The Truth is OUT

I said earlier that Roddy's growth could be Bane-adjacent. This is another way that could be true. I don't have to compare him to ZW to point out that his role in college was one of dominant presence on the floor. He's still a rookie so we need to see how his development progresses, but playing with no fear at this point is a good sign that he will continue to grow.

I just don't see there being enough games left to catch Denver. It will be enough to fend off Sactown for #2, and even that's going to be a tall order. Might come down to the final game. We have the ability to punch our ticket to the WCF if we can do that. After that, we'll see. Unfortunately, 4 of our last 5 are on the road, while only 3 of the last 5 are for the Kings. AND, the Kings final game is against the Nuggets, who may take the night off if they have 1st place locked up. 2nd or 3rd seed, if we meet Sactown in 2nd round we'll be relying on our recent playoff experience edge over them to help move us ahead. I was bullish on us winning it all earlier in the year. But between losing BC for the season and our off-court issues, I'm not quite so bullish. But again, I think WCF appearance is ours to take.

Somebody add Wells to their Trivia night team...

He could be in the midst of a Bane-adjacent development trajectory. I hope he can find some quality minutes in the playoffs. Kind of like how they found room for Zaire last year. Any blind squirrel can find a nut, but I don't think his recent breakout game was an accident.

Honestly, I've never understood the grief about X. I understand why he gets so little playing time, but I can think of plenty of rotation bigs in this league that are worse. X could easily be an effective rotation player for a lot of teams. All he does is willingly keep going to Summer League and Southaven without complaint, and then gives us way better minutes than an end-of-bencher should be giving us whenever the team breaks the glass. He can hit the occasional 3, plays within the team defensive concept, gives us some toughness and from what I can tell, doesn't take plays off. And all that for less than $2m a year? Please. That's worth the 6 hard fouls he can give the other star big alone. He's not a perfect player, but he shouldn't be given his situation and spot in the rotation. It is still more likely that we lose him to another team than it makes sense for us to move off him. If that's worth complaining about, you are probably just a complainer.

Yes, tonight was a lot of fun. Glad to see how Kennard is plugging in, bringing what we need him to bring. It's always tempting to get into the crazy talk on a night like this and wonder what changes when Ja is in the building, but it seems like this is how we always ought to play. If we could meld this philosophy with Ja on the floor, man this team would be almost historically frightening to play.

One would prefer maturity to be developed. But if you can't have that, then maturity can be enforced. Or as it was said in one of my fave movies..."Discipline is not the enemy of enthusiasm".

Spanish Fly - Jarvis Greer tried to tag that one on Pau in his rookie year. Never stuck.

It's going to be an exciting playoff, for sure. There are no "desirable matchups" in the playoffs - just some who pose less problems. Maybe Minnesota again in the first round? But the seeding is so tight right now, it's unlikely they can manipulate their own destiny. Best for the Grizzlies to just try to wind up with best record they can and let the chips fall where they may. So should they try for the #1 seed? Sure, but Denver is unlikely to crater, barring significant injury. Their remaining SOS is middle of the pack. it is more likely we're going to slide down a bit, despite having one of the easiest schedules remaining in the league. Of our remaining 23 games, 12 are on the road. Meanwhile, the Kings, Suns, Clippers or Mavericks are all capable of going on a tear and moving past us.

I'd be all for Ja & Jaren going full pick n roll. 4 shooters doesn't have to be small ball - not on our team. But if we have 4 people they have to respect at the 3 with Ja, it's the same difference. It's about giving Ja maximum breathing room.

Tough loss. the Sixers played desperate, and they got the big-time tough buckets when they needed them. This is what everyone meant when they said the Grizzlies weren't sneaking up on anybody this year. The book is out on how to stop us when the time counts. These same "rules" will still be in effect when Adams is out there. I do think Kennard will help - we sacrifice Dillon's defense in doing so, but I think that's a necessary trade-off to gain proper spacing on offense. IF we're going to properly space. If we can't score at the end of games, no lead is safe. I don't see our system being able to generate good half-court looks by design against teams that are capable of defending us and turn up the heat in crunch time. So our only real option is to get everyone out of the way and let Ja go to work. "Call 12" will only consistently work at this point if we put 4 3-pt shooters out there with him around the perimeter. Otherwise, someone is going to sag. If they do, we have to be able to punish them for doing it. Having rebounders at the ready doesn't punish the other team, it actually helps them. We have to trust our superstar to be able to beat his man 1-1 or make the smart pass. I think he can do it. I know the CA suggested that minutes distribution is still low for our star players (and backed it up with numbers). If the plan is to ramp up their minutes in the postseason, we should start making that tweak now to give them time to adjust to the workload. This might also - in theory - help us be better at the end of games.

Have the injury subs been named yet?

Being outrebounded by almost double will account for a team getting to take more looks. But you're right, if we're not going to defend the 3 better, it's going to be an early exit come postseason.

That would be a hilarious contract. If a player were asked to sign such a contract, then they already know they are in the wrong place. Let's assume (safe assumption) that everyone understands how DB helps us and how DB hurts us. At this point, it's one of 2 things - Brooks is not coachable, or the coaches aren't able to properly handle him. Whichever is more correct needs to be addressed.

Hey, part of that movie took place in Memphis, too. Brrrrrr....