To get us through the late-Summer doldrums of the NBA, we’re reviewing teams from around the league and how their offseasons went.
Memphis Grizzlies
Key Additions:
Zach Edey
Key Losses:
Yuta Watanabe
Ziaire Williams
Offseason Review and 2024-25 Season Outlook:
Last year was a true disaster for the Memphis Grizzlies. The team was devastated by injuries to key players, along with Ja Morant’s suspension. Morant played in just 9 games. Brandon Clarke only played 6. Marcus Smart played 20. Luke Kennard 39. Desmond Bane 42. Desmond Bane missed half the season as was still top 8 in game played for Memphis last year. Jaren Jackson Jr led the team with 66, followed by Sant Aldama and John Konchar. Few teams could overcome so many injuries.
The question moving forward is how well can the Grizzlies bounce back? When so many players miss so much time, it’s reasonable to wonder how quickly those players can return to form. Ja had a serious should injury, and was just working himself back when he got himself suspended for being a dumbass. After nearly a full year away from competitive basketball, will he still be the Ja of old? But getting Ja, Bane, Clarke, and Smart healthy should improve the team quite a bit. I’ll also add that I really liked the Edey pick for Memphis, even though I was not high on Edey as a prospect. I think he’s a really good fit for the Grizzlies roster and what they want their centers to do.
Barring additional injury issues, I’d expect the Grizzlies to be back in the playoff mix, I just don’t know where in that mix they’ll be. I’d guess somewhere around the 6-10 range in the West.
Why We Hate Them:
Ryan Hollins tipped the ball! Plus weird Ja/Fox fan feuds created by a hack media personality.
I had to Google the Ryan Hollins thing. Good memory Greg.
Cold world!
I think the Grizz are the most Jekyll/Hide team in the West, they might end up being a playoff team or they could be a lottery team (due to injuries and/or jackassery).
I personally don’t think Ja will be the linchpin to their success, I think it’s going to be whether JJJ can stay healthy again this year and if they can get good production again from their bench which is quite nice all-around with Aldama, Konchar, Kennard, and GG Jackson going back to their support roles that they’re best suited for. They also have one of my favorite veterans in the entire NBA in D. Rose (I don’t know how much he has left, but I love watching him play). Plus, they get back one of my fav players on the Grizz in B. Clarke, but he’ll need some time to get back into form.
They have the talent, but they have a huge void of leadership on the court. Once Ja returns to the floor, this is “his” team again and I remain unconvinced that the Grizz will go anywhere until either Ja gets his head on straight or Bane & JJJ take over the leadership role full-time.
Wild how a team that traded away their starting center in Adams (who I give a ton of credit for their past successes) for basically nothing, but then luck into Zach Edey. The draft really couldn’t have gone better for them.
If they can stay healthy, I feel the Grizz can be a top 5 team in the West.
I agree with you here. Memphis managed to win games when Captain Dipshit was injured or suspended, but won fewer with Adams sidelined. Edey is maybe the perfect player to plug in based on his incredible size. I mean, he is absolutely going to get rebounds at both ends. And, you still have to guard him when he moves away from the basket, which wasn’t necessary with Adams, who I truly feel is underrated as to the way he can impact a game.
If Zach Edey sets the kind of brick wall screens that Adams does, Memphis could very well be a real problem. Still, it’s a safe bet that Duh will wreck it for them.
In the dreamy rise to success that was – we are reaching all the way back, back, back, back (football season around the corner, and Chris Berman, we miss you) to 2022-2023 and the Kings were looking at a possible 50 wins and a 2nd place finish as Denver looked dominant and Ja went out with a behavior injury (March 4 2023) we all expected the Grizz to fizz. Well, they didn’t. They stayed at the number two (2) spot in the Western Conf. They lost to the LAL in the first round, but IMO, they did themselves proud. This team, this season will come back and they will win a bunch of games.
And before Ja became a knucklehead – they were a very likable team. Ja was legit in the MVP race. I expect them to be in the 6-10 range as well. I don’t know if they’ve cured the injury bug, because injuries can happen again and again but if they have… they will be tough. I just hope to see the exciting Ja Morant back, because he is a very unique player.
This franchise is precariously in the hands of Morant. I think they have the ability to move away from him without going too far backwards and they should do that. Morant is a immature kid in a grown man’s body. He does not deserve the sympathetic treatment he is receiving.
I dunno. He is a professional athlete, a very talented one, who just turned 25.
He has made bad decisions at age 23, and being a celebrity, his forays into bad decision making are more public, or at least, infinitely more noticeable, than most all of the other 23- 25 year olds.
His violations were untoward and crossed the line, but in the spheres of violent assault, and/or chemical influence that occur with other professional athletes, which is not the case with Ja Morant, in my opinion, I am optimistic he can overcome the past transgressions and be better.
I only speak to my opinion, and what I know of him from what little I have read or video I have watched. Maybe he’s an awful terrible human being. Maybe he’s a decent enough soul who has had too much camera time and learning to cope.
His biggest problem is that he gets his brains from his dad. I doubt either could crack ninety-five on an IQ test.
I see your view of Morant and that is logical.
At this point what the world sees is the very few acts that have slipped out into the public or he was sloppy and did these acts in public. This is the tip of the iceberg. There is a whole bunch of Morant’s idiocrasy he has hidden and kept to himself. He is simply living his life as an entitled kid who wants to be a thug.
He is simply living his life as an entitled kid who wants to be a thug.
Unfortuanetly this is the case with a lot of professional athletes. Wanting to live the thug life which somehow makes one “cool’ whilst also being a professional ball player. The two don’t jive.
And the NBA and whatever sports league provides players with ample training and resources on these issues, yet some still choose the thug life. Makes no sense, with so much fame and money on the table.
It is celebrated by their peers and then they are given sympathy when they are facing reality.
The Fox/Ja debate is even more one-sided than Kendrick/Drake.
One is a knock off wanna be thug and the other hasn’t accomplished meaningful winning. I’d take Fox over Ja based on the off court aspect, on the court if both are healthy and sane, the debate still exists.
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