Ja Morant (left) and Jaren Jackson Jr. will be tasked with leading one of the league’s youngest teams, but guest Keith Parish believes the Grizzlies will be competitive once again while simultaneously building toward a brighter future (Instagram/@MemGrizz).


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The Memphis Grizzlies, particularly outside of franchise cornerstone Ja Morant, haven’t received much national attention in recent years, but they increasingly should. They’re a fascinating young team that’s kept quite busy this offseason. According to Keith Parish, host of Grind City Media‘s Fastbreak Breakfast and Grits and Grinds podcasts, Memphis’ flurry of moves were designed to enhance the quality of the youthful core around Morant and power forward Jaren Jackson Jr., who missed all but 11 games with injury last season. But even though the front office’s eyes are trained on the future, Keith doesn’t expect a “big step back” this year. He touches upon the expected impact of the Jonas Valanciunas trade, why so much is riding on Jackson’s upcoming season, the gamble Memphis is making with regard to Ziaire Williams and the team’s pair of promising 23-year-old shooting guards, among other timely Grizzlies topics.

3:50-4:37: “It was perceived that Valanciunas was kind of like a bridge. We traded Marc Gasol for him, and then he was gonna be this bridge into the future where eventually Jaren Jackson Jr. maybe bulked up enough to play the 5. But then last season, Jaren Jackson essentially misses the whole year, and the Grizzlies are competitive and good and he’s putting up these career-high numbers…and everyone’s like, ‘This is one of our building blocks.’ … The front office I don’t think ever thought this is a long-term piece. The ideal form of Jaren and Ja together probably doesn’t include Jonas at the 5. So when they had an opportunity to move him to pick up a future first-round pick and to move up in the draft to get the guy they wanted, they jumped at it.”

12:45-13:06: “I think he [Steven Adams] could fit really well alongside Jaren Jackson Jr. in a frontcourt. And I don’t think the Grizzlies are gonna take a big step back because even if Adams isn’t a big part of the plans, just opening more time for Xavier Tillman, who came on really strong last season, and then Brandon Clarke. I think this team is going to be competitive once again.”

14:48-15:35: “We thought he was gonna come back way earlier, it ended up stretching throughout the whole season, and then when he came back he wasn’t that good. So if Jaren Jackson Jr. is back, and there’s no reason he shouldn’t be totally healthy…if he’s back to that 17, 18 point-per-game scorer, I think people are gonna remember why they were so in love with him. I guess when a guy doesn’t play very much, he kind of falls out of the national consciousness and the conversation. If Jaren struggles, then you’re gonna really feel the pain of trading away Jonas Valanciunas, and the Grizzlies will be worse. There’s a lot riding on Jaren Jackson Jr.”

16:45-17:29: “Ja was the Grizzlies essentially, and we’ve seen it now both of the last two years, and the postseason and the play-in games last year; this guy scores 30 points per game when it matters. … I guess a question for Grizzlies fans: Is that something he needs to do more? Does he need to be more aggressive? Does he need to take on more of the offensive load? Dillon Brooks still leads the team in shots.”

23:19-24:30: “He [Brooks] is a bizarre, unique player, and he proved this season that he is an unbelievable defender. He’s an actual lockdown defender. … He hit his stride as a defender, which is what everyone was hoping for. … You don’t want him to be your No. 2 scorer. He’s been playing above his head because there’s been no one else. He’s the best guy at creating his shot in the halfcourt, and that’s a problem of roster construction. Ja is not that great in the halfcourt yet. Everyone else, it was like, ‘Alright, do we post up Jonas Valanciunas in the halfcourt or just basically let someone miss the shot and hope Jonas gets the rebound?”

29:17-29:33: “That’s the balancing act this team has been trying to do the last couple seasons. … ‘We want to be competitive but also be building toward a point where we are a contender.’”

34:41-35:28: “As long as you get some answers and some clarity about the young guys on your roster, if you identify which ones you’re gonna use going forward…I think that would be a successful season. You want to gain as much information as you can about the young guys and then based on that have a plan for what Year 4 of Ja is gonna look like and how you’re gonna use your resources and assets to bring in maybe another even better player and then really go for it once Ja heads into his extension.”

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Music: “Who Likes to Party” by Kevin MacLeod.