Grizzlies GM Zach Kleiman didn’t mince words during his end-of-the-season press conference regarding 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. 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:
- Tuomas Iisalo has publicly expressed his desire to have the 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. 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 moved 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. Morant’s actions continued to be a problem this season, Guillory notes, as his “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 supermax 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.