in trouble
if they complotely irrelevant, But we need to nationalize Steven Adams. So we've
hit the Jaren Jackson thing. Makes it because you mentioned that, Yeah,
he can definitely cut cut the fouls in a perfect world. That's kind of
the low hanging fruit. This is a team that's won fifty plus games two
years running, but everybody sort of agrees and not to keep harping on like,
oh but they don't do this. What is the low hanging fruit for
the Grizzlies, Because there's some things to pick from that. They could you
know, get from that team that's in the low to mid fifties and wins
and then maybe you know, not necessarily improve that total so much because who
really cares, but be a bigger playoff threat. Is it the half court
scoring? Is it the you know, their bottom ten and three point accuracy?
Is it the rebounding when Steven Adams is not involved? Like what's the
low hanging fruit that If you're a Grizzlies fan, you can say, like,
if we just kind of tick these boxes collectively, you know, this
is how we sort of progress to the becoming a team and sort of that
next tier. Yeah, I think the low hanging fruit continues to be the
half court offense, And I don't know if it's been fixed by any special
imagination. The Grizzlies the last two years or so, two years ago,
they were elite at transition opportunities. They were always scoring in the paint,
they were turning everybody over constantly. They've been really good at defense the past
two seasons. A lot of that kind of uh failed when Steven Adams went
out. They were so fine at defense, but like Steven Adams actually getting
the rebounds, stopping the possessions for the other team. That was, unfortunately
a much bigger cog to the Grizzlies success than maybe most of us hoped it
was. I thought I was getting second chances on offense. I mean that.
Yeah, So the Grizzlies offense the last two years has been like Jamritt
will score. If he doesn't, Steven Adams will get the rebound, and
then everybody else it was basically, hey, Dylan, just just get it
on the rim, Like, just get on the rim, man, and
like we're good. And that was literally that's been the Grizzlies off defense honestly,
the entire John Morant era. Before it was Steven Adams, it was
Jonast Vancunis, it was just get the ball on the rim. We'll get
second chance of opportunities. And I think they rightly thought, all right,
going back to the Steven Adams Jonas Vonctunist trades, They're like, we gotta
have a better offense. We can't just let Yunis do it. We want
Jaren to Groves and offensive player. We wanted to pen more on the other
players, so let's do this trade. But then Steven Adams, you know,
I think it turned out as well as they could have hoped. Like
the Steven Adams trade was huge for the Grizzlies and it led to their success.
But also I think maybe we got a little too addicted to Steven Adams
is doing everything, and maybe that is a place that maybe I'm not an
NBA trainer, maybe Jaren can get better as a rebounder, you know,
like like but like he's okay at it, but like, you gotta have
other players who rebound. One of my big frustrations with some of the rosters,
like I'm notoriously like obsessed with Anthony Melton, Like Danthony Meltson and Kyle
Anderson and then Brandon Clark. Those were your good rebounders outside of Steven Adams.
And so the Brandon Clark thing, you can't control that he gets hurt.
But it's like one of the problems when we looked at the roster even
last off season going into the year, it's like, oh, they got
rid of they got rid of two of their better rebounders for their positions in
Melton and Kyle Anderson. They also got rid of their two best steals guys,
and it was just like this was a team that was built on rebounding
second chances, second chance points and then forcing turnovers. How's that gonna work
if you got rid of like the depth pieces and then it turned out like
they were still good. They weren't as good, but they had to find
new ways to do it. They weren't causing as many turnovers. But I
think Jared and Dazen Bain stepped up last season and that's why you saw similar
regular success. Those guys both got better. Then it was Steve and Adams
went down, you got the trade deadline, you get Luke Knard and so
now actually, and it's hard to it's hard to gauge post trade deadline regular
shows in basketball because whatever it's like, you see a lot of unsustainable trends,
Like the Grizzlies got good at hitting three pointers and all of a sudden
they became like a decent three point shooting team and their defense trailed off a
little bit. So I think I think the dream is and maybe this is
the low hanging fruit. Just if you get all your bodies back, if
you get Steven Adams and Luke Kennard, well, now suddenly you have like
a really formidable like top six or So even if you have a question mark
about the small horse spot, just assuming Baine and Smart are going to be
the wings alongside John Morant and then Jared Steven Adams are healthy, you got
Luke Knard off the bench, like you got some stuff, and I think
their offense could be better, and their defense, I think it is going
to be absolutely elite for the third straight year. Whether that transitions into the
playoffs, I'm not convinced at all, because I think Marcus Smart for a
lot of like he does bring playoff experience, he does not bring efficient scoring.
He does not provide off the ball scoring. It's gonna be how much
of his just hustle plays, deflections and then his ball handling. Maybe that
alone can help the offense, but like if you need a bucket, it's
still going to be clear out. Maybe that's something doesn't Bank could add to
his game, become an even better ISO score. He's already pretty decent at
it. But I am not as like bullish that they've fixed or corrected their
their postseason woes. I'm struggling to score in the half court. I honestly
wonder if the John Rand suspension could almost help them in the sense of just
self exploration. You're talking about Desmond Bine being put in those one on one
situations. And I also just wonder going from Dylan Brooks to Marcus Smart,
where if you look over the last three years, they're catch and shoot three
point numbers are erily similar. Marcus Smart is defended way differently from beyond the
yark than Dylan Brooks ever was. And so now you're talking about even when
they're at full strength, you should be able to open up the floor more
having Luconard Marcus Smart not being Dylan Brooks, and so I do wonder.
I don't really know what that looks like with Steven Adams in the fold,
because you already mentioned like when he was out, they couldn't be as reliant
on offensive rebounding and they had about a league average half court offense during that
stretch. So those lineups with Jaren Jackson Junior at the five or just a
different type of front court, I'm wondering if those could actually be more weaponized
offensively in the half court now that you have a Smart and Luke Kenard at
the same time. Yeah, and even like a guy we haven't mentioned his
name once, Santi Aldama had a lot of success sharing the court with Jaren
and I think even if you think about the lineup experimentations are gonna do without
John Morant, you're gonna have like you're gonna definitely gonna do some Jarren and
Santy at the four and five and then just like I think, I think
Luke Kennard, Desmond Bane and Marcus Smart are gonna be like it's gonna be
rocket fuel, Like that's gonna be like I think, a really strong offensive
lineups, whether Zavor Tillman, who did a pretty solid job filling in for
Steven Adams, Unfortunately his limitations, he's not as good at any of the
things that Steven Adams does. As far he's a very good one on one
defender, but like he can't rebound at the same level by any stretch of
the imagination. Like, I think it's gonna be interesting because again, like
when you hit the level the Grizzlies are at where you've made the postseason,
you've had home court advantage two years in a row, and now everyone in
the third year, and it's like you never know if things are fixed until
basically you get to April. So it's like that that's gonna be hard.
That's why I also always tell basketball fans like, enjoy every month. Every
month is fun, Like we're here to watch basketball. We don't get too
obsessed with with like the postseason breakdown. But I think there are a lot
of there are a lot of lineups that like they can tinker around with and
maybe guys can find their footing while John Morant is unavailable. I have a
very scientific question for you, Keith is Zaire Williams still a thing like is
there? And maybe that's unfair because Dan and I obsess over this guy.
He was very much for us, I think representative of like, oh man,
just what if if he you know it kind of Desmond bayand sort of
became that which is like oh if this homegrown, sort pseudo homegrown because the
trade, but if he pops, boy, they really got something. And
Williams, like, you know, injuries made it unfair to evaluate him last
year a little bit, I think, But just the idea of this guy
at what I think he just turned twenty two, like today maybe or yesterday.
Yeah, as a twenty one year old or maybe twenty. He started
several games down the stretch as a rookie and like looked at least really promising,
like player type wise. You know, what are your expectations for him?
Is he still someone the Grizzlies view as you know, a key piece
or are the roddis and you know conchars and Aldama's like sort of ahead of
him now in terms of importance and projectability. I would say Aldama's definitely ahead
of him. I mean, I don't have any answers, Like every question
you asked is good, but I don't know anybody who knows, well,
is he a thing? Is not a great? Is he a thing?
I would mean to know which, again a non scientific answer. They're hoping
he is. His teammates have been talking him up like, oh, you
guys are gonna see what you know Zire does the next year. But like,
yeah, I mean that was a high draft investment. You know,
they picked him tent They traded up to get him as part of that Steven
Adams J Wantspontunas trade. He had a promising rookie year, but even his
rookie year, like he's an athlete, which is great, Like he lob
finisher that Grizzlies needed those. They were very exciting. They got a lot
on transition opportunities, and he was that vertical spacing threat in the half court,
you know, like he could even even be in the dunker spot,
or he would cut baseline, you know, like catch teams sleeping on defense.
And then it was all about the three point shot. And the latter
half of the of the year his rookie season, he made some threes.
And then in the Warrior series and I think he had one game where he
knocked on the couple of threes and so everyone's like, oh, this rookie.
He's like, Oh, he's on the trajectory to be good, to
be that wing with size and shooting that every team needs. And then he
was just awful, just awful last year. And like I've always been a
bit, I've been more on the skeptical side with Zaire because I don't here's
something very scientific. I don't feel like he has feel Oh no, that's
a thing. Yeah, Like I'm like, I don't. He looks like
he looks like two k animations strung together when he does things where it's like,
oh, yeah, he just did his dribble move and now he looks
up. All right, Now we've passed, but none of it. It
never flows. Nothing ever flows one into the other. And it's not like
oh he knew Roddy was gonna be there. It was like, oh,
he looked up psaw him, said I should pass, and then he passed.
You're like, no, that's a split second too late. You gotta
just do it. You gotta just know. And so like I've always thought
like even when he makes jumpers, like you know he can make him mid
range jumper, and he clearly, like players, works incredibly hard at these
skills, and like you see him on the court, you're like, oh,
he made that one. But it was kind of like there's like the
split second of like I'm gonna do my move now, and then he does
his move and it's like I don't. Yeah, So like I've never been
a big fan where I'm like I don't. I had a long running thing
also like like he's not he's not super good at anything. Like he doesn't
rebound, he doesn't steal, he does a block shot, so he doesn't
he doesn't do the hustle place and so it's like, well, if you
don't like he, I know you can catch lobs. But like the athleticis
term should also apply to like maybe not just catching lobs, like you can't
not partically good at defense, and if you're not getting rebounds and you're not
forcing turnover and then you're shooting, as a question mark, what are you?
It's like I have no idea, and so like obviously it's a Grissi's
fan. I hope he bounces back because there's there's great opportunity for somebody for
Zaire Williams or David Roddy or Jake La Rabia or Vince Williams Junior or anybody
to do something at any small forward minutes not being played with Marcus Smarter or
Desmond Baine, like they're gonna play a lot of small ball. Luke Nard
is gonna play a lot, Marcus Smarts gonna play a lot, doesn't bang.
They play as much as they can. Beyond that, anyone, it's
just like somebody does something, you know, and so it's like I don't
know it, like it's gonna be a fun preseason training camp battle, or
it might be a horrible training camp battle where it's like Nope, none of
these guys and then he's matching salary and then it's like, because legit,
that's why the NBA works. Like what if he's making five or six million
because he get drafted in the lottery, So it's like it becomes matching salary
and they turn it over to one of one of the other guys they drafted
the year after him. We are entering the cookie cutter portion of the podcast,
which I know everyone is just excited about and you actually desire. William
talk was a good segue into this. Well, they're at full strength,
they're starting five is set smart, Baine Morant, Adams, Jaren Jackson Jr.
How does the rest of that? If you had to predict right now
before we're getting into training camp, the rest of their ten man rotation shake
out, I probably could have prepared this. Let's see. Definitely Luke Kennard,
Definitely, Santi Aldama. I would say definitely just a lock. Now
he had a great season, hundred percent. Aldama's a lock. It would
be stunning if he got DMPs in my mind, I mean, but there's
the opportunity though this is of course, of course Brandon Clark is not.
I'm not penciling him in for any minutes this year. I mean, hopefully
he's around in March that they're acting like he's going to be. But I'll
believe it when I see it. So your back court, I mean,
your your front court is set off the bench because I think Tilman and Aldama
had that locked up. Kennard is gonna play, and then beyond that is
Rose gonna play. I know with Dowd he probably will, but they gave
him to guarantee years. But and when John Morant's back, is that someone
who plays? When when Morant is back, I would not expect Derek Rose
to play, although again he's gonna have every opportunity to show he still has
something in the tank. But I would assume your bench is going to be
Kennard. They're gonna they're gonna all the point guard minutes are gonna be played
by John Morant, Desmont Band or Marcus Smart. Those guys are gonna handle
all the ones, and you're gonna play Luke Knard. And I think that
the one regret, honestly they have last year is not playing Luke Knard even
more like they they didn't play him enough that they didn't they didn't turn it
over to John Morant and Luke Kenard and Desmont band all playing together. They
have one of the most hysterical like three man lineup net ratings ever last year.
I can't remember, I should look this up. It was it was
something like they played one hundred and fifty regulars and possessions plus forty eight net
rating. They played one hundred and thirty postseason like lad possessions together plus forty
nine net rating, And so it's like they absolutely smoked when they went with
this small ball. Of course those are outliers, and but I do think
they wish they played it more, and so I think those guard minutes are
going to be full when fully healthy. And I don't think they're gonna play
Derick Ross. I look just now in the glass forty point four net rating
with Baying, Kenard and Jaw on the court in the regular season. Yeah,
and I want the playoff one's better. I'm just telling you right now,
the playoff one's better. But the I don't think it's gonna be a
minutes for Derrick Rose. The question then becomes, so that's eight. I
feel certain Canard Aldama Chillman off the bench. I think it's gonna be roddy,
And then I think it's gonna be conshar conchar weirdly has an extension that
kicks in next year, So like concerts locked in for a long time,
but I don't know. Then you start picking between maybe it is Derrick Rose,
maybe it is Jake La Rabia, maybe it is Zayre Williams, and
I doubt anyone who says they have any to what it's actually going to be.
Well, you mentioned the small lineup that will guardwise with respect to the
closing lineup, is Adams someone you envisioned closing a lot? Or do we
see Jackson at the five with some other combination of you know, all the
mainstays will be in there, but do you do you envision them going smaller
to close? Or is Adam someone that you think will be out there late
or maybe I'm not even mentioning who you think will be out there to close
most games. Obviously it's matchup dependent in a lot of cases, but generally
speaking, Yeah, So it's wild because with these multiple years of having this
big center Steven Adams and then before that was your onest mon Tunis, they
were never the preferred when it got really intense, they were not the preferred
closing option. They would go with Brandon Clark. Most of the time it
would be Jared and Brandon. So now Brandon's out, and that like once
again thrust Steven Adams backup higher in like importance. And I do think,
yeah, he's absolutely going to be like the closing option. I think they're
closing lineups. Like I don't have any worry about the closing lineups, both
with and without jaw if everybody's healthy. I think John Morant doesn't Bane,
Marcus Smart, jerme X Junior, Steven Adams is awesome, Like that's that's
going to be a problem for literally everyone, Like maybe the Sun's having you
know, we don't have him with a guard Kevin Durant, not many people
do. And like, all right, the Nuggets, Yeah, all right,
the Nuggets are good. But like I think that's an elite five.
Honestly, when John rants out, I think the same defensive wing issues.
But like Kennard Baine, Marcus Smart, with Jared and Stephen Adams, that's
awesome, a really good like five. I think it's gonna be really tough
for a lot of people. So I don't have like a creative. I
don't have like a creative like I'm really dying to see this lineup, Like,
no, we have seven good players. I'd like those players to play.
So there's no the question I ask every year, there's no no quirky
wonky lineup. You want to see them try? I would say, my
only, my only if it's WEIRDO. There's like non jammerant lineups that like
entice me, like the like Luke Canard really won me over. I was.
I was when when they traded for him last year. I was very
lukewarm. Not to use the term luke again, No, I'm gonna stick
with it. I was very lukewarm about the Canard trade and hitting fifty five
percent of your three pointers, we'll win a guy over. And that's what
he did on the Grizzlies and so like. And also and honestly, this
is this goes another problem with like the team rebounding. I say this as
both a compliment and a criticism. Luke Canard was like the third best Grizzlies
rebounder, and I was like, like, that's good for Luke, it's
terrible for everybody else. But like I'm like I will look at least like
there's that thing again where it's like it's the feel like Luke understands if the
SHOT's going up, I need to be moving, moving, moving, the
ball's probably coming over here. We had several guys who weren't like that.
They're just like, oh, the ball went over there? Who knew?
It was like some people knew, like you know that they've seen enough basketball
they understand that. So, like, I think Luke Car's a pretty solid
rebounder, and I love the idea of Kennard Baine and Marcus Smart playing And
then like the thing I mentioned before that with all Dama and Jared Jackson JUNR.
Maybe that's my most weird five man line up that I really want to
watch for the Christmas this season. That was actually mine, except I wanted
no bones about Desmond Baine being a point guard, so I'd rather you sub
out Marcus Smart throw in Zaire Williams. It's like, then you're just Desmond
Baine plus a bunch of like bigger players but aren't too big. So it's
more of like a not a morbid curiosity, but it's just a curiosity.
What would that look like? I would like to y, Yeah, I
don't. We're trying so hard to make Zier Williams happening, you guys are
It's like, it's not It's not fetch, It's not gonna happen against credit
he did. For like, I tweeted about Zier Williams a couple times during
his rookie sees about how impressed I wasn't each time Keith would quote tweeted and
like pump the brakes on. It be like, well, this is like
skewed because we shot a million percent against the Knicks or something. No,
I don't. I don't mean to be the dalls water on guy, but
sometimes, but that was. That was probably during that stretch where I'm like,
he hasn't grabbed a defensive rebound in four hundred minutes whatever was, or
like Zire hasn't drawn a charge in three years, and I'm like, there
was a bunch of little hustle stats. No, it was deflections. This
is what it was. I'm not remembering again. Maybe I could have prepped.
It's not like I think about the Grizzies every day. Zire Williams has
the spectacular lack of deflection marks and lack of loose balls recovered. And there
was this thing. I was tracking it last year I'm like, Zyra Williams
was still not recovered a loose ball and like the top ten, and I
am going back to the skeptic thing. I'm very skeptical of the NBA Hustle
Stats page. Like I'm not saying they're faking it, like they're they're definitely
tracking things. The value of the things they're tracking I'm very skeptical of.
And I shouldn't say that as we just picked up the reigning two time Hustle
Award winner, Marcus Smart. I had an entire podcast episode basically about how,
like, I'm not sure how they applied their Hustle stats and came out
with Marcus Smart as the winner because he's not high in any of these categories.
But it was like the loose balls recovered. It was like Zire Williams
and a bunch of bigs in their thirties and it was like the only people
I'm like, how is this twenty one year old not just accidentally picked up
a loose ball? And people are like people would be like adding me on
Twitter and be like, hey, I think he got one. I'm like
that. I'm like, that might have been a rebound. It might have
been a rebound. We'll have to wait and see how it scored, like
they scored it as a rebound. Sorry zai here, Oh no, this
all adds scientific heft tier. He doesn't have, feel that's like a qualitative.
If you don't get deflections, you don't get loose balls, you don't
get rebounds, you can't really assist. Like it is like, I don't
he nominated him for does the least with the most award, that's what you're
but I mean they stopped playing him last year, and like he got healthy,
he got healthy. Yes, he struggled with injury last year, but
like he fell behind basically everyone in the rotation, and so maybe they'll give
him a chance like to regain that. But it is sad because like I
feel like I feel like my like calling card is a Grizzlers podcaster. Was
just being like it maybe most podcasters team specific podcasters like this, you latch
on, like you grab your data points and you're like, but just look
at the numbers when these guys play, and like these are or also like
this guy plays how I like guys to play, and so when now I'm
like, I'm like doing those confirmation bias, like I like that guy,
and then I found this stat and now I'm gonna hammer at home, and
then it just keeps happening. Look how good they do when these guys play,
And like I felt like all my years, like the first three years,
I need Gritson Grinds. I was like passionate. I'm like, the
Grizzies are good, but when this, like I would't even like when any
of these eight guys play, we're awesome. And I was so passionate every
single year, and last year was the first year where I was like,
outside of our best four, I don't care, like they're whatever, Like
I don't like, I don't People are like, hey, should Taylor Taylor
Jingius have gone with the whoever? Like like should Roddy have finished? I'm
like, man, I don't know, like like all these guys are the
same to me and I don't have a strong opinion on any of them.
And it was just like when I would just I'm like i'd played conshar like
they're like what's because everyone's frustrated because like con there is this very known quantity
or a known entity like where I'm like concerts not terrible, Like I don't
know Zaire's terrible a lot, and David Roddy like anytime a rookie does anything
good, you're like, oh, he's pretty good, but like, flat
out he was terrible a lot. And that's just what happens with rookies.
And so I've become this like I worry it's made my product worse. I
don't have a strong passionate opinion about like, oh, yeah, like we
gotta play Kenneth Auton junior. It's like I'm more like, well you do,
wait, we do. Maybe it's just aging, you lose your edge.
You don't care anymore. You're just like, man, the coaches they
see him, they probably know best, And I'm like, shut up,
man, I feel like you're describing my exact trajectory as an analyst right now.
Yeah. Yeah, They're like they're like you company man. It's like
they don't they don't care what I say. Like I don't like, no
one's proven they're good. No one's proven they're good to me on the back
half of the roster. So it's like, yeah, put play Luke Kennard
thirty five minutes. Like he didn't like the trade, That's right, I
didn't. But guess what he's good. Let's let's play him. Let's play
that guy, and I don't care who they develop. Figure it out and
please get me some more talent on this team, Keith, I know you
gotta go, so we will end here. They're over under as of September
twelfth, twenty twenty three, forty six and a half. Would you go
over or under on that? And where do you see them just kind of
stacking up relative to the rest of the West. Well, all right,
where do I seem stacking up relative to the rest of the West. I
think when they're healthy, I think they're probably in that like fourth to sixth
best team maybe when you look at that, because the West is it's gonna
be brutal, but it's also kind of wide open. I think Denver and
Phoenix are probably the only teams I would just be prepared to say are better
than anyone at this point. I'm out on Phoenix. I'm out on Phoenix.
I'm playing my flag. Well, then there you go. So the
Grizzlies are the second best team in the West. There's only the Nuggets in
front of I. I don't I don't think we can beat I think the
Lakers are are much better than the Grizzlies. I think the Nuggets are better
than the Grizzlies. I think I think the Warriors and Sons are problematic for
the Grizzlies, but I think they're in the mix. I think they're there.
But of course the Grizzlies aren't healthy. Steven Adams was hurt and it
was a big that was that was a big weird into the year where he
was out for three to five weeks and never came back and it was months
and so like and John rand of course is suspended and has to not get
suspended again. And Marcus Smart plays sixty five games every year, and it's
like Jaron had a healthy year last year even with missing the first I can't
remember how many games he missed at beginn of the year, Like Jarreon played
under sixty games last year. And so all of that mixed together makes me
a little apprehensive of like, I don't know, And of course the depth
I feel like this year, this year's challenge has been they're really leaning into
trusting their own infrastructure. Like they have been good in the regular season for
two straight years, regardless of who suited up, regardless of who was there
every night, and they keep in my mind opping away at the depth.
It's like, oh that was the case, but now like Taynas Jones and
Dylan Brooks are gone and they played tons of minutes, and the way the
Dalan Brooks thing ended, people are like, oh, we're gonna be better
withouting dealing Brooks. It's like maybe we'll figure it out. Like it's a
great experiment, Like I basically became a Dealer Brooks apologist, where I'm like,
I've watched every game for years, and they're always good when he's on
the court, even though we're shooting thirty two percent, and so it's like
I don't know what that means, Like so maybe they will be actually better
without dealing Brooks. So so like me trying to assess the wind total,
I think when healthy, yeah, like probably a top five team, but
they're not gonna be healthy. They're missing a job for twenty five games.
That forty six and a half number. It feels fair, you know,
like they've hit their over Also every year John Rent has been in the league.
So I don't know if you do you ride the hot hand or you
do the old roulette fallacy, like it's been black fourth straight times, I'm
gonna go red. I don't know, I will say, I will say,
am I and my heart of hearts, I worry this is the year
they kind of like run out of the regular season magic where they're like,
oh, we really can't depend that much on just these six guys, and
we over extended ourselves. But like last year, we also know, like
Santio Dama, we had no idea who to be good and and he and
he was a very useful rotation player. And it seems highly likely if it
is Ziah Williams, or maybe it is Jake La Rabia, or if it
is David Roddy, somebody might jump back up into that and then with the
high end talent you have, you're probably gonna be all right. So ah,
I'm gonna take the over. I'm gonna take a slide over. I'm
gonna trust they know what they're doing. I think the Memphis Grizzlies know how
to win regular season basketball games. How useful of a skill is that?
It's pretty pretty good because I like it because the regular season is long,
and I watched all the games and I value winning. So yeah, I'm
gonna say comfortable forty seven wins. I'm pretty sure they're four and oh on
the last four over under is like clear over because I'm owing for they are,
but they are I think to go under every year and they've cleared the
over so notorious Grizzlies skeptic. Yeah, yep, Keith, this was great
as always. Thank you for giving us so much of your time. You're
able just to tell our listeners where they can find you and all the fantastic
work that you do. Yeah, if you're a Grizzlies fan, you should
be listening to Grits and Grinds. Get pretty uh. I give some of
this analysis there multiple times a week, and then if you're a general NBA
fan, please check out Fast Break Breakfast cover the whole league. So yeah,
check out Fast by Breakfast and Grizzlies fans do. Grits and Grinds linked
to all those stuff is in our podcast and YouTube descriptions. Grant, you
want to take us out here really quickly? Yeah, everybody follow Keith consume
all of his various contents. I'm I just want to say very disappointed.
We were promised a cat incursion and we did not get they have a cat.
I don't it left it was nipping my heels earlier, and then it
took off. Maybe the ignore tactical work. It didn't like desire Williams pessimism
that must a minute. You follow us, you can get a at Hartwood
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and we'll check you out next time