In the wake of the Grizzlies‘ elimination from the postseason, executive VP of basketball operations Zach Kleiman vowed to “keep pushing forward” and expressed a “massive belief” in the team’s core, as Michael Wallace of Grind City Media writes.
[RELATED: Grizzlies Sign Zach Kleiman To Contract Extension]
Kleiman acknowledged that the team’s growth and progress toward contending for a title may not always be linear, but said he’s confident it’s headed in the right direction and that he believes players will want to be part of what the Grizzlies are putting together.
“The culture we’re building, the way we want to play, the personalities of Ja (Morant) and Jaren (Jackson Jr.), players are going to want to play with these guys,” Kleiman said. “We’re building an organization that’s going to compete at the highest level, have the best medical care, the best player development, no state income tax in Memphis, it’s an incredibly comfortable place to live. We’re building something here guys are going to want to continue to be a part of, and I believe something that players are going to be attracted to.”
Here’s more on the Grizzlies:
- While the Grizzlies need to continue upgrading the roster around him, Ja Morant‘s leadership and next developmental steps will be a crucial part of the team’s offseason, Wallace writes in a separate story for Grind City Media.
- Evan Barnes of The Memphis Commercial Appeal weighs the pros and cons of bringing back Justise Winslow for the 2021/22 season. Memphis has until August 1 to make a decision on Winslow’s $13MM team option, though the team could technically re-sign him even after declining his option.
- In the first part of a two-part series, Chris Herrington of The Daily Memphian ranks the Grizzlies’ players in order of their importance going forward, starting with the players who aren’t locks to be part of the team’s future. Herrington speculates that Memphis will pick up Winslow’s team option and suggests that if the club makes a major trade, there’s a good chance that at least one of Brandon Clarke and Xavier Tillman would be on the move.
Getting better ranking
Warriors – lottery picks
Nuggets – more healthy
Grizzlies
Mavs
Suns
Jazz
Clippers
Blazers
8 playoffs teams
The Rockets deliberately omitted. Obviously they have nowhere to go but up, the only questions will be how high and how soon.
As disappointing as Winslow has been $13m isn’t a ransom, and I’m not sure who they’d find better on the FA market this summer. Wouldn’t be surprised if they gave him another go round.
Norman Powell & Duncan Robinson would both be much better options, even guys like Tony Snell & Doug McDermott would be upgrades from Winslow
If it were up to @formerlyz, he’d decline Justise Winslow’s last year, then re-sign him for the allowable max-contract.
Winslow’s stats of 18.5% (FG3%) and 57.1% (FT%) is just way too valuable for the GRIZZLIES.
Writer Harrington’s roster run-through was very informative and shines a favorable light on his previous “core four” article I criticized. Articles were free. One more to come.
I did want some explanation for Brandon Clarke’s downturn. Harrington was convincing in saying why he may get traded. One clue was semi-hidden: he reviewed Clarke and Xavier Tillman at the same time. They are similar, but I suspect Tillman won the 1v1s in practice and Clarke got down. Also, he may require his fine athleticism to be fine-tuned, and this was not the year for that. Still, he has trading value based on his rookie year.
Besides Tillman/Clarke, Bane may have pushed Grayson Allen to the expendable list. Tough stuff.
Unfortunate to see how Winslow can’t stay healthy… they should definitely pick up the option though and trade him if he performs well.
They have to figure out what to do at the 4 with arguably 4 or 5 similar options there, and they need a more consistent wing piece