Tag: Desmond Bane

Alex Kennedy Winds Through the West

October 24, 2023 / Aaron Fischman / 0 Comments

Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards is primed for a breakout season, according to Alex (@Timberwolves/X).

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | RSS

Alex Kennedy, Chief Content Officer at BasketballNews.com and host of Running Up the Score, a biweekly live sports show airing every Tuesday and Friday night, stops by to wind through the Western Conference just as the league readies for tipoff. The Nuggets are Alex’s leading squad but far from the conference’s only contenders. Oh, and he has firmly taken a seat aboard the Wemby Train. Who’s coming with him?

2:44-4:03: “This is a [Nuggets] team that has been together, this core has been together for years, and they have so much chemistry. And I think that’s one of the most undervalued things in sports. We tend to get excited about these big, blockbuster moves and player movement, but chemistry and continuity really, really help and go a long way when you’re trying to contend for a championship. … There are a handful of contenders: Denver, Phoenix, the Lakers, and then, I think, to a lesser extent you go and look at Sacramento, Memphis, Golden State, Clippers.”

9:52-13:19: “We haven’t seen a player like [Victor Wembanyama], ever. … LeBron James said he’s an alien. He was like, ‘I don’t want to use the word ‘unicorn.’ That gets thrown around too often. He’s an alien.’ Giannis said he could be the best player in the NBA. I mean, these are superstar players that are raving about him and talking about him coming in and just dominating the league. Giannis even said, he was like, ‘I need to start winning some championships now because Victor Wembanyama’s coming.’ … It was interesting; in the first preseason game that Victor Wembanyama played, we saw [Chet] Holmgren and Wembanyama match up against each other, and it almost feels like the future of the NBA a little bit – these huge guys with crazy length that are kind of position-less that can do a little bit of everything and are super-skilled.” Continue reading

Molly Morrison: “It’s a New World for Grizzlies Fans”

November 1, 2022 / Loren Chen / 0 Comments

Ja Morant’s exciting play has been a major reason why the Memphis Grizzlies have solidified their position among the NBA’s upper echelon (@memgrizz/Instagram).

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | RSS

Last season’s Memphis Grizzlies announced their arrival by earning the second seed in the Western Conference. And with the league’s fifth-youngest roster and proven success building through the draft and player development, there’s no reason to believe their upward trajectory shouldn’t continue into this season. To discuss how this up-and-coming team can continue to bolster its franchise’s history, we’ve brought on special guest Molly Morrison, formerly of MadeInMemphis1, the most followed Grizzlies’ fan account in Memphis. She takes us through the growth that led to Ja Morant winning the Most Improved Player Award and Zach Kleiman winning Executive of the Year and where the team can go from here.

4:06-4:55: “Ja Morant obviously is just the pivotal reason as to why you’re sitting here saying, ‘They’re not even an up-and-coming team. They’re kind of already there.’ So much of that does have to do with Ja’s ability to attack the basket, along of course with his other skill-sets: the block I posted, his incredible court vision, the way he is able to create for his teammates, and just all the areas he’s willing and working to improve in. … Just some of the things he does, I truly believe that I am excited to watch every single Grizzlies game in the regular season, which is not something I could always say because there will be some sort of highlight that just doesn’t look like something a natural person would do.”

8:48-9:08: “Desmond Bane is only going to keep getting scarier, be as scary as he’s been. His impact on the offense is as good as anyone. He and Ja are becoming one of my favorite backcourts in the league, just seeing them play together and their impact on the offense.”

11:24-11:57: “They’ve been shooting better on a higher volume, which is extremely hard to do, to shoot more 3s and shoot a higher percentage on 3s, and the whole team has done that. That really goes back to what I mentioned earlier with coach Taylor Jenkins realizing, ‘OK, guys. Our defense is going to struggle. We don’t have Jaren Jackson Jr. now. We traded away two great defensive players in [De’Anthony] Melton and [Kyle] Anderson. We need to stop shooting as many midrange shots. We need to either attack the basket or shoot from deep.’ And I think you’ve really seen that pay off with the Grizzlies.”

Parish: Desmond Bane Is “Absolutely Key for the Grizzlies”

May 7, 2022 / Aaron Fischman / 0 Comments

Ja Morant, just 22, has been incredible through the series’ first two games, but will he get more help on the offensive end (@JaMorant/Instagram)?

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | RSS

With the Memphis Grizzlies and Golden State Warriors tied through two games of an intense Western Conference semifinal series, we’re joined by Keith Parish, host of Grind City Media‘s Fastbreak Breakfast and Grits and Grinds podcasts, who provides insight from the Grizzlies’ perspective.

3:47-4:17: “These Ja Morant highlights, 140 million people saw them, and that’s by far the most of any NBA player. So he’s becoming an absolute superstar. What he did in Game 2 was a little bit different. … The Warriors are probably kicking themselves with the way they covered him. They didn’t seem to understand that he wants to drive left every time. They didn’t seem to understand that the Grizzlies were really, really short-handed and had not their normal closing lineup out there, but they didn’t force the ball out of his hands.”

12:32-14:11: “A healthy [Desmond] Bane I think could do incredibly against Klay Thompson. I’m not that confident in Klay Thompson’s ability to defend, and the Warriors keep playing these lineups where if [Jordan] Poole and Thompson are both out there, those are two things that the Grizzlies can attack if Bane is healthy. Continue reading

Keith Parish: Grizzlies Have “a Lot Riding on Jaren Jackson Jr.”

September 13, 2021 / Aaron Fischman / 0 Comments

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).

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | RSS

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. Continue reading

Tag: Desmond Bane

Alex Kennedy Winds Through the West

Molly Morrison: “It’s a New World for Grizzlies Fans”

Parish: Desmond Bane Is “Absolutely Key for the Grizzlies”

Keith Parish: Grizzlies Have “a Lot Riding on Jaren Jackson Jr.”

On The NBA Beat

Recent Posts

Archives

Categories