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Speaker 1: Hoops Tonight, presented by fan Duel here at the volume.
Speaker 1: Happy Wednesday, everybody. I hope all of you guys are
Speaker 1: having a great week so far. We're hopping right back
Speaker 1: into the power rankings today with number eleven. The Memphis Grizzlies.
Speaker 1: We'll be doing the power rankings today, tomorrow, and Friday
Speaker 1: this week, and then over the course of the next
Speaker 1: two weeks we'll get through the rest of the top ten,
Speaker 1: and then after that, starting on the thirty, when the
Speaker 1: Washington Wizards play the Golden State Warriors I believe in Japan,
Speaker 1: then we will begin our normal, you know, tape breakdowns.
Speaker 1: Every single day. We'll be going into different line en ups,
Speaker 1: different players, checking out on the rookies in preseason, what
Speaker 1: kind of schemes the teams are using, what we're learning.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be all basketball from basically the start of
Speaker 1: October all the way through the middle of June, my
Speaker 1: favorite time of year. It is going to be a blast. Um.
Speaker 1: We also, for those of you who care, at the
Speaker 1: very end of the show today, I'll go over some
Speaker 1: of the little pieces I have behind me in my studios.
Speaker 1: You guys can learn a little bit more about myself
Speaker 1: before we get started. You guys know the drill. Subscribe
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Speaker 1: always find them in audio form wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1: Under Hoops Tonight. And on that note, let's talk some basketball.
Speaker 1: So last year, the Memphis Grizzlies were fifty six and
Speaker 1: twenty six. They finished with the second seed. They were
Speaker 1: dominant with and without John Morant. There's a lot of
Speaker 1: high surrounding how well they played without John Morant. A
Speaker 1: lot of strength of schedule stuff played into that. They
Speaker 1: ended up losing to the Golden State Warriors in the
Speaker 1: second round in six without John Morant, although they were
Speaker 1: getting sound pretty soundly outplayed with John Morant on the
Speaker 1: floor as well. They were fourth in offense during the
Speaker 1: regular season sixth and defense fifth and net rating UM.
Speaker 1: And then they had a really interesting Game five, a
Speaker 1: game that I picked. It's always funny Warriors fans have
Speaker 1: been relentless against me this season because I picked against
Speaker 1: them a handful of times over the course of last
Speaker 1: year's playoff run. But I did get one big prediction
Speaker 1: right during that specific series Game five UM, when Golden
Speaker 1: State went into Memphis, I expected them to get destroyed
Speaker 1: in buzz saw fashion, and they did. That was kind
Speaker 1: of a really exciting moment for Grizzlies fans, just to
Speaker 1: show you how physically imposing their roster is even when
Speaker 1: John Morant is not available. A ton of stuff to
Speaker 1: be optimistic about if you are a Grizzlies fan. And
Speaker 1: this offseason they traded de Anthony Melton for Danny Green
Speaker 1: in a first round draft pick. That was an interesting
Speaker 1: trade in the moment, but I actually kind of like
Speaker 1: it as long as the intel from Danny Green himself
Speaker 1: that he believes he will play this year. As long
Speaker 1: as that intel is correct. He did say on his
Speaker 1: podcast that he expects to play this year, said some
Speaker 1: really interesting stuff I was I was reading about it
Speaker 1: this morning. He thinks that a lot of NBA players
Speaker 1: UH do some things over the course of their rehab
Speaker 1: that can cause rehab to take longer, and that he's
Speaker 1: disciplined enough to avoid those things. I'd be really interested
Speaker 1: to hear him elaborate on that specific topic. I I
Speaker 1: really like Danny Green. I covered him with the Lakers
Speaker 1: in um. He can be a frustrating player at times
Speaker 1: because he's a little bit streaky and he has some
Speaker 1: ugly mistakes over the course of games because he's not
Speaker 1: a good ball handler, so when he puts the ball
Speaker 1: on the floor, especially attacking closeouts are going up the
Speaker 1: floor and transition, he can make some prey the ugly mistakes.
Speaker 1: But I can say that in my year covering Danny Green,
Speaker 1: I thought he was an amazing role player. I loved
Speaker 1: having him on the team, and I think Memphis Grizzlies
Speaker 1: fans will love him overall. I think he's an above
Speaker 1: average spot up threat. So on the offensive end of
Speaker 1: the floor, that's great. He's a very competitive player, great
Speaker 1: crashing the defensive glass from the wing and on the
Speaker 1: offensive ends as well when he has opportunities. And on
Speaker 1: the defensive end of the floor, he's one of the
Speaker 1: better role players in the league at guarding bigger, stronger wings.
Speaker 1: He can struggle a little bit with really quick and
Speaker 1: shifty players. He can get caught on screen sometimes because
Speaker 1: he's a little big. But I really like Danny Green.
Speaker 1: He's a great guy to throw at any of the big,
Speaker 1: strong wings he might have to guard to get out
Speaker 1: of the Western Conference, like a Lebron James or a
Speaker 1: Kawhi Leonards. So on and so forth. Big fan of
Speaker 1: Danny Green. I think the Memphis Grizzlies are going to
Speaker 1: like him. The other, uh, the other guy that they
Speaker 1: picked with as part of that trade was David Roddy
Speaker 1: is a very interesting like gigantic trunky wings A little short,
Speaker 1: is about six five six six was shoes on, but
Speaker 1: he's two hundred and sixty pounds, which and he's got
Speaker 1: a lot of offensive polish which will make him interesting.
Speaker 1: I don't know a ton about him, as you guys know,
Speaker 1: I'm not so I direct all my attention towards the league.
Speaker 1: I direct very little of my attention towards the draft.
Speaker 1: I pick up little things here and there from footage,
Speaker 1: but it's not something that I have, uh that I've
Speaker 1: invested a ton of time, and there are draft guys
Speaker 1: that that do better there. I will always throughout the
Speaker 1: season update you guys with what I think about these
Speaker 1: picks as I see them play basketball at this level.
Speaker 1: I do say, though, every time I see a big,
Speaker 1: strong wing like that, I get really interested about the
Speaker 1: prospect of them potentially guarding bigger, stronger wings because I
Speaker 1: think that's such a huge weapon, especially in a playoff series.
Speaker 1: They did lose Kyle Anderson in free agency to the Timberwolves,
Speaker 1: and also in the first round, they drafted another wing
Speaker 1: named Jake Laravia, a role player who more of an
Speaker 1: off ball type of player. Doesn't dribble the ball well,
Speaker 1: but he's pretty smart and just knows how to play basketball.
Speaker 1: He'll be an interesting guy. Um. The one thing that's
Speaker 1: gonna be tricky there again is as the league has
Speaker 1: gotten more towards five out, it's become more important than
Speaker 1: ever for guys to be able to dribble. That's not
Speaker 1: something He's great out. But again, don't know a ton
Speaker 1: about him, so I will be updating you guys over
Speaker 1: the course of the season as I watched him play
Speaker 1: NBA basketball. They did trade two first round picks to
Speaker 1: move up only three spots to get him. I did
Speaker 1: think that was interesting. What that tells you is that
Speaker 1: they're scouting department is apparently very high on him. So
Speaker 1: that's kind of a bet or a gamble on their end.
Speaker 1: It'll be interesting to see if that pays off. And then, last,
Speaker 1: but not least, for the offseason, they did lose Jaren
Speaker 1: Jackson Junior to a foot injury. Who knows how Long
Speaker 1: that's gonna keep him out. It'll be really interesting to see.
Speaker 1: That's gonna be a big swing factor for them this season.
Speaker 1: So their depth chart at the guard position, they have
Speaker 1: Ties Jones, John Moran, Desmond Bayin, and John Conchart. Desmond
Speaker 1: Bayin and John Contar are both kind of like wings
Speaker 1: to this team is really heavy on wings um at
Speaker 1: the wing position. They also have Dylan Brooks, um Uh,
Speaker 1: Danny Green, Zaire Williams, Jacob Robba, David Roddy, the two
Speaker 1: guys that just mentioned, and then bigs Jaren Jackson Jr.
Speaker 1: Stephen Adams, Brandon Clark, and Xavier Tillman. You're gonna see
Speaker 1: a lot of Xavier Tilman and Brandon Clark, especially early
Speaker 1: in the season as Jaren Jackson Jr. Is coming back
Speaker 1: from that injury. So moving to the offensive ended for
Speaker 1: you guys know the drill. We're gonna look at offense,
Speaker 1: we're gonna look at defense, we're gonna look at best
Speaker 1: case scenario, we're gonna look at worst case scenario, and
Speaker 1: then we're gonna look at the biggest X factor on
Speaker 1: the team. So, UM, I really like Taylor Jenkins. He's smart,
Speaker 1: he's super competitive, he's um a little bit of an
Speaker 1: asshole and kind of like the best way to lead
Speaker 1: a basketball team. I'm a genuine believer that you have
Speaker 1: to have a little bit of an asshole streak in you,
Speaker 1: even if you're a nice person off the court or
Speaker 1: away from your competition. Like I like the kind of
Speaker 1: people that that are willing to kind fudge that line
Speaker 1: between friend and foe when they're competitive, and Taylor Jenkins
Speaker 1: is that kind of guy. He really likes horns sets.
Speaker 1: This is the primary like kind of bread and butter
Speaker 1: of Memphiss offense. You know, John Morant brings the ball
Speaker 1: up the floor, and you know in late clock scenarios
Speaker 1: they'll go four low and they'll let John Morant work
Speaker 1: off the dribble. But to begin possessions, they love running
Speaker 1: out of horns. Now there's we've talked about this before
Speaker 1: during the off season, we were talking about what five
Speaker 1: out is in the principles of five out, but there
Speaker 1: are a bunch of like kind of core offensive concepts
Speaker 1: that teams kind of gravitate towards. For instance, like four
Speaker 1: high as you'll have two guys at the high post
Speaker 1: and two guys on the high wing, or you'll have
Speaker 1: you know, four low where both guys are on the
Speaker 1: block and two guys in the deep corner. You have
Speaker 1: like pistol sets where you guys in the deep corner,
Speaker 1: guys up high, and one post player that's kind of
Speaker 1: operating out of the midpost, and he usually will set
Speaker 1: a lot of ball screens and and uh and dribble
Speaker 1: handoffs and things like that. Obviously five out basketball, which
Speaker 1: we talked about during that video. Over the course of
Speaker 1: the summer, this team runs a ton of horn sets,
Speaker 1: so horn sets, or you have your two post players,
Speaker 1: or sometimes you even mix cards in there. Memphis really
Speaker 1: likes to mix Desmond Baine in there because he's so
Speaker 1: big and strong. He can be a problem for screeners.
Speaker 1: And then guys don't like to switch that screen, so
Speaker 1: they get good stuff out of it. But you have
Speaker 1: two guys at the high post, two guys in the
Speaker 1: deep corner. They run a ton of different stuff out
Speaker 1: of this. Sometimes they'll just have both guys step up
Speaker 1: and set you know, screens on both sides of John
Speaker 1: Moran with a live dribble and he'll come off of
Speaker 1: those screens. Sometimes John Morantte will hang with the high dribble,
Speaker 1: dribble out top, and they'll cross screen for each other,
Speaker 1: run different actions as screeners off the ball, try to
Speaker 1: get guys going with the head of steam, and then
Speaker 1: everything tends to flow into a dribble handoff into whatever
Speaker 1: is coming out of the corner. So if they don't
Speaker 1: get something right away out of that set, Let's say
Speaker 1: John moran uh is up top, Steven Adams comes up
Speaker 1: and sets a screen on his left side, and he
Speaker 1: comes downhill and they contain him. Let's say Dylan Brooks
Speaker 1: is in the left corner. He will then come off
Speaker 1: of a dribble handoff. Steven Adams will then and around
Speaker 1: again in screen for Dylon Brooks is man and it
Speaker 1: just kind of flows into a dribble handoff and then
Speaker 1: from there it's just playing basketball. From there, it's just
Speaker 1: what does the defense do. Does Delon Brooks get downhill?
Speaker 1: Is he able to collapse things in the paint or
Speaker 1: is it one of those things where he goes all
Speaker 1: the way to the rim. From there, they just kind
Speaker 1: of play basketball. They have a lot of guys this team.
Speaker 1: This team does struggle with ball handling in particular, you know,
Speaker 1: outside of Tis Jones and John Morant. They don't have
Speaker 1: a ton of guys that can create their own shot.
Speaker 1: Delon Brooks is okay at it when he's when you
Speaker 1: catch him on the right night, but when the this
Speaker 1: team has a ton of guys that when you get
Speaker 1: them with an advantage, they can either extend that advantage
Speaker 1: or score. So everything for this team comes down to
Speaker 1: that initial advantage. Now, as long as John Morant is
Speaker 1: on the floor and he can create that initial advantage,
Speaker 1: they do great. And that extended into the postseason. They
Speaker 1: scored about a hundred and fifteen points per possession in
Speaker 1: both series against Minnesota and that great Golden State defense
Speaker 1: when John Morant was on the floor, but their offense
Speaker 1: completely fell apart every time John Morant was off the
Speaker 1: floor because they struggled to create their own shot or
Speaker 1: to create that initial advantage without Jaw. That's something if
Speaker 1: you guys remember that I was concerned about even before
Speaker 1: last year's postseason run, and it ended up being what
Speaker 1: what beat them. One last note about the Horn sets
Speaker 1: is the concept of screening the screener. So everything, uh,
Speaker 1: everything in these sets starts with some sort of screen
Speaker 1: from the high post, right like either coming up and
Speaker 1: screening the top ball handler and John Morand or Ties Jones,
Speaker 1: or a cross screen for Desmond Band or whoever it is.
Speaker 1: But almost always the guy coming off of that screen
Speaker 1: will come right into a screen, or someone will screen
Speaker 1: for the screener. Essentially, just imagine a bunch of screens
Speaker 1: in rapid secession. Okay. The reason why that is such
Speaker 1: a effective basketball concept is for one, for for teams
Speaker 1: that like to switch, it gets super confused because now
Speaker 1: it's not just like, Okay, my guy comes and sets
Speaker 1: the screen, I'll take your guy, you take my guy.
Speaker 1: We're good, right, that's easy. But if it's three screens,
Speaker 1: or if I'm screening the screener, now gets a lot
Speaker 1: more complicated. Now it's more like, Okay, which one of
Speaker 1: these two players am I going to switch on too?
Speaker 1: You know which one is he getting my guy? Is
Speaker 1: he getting my other teammates got? It can get really
Speaker 1: confusing for switching defenses. And then for teams that don't
Speaker 1: like to switch, it's just a matter of navigating screens.
Speaker 1: If you get over one screen and then immediately run
Speaker 1: into another, it can get complicated. The screen the screener
Speaker 1: actions that they run out of that hornset gets lots
Speaker 1: of good stuff. So a lot of times when you
Speaker 1: have teams that struggle to score in the half court,
Speaker 1: and the Memphis Grizzlies are definitely one of those teams.
Speaker 1: According and cleaning the glass. The Grizzlies were twenty second
Speaker 1: in half court efficiency this year just a result of
Speaker 1: all those things. I was just talking about, lack of
Speaker 1: ball handling, relying too much on John Murray to create
Speaker 1: initial advantages. Guy that can create with an advantage, but
Speaker 1: not create the advantage itself. That typically is going to
Speaker 1: lead to a team that struggles in the half court.
Speaker 1: That's what happened with the Memphis Grizzlies this year. Typically,
Speaker 1: in that type of situation, one of the best ways
Speaker 1: to counter that is to push. In transition, again this
Speaker 1: is the two best um half court team, but this
Speaker 1: was the fourth best offense by offensive rating in the
Speaker 1: league this year, and they did that in transition. We're
Speaker 1: gonna get to this more on the defensive end of
Speaker 1: the floor. But it's not just pushing the ball off
Speaker 1: of mrs. It's not just pushing the ball off of makes.
Speaker 1: It's also forcing turnovers. This was a great defensive team
Speaker 1: that was extremely disruptive and caused a lot of turnovers
Speaker 1: that led to fast breaks. We will get to that
Speaker 1: more when we get to the defensive end of the floor.
Speaker 1: But according to the NBA dot com is tracking data,
Speaker 1: the Memphis Grizzlies ran more transition possessions than anybody in
Speaker 1: the entire league this year. They were fourth in pace
Speaker 1: over all, They were second in fast break points scored
Speaker 1: per game, just in general. And you pick this up
Speaker 1: pretty quickly when you're watching him. John Morrand likes to
Speaker 1: bring up the bring the ball up the floor with
Speaker 1: as much pace as possible. He will push ahead to
Speaker 1: wings that run, but he's just trying to, you know,
Speaker 1: come with enough pace that the transition defense will suck
Speaker 1: into the painted area. Then he can kick out two
Speaker 1: guys like Bane and Brooks that can attack with an advantage. Again,
Speaker 1: everything is designed about trying to create that advantage so
Speaker 1: that they're somewhat limited ball handlers can create for themselves
Speaker 1: in the chaos, and transition is the biggest way that
Speaker 1: they try to do that. You know, and this is
Speaker 1: again to Taylor Jenkins and how smart he is. You
Speaker 1: You you, as a basketball team, you have to like
Speaker 1: identify what your strengths are and identify what your weaknesses
Speaker 1: are and cater your strategy towards what your strengths are.
Speaker 1: This is a team that struggles in the half court,
Speaker 1: so getting out on transition is just smart. They're also
Speaker 1: the fourth most frequent dribble handoff team. All four of
Speaker 1: John Morant, Desmond Bane, Jaren Jackson, and Dylan Brooks get
Speaker 1: over one point per possession undrillable handoffs. That's a lot
Speaker 1: of Steven Adams being a great screener, as well as
Speaker 1: Jaren Jackson and the threat that he is with the basketball. Um.
Speaker 1: They ran the fifth most actions off of screens. A
Speaker 1: lot of wide pin downs, especially out of horns. Uh,
Speaker 1: like we were talking about earlier, as they're flowing out
Speaker 1: of stuff. This is a lot of Desmond Bain. He's
Speaker 1: one of the highest volume off of screen scores that
Speaker 1: we have in the league right now. As you can expect,
Speaker 1: they don't run a ton of issos. They were and
Speaker 1: ISOs per game this year only zero point eight seven
Speaker 1: points per possession on ISOs, which is pretty bad. John
Speaker 1: Muran's pretty solid zero point nine nine points per possession.
Speaker 1: Jaren Jackson is slightly below average. Bain is super efficient,
Speaker 1: but on ridiculously low value volume. According to the NBA's
Speaker 1: tracking data, he only ran twenty six isolations all season. Again,
Speaker 1: that falls in line with what I was picking up
Speaker 1: on tape all season long, towards the end of the
Speaker 1: season when we became Hoops Tonight. You know, I really
Speaker 1: like Desmond Bain's game. Love his competitiveness, Love what he
Speaker 1: can do defensively, love his body. Type two is like
Speaker 1: kind of like a modern power wing graded attacking closeouts.
Speaker 1: He might be one of the best closeout attackers in
Speaker 1: the entire game of basketball. An outstanding shooter, like just
Speaker 1: just a knockdown jump shooter, but struggles to create his
Speaker 1: own shot. But again, that's smart to avoid isolation if
Speaker 1: that's not what you do best. They are a middle
Speaker 1: of the pack pick and roll team by volume. They
Speaker 1: were twenty three in pick and roll efficiency. John More
Speaker 1: is pretty solid as a pick and roll ball handler,
Speaker 1: not excellent. Brandon Clark is their only kind of traditional
Speaker 1: rim running threat in terms of a vertical spacer. It's
Speaker 1: not that Jaren Jackson can't do that. It's not that
Speaker 1: Steven Adams can't operate as a rollman. It's just not
Speaker 1: their strength. UM, so they avoid pick and roll a
Speaker 1: good amount. They were also twenty four in post up volume.
Speaker 1: That's not a part of their game. Uh. As far
Speaker 1: as John Morey goes, I want to send you guys
Speaker 1: to our player rankings video. I believe I had him
Speaker 1: in the eleven to fifteen range. I think he was
Speaker 1: right around thirteen or fourteen, maybe even eleven, I can't remember.
Speaker 1: But uh, go further back into our YouTube feed and
Speaker 1: there's like a solid ten fifteen minutes on John Moran
Speaker 1: and all of his strengths and weaknesses. I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: get too far into it today, so you can go
Speaker 1: there if you want more content. UM. The main core
Speaker 1: principle or driving force of John Morrand's success and in
Speaker 1: the way it propels the Grizzlies forward, is he's just
Speaker 1: completely impossible to keep out of the paint, and that
Speaker 1: fundamentally is what makes everything work. The exciting part is
Speaker 1: that it translates to the postseason. Even when you look
Speaker 1: at what they did against that very good uh Golden
Speaker 1: State Warriors defense and a pretty good Minnesota Timberwolves defense.
Speaker 1: In both of those series, they scored extremely well. As
Speaker 1: long as John Morant was on the floor. What killed
Speaker 1: them in the Grizzlies series early on with Jaw was defense,
Speaker 1: and then when John went out and they couldn't score,
Speaker 1: that's when ended up killing them at that point. Desmond
Speaker 1: Bay and I just talked about him a little bit earlier,
Speaker 1: so I won't go any further. Jaren Jackson Jr. Is
Speaker 1: a freak talent, but he's kind of a bull in
Speaker 1: china shop. He is a tendency when he gets the
Speaker 1: ball to just try to run everybody over and go
Speaker 1: to the rim, and that that leads to your textbook
Speaker 1: up and down NBA playoffs performance because there's, as I
Speaker 1: talked about all the time on the show, there's a
Speaker 1: there's a huge upside to physically imposing your will in
Speaker 1: a playoff environment. You know, everyone's allowed to hold, everyone's
Speaker 1: allowed to hand check. It's just a blood bath of physicality.
Speaker 1: And when you have a guy like Jaren Jackson Jr.
Speaker 1: Who can drive Draymond Green to the rim and finish
Speaker 1: the way he did several times towards the end of
Speaker 1: that series, then he's gonna bulldoze everybody in the league.
Speaker 1: The downside is is it gets predictable, and he does
Speaker 1: have a tendency to just over penetrate into traffic, get
Speaker 1: himself into a mess, and turn the basketball over. He
Speaker 1: actually was really inefficient in terms of his field goal
Speaker 1: percentage in that Golden State Warriors series, in large part
Speaker 1: because of the types of low percentage shots that he
Speaker 1: was taking around the rim um. He did shoot the
Speaker 1: ball extremely well from three though, in that playoff run,
Speaker 1: and that's very exciting. The John Morant problem is the
Speaker 1: is the number one kind of like focal point of
Speaker 1: this offense. In the NBA playoffs this year, they were
Speaker 1: thirteen point two points worse on offense with Jaw off
Speaker 1: the floor versus when he was on the floor right
Speaker 1: around a hundred fifteen points per possession when he was
Speaker 1: on right around a hundred and two when he was off.
Speaker 1: The upside is again Jaw has proven that his offensive
Speaker 1: style does translate to the playoffs, and that's exciting. Moving
Speaker 1: on to the defensive end of the floor, So this
Speaker 1: is an extremely physical and strong, imposing defensive basketball team
Speaker 1: with tons of athleticism. They are super aggressive on ball handlers,
Speaker 1: trying to disrupt the dribble. The dribble their forward aggressive,
Speaker 1: willing to give up driving lanes they weren't a great
Speaker 1: team defending the paint. I know, uh Jaren Jackson Jr.
Speaker 1: Was one of the best shot blockers in the league,
Speaker 1: and we'll get more into him here in a minute,
Speaker 1: but they weren't actually great at taking away the painted
Speaker 1: area because they're so aggressive on the perimit to try
Speaker 1: to force turnovers and things like that to try to
Speaker 1: squeeze out transition possessions. That they did give up a
Speaker 1: lot of straight line drives and give up a lot
Speaker 1: of baskets around the paint, but they did lead the
Speaker 1: league and steals and blocks, which is amazing. That's how
Speaker 1: you end up with the sixth best defense in the
Speaker 1: league despite giving up quite a few points in the paint.
Speaker 1: They were third in points off of turnovers compared to
Speaker 1: the rest of the league, and they did defend the
Speaker 1: three point line pretty well. I think they were eleventh
Speaker 1: and three pointers made per game, which when you factor
Speaker 1: in pace there, it probably would have been even higher
Speaker 1: than that. Almost everyone outside of John Morant on the
Speaker 1: roster is an above average defensive player. That is what
Speaker 1: allows them to line up consistency throughout the game to
Speaker 1: be an imposing defensive team, and that's why when John
Speaker 1: Morant checked out of that series with the knee injury,
Speaker 1: the Grizzly still were such a problem for Golden State
Speaker 1: because of what they were capable of doing on the
Speaker 1: defensive end of the four. Jaren Jackson Jr. Is the
Speaker 1: anchor of this defense. He led the league in total
Speaker 1: bocks by forty. He had forty more blocks than Rudy Gobert,
Speaker 1: who was second in total blocks in the league. Their
Speaker 1: scheme is pretty traditional outside of that they run drop
Speaker 1: coverage with all three of their bigs, although they're more
Speaker 1: willing to switch if things go haywire with Jaren Jackson
Speaker 1: and Brandon Clark than they are with Steven Adams. That's
Speaker 1: pretty standard across the league at this point. And once again,
Speaker 1: the biggest problem with their defense is the John Morant problem.
Speaker 1: So John Morant and what they can do without him
Speaker 1: is the biggest problem on the offensive end of the floor,
Speaker 1: and John Morand and what they can do with him
Speaker 1: is their biggest problem on the defensive end of the floor.
Speaker 1: Grizzlies fans probably remember this with more rose colored glasses
Speaker 1: than everybody else, But the truth of the matter was
Speaker 1: is that in that Minnesota Timberwolves series. Patrick Beverley was
Speaker 1: looking like a primary ball ball handler consistently attacking John Morant,
Speaker 1: not even in advantage situations a lot of times just
Speaker 1: off the dribble, a lot of times in isolation, just
Speaker 1: taking John Moran to task and scoring at will. In general,
Speaker 1: their defense was horrific with him on the floor. They
Speaker 1: gave up I want to say about a hundred and
Speaker 1: thirteen points per one hundred possessions in the Golden State
Speaker 1: series with him on the floor, which is pretty damn bad.
Speaker 1: That is That's gonna be the biggest one of the
Speaker 1: bigger indicators of this team's future success is given John
Speaker 1: Morant's athleticism, and we all see the highlight plays like
Speaker 1: him getting an insane block in transition, flying above the
Speaker 1: rim and things along those lines. But at some point,
Speaker 1: John Moran is going to have to be able to
Speaker 1: hold his own defensively for this team to reach their
Speaker 1: ceiling um, which is a great transition into their ceiling.
Speaker 1: So the ceiling for this Golden State Warriors team is
Speaker 1: if Jaren Jackson Jr. Comes back quickly Again. Feet are
Speaker 1: feet are tough um, not just for big men but
Speaker 1: for everybody. I the one major injury I suffered when
Speaker 1: I was playing in college was a broken foot. That
Speaker 1: was between my uh JUCO season in Tucson and my
Speaker 1: second JUCO season, which was in Utah, and I really
Speaker 1: struggled with that. The main reason why is there's like
Speaker 1: a physical healing phase and then there's a mental healing phase.
Speaker 1: And when I got back on the basketball court, even
Speaker 1: though I physically could do everything I needed to do,
Speaker 1: I didn't really trust my foot to hold up, and
Speaker 1: so I became very passive, especially as a rebounder and
Speaker 1: on the defensive end of the floor. That was the
Speaker 1: main part in the early portion of that season where
Speaker 1: I struggled. I really struggled in nonconference play that season,
Speaker 1: and then right around January I kind of broke through
Speaker 1: that mental wall and I regained the confidence in my
Speaker 1: foot and then I took off from there and actually
Speaker 1: ended up making an All conference team that year. But
Speaker 1: the first chunk of that season I was pretty bad
Speaker 1: just by struggling with confidence with my foot. And so
Speaker 1: it'll be really interesting to see one how quickly Jared
Speaker 1: comes back into how quickly he becomes he was before
Speaker 1: the injury, and that's gonna be something that needs UH
Speaker 1: that Grizzlies fans could should keep an eye on. But
Speaker 1: if he comes back quickly, if Desmond Baine takes a
Speaker 1: leap as a shot creator, if he impludes improves in
Speaker 1: ball handling to the point where he can create his
Speaker 1: own shot. I don't think he has a quick enough
Speaker 1: first step to consistently beat high level defenders off the dribble,
Speaker 1: But he's so big and strong that if he could
Speaker 1: learn to understand angles while also having a really tight handle,
Speaker 1: he might be able to have a little bit more
Speaker 1: of a Luca esque advantage creation type of deal, where
Speaker 1: it's not about you know, toasting dudes off the dribble
Speaker 1: and getting tons of separation, but rather getting a tiny
Speaker 1: bit of separation and shooting the gap with physicality and
Speaker 1: using your upper body to pin the defender out of
Speaker 1: position so you can methodically work your way into the lane.
Speaker 1: It's it's a long shot to me because that's the
Speaker 1: type of thing takes years and years of diligent practice.
Speaker 1: But that would be a great UH indicator of what
Speaker 1: this team ceiling could be. If John Muran could make
Speaker 1: improvements to offensively, if Jo can stay healthy and all
Speaker 1: those things, I just said, if Joa can stay healthy
Speaker 1: because he did break down in this postseason run, and
Speaker 1: if he gets hot, especially as a jump shooter in
Speaker 1: the postseason, and I do believe that John Marine will
Speaker 1: one day be a knockdown jump shooter. That's the textbook
Speaker 1: puncher's chance. When we were talking about tears and we
Speaker 1: had the non contenders, and now we're in the puncher's
Speaker 1: chance contenders, right, Like the Lakers aren't the most talented
Speaker 1: team in the league, but if Lebron and n A
Speaker 1: d get hot, what are you gonna do with him?
Speaker 1: You know? Same thing Cleveland Cavaliers, like not as talented
Speaker 1: as best teams in the league, but if Donovan Mitchell
Speaker 1: gets hot, with how good their defense is, that could
Speaker 1: be a problem. Same thing goes for this Memphis Grizzlies team.
Speaker 1: If they are as good defensively as they are capable
Speaker 1: of being, as long as John Morien, it takes that
Speaker 1: leap and he gets hot in a postseason run, particularly
Speaker 1: as a jump shooter, because how gifted he is getting
Speaker 1: to the basket. This team absolutely has a puncher's chance
Speaker 1: to win the title, But because of their limitations and
Speaker 1: shot creation, I don't think they're in that next tier
Speaker 1: you know of that second tier contenders are the top
Speaker 1: tier contenders. The other thing that's interesting here is the
Speaker 1: Jaw officiating conundrum. I've talked about this three or four
Speaker 1: times on the show, UM, But basically, John Murrain is
Speaker 1: so gifted at beating people off the jubble, and he's
Speaker 1: so thin, and he's so athletic that when he goes
Speaker 1: flying through the lane that even slight bumps can send
Speaker 1: him flying. Even slight bumps that wouldn't be considered a
Speaker 1: foul against the vast majority of ball handlers in the league.
Speaker 1: And so the bottom line is is that if John
Speaker 1: Murand catches a Dwyane Wade OH six type of officiating run,
Speaker 1: that could go a long way towards helping this team
Speaker 1: reach their ultimate ceiling. The worst case scenario is if
Speaker 1: Jaren Jackson Jr. Misses most of the season, which can
Speaker 1: affect their seating. Now they can end up in a five, six, seven,
Speaker 1: eight seed, which could put them on the road against
Speaker 1: a very good team in the first round of the playoffs,
Speaker 1: a team that they very well might be um an
Speaker 1: underdog against. If Jaw continues to struggle on defense and
Speaker 1: chakra Asian limitations. If they don't improve as uh in
Speaker 1: terms of shot creation outside of John Moran, they will
Speaker 1: continue to struggle in the half court even with jaw,
Speaker 1: and they will really mightily struggle when John Morant is
Speaker 1: off the floor, which will eventually get them beat if
Speaker 1: those things take place, you know, if John doesn't improve defensively,
Speaker 1: if they don't improve creating shots, if Jaren Jackson's injury
Speaker 1: cost them in seeding, this is a team that's gonna
Speaker 1: lose in the first round. So I kind of I
Speaker 1: view that as the range of outcomes, kind of first
Speaker 1: round loss all the way to championship with anything in
Speaker 1: between based on how those factors turn out. The biggest
Speaker 1: X factor on this team is Jaren Jackson Jr. Um.
Speaker 1: I I think that, like he's such a freak talent
Speaker 1: with such hot and cold moments that he's a textbook
Speaker 1: X factor in my opinion, because he could just as
Speaker 1: easily lose you a playoff series with poor decision making
Speaker 1: as he can win it with incredibly imposing defensive rim
Speaker 1: protection and physically imposing rim pressure on the offensive end
Speaker 1: of the floor, to go with outstanding perimeter shooting like
Speaker 1: he shot seven threes per game over the last seven
Speaker 1: playoff games and shot him over his last seven playoff games,
Speaker 1: he averaged nineteen points per game. He was an outstanding
Speaker 1: defensive player during that stretch. You know, I've compared him
Speaker 1: defensively to Anthony Davis with his combination of length and mobility. Um,
Speaker 1: obviously he's not that level of defensive player yet, but
Speaker 1: it's certainly something that he's capable of doing. That's kind
Speaker 1: of the Anthony Davis mold though, right like dominant defensive player,
Speaker 1: hyper versatile, stretch big. He could be a poor man's
Speaker 1: version of Anthony Davis if he could get to that level,
Speaker 1: which again, Anthony Davis I think was eighteen in my
Speaker 1: top twenty five this year because of how much he's regressed.
Speaker 1: If if Jaren Jackson Jr. Can get up to the
Speaker 1: eighteenth best basketball player in the world this season, which
Speaker 1: is absolutely doable with how talented he is, that could
Speaker 1: be a massive swing factor for this team. And if
Speaker 1: that sort of thing happens, they go from puncher's chance
Speaker 1: contender to that next here that if things go right contender,
Speaker 1: meaning if they stay healthy and they catch an injury
Speaker 1: break here there they are absolutely in that mix so
Speaker 1: very interesting. Memphis Grizzlies team. Grizzlies fans, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: we'll be covering them throughout the season. This is a
Speaker 1: team that I find to be extremely interesting. We'll learn
Speaker 1: more about their draft picks as they play along. It'll
Speaker 1: be interesting to see how they play without Jaren Jackson
Speaker 1: for chunks of the season. This is gonna be one
Speaker 1: of the most interesting teams in the league over the
Speaker 1: course of the next half decade, and I'm excited to
Speaker 1: cover them. So that's all I have on the Memphis Grizzlies.
Speaker 1: I I did as I promised at the beginning. I
Speaker 1: wanted to spend just a couple of minutes talking about
Speaker 1: uh my set, just to tell you guys a little
Speaker 1: bit more about myself. So obviously I am a die
Speaker 1: hard other way diehard Star Wars fan. Um. I grew
Speaker 1: up uh watching the VHS tapes when I was a
Speaker 1: little kid, and I've been in love with it ever
Speaker 1: since the beginning. I'm one of those diehard Star Wars
Speaker 1: fans that like reads all the Expanded Universe novels and
Speaker 1: like I've seen Clone Wars all the way through twice,
Speaker 1: and I've seen Rebels all the way through twice and
Speaker 1: and uh, I actually do a Star Wars podcast with
Speaker 1: with a buddy of mine, my best friend, my buddy Luke,
Speaker 1: who also happens to be a diehard Star Wars fan.
Speaker 1: We release episodes typically every Wednesday. UM. It's called the
Speaker 1: Two Sons Podcast. We've been going through the Thrown trilogy. Uh.
Speaker 1: We just went through the thron trilogy from when he
Speaker 1: was with the Empire, the books that they released a
Speaker 1: few years ago. Now we're going through the Thrown Ascendancy trilogy,
Speaker 1: which is based on Grand Admiral Thrown when he was
Speaker 1: with the Chiss Ascendancy, which is super super interesting. He's
Speaker 1: one of my favorite Star Wars characters and he's gonna
Speaker 1: be a big one uh coming up I think in
Speaker 1: the future as they go with a Soca and some
Speaker 1: of these other series. Anyway, Star Wars is a huge
Speaker 1: passion of mine. I wanted this to kind of represent
Speaker 1: the things that I love, and Star Wars is a
Speaker 1: thing that I love a great deal, uh, and it's
Speaker 1: something that I invest a lot of time. And if
Speaker 1: you ever want to hear me talk more about Star Wars,
Speaker 1: you can find that in my Star Wars podcast. My
Speaker 1: second favorite thing to do in the entire world is
Speaker 1: to play guitar, and I it's one thousand percent an
Speaker 1: amateur thing. At least at this point in my life.
Speaker 1: You will never hear me play. It's not something that
Speaker 1: I that I show off. It's something I do strictly
Speaker 1: for myself. My dad raised me on blues a lot
Speaker 1: of like The Grateful Dead in the Allmond Brothers band,
Speaker 1: and from I got my first guitar for my birthday
Speaker 1: when I was a kid from my grandmother was an
Speaker 1: Epiphone s G and I played it for years and
Speaker 1: then when I turned when I started playing basketball in college,
Speaker 1: I got away from it for a little while just
Speaker 1: because I couldn't travel with it from with everything that
Speaker 1: I was doing, and and I kind of got out
Speaker 1: of playing. And then a few years ago with my wife, Uh,
Speaker 1: we were talking about it and I decided to get
Speaker 1: into it again. And a big part of why I
Speaker 1: got back into it is this guy, Mr John Mayer,
Speaker 1: who you guys all probably know from his mainstream stuff,
Speaker 1: which I could take it or leave it. I don't
Speaker 1: dislike it. I find him to be freakishly talented, but
Speaker 1: with his mainstream stuff, um, I never really thought it
Speaker 1: captured what he was capable of. And back in two
Speaker 1: thousand fifteen, he started playing with the other older gentlemen
Speaker 1: you see there, Mr Bob Weir, who was one of
Speaker 1: the original guitarists for the Grateful Dead, and ever since
Speaker 1: two thousand sixteen, they've been touring, going to a bunch
Speaker 1: of cities around the country and playing old Grateful Dead songs.
Speaker 1: And Grateful Dead is more of a jam band, you know.
Speaker 1: The songs are like fifteen minutes long. Drives my wife
Speaker 1: freaking crazy. I'll never listen to that stuff around her
Speaker 1: because she doesn't really enjoy it all that much. But
Speaker 1: it really has exposed what John Mayor is capable of
Speaker 1: as a guitar player. And I think John Mayor, I
Speaker 1: personally think John Mayor is the best guitar player of
Speaker 1: this particular generation. Some people would disagree with me. Some
Speaker 1: people would say Gary Clark Jr. Some people would say
Speaker 1: Derek Trucks. I I think technically in terms of his
Speaker 1: core style as well as his versatility, the different types
Speaker 1: of music that he can play, not entirely unlike his
Speaker 1: mainstream stuff that he plays versus this blue stuff all
Speaker 1: the way to old Texas blues like Stevie ray Van
Speaker 1: and Jimmy Hendricks and things along those lines. He's just
Speaker 1: as well rounded as it gets, and I I he's
Speaker 1: like my personal role model as a guitar player. Um.
Speaker 1: This right here is the first Dead and Company concert
Speaker 1: that I went to in Phoenix, Arizona. That was the
Speaker 1: poster that they made. Vote They pay a professional artist
Speaker 1: to make a detailed painting like that for every single
Speaker 1: show that they do, which I think is a really
Speaker 1: really cool, uh kind of like niche thing that they do.
Speaker 1: These are two of my favorite guitars. This was the
Speaker 1: one that my wife got me for my thirtieth birthday.
Speaker 1: This is a PRS CEO. Um. Just an incredible piece
Speaker 1: of woodworking. Gibson and Fender kind of have run the
Speaker 1: guitar game forever and PRS has kind of grinded their
Speaker 1: way up to about third place on that list. They're
Speaker 1: they're all their core models are American made and there
Speaker 1: I find their woodworking to be exquisite. One of my
Speaker 1: one of my dreams is in the future. It costs
Speaker 1: about twenty dollars, so I don't plan on doing it
Speaker 1: for a long time, but one of my dreams is
Speaker 1: to go to their factory in Maryland and build a
Speaker 1: guitar from scratch. They call it their private stock collection.
Speaker 1: But you can actually like pick the kinds of wood
Speaker 1: that you want to use. You can do special designs
Speaker 1: on the neck and things like that. That's one of
Speaker 1: my dreams. This is a good old fashioned Fender Stratocaster,
Speaker 1: a very unique guitar sound that no other guitar can replicate.
Speaker 1: But yeah, so this just this a little bit about
Speaker 1: about myself. My number one love is basketball. It always
Speaker 1: will be. I live and breathe the game every single
Speaker 1: day of my life, and I will until the day
Speaker 1: I die. But when it comes to things outside of that,
Speaker 1: love me some Star Wars and I love me some
Speaker 1: uh blues guitar. So anyway, I hope that get Uh
Speaker 1: teaches you, teaches you guys a little bit more about myself.
Speaker 1: As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys supporting the show
Speaker 1: and we will be back tomorrow with number ten the
Speaker 1: volume