They just signed him to a second 10-day deal, sort of delaying an inevitable tough decision.

I think Nowell deserves a roster spot. Not more than Vince but deserves it nonetheless. DRose is a great backup when his knees allow him to lace up but in his last 2 or 3 seasons he’s played right around a third of the games. That’s a problem. If Nowell becomes an option to run point —and it looks like Jenkins has really been experimenting with schemes with a shooting guard running the offense rather than with a traditional point guard— then that makes him a much more attractive option.

It would be awesome if LaRavia would be the player they probably figured he’d develop into: basically “kinda-sorta-more-or-less-what-Luke-Kennard-offers-only-taller.” If he was that player right now, the decision would be easy: put together some sort of trade package that probably includes Kennard, Z and Snaq or something. But Jake’s just not that dude. Without being able to say “Well, we have someone who is a pretty deadly 3-pt threat off the bench…” it’s hard to see Luke going anywhere. If he’s not going anywhere, figuring out how to fit Nowell in long term becomes complex, especially once people inevitably limp off the injury report.

I mean, when you wonder why the Grizzlies don’t still have Melt and Slo-mo just sitting in their back pocket to be queued up to play, this is why. Things get really complicated when trying to figure out how people will actually get minutes.

Damn. Roddy and Z must’ve been reading all my hate-txeets tonight.

On what planet do you think that Tyus Jones wanted to continue to come off the bench for the Grizzlies? You think he wanted to be the designated notJa for the rest of his career?

Keeping him would have meant reneging on a promise to Tyus to allow him to move on to somewhere where he could start, which was the whole agreement he made with the Grizzlies when he agreed to extend. If they kept him, it would have been the Grizzlies saying “SIKE! Gochu, bitch!” and that would have made for a very unhappy player as well as a team full of players who all look around like “This team doesn’t keep its promises. Fuck’m.”

None of us want the outcome of that. You think that team culture is bad now? Imagine what it would have been like with Tyus coming into the locker room every night like “This is bullshit. I’m not even supposed to be here. Guess I’m just going to start until Ja gets back and it’s his team again. Fuck this. Fuck all of you.”

We have GOT to stop drafting wings when our biggest need is at the 5. Any decent 7-footer projected to go first round will do but Alex Starr, in my opinion, is worth hedging your bets for.

A lot of people on this sub are trying to do the math on how we can go to the playoffs but there’s no value in that because we’re just not winning it all this year. And if you’re not going to win the big prize of a championship then you might as well aim for the next biggest prize, which is the number one draft pick. At the rate we’re losing, by the time Ja returns we still won’t be in any form to be a contender. And even at full health, there are still some lingering questions about how well Stevo fits into our playoff calculus. We need another big. Not another short big like X —who is really just a traditional center, only short and not one who creates matchup problems for the opposing teams— or someone who might only give us a year like Bizzy but someone young who can be under contract long enough for us to take a few stabs at the finals.

As for a wing, we honestly already have the one we need: GG Jackson. Not only is he young but he’s cheap for us now and we’ll be able to give him a really nice contract to keep him around longer when the time comes.

When he drives to the hole he does the same slow Euro-step each time. His handles aren’t anything that challenge defenders. He does sometimes pass the ball away when shut down but his assist totals make it clear that he’s rarely passing it away to people who are in scoring position.

Basically Trip’s not difficult to figure out if you’re an opposing team. His 3PT% is awful so far, as is his all around FG%. And I will die on a hill that is No-Other-Block-Leader-Gets-So-Few-Rebound-They’re-Not-Mutually-Exclusive-Skillsets-So-Don’t-Give-Him-a-Pass. He should be getting a dozen boards a night. It’s frustrating to see his play sometimes. One night he’ll put up 30 and the next it’s 14.

Until we’re shit with a reasonably healthy roster, it’s likely Jenkins gets a pass, especially if they are somewhat competitive as players return. There are too many G-Leaguers laced up as Grizzlies to make an argument that Jenkins should go.

Just watch the Hustle play if you ever get the chance (some of their games are available in full on YouTube): outside of GG or Snaq when he’s playing, it’s hard to watch. Many of those guys were not D1 college standouts. Putting them in a Grizzlies uniform to have warm bodies doesn’t change that. There’s a reason why all of the best teams in the NBA are loaded with incredible players who do amazing things with simple plays like pick-&-roll.

Kleiman? That might be a different story, though I still don’t see him getting fired this year. He’ll probably get next year’s draft to prove that he can continue to make magic and if he fucks it up, he’s out.

The Grizzlies gain nothing from going to the play-in. Honestly, if we’re 5–20 by the time Ja returns, you really have to consider tanking.

Say they make the play-in. They could make it into the first round of the playoffs but more than likely get knocked out in round 1. Like, it’s difficult to make the argument that we’d knock off any of the top 4 teams in the western conference even in the best case scenario.

Which gives us the worst of all worlds: disappointment in the playoffs AND a shitty first round draft position. If we’re 5–20 when Ja gets back —and it’s a pretty decent possibility that we will be— expect one or two of our key players to be strategically “hurt” and miss significant time, enough to keep up just below play-in status.

Tank. Try to get Alex Sarr or whoever the most talented 7-footer available is at our draft position. It feels distasteful to say but there’s no way the front office isn’t looking at the roster’s outlook and not thinking this.

After Detroit instituted “The Jordan Rules” His Airness put on 15 lbs of muscle.

Ja takes a lot of contact night in and night out. 10 or 15 pounds will go a long way to making him a more durable player. Which… I mean, I’m not going to speak anything into existence but he’s gonna fucking need it.

Our injured/suspended list would shit in em.

DYING

The NBA, as an organization, has always seemed to be extremely forgiving to its players when it comes to what they do with/to women/girls. Even in situations such as this where the girl pretty clearly seems to be under the age of consent, I will be surprised if they do anything aside from say “We are going to allow the authorities to conduct an investigation.” and, otherwise, do nothing else.

You can think that but there’s no objective measurement of this with so many players off the court for you to make these kinds of declarations. We’re missing half the people who were actually glued together and you look at the current roster and say that their lack of glue is because Dillon Brooks isn’t around? BALDERDASH, SIRRAH.

Jesus Fucking Look-at-the-Injury-Report Christ…

11 games left…

Everyone’s fucking hurt now…

I do love that Dillon is being the Dillon WE have always known, shooting 28% from the field.

He’s trolling. He knows how many players are on the injury list. He knows that half the current roster is players from the Hustle. He’s not lying: they have zero swag right now but there really no way they should have any given the absences.

This is Dillon being Dillon. Just poking bears before a game.

I mean, I’d have to say it’s obvious takeaway is that he’s dramatically more trim than his body would naturally be were he not playing basketball.

He’s not a true wing but I feel like Santi should start alongside Trip and Biyombo for the next month. The three of them on the floor alongside Des has been a pretty powerful combo over the last few games.

It’s not the solution against all teams but it really seems like it has a lot of potential. I also think that it might give Santi the chance to open up his passing more.

The no-point-guard lineups are a little under-rated. There was a nice stretch there with Des, Jitty, Santi, Trip and Biyombo that worked well. I’d love to see them go taller with it and maybe see what Dez, Z, Santi, Trip and Biyombo could do for a bit.

It wouldn’t be the way to go against all teams but it’s certainly an interesting combination to run and force opponents to adjust to a tall-ball lineup.