Memphis Grizzlies 2019-2020

Sam Ray Not

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You wonder at what point Iguodala says, "ahh, screw it, I'm joining these guys." Morant-Iguodala-Crowder-JJJ-Valanciunas looks like a very credible NBA lineup, with a solid young supporting cast in Dillon Brooks, Tyus Jones, Kyle Anderson, Brandon Clarke, and DeAnthony Melton.
 

lovegtm

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You wonder at what point Iguodala says, "ahh, screw it, I'm joining these guys." Morant-Iguodala-Crowder-JJJ-Valanciunas looks like a very credible NBA lineup, with a solid young supporting cast in Dillon Brooks, Tyus Jones, Kyle Anderson, Brandon Clarke, and DeAnthony Melton.
I mean...given where they are in the playoff race, the front office might prefer a playoff push to whatever late 1st they could get for him.

At the very least, buying him out so that he can go to the Lakers when you are likely conveying your pick and on the edge of the playoffs seems pretty dumb. Not to mention that most Western Conference small market teams seem to dislike helping the Lakers on principle.
 

HomeRunBaker

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On the flip side, that highly-valued Miami 2021 pick is going to end up at like 25 for OKC next year.

The Brooklyn situation was really anomalous, and got teams overvaluing unprotected picks out of context. Usually the combination of having other high picks in surrounding years and no incentive to tank can make those picks at least respectable.

The Lakers situation wrt picks is interesting though, because of the 3 consecutive drafts the Pelicans control their pick for. That’s the kind of situation you want when really trying to squeeze unprotected picks for max value.
The Lakers deal could also easily be misconstrued without understanding the full context of their situation.Those 1st round picks carried very little value to the Lakers once they made this LeBron’s team and entered go-for-it-now mode over these next 3-4 years.

It isn’t often a pair of 21-yr olds (or whatever they are) can compete every night, lead a team out of the doldrums and into playoff contention like Moramt and JJJ.
 

benhogan

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It isn’t often a pair of 21-yr olds (or whatever they are) can compete every night, lead a team out of the doldrums and into playoff contention like Moramt and JJJ.
Clarke has been pretty darn efficient, I'd expect his minutes to increase.
If a very average Crowder gets dealt (which I don't expect), Clarke can easily slide into his role.

even Melton finding a niche with this group

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/c/clarkbr01.html
 
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BigMike

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Clarke has been pretty darn efficient, I'd expect his minutes to increase.
If a very average Crowder gets dealt (which I don't expect), Clarke can easily slide into his role.

even Melton finding a niche with this group

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/c/clarkbr01.html
Yes, it certainly seems like giving Clarke 10 of Crowder's minutes a night would actually improve the team, but then again, with his energy level etc, it might be hard to maintain his strong PER numbers at higher workloads
 

benhogan

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Yes, it certainly seems like giving Clarke 10 of Crowder's minutes a night would actually improve the team, but then again, with his energy level etc, it might be hard to maintain his strong PER numbers at higher workloads
He'll probably slide up to ~25mpg in the 2nd half of the season. An extra 3-4minutes won't kill him, he's an older rookie.
 

lovegtm

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The Lakers deal could also easily be misconstrued without understanding the full context of their situation.Those 1st round picks carried very little value to the Lakers once they made this LeBron’s team and entered go-for-it-now mode over these next 3-4 years.

It isn’t often a pair of 21-yr olds (or whatever they are) can compete every night, lead a team out of the doldrums and into playoff contention like Moramt and JJJ.
Yeah, I was talking about it from the Pelicans point of view: those picks start coming around the end of that window, and the fact that they're consecutive is meaningfully different from one-off unprotecteds.
 

BigSoxFan

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Memphis schedule is weak this month. This team is about to go on a run. 1 game out of 8 seed.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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In the eighth spot and winners of four in a row. Morant and JJJ have chemistry and Dillon Brooks is making a leap.
 

HomeRunBaker

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Memphis schedule is weak this month. This team is about to go on a run. 1 game out of 8 seed.
Grizz win their 4th in a row and take control of the 8th seed as they take advantage of DeRozan's 36/9/9 once again killing the Spurs. They have Golden State and Cleveland wrapped around the Rockets on the rest of their homestand. This team is fun and they come to Boston one week from next Wednesday (1/22). I may have to shell out another $600-700 and take the Mrs to this one.

Edit: Went to look at ticket prices. The same seats that were $189 for a weeknight Sacramento game last year are $73 for this one and even some Loge seats are less than those in 301 were for Kings game last year. What is going on here? No, I'm not complaining. Yes, I'm clicking two tix tonight for the game.
 
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DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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Grizzlies defeat Houston in Memphis for their sixth straight win and are 8-2 in their last 10 games. Morant had 26 points on 10-11 from the field and eight assists while Dillon Brooks chipped in 24 points. This team is evolving and, as BSF notes, they are feasting on a generally relatively easy schedule of late (aside from the Rockets).

Harden's line: 41 points on 13-37 shooting with six boards and six assists.

View: https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1217270077436751874?s=20
 
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HomeRunBaker

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Grizzlies defeat Houston in Memphis for their sixth straight win and are 8-2 in their last 10 games. Morant had 26 points on 10-11 from the field and eight assists while Dillon Brooks chipped in 24 points. This team is evolving and, as BSF notes, they are feasting on a generally relatively easy schedule of late (aside from the Rockets).

Harden's line: 41 points on 13-37 shooting with six boards and six assists.

View: https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1217270077436751874?s=20
That was one impressive close out there James. LOL!!
 

lovegtm

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That was one impressive close out there James. LOL!!
He's an amazing offensive player, and clearly contributes to winning basketball (huge understatement), but it just feels like something is missing in terms of toughness/determination/all-around basketball. His reactions to repeated trapping (disdainfully tossing the ball to Westbrook) are also revealing imo. You just don't see other heavily trapped guys like Steph or Kemba react like that--they're happy that their team is gaining an advantage.
 

Imbricus

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This pick appears even more cursed than the Sacramento pick, somehow. Danny had incredible luck on the Brooklyn picks. This must be the way of the universe evening out the score.
 

lovegtm

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This pick appears even more cursed than the Sacramento pick, somehow. Danny had incredible luck on the Brooklyn picks. This must be the way of the universe evening out the score.
There’s still time for Langford to kill it and give the universe the finger again.
 

HomeRunBaker

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This pick appears even more cursed than the Sacramento pick, somehow. Danny had incredible luck on the Brooklyn picks. This must be the way of the universe evening out the score.
Let’s not forget that we were very fortunate along the way these past few years for this pick to be one Ja Morant from becoming a high lottery. We needed a perfect storm to get max value and nearly did up until Ja.
 

InstaFace

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I'd rather they have gotten #1 and Zion Williamson, and had him sit out half his rookie year with an injury.

What doubts I do have relate to whether I really wanted to roll these dice and have Memphis get a top-8 pick, or whether I would have been content to accept #9 (Rui Hachimura, Cam Reddish, etc).

C'est la guerre.
 

HomeRunBaker

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I'd rather they have gotten #1 and Zion Williamson, and had him sit out half his rookie year with an injury.

What doubts I do have relate to whether I really wanted to roll these dice and have Memphis get a top-8 pick, or whether I would have been content to accept #9 (Rui Hachimura, Cam Reddish, etc).

C'est la guerre.
I’m always in the roll of the dice mindset when the option is selecting non-impact players who are available via trade/FA whenever you need them. Plus calling Reddish ordinary is an insult to ordinary NBA players. I’m not sure he cuts it in this league aside from bouncing around on bad teams second units.
 

InstaFace

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well, I'd be pretty stoked to have Rui Hachimura learning the ropes right now, setbacks and all. And who knows what Reddish is dealing with this year, but he was talked about as a top 5 pick at one point. It's probably a little soon to call him a bust (which is what "insult to ordinary NBA players" is).
 

lovegtm

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well, I'd be pretty stoked to have Rui Hachimura learning the ropes right now, setbacks and all. And who knows what Reddish is dealing with this year, but he was talked about as a top 5 pick at one point. It's probably a little soon to call him a bust (which is what "insult to ordinary NBA players" is).
This is one thing I loved in the NO/LAL AD deal: New Orleans kept the option to accept the pick or to roll it over in some years. That both lets them avoid this type of situation and also tie up the Lakers with the Stepien rule now so that they can't add help around AD/LeBron in the present.

In the Celtics case, unfortunately, this is just pure hindsight: everyone was happy at the time to let the pick roll over further. If Morant turns out to be RJ Barrett or DeAndre Hunter, we're sitting pretty.
 

benhogan

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More about the young core as a whole: obv almost everyone would take Luka over Ja.
who is Dallas young core? Luka and Jalen Brunsen...Porzingas is only 24, guess I don't think of him as being young anymore. Dallas future is really bright

I'd taken Luka/Brunsen over Ja, Brooks, JJJ, Clarke, Melton...Josh Jackson doing anything in the G-League?

who's young core do you like better Memphis or Atlanta?
 
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NomarsFool

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I feel like there is often such a drop-off outside the top 10 in the draft. There's still the potential to hit it big, but then it's because you gambled and got lucky on someone with some real question marks. Maybe we'll get lucky and someone will have some major season ending injury.
 

lovegtm

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I feel like there is often such a drop-off outside the top 10 in the draft. There's still the potential to hit it big, but then it's because you gambled and got lucky on someone with some real question marks. Maybe we'll get lucky and someone will have some major season ending injury.
If they don’t convey the pick this near, next year’s outlook is even worse. The best hope at this point is for the Grizz to slip out of the playoffs and into the 10-12 range.
 

NomarsFool

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I'm hopeful that NOL will play better with Zion. I think they should do better second half of the season. It's annoying that Sacramento's doing worse this year than last.
 

nighthob

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This pick appears even more cursed than the Sacramento pick, somehow. Danny had incredible luck on the Brooklyn picks. This must be the way of the universe evening out the score.
There’s an alternate universe where the Lakers give in and trade Lonzo Ball for Kyrie and Boston exits the 2018 draft with Jaren Jackson Jr. and Shae Gilgeous-Alexander as a reward. And that team curb-stomped LeBron’s LA Clippers a few weeks back...
 

the moops

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There’s an alternate universe where the Lakers give in and trade Lonzo Ball for Kyrie and Boston exits the 2018 draft with Jaren Jackson Jr. and Shae Gilgeous-Alexander as a reward. And that team curb-stomped LeBron’s LA Clippers a few weeks back...
What exactly are the hypothetical machinations that turned Kyrie into Ball, SGA, and Jackson?
 

nighthob

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What exactly are the hypothetical machinations that turned Kyrie into Ball, SGA, and Jackson?
The Lakers break down and trade Lonzo Ball for Kyrie, leaving Boston with that third Brooklyn pick, and Ainge picks the guard that meets his preference. Plus Kyrie helps transform a 26 win Laker team into a 24 win one, which results in the pick conveying to Boston. ;)
 

the moops

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The Lakers break down and trade Lonzo Ball for Kyrie, leaving Boston with that third Brooklyn pick, and Ainge picks the guard that meets his preference. Plus Kyrie helps transform a 26 win Laker team into a 24 win one, which results in the pick conveying to Boston. ;)
Only because I love fake made up trades and what-ifs.

But - Lakers finished with 26 wins in 2016/2017. Lebron and Kyrie were teammates in CLE that year. Lonzo Ball wasn't drafted until 2017 offseason.
 

lovegtm

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Only because I love fake made up trades and what-ifs.

But - Lakers finished with 26 wins in 2016/2017. Lebron and Kyrie were teammates in CLE that year. Lonzo Ball wasn't drafted until 2017 offseason.
Think he means the year after that 26-win season, when the Lakers pick fell to 10th.
 

nighthob

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Only because I love fake made up trades and what-ifs.

But - Lakers finished with 26 wins in 2016/2017. Lebron and Kyrie were teammates in CLE that year. Lonzo Ball wasn't drafted until 2017 offseason.
The Cavaliers put Kyrie Irving on the market the summer of 2017, when Boston ultimately traded for him and invoked the curse. The Lakers were one of the teams in the bidding, but they refused to part with either Ingram or Ball, and so fell out of the bidding.

So ultimately Cleveland dealt Irving to Boston for eighth pick of the 2018 draft, while the Lakers went on to win thirty something games the following year, meaning the pick went to Philly and Boston got the 2019 Kings pick instead. But if the Lakers had been willing to budge, then they might have invoked the Irving curse instead...
 

lovegtm

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Can someone recap the Iguodala situation for me? I’m aware that Memphis intended to trade him all along, but whose choice is it that he’s not playing?
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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Looking back, it's really too bad MEM didn't end up with #1 pick and take Zion. Granted that probably means the pick doesn't convey this year and who knows where Zion takes them this year but at least we'd have something to talk about.
 

lovegtm

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I'd rather have MEM convey at this point then bink in the lottery. At that point, with the way Morant, JJJ, and Clarke are playing, we'll be picking 21st in 2021.
 

HomeRunBaker

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Looking back, it's really too bad MEM didn't end up with #1 pick and take Zion. Granted that probably means the pick doesn't convey this year and who knows where Zion takes them this year but at least we'd have something to talk about.
For the 6 games he plays this year anyway. There has to be a prop out there somewhere where you can wager if Zion can bypass Oden’s 105 game career.
 

Imbricus

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I watched half of that Memphis game against the Celts last night. They looked more like a 15-win team than a 20-win -- definitely some good pieces, but also raw. Here's hoping they regress to that during the season's second half.
 

128

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I watched half of that Memphis game against the Celts last night. They looked more like a 15-win team than a 20-win -- definitely some good pieces, but also raw. Here's hoping they regress to that during the season's second half.
The C's caught Ja Morant on one of the rare nights when he was a non-factor. JJJ, aside from a few 3-pointers, didn't do much, either.

It reminded me of Boston's rout of NOLA. The Pelicans are likely to be much better at home Sunday.
 

lovegtm

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The C's caught Ja Morant on one of the rare nights when he was a non-factor. JJJ, aside from a few 3-pointers, didn't do much, either.

It reminded me of Boston's rout of NOLA. The Pelicans are likely to be much better at home Sunday.
Sure, although Smart, Walker, and Tatum did a lot to make Morant a non-factor.

I was really impressed with JJJ's ability to recover for blocks. Hadn't seen him play much, but he's a presence. Offensively, he's just not good enough down low yet--even Hayward was able to mostly contain him when that matchup happened.
 

benhogan

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I watched half of that Memphis game against the Celts last night. They looked more like a 15-win team than a 20-win -- definitely some good pieces, but also raw. Here's hoping they regress to that during the season's second half.
I wouldn't read much into the Grizz last night other than they are young, on the road and when the Celtics play that type of on-ball defense they are a top 4 NBA team.

If the Grizz play with the effort they have shown this season, they'll be fighting for that WC 8 seed.
 

BigSoxFan

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While it’s lost some value, this pick is now pretty tradeable now since the expected value is pretty locked in, right?
 

HomeRunBaker

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I wouldn't read much into the Grizz last night other than they are young, on the road and when the Celtics play that type of on-ball defense they are a top 4 NBA team.

If the Grizz play with the effort they have shown this season, they'll be fighting for that WC 8 seed.
Yeah, Celtics fans catching Memphis last night is like how Pistons and Wizards fans would talk about the Celtics following their games the past couple of weeks. These are the dog days of the NBA season......no-shows happen a ton this time of the year. Last night it was Memphis with one.
 

Euclis20

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Sure, although Smart, Walker, and Tatum did a lot to make Morant a non-factor.

I was really impressed with JJJ's ability to recover for blocks. Hadn't seen him play much, but he's a presence. Offensively, he's just not good enough down low yet--even Hayward was able to mostly contain him when that matchup happened.
JJJ has that Giannis ability to take one dribble from the 3 point line and stretch his arms past what you think would be possible, all the way to the rim. He's also the exact same size as Giannis (both are 6'11, 242 pounds with a 7'4 wingspan). He won't become the absolute bulldozer that Giannis is on his way to the basket but he's already a far better shooter (.406 from 3 on 6.5 attempts per game, shooting .752 from the line). If he puts it together he's a top ten guy.