Grizzlies general manager Zach Kleiman didn’t mince words during his end-of-season press conference when he discussed his team’s season.
“Disappointing season,” Kleiman said, per Damichael Cole of the Memphis Commercial Appeal. “A lot to sort through here. Forty-eight wins, good for an eight seed, but who cares? It’s not good enough.”
The Grizzlies were swept by the top-seeded Thunder in the first round of the playoffs after earning the No. 8 seed via the play-in tournament. An injury to Ja Morant didn’t help the cause, but Kleiman vowed to improve the roster in order to make the team a high-level contender.
“I don’t think we can look back at this series and this season and say, ‘Oh, we’re close,'” Kleiman said. “No, we’re not close. There’s a lot of work to be done.”
Here’s more on the Grizzlies:
- Head coach Tuomas Iisalo has publicly expressed a desire to have his interim tag removed. However, Kleiman is still pondering his options regarding Taylor Jenkins’ full-time replacement. “I have not made any decisions on the coaching front at this point,” Kleiman said.
- Signing Jaren Jackson Jr. to an extension remains a priority in Memphis. Kleiman believes Morant, Jackson and Desmond Bane can be key pieces to a championship team. “At the peak times of what this group has done, it’s right there and there is so much to hold on to,” he said. “And there’s been so much growth. They’re beginning to enter their prime. I think for each of them, there are significant steps that have been taken in a really positive direction.”
- Kleiman should at least consider moving Morant, who has three years on his contract, and Jackson, Will Guillory of The Athletic opines. Morant has only appeared in 59 regular-season games over the last two seasons and his actions continued to be a problem this season, Guillory writes, noting that the guard’s “finger gun” celebrations became a talking point around the league. There were also rumblings about Morant’s role in Jenkins’ firing. As for Jackson, if he makes an All-NBA team this year, he’ll be eligible for a five-year, $345MM super-max extension. That may be too much for a small-market team to swallow.
- ESPN’s Bobby Marks provides insights and opinions regarding the Grizzlies in his video offseason preview (Youtube link).
Ja is a lot like Trae mixed with Draymond…
Has to have a specific team around him and does crazy things that are detrimental to his team for no real reason…
If there’s no market for Trae the chances of one existing for Ja is low…
Health is the big thing for this team. After game 1, they were even with the Thunder if Ja was healthy. This can be a major surprise team next year with some health luck (Ja) and development by Edey and Wells. Finally, filling in the roster will be hugely important.
They are not even close to the level of the Thunder. Game 1 was embarrassing, game 3 was maybe even more embarrassing.
It was embarrassing, but the thunder played out of their minds, and the griz just weren’t ready to face the full force of OKC. That could all change next year with a re-tooling up and down the org, new talent added to the talented youth they now have, and staying healthy for the final stretch of the season. Looking at the first 60 games, they were very strong until the bottom fell out…and they still ended up 15 games over 500. Not saying they’ll be championship caliber, but odds are good for near the top of the west.
I think Memphis needs to trade everyone and rebuild tbh. Shouldn’t take long as they have a ton of value. But they need to build a functioning front office first. Cause otherwise it will be the same story every year: a good core and a weak roster around them.
The Grizzlies prioritizing a player that can’t be aggressive in the paint and rather stand on the 3pt line is irresponsible, jjj gotta go
Without Ja Morant they aren’t at that level. Ja Morant is a true difference-maker. The Grizzlies dominated the Thunder in two halves, G2H2 and G3H1. Embarrassing? Yeah. But they are really good with Ja. Really, really good.
If you don’t understand what happened in game 1, that’s fine. Was it embarrassing? Yes. But they came back and battled, especially after adjustments in game 2. I’m actually not sure what the adjustments were but they were a different team.
Then you lose Ja up 27 and you’re stunned. Is that ok? Nope. But they held tough in game 4 as well. Do they win the series with Ja? I don’t know. But I also am not sure the Thunder win the series if he doesn’t get taken out.
And if you want to say it doesn’t matter, they’re not good enough anyway, could the Warriors win without Curry? Celtics without Tatum? If you lose the heart and soul of your team it’s hard to win in the NBA playoffs.
I’m not nearly as doom and gloom on them as everyone else. But Ja needs to stay on the court and that’s been a problem. I certainly don’t have control over that.