What Ja Morant’s return means to Memphis and the Grizzlies | Devine Intervention

What Ja Morant’s return means to Memphis and the Grizzlies | Devine Intervention

You build on failure use it as a stepping stone you close the door on the past you don’t try to forget the mistakes but you don’t dwell on it you don’t let it have any of your energy or your time or your space judge and arrow count me in two 1 Two today’s first words belong to Johnny Cash the man in Black a guy who knew a thing or two about Memphis Tennessee but the rest of them belong to me welcome to divine intervention a self-help podcast about basketball my name is Dan nine and before we get rolling here are three

Things that I am grateful for today number one I get paid by Yahoo sports to talk about the NBA into this microphone and to write about it pretty good deal number two not only have I fully replenished my health bar after the stomach bug that caused me to miss last

Week’s episode but I’m feeling exceptionally ready to cook after spending some Resto of holiday time with friends and family as I hope that you all have as well and number three I get to spend part of my morning with somebody who’s been one of my favorite

NBA writers and thinkers for a long long time my guest today is an award-winning culture writer critic and basketball reporter whose work has appeared in the Memphis Commercial Appeal the Memphis Flyer and true hoop among other Publications these days he is a columnist for the daily memphian where

He covers with great love and in great detail all aspects of the American Jewel that is the city of Memphis it’s music movies food Civic culture and most relevant for our purposes its professional basketball team friends a warm welcome for Chris Harrington Chris thanks so much for

Joining us how are you doing today Dan it’s a pleasure it’s a pleasure to be talking to you uh you know going the other way to be the guest instead of the host this time I I have to um I have to thank you for your unknowing um but

Serendipitous Johnny Cash intro I have actually distantly related to Johnny Cash um my great-grandmother who died when I was in Middle School so I knew her growing up she was clar Cash of Kingsland Arkansas Southern Arkansas she was she knew the cash family she was around them part of that you know that

Extended family before they moved North to dis Arkansas when Johnny Cash was a small child and so uh Johnny Cash had no idea who I was his children have no idea who I was but I know that I’m something like I don’t know an eighth cousin or something like that to Johnny Cash

Well to me Chris that makes you royalty and I am extremely excited for the Serendipity of that moment Chris I’ve asked you here today not only because unbeknownst to me you are country music royalty a Jace um but because I think that you are as good as it gets on the

Memphis Grizzlies and a team that has long been near and dear to my heart and man the boys in be Street blue find themselves in the same kind of spot that our pal Johnny was talking about up top needing to build on failure needing to use it as a stepping stone and go

Somewhere new so I wanted to talk about it could think of nobody that I’d rather talk about it with than you and we’ll get into that but first here on divine intervention we always try to operate from a place of Joy so Chris Harrington what is something from the world of

Basketball that has brought you Joy this week well obviously the timing of that is sort of an A J rant style alley pass for me to talk about the return of Jah but since we’re going to talk about the Grizzlies mostly in the in the show I’ll

I’ll pivot to a different place and I know they lost their most recent game since we’re recorded they lost last night to the Oklahoma Oklahoma City Thunder but I have to give a shout out to sort of my other my other team the Minnesota Timberwolves I I went to

College in the Twin Cities I was there I was there LCD sound system voice I was there for the Andre’s gabar and gards Vetra years I was there for the Big Bear Bob mccan I was there for the Isaiah Ryder Christian lner crackup I was literally there in Target Center as a

College student the first game after Tom gugat became the first ever franchise All-Star for the Minnesota Timberwolves um so I I’ve been a I’ve been a wolves fan mostly a former wolves fan at this point but I I sort of cut my teeth as a wolves fan and so to see them first

Place in the West after Christmas it’s pretty pretty great I still have a lot of Twin Cities connections I feel great for all my wolves fans up there for the team they have and it’s extra fun for me to see them get to this place with truly important contributions from two of my

All-time favorite Memphis Grizzlies Mike connley and and Kyle Anderson so shout out to the Minnesota Timberwolves absolutely and there was i’ been really enjoying these last few games where it’s like oh Chris Finch is trying to figure out how to adjust the spacing on the court it’s like take Kyle Anderson out

Of the corner and give him the ball he’s a better point guard than he is a floor spacer over there ESS essential yeah you’re G to figure all and also yeah like when in doubt slaps him slow-mo on it like he’s gonna figure it out on the

Ball off the ball whatever time for a ruthless plug you say we’re talking about Aly passes and you just set me up for one I just wrote extensively long about the Wolves defense and about their how they’ve sort of come alive and come up the numbers aren’t uh up to dat but

The general Vibe of it is so go to yahoosports.com you can find my thing on the Timberwolves there um we’re going to come back to them later I have a couple of questions about them but uh as you mentioned we are going to speak first and foremost and primarily about these

Memphis Grizzlies these fighting Memphis Grizzlies um and these suddenly redh hot Memphis Grizzlies before we get to the specifics of the turnaround it has been a hell of a last 10 months for this franchise and you’ve been up up close and personal for all of it things going

Things falling apart with John Morant the Dylan Brooks and brolio the trades and the fights and a heck of a lot of losses and just wondering from where you’ve been sitting what’s been the most frustrating part of the experience these last few months is it like people

Outside of Memphis kind of getting it wrong is it watching the team not be able to figure it out what’s been frustrating as you’ve been sitting in front and center watching it well I think the two things that have hurt the most have been the John Morant thing and

The Stephen Adams thing and uh they’re both frustrating in different ways I the John barant stuff is self-inflicted uh you could argue about whether 25 games was too much or whatever but like he earned his suspension and then the Stephen Adams thing injuries happen but the uncertainty around that whether he

Would return in season the organizational belief that he was going to be back this season and then for him to sort of exit like on the eve of the season I think Adams was extraordinarily important has been extraordinarily important for for the grizzly success the last couple years and so those two

Things are sort of a double whammy because the the sort of fulcrum of their offense has been that John Morant stepen Adams interaction and so for both of those things to go poof but really the past year has been like this year-long detour I mean this was a team that two

Years ago won 56 games was the youngest playoff team in a basketball generation I think since the Durant Harden Westbrook Thunder and and if you go back exactly one year from the date of John marant’s return his returns December 19th 2023 he’s ret returned from suspension go back year December 19th

2022 grizz’s were first in the west they were half game up on the Denver Nuggets Mor was on his way to another a second all NBA season headed to a supermax that team was right back you know second in the west two years in a row they were

Back they were in first and then the troubles came and it was it it was it started with Adams and Morant it was Adams knee injury I believe at Phoenix um and then the morat stuff started percolating it started percolating before March before the March game in

Denver it started you know there were things that were already happening that were starting to get reported there was the incident in Memphis against the Pacers where one of morant’s friends got in a weird on court sort of near altercation with Pacers players and then

Another one after the game in the in the parking garage and then it was it sort of fell apart and there was a year-long descent from that first in the west to a six and 19 start and now they’re now it’s the climb back and the climb back

It’s no guarantee they’re going to get all the way back to where they were a year ago if they do it might take another year um because you’re starting from six and 19 this season but man they’re off to a good start and a tantalizing start in these four games

Since Jaws come back absolutely and we we’re going to get to that in just a second but about the the ja comeback I think one of the more interesting things to me about the way that this has been discussed and again you know that I’m I I’m aware that there’s a difference in

How it’s discussed locally and how it’s discussed nationally but there’s this sort of like push and pull about like what this story is like is it a Redemption story is it a rebirth story is it about you know like a young guy who narrowly misss you know dangerous

Paths or whatever you know like what are we sort of talking about when we talk about John Morant and you have seen you know every step in his journey since he came to Memphis out of Murray State I’m wondering like he seems like a particularly uh like fraught person like

There’s so much emotional connection to him what has he what does he represent in Memphis like what does he meant to the city and why does that feel a little bit different than other Grizzlies we’ve seen in the past yeah I mean he’s a different magnitude of player than

They’ve ever had before um as good as marcusa and Zach Randolph were they were not quite and marcol made first team all NBA something John Mor has not done but John Morant as as a as a young star which which neither of those guys quite

Were at their Peak and Bs even when they were young they were kind of old yeah yeah yeah yeah and I mean marus was 23 when he got to the NBA John Brant already had two 47o playoff games before he turned 23 um and so Mor a as an on ball

Offensive engine is a different kind of is the kind of player who elevates a team in a different way he’s a level of star obviously that those guys weren’t in terms of the highlights he generates in terms of the interest he generates you know has his own Nike shoe has his

Own thing it’s just a different kind of thing but with Mor I think there was also a sense that um as frankly a young black star in a majority black City that he sort of represented the city and the culture of the city in a different kind

Of way um that a guy who is from the south from the small town south in South Carolina went to Murray State so he had this element of sort of sort of Youth and and Flash and flare that I think the city related to but also came from the

Kind of humble chip on your shoulder small town small background that I think the city also relates to and to put those things together in one package seemed to make him like if you were G to draw up a an NBA superstar for the City of Memphis on a Blackboard that’s kind

Of what you’d come up with that you get both in one package and he sort of represented that and so I think his fall to the degree it’s been a fall and it has um has been painful for the city and for the fan base to watch that happen but there’s

Definitely I I I think there there are people out there who will say like what did Jah do wrong you get some of that but that’s mostly not the reaction mostly the reaction is that you know Jah messed up but you know we’re going to

Rally around our guy and pick him up and we’re going to be with him on the way back up and that’s kind of been more the general attitude of the city and so I I think you know Memphis has ja’s back but Memphis for the most part understands

That Jah has jaah has messed up and Jah j has has brought most of this on himself and thus far you know the public comments after you know that initial press conference before that return game in New Orleans and obviously the performance has spoken for itself it

Seems like there’s at least there’s a conscious effort to kind of like let’s make sure we’re rebuilding this in the right direction like saying the right things showing that actions matter More Than Words and we understand that and the way I get everybody back it seems is

By a balling out and B bringing back that sense of joy that had so suffused Memphis Grizzlies basketball for the last couple of seasons and was so absent for much of of those first 25 games well I I think what what’s been notable and I

Know his dad J’s dad tarant had a couple quotes on like a radio show about you know comparing jaw’s problems to some other problems in the league that haven’t you know that maybe more more actually legally questionable sure but for the most part that has not been the

Attitude and that that has not been ja’s public attitude about it right um that has not been the organizations the organization didn’t come out and say and protest the NBA’s treatment the organization was with the league on it um John morand has not come out and said

I was wrong John Morant has come out and said you know I he’s basically acted like he had Adam Sila were pin pal now and like they’re they’re going to work together going forward and I think there’s been an awareness that J Jah was having issues off the floor Beyond just

These two Instagram videos and that there was an awareness I think from the NBA and from the Grizzlies and from Morant to to a to a large degree thankfully that he needed to get his career and life back on track and that what the NBA did was partly punishment

But it was as much intervention it was a we we we value you as a as a young sort of institution in this league and we need you to get your your career and and your yourself back on track it’s important to the league it’s important to the organization and it’s important

To you and your family and I think you know whatever chippiness some fans have had about jah’s treatment by the league Jah has not himself expressed that very much at all in fact it when he had his return press conference in Memphis to me the most interesting thing he said you

Said mostly things you expected to hear but what did he say you didn’t expect to hear someone asked him if he’ made mistakes and his response was I’ve made mistakes you don’t even know about I’ve made mistakes with my family and that is not something he needed to say and so I

I think the fact that he has he he he has taken on that and acknowledged that and yet has still come back with the kind of swagger and Defiance on the court that helps make him great I think it’s been a good combin we’re four games in but it’s off to a

Good start yeah listen we we we live in small sample sizes uh as we talk about these things week to week day to day and this small sample size that we are living in right now has been uh one hell of an uh an uptick for the Memphis

Curses I think if your first question was like when jaah comes back which ja are we getting the answer is he’s still freaking ja Morant um and and I’m I’m wondering so again you covered those first you know the first 25 games the six and n and all the did you like have

Whiplash going from what you watched for the first couple of months to what it was like when you know that pretty much right away that first game in New Orleans it was yeah and it was it’s been a reminder of not only how good Morant is and I think that maybe has been

Forgotten just a little bit because so many other young guards have been so great in his absence and part of this story for from John brand from a personal standpoint is climbing his way back up the charts a little bit among the the League’s great young players because in his absence like Shay

Alexander is popping off and Tyrese halbert’s popping off and dearon fox and Tyrese Maxi all these great young guards and he he gets to rejoin the fry in terms of competing with those guys um which he had halberton his at his first home game back he’s gonna get Darren Fox

On New Year’s Eve right this is this is part of the fun of it all but it was a reminder of not only how good he is but kind of impact he has he is one of these guys who sort of is an offense unto

Himself a little bit and so you look at the Grizzlies in the first 25 games and The Grizzlies in the four games since he’s been back this was a team that over the last two or three years was in the top three basically every year with Mor and points

In the paint and fast break points the first 25 games they were like 25th 26th 27th in those categories in the four games se’s been back they’re instantly back at the top five rate in those categories you know they were dead last in offense in the NBA the first 25 games

And the four games since he’s been back if you take that number and apply it to the season it’s like 12th or 13th he instantly turned them by himself back into an above average NBA offense from the worst in the league and instantly Chang the style of play from a team that

Had no pop to a team that’s right back attacking the paint getting to the rim getting out in transition he did all that instantly you know he suddenly made zy Williams playable again he suddenly made Xavier Tillman playable again um suddenly bench units with him and four

Bench guys were like working because he because he could make it work and it’s been a little bit of a reminder about sort of the catalytic impact he can have on a team offensively he is one of these guys and there are plenty of others but

It’s still like not that long of a list but he is one of these guys who can by himself as a combination scorer and Creator a Be A team’s offense really and to put some numbers to that because the numbers be be repeating or bear some mentioning uh first four games back for

Johnar 28.8 points per game eight and a half assists a game 5.3 rebounds a game he’s shooting 67% in the restricted area 63% from floater range uh you know the to talk about the Grizzlies being team floater for for years and years and a lot of that was just based on his

Ability to get two feet in the paint and go up from you know right you know just inside the free throw line and nail that he’s been a huge clutch performer for a team that had struggled for I struggled offensively in all four quarters but in the fourth quarter notably right had the

Gamewinner over the Pelicans in the first game had 11 points between the fourth quarter and overtime and another come from behind win over New Orleans on Tuesday night which was uh attended by some some chaos in the last the latter part of that game with a lot of and

Reviews and Jonas valun is fouling on an alley with 410 of a second left all sorts of stuff uh so you know underline it all though and it’s another pic another Grizzlies win rather 31 points in 37 fourth quarter minutes for John Mor since he came back um he has

Absolutely as you said it’s it has transformed like the Grizzlies were never a great or have not been a great halfcourt offensive team period but it was can it was jaw getting into the paint that Rim pressure being able to generate just enough openings for other

People to be able to do that and the difference between dead last in the league and like 20th in the league in a half court offense and then from bottom five in the league to top 10 top five transition offense that’s the that’s the difference that’s the whole ball game um

With the exception of the offensive rebounding piece which I you mentioned Stephen Adams earlier but even even that has taken a notable uptick these first few games just because by virtue of him getting into the paint and getting the ball on the rim so that there are more

Of those opportunities and more more chaos in the paint more bodies down there more congestion and more opportunities for the Grizzlies front Court guys to go get it and it’s just it had the the value of as you mentioned an offense unto himself has it it’s been

You know very very clear very very quickly and he looks like he has not missed a beat at all but as we move from the period of his suspension and his absence to you know now whatever this new team is going to wind up looking like I’m wondering from that first 25

Games because obviously the as you mentioned the Grizzlies put themselves in a gigantic Cole and are going to spend the rest of the season trying to climb out of it but I’m wondering what from that first 25 games do you think matters like what what is there anything

From that early part of the Season that the Grizzlies can take and say like that is actually something we need it is of value for us as we try to climb out of that hole as we figure out what’s next I think you start with Desmond Ban’s

Elevation as much as the team was struggling offensively it was it was not because of him right Desmond Bane took on more of a burden as a lead guard in terms of his usage in terms of his playmaking in terms of his scoring and the story of Desmond Bane from his

Rookie year has not been getting better as much as taking on more without getting worse year after year after year takes on more shots more usage and the efficiency holds and I I think when you when you look at what he was able to do

The the way he and Jared Jackson took a big step forward at least offensively defensively he’s not he’s been good but not the fours he was the past two seasons but his scoring has jumped up like four points a game and so that those guys that’s the one and two

Weren’t good enough to carry a team that I think the issues were really like what H what was going on around them I I I think the the bottom third maybe the bottom half of the Grizzlies roster got exposed in these first 25 games because

Not only was it no Mor it was no Mor no Adams no no Brandon Clark mostly no Luke Canard mostly no Marcus Smart and the back half of the roster got exposed it’s just not good enough even to be the back half of a roster but what Bane and jiren

Did I think I think the the most the most encouraging thing about these four games that shot’s been back for the Grizzlies not just for the rest of this season but I think even more importantly projecting into next next season is what these three players are doing together

Johnar Desmond Baye and Jaron Jackson you you you threw the J stats out there in the four games he’s been back J’s not the leading scorer for the Grizzlies over these four games Desmond Bane is Desmond Bane is averaging number yeah Desmond Bane’s averaging 295 and six

Since John Mar’s been back and so he is not he is not taking a step back he’s maintained and what they’ve been able to do because Desmond Bane can operate as a lead guard much more effectively now they stagger them so I don’t think there’s been a minute on the floor in

These four games without one of those two guys out there and when ja goes to the bench the backup point guard is Desmond Bane Desmond Bane is running the team when J’s on the bench so they have one of those two guys on the floor for All 48 minutes um jiren Jackson settling

Into like the third option these four games he’s averaging 21 points a game on 66% shooting that’s the third option they are one point away one point he had 19 jiren did uh Jared Jackson last night in New Orleans they are one jiren Jackson point away from all three of

Those players averaging scoring 20 or more more points each in all four games and that happened once last season there was one game last season where J Dez and jiren all scored 20 in a game it’s Happ it’s happened three and a four three times in four chances and they were one

Point away from four and four the Grizzlies alltime record is seven and0 when those three players score 20 and so I think the good news for the Grizzlies even at the six and 19 start and I was May I I made this point a lot locally and maybe it sounded ply Anish

But I think it was true is that the Grizzlies wen’t a great place for a six and9 team because they were a six and9 team that had John Morant Desmond Bane and Jaron Jackson all under contract together for two more seasons after this one all in their still in their early to

Mid 20s and if you look at a list like you know our friends at the ringer they put out their player rank thing a couple months ago you could argue the rankings and I think they roed go bear too low so it’s not necessarily my rankings but by

That imagine I imagine that’s not the first thing most people argued about was whether or not Rudy go was too low well they had jiren Jackson ahead of Rudy and for for right now today I I would not do that but they there were there were two

NBA teams that had three players in the top 40 on that list one was the Boston Celtic the other was the Memphis Grizzlies who started six and 19 this season and so whatever problems have been exposed in the rest of the roster and and I think some pretty serious

Problems have been exposed in the rest of the roster they got John Brant Des mine and Jaren Jackson like all under contract not only this season but for two more after this and that’s a really strong place for a franchise to be to your Desmond Bane point which is a

Fantastic one and you wrote a great column about this as like Desmond Bane being the silver lining in an otherwise sort of gray cloud of a start um that that point about being able to do more without doing it worse it sounds like a very Elemental thing but that is not the

Way the usage efficiency curve typically works for NBA players the more you got to do the harder it is to do it well and so doing more and more and maintaining is like that is that is a gigantic uh you know sort of Boulder to hold on your

Shoulders and for him to be able to do it at the minutes load that he he was at the efficiency he was was was Sensational and if you could you make his his job easier by bringing another primary playmaker at the level of John Morant and you know the opportunities

For that offense are you know really Skyrocket Bane one of only 15 players in the league this season averaging better than 25 points and five assists per game on an above above League average true shooting percentage so factoring in three-pointers are worth more than two

Etc and the list that that 15 guys it’s 11 guys who’ve made all NBA Jaylen Brunson who might be making a case for that this year Tyrese Maxi almost certainly on his way to his first All-Star Game Anthony Simons which if anybody was paying attention to the the

Timber the trail lasers rather they’d see that he has actually exploded this season and then it’s Desmond Bane so you’re talking about those engine type guys this is who Desmond Bane put himself in that company in that first you know quarter a little more third of

A season and so now he gets to operate a little bit more and having somebody set more things up for him not quite as much unassisted uh and jiren Jackson Jr is one number that I love that it’s because his game his offensive game has been

Sort of it’s been built like Brick by Brick over the course of the years I don’t mean that you know met orally or as you know derogatorily um but as I’ve explained it over the years he has been a bundle of attributes trying to put that together into a basketball player a

Little bit that’s sort of been the story of his career absolutely and so it starts with you know you have the the the gener general frame or shape of you know that’s that’s the Unicorn guy he’s the floor spacing four Flor floor spacing stretch five and then you add on

The face up game and you add on some more you know pump and go driving and a little bit more handle from outside this year he is do uh doing career best work out of the post uh for this is from Synergy Sports uh technology their stats 1.15 points per possession finished out

Of the post he’s shooting 61% on post-ups uh that is 12th best out of 48 players that have posted up at least 30 times so you know the the and the numbers above that it’s you know it’s Chris ABS porzingis it’s Joel embiid It’s Demar D rozan it’s it’s some of

These guys that are like the uh it’s joic th those sorts of players and jiren’s not at that level of efficiency at this point but he’s better than he’s ever been and you add that to what he’s added as a face up you know dribble driver what he does provide as a a

Shooter that you got to at least honor out there and the way that that can kind of add more space and more opportunity for that Grizzlies offense if what we’ve seen is the floor for where they’re going to be now that they’ve got John Morant back the the potential increase

For them the rise the growth uh you know could get them back to being another you know League average caliber offense and that plus the fact they’ve already been a top 10 defense even through all these struggles like that looks like the profile of you know a team a serious

Team um and and you know I wonder you know we’ve we’ve seen now Marcus Smart comes back last night makes a huge impact on the defensive end uh especially late in that game the forcing the turnovers the steals specifically the steals that are like breaking up

Fast breaks so like that’s not just a turnover but it’s a turnover that takes likely points away from the other guys stepping in for the the charge on Zion picking Brandon Ingram’s pocket for the pick six going the other way he’s back Luke Canard you know maybe you know uh

Potentially following him pretty quickly jaw back and what you know that that sort of core big three what is a realistic or how not even realistic how big do you think they get to dream now like obvious you know it’s 10 and 19 it’s whatever four and a

Half games out with of the playin it’s still a long way to go but how big do you think they get to dream now that they actually get to see the team I I I think they I think they need to keep organizationally I think they need to

Keep a focus on next season I still I I really do I I think what I said coming out of last season this is before the the renewed jar an troubles and and all of this was okay you have a three-year window and it’s go time you’re gonna

Have John Morant Desmond Bane jiren Jackson all locked up once you extend Bane which they were going to do you’re going to have them all locked up together for three more seasons at that point jiren Jackson’s up for new contract and who knows maybe you have

Them together for 10 more years but you know you got them for three you got them for three entering their second contracts entering their mid 20s it is go time you have to be all in for this three-year window well this year took a hit you know six and 19’s hard to come

Back from and Stephen Adams is not coming back Brandon Clark probably not coming back maybe we’ll see so do they have a chance to climb their climb back up into the playin this season yes could they be the 10 seed or the nine seed teams look at and say wait a minute why

Are we playing this team you know in a playin game or in a first round series yes no parts of them they should want that that’s what they should strive to be but the best season they’re gonna have is probably not going to be this season it’s probably good it’s not about

You know the best case scenario this season is being the 10 or the nine no one wants to play they need to be focused on coming into next season with a team that’s going to be a top three seed in the west again that they think

They can win a title with or compete for a title with to get to a Conference Final with around that J jendes core so I think the tricky thing for the organization is to try to maximize this season as much as you can but don’t do anything that takes away from those next

Two because those next two are are set up better for you and all that really means is don’t trade any future picks for a rental right I I think if they look to do things to improve this team this season they should be looking for things that will carry over into next

Season and the year after and so I think they have to keep an eye on that they’re they’re not fully fixed right now um they have to evaluate what they need to do what extent do they need to restructure this team around that johnar Desmond Bay Jaren Jackson core to

Maximize it not only for this season but beyond and part of that is like do we think Stephen Adams is coming back 100% pre-injury form next season do we think Brandon Clark’s coming back 100% pre-injury form you can’t evaluate that stuff on the floor right now you can’t

Evaluate the rest and they’ve gleaned a lot of information in these first in the first 25 games some of it quite negative on some of these guys but I think the first thing you evaluate and it’s the guy you just talked about is Marcus Smart they’ve played they’ve had one

Game of Marcus Smart playing with those other three and it looked pretty good it was everything they invisioned of Marcus Smart being able to start alongside John marant Desmond Bane Marcus Smart playing making the hustle plays the winning plays on both ends of the floor Marcus

Smart not having to take on a bunch of usage offensively frankly and I think the one thing that I think people outside of Memphis got most wrong about the Grizzlies this season and it’s understandable because the the reality is counterintuitive but I heard a lot of people say as they were struggling with

That six to 19 start you know this Marcus Smart thing they went out and got Marcus Smart because jaah was going to be out that they went out to get Marcus Smart to help them navigate jaw’s absence that is not why they went out and got Marcus Smart if their overriding

Concern was the 25 games without jar they may have just kept he Jones and waited for the trade deadline to move him they made the Marcus Smart addition not because of Mor’s absence but because of Mor’s presence what they like best about smart was not that he could help

Them navigate the point guard position for 25 games with Mor out they wanted him playing with Mor they wanted him with Mor off the floor too they wanted him with Mor on and off the floor they wanted him for the locker room for the infrastructure the support structure

Around around ja and they wanted him to play that Dylan Brooks role which is you’re you’re the you’re the quote unquote small forward who can scale down and guard and guard leag guards and that is that is a key sort of function of the Grizzlies that that Dylan Brooks gave

Them was that they don’t they don’t they don’t just need their their their their sensible small forward to be their best perimeter Defender they need that person to be able to defend point guards Dyan Brooks was able to do that and then then you take burden off of Mor right you go

Hide Morant somewhere else you don’t have to have ask Desmond Bane to be your your primary backourt Defender so you’ve got this this offensively powerful back court to Bane but you need your small forward to scale down and guard Damen Lillard and guard Steph Curry guard dearon Fox and guard these guys

When they were losing Dylan Brooks they needed to replace Dylan Brooks with someone who could play that role defensively and smart they targeted smart to do that and the other thing that’s worked out I think for them and this is a little bit of a bet but I

Believe in it they found two of those guys now because they got a guy on a two-way named Vince Williams Jr who can do that too and so you have your three these three players of Mor Bane and and Jackson which is your foundation and now

I think they got two guys who can be great perimeter defensive role players with them and Marcus Smart and Vince Williams and now you got to figure out the rest but I think the most interesting thing right now is to watch Marcus Smart and Vince Williams Jr and

How they play those roles sort of supplementing your core I am so glad you brought him up because if you didn’t I was gonna we talked about the like the challenges of the back half of the roster right and you know the the you

Know and you look at it you go back over the course of the past few off Seasons it’s basically like an Allstar second unit that has gone out the door you know Grayson Allen has started on playoff teams uh you know DeAnthony Melton starting for a really good team in

Philadelphia slowmo starting for a really good team or not starting but playing big minutes for a really good team in uh Minnesota Dylan Brooks you know the the Rockets defense suddenly skyrocketing uh tus Jones well you know everything can’t work out exactly the way you wanted to but tus Jones you know

Certainly one of the highest level backup point guards in the league that’s a ton of second unit Talent out the door the last few off seasons and the backfill from the you know late lottery picks you know late first round picks you know undrafted guys whatever trying

To sort of fill in all those spots hit and miss you know Santi Alama has been a fined and a legit player and somebody that they clearly Trust and Believe in uh and who has you know validated that trust but you know David Rody can be hit

And miss Jake laravia kind of a non- entity so far zier Williams you mentioned you know kind of has seemed to need johnar to make him playable John Kar is a guy who’s been like less effective the more minutes he seems to get like he has been was was a very

Efficient player in shorter minutes and then you know more you know that’s the usage efficiency curve the way it normally works right but then there’s Vince Williams Jr and uh two two-way contract guy and has you know the way he look and maybe it’s just because I’ve in

The last couple of weeks we’ve seen week we’ve seen them play the Pelicans a couple of times but I’m looking at him and I’m like Lefty rangy guards everybody like tell me that that’s not like them incubating their own herb Jones um and maybe that’s not the right comp because

I know in Memphis there’s plenty of Defense first grinder comps that you can go to over the years but tell me what you have seen out of Vince Williams Jr that makes you think maybe that guy’s got a chance to be one of those backfill players uh even though the I know the

Contract situation becomes a little bit of a challenge with him on a two-way and them trying to figure out guaranteed spots defense rebounding and activity that kind of activity is more reliable night tonight than whether shots fall or not and so last the game second game at

New Orleans the one that’s last night as we speak was a typical Vince Williams game he was one for four from the floor you also six4 Wing had eight rebounds and three assists and three blocks in a steal and they won his minutes on the floor and that’s been pretty constant

With him and the guy he reminds me of because a lot of people said ah this is who they wanted Dylan Brooks to be you know the guy who just defends everybody doesn’t care if he shoots the guy he reminds me of is James posie to go

Really way back in the Grizzlies gz I like that he’s a little bit smaller but he has the same sort of long limed softspoken which is opposite of Dylan Brooks in both in both regards you know he’s this guy who has endless arms and is kind kind of quiet but is really

Tough on the floor he’ll get in your face he’ll get a star his face he got in CJ mccollum’s face in the first game in New Orleans CH return game like he hit a three and just like right up in his face when they’re down 20 you know he’s a guy

Who he can defend one through three he rebounds like crazy which is which is a subtle important thing for the Grizzlies this they you know jiren’s not a good rebounder they’ve had a lot of perimeter players Dylan Brooks is not a good rebounder they need perimeter players

Who will go get boards and that’s one of the things that’s made Kar sort of playable for the grizzly some because he rebounds like crazy too Vince Williams is like the better Kar like he’s he’s a longer more athletic but he’s the same kind of guy who will knock down some

Open threes he’ll rebound like crazy and he doesn’t need a lot of shots and I think I think what he’s done defensively is 100% real they need to elevate him off a two-way and get him on a real contract but they basically threw a lot of darts in the same direction and

That’s the one that hit you know they were throwing darts at role player Wings to play with their core low low usage role player Wings right and so zy Williams and Jake laravia and khar and Rody and it’s the guy you took number 46 and stuck on a two-way when he finally

Got his opportunity that’s the one who is hit and I think he is hit for real I don’t know if I believe in the three-point shooting I don’t know where the percentage will settle it may just not settle because sometimes that doesn’t settle but I think what he’s

What he does defensively and as a rebounder as S as just an energy role player I think is very real and and I think I believe in that more than anyone else in the back half of the roster you mentioned Brandon Clark earlier and somebody that was a he was a

Widely loved pick coming out of gonzago as like it end of the first round Guy where you’re like man how did they how did this guy get all the way down there because he can just come in and play and he has been sort of integral to some of

Memphis’s best lineups over the last few years when you get him and jiren on the floor together it’s like the most mobile quickest most Havoc ringy version of that Grizzlies front court and you’re you know you’re right when as you talk about these things sort of cascading all

At one time there was the Adams injury and then jaw sort of trouble start but that said that that night that night in Denver it’s uh Brandon Clark ruptures his Achilles and then that’s when you know ja’s first Instagram live foray goes uh you know goes down well well you

Talked about all the depth pieces that they lost you know they let go or they traded or that they lost they knew they couldn’t keep everybody so the two guys they decided to commit to were stevenh Adams and Brandon Clark and they signed them both to multi-year contract

Extensions and they both got massive injuries almost immediately after signing those those extensions yeah which and you know you you can’t you know plan for that or budget for that necessarily especially and and the argument made a ton of sense it’s we are a team that is built on offensive

Rebounding and the way that we clear the GL clear the board so that we can get jaw out and transition and that’s like the fundamental parts of our offense and or of our identity and then you have two or two giant pieces of that go out right away um just wondering because there’s

Been I know uh there’s been some uncertainty about what if any timeline there is for Clark I know I because I I remember I forget which game it was but hearing you know the play-by-play guy first say out for the year and then somebody say well actually it’s not

Clear that he’s out for the year any any sense of of where that might be going if they’re expecting to just not have him at all this season or if they’re holding out some hope that maybe as we get past like a year from the injury date there

Might be some opportunity for him to get back in the mix the Grizzlies have not declared Brandon Clark out for the year unlike Stephen Adams he is not officially out for the year um when the injury happened in March the the suggestion at the time was he would

Probably be able to play late The Following season so late this season which was no guarantee that the Grizzlies would play him but he would maybe be eligible to return by the end of the season he did have a what the team calls a cleanup procedure over the

Summer which that made a lot of people conclude okay well he’s definitely not coming back this year I sort of concluded that too but the team has never officially said that there was a story out of J’s return game where I guess Mark Spears was able to talk to

Brandon Clark and Brandon Clark told him he was planning to come back at the All-Star break I’ll note that when jiren Jackson had his knee injury and was out for a long time he it’s good for Mark Spears getting to talk to these injured players who are generally not made

Available but when when J when jiren was out with a knee injury there was also a story where he told Mark Spears he was gonna be back for the MLK game he came back three months after that so I think sometimes these players see a best case scenario um I’m not expecting Brandon

Clark back back you know at the All-Star Game or trade deadline or any of that maybe he reappears by the end of the season but I wouldn’t count on it I I think it’s more likely he would he’ll be back to start next season I just I it’s

F kind of fascinating to find ourselves here you know I I mentioned it last time when Josh Gan was on the show and we were talking about the Celtics uh something are you know my friend your friend Paul flanner had mentioned a long time ago that the best thing the best

Time you can have in this league is right before you get real good and then the Grizzlies got real good and then had the you know Hammer of the Gods kind of swung down on him for a little bit you mentioned this this year in the in the

In the wilderness and now they get to go back on the climb and maybe this is the you know we get to have fun again maybe this is the we you know the the watching and following of this team rebuild trying to rebuild something and yeah there’s this flaw and there’s that flaw

And there’s this uh thing that isn’t working quite right and the roster doesn’t necessarily have everything we need uh but you know now you get to be the hunter as opposed to the hunted and maybe there’s a uh an opportunity for some extra Joy here that we didn’t and

Might not have anticipated as they were in the you know mired in the midst of the six and 19 start it’s not the story arc fans would most want to have but it’s still a pretty compelling story arc and so yeah it it’ll be an interesting

Thing to watch to watch this attempt to attempt at sort of re reclaiming the spot that they want to add and that JN wants add well we we’re going to go through a couple more narratives here but we’re going to shift specifics away from the Memphis Grizzlies to a little

Game that we occasionally play on this show called fill in the blank it’s a really complicated game I hope you’re taking notes uh I give you a couple of prompts and we play a game where you fill in the blank uh all right so let’s start here the best team that I’ve seen

In person this season is best player I’ve seen in person is Luca the best team I’ve seen is either Boston or or Minnesota I know they’re at the top of the standings but I was struck by both the defensive infrastructure that’s that those teams have both games I saw I

Happened to see Rudy goar and chrisz get six blocks and when you got these Giants at The Rim surrounded by the defensive Talent the on the perimeter they have around them those defenses are are Rock Solid I think yeah I admittedly I have not gotten out to too many games and

More of a couch boy at this point but I will say the one that I my answer to this would be the Bucks uh I got to see them against the Nets early in the season they put up 129 and it looked like they were still in like first gear

Um they were still had not figured out the daman’s pick and roll yet Middleton was still working his way back and they were still just absolutely overwhelming offensively so and then since I saw them they’ve been the best offense in the NBA in a near top 10 D while still seeming

Like they’re figuring it all out so in terms of top end talent and walking away impressed I’ll go with them uh you mentioned your Twin Cities bonafides earlier and I’m going to bring it back to you uh the Timberwolves are going to finish in blank place in the West Second

Denver will reclaim the top spot Minnesota will finish second um I think you know that they’re for real it’s a regular season team I’m not sure about the postseason but I think Denver wants you know if if they have they have their core healthy for most of the second half

I think Denver will will rise back up to first I got Minnesota second I think that’s exactly right I mean they’re they both face one of uh among the softer go home schedules uh over the LA the last you know 45 games or so of the season um

And yeah I think you you have to there’s no reason not to bank on a healthy Denver with that starting five and also some of the guys they’ve been able to bring along a little bit you know with Christian Brown and Julian STW and some of the the reserve guys that have Reggie

Jackson by the way not washed totally like actually helpful backup point guard in 2023 will wonders never cease um but yeah to me I I think you’re absolutely right to say that that is a the the structure of what Minnesota has built M makes sense even though last year

Everybody was falling all over themselves to talk about why it didn’t make sense actually it worked out to where it does make sense because what if you plug the Rudy goar Jazz but then like plug in actual Wing Defenders around it seems like a seems like a

Pretty reasonable thing to bet on the coolest player in the NBA right now is I got to take an opportunity to give a shout out for one night at least for one night only the coolest player in the league was Dylan Brooks and his return game to the Grizzlies which I got to

Cover and write about my man comes into town comes to shoot around is as gracious as it can be it’s just great to be back home I got to sleep in my own own house here in Memphis it’s I’ve seen some new chain new stuff in the city

That’s great to see I love it here it means so much to me he comes out for his warm-up routine before the game and then spends 20 minutes take taking pictures kissing babies having warm conversations with with with former co-workers you know taking pictures with fans along the

Front row comes out the second half and rips the heart out of the Grizzlies hits a game-winning three right in front of the same fans he had been taking pictures with two hours before and turns around and Barks at them and heckles them then goes back to the locker room

Dresses all in black from head to toe except for for no undershirt he’s sitting there with with Jeff Green in the visitor’s locker room he’s got black jeans and black shoes and he throws on a black jacket over his bare chest and Jeff Green says put a shirt on under

That and Dy Brook says no man I can’t do that I came home and then he puts on a black ball of clava and black sunlasses funeral funeral from head to toe walks over says I I I I put this outfit together just for this game and

Proclaims he he will never lose to the Grizzlies again shout out to Dyan Brooks oh man I I love every tip totale every part of that is fantastic this is I know and it’ll get me in trouble sometimes but I am a firmly Pro Dylan Brooks person this is a pro Dylan Brooks

Podcast I am of the belief that with guys like that they to get the 90% that you need you have to get you know make peace with the 10% you don’t like because that 90% is something that nobody else in the world is going to give you and uh Dylan Brooks apparently

That that extends to the postgame fashion show as well yeah you could not I mean and of course Memphis uh famed wrestling Town who loves a heel more than Memphis and like for him to go come back wearing the black hat literally um you know what a way to to return to the

Territory for Dylan Brooks this was my preview column theme was Boo this man out of appreciation how do you show a heel how do you show proper appreciation to a heel you Boo the heel that’s exactly right and uh I I can’t top that I’m just gonna go sh Shel to Alexander

Um but all I will say if jar has a few more weeks like the week he just had he returns very quickly to the out or near the top of that rankings uh I wrote once uh when you know I previously when I was at the ringer I wrote once that J leads

The league and holy and I continue to think that that is uh he he has earned his way back into the the top of that rankings pretty pretty quickly um the most disappointing thing in the NBA right now is it’s hard not to say the

Suns at the moment I Devon Booker was my preseason pick for MVP I thought he was going to have a massive season that’s gutsy that’s a pretty gutsy pick I was looking to go off the board at least a little bit and I thought he was going to

Have a massive season um as the clear-cut number one guy on that team even with Durant there I thought they were still going to be a top two or three team in the west even with the the structural problems of the rest of the roster and I thought he was going to

Have a massive season and he’s still been very good but it’s just not working out for them right now and I think they’re in a little bit of trouble so I I’m gon to go with Phoenix that’s most disappointing unfortunately Chris Harrington you couldn’t have known what

The budget for the ringer and Yahoo sports was going to be because you could not have known that Micha Lina and I were both going to write about how good point Booker was which is the the ringer curse combined with my individual curse it’s really just an overpowering uh

Combination and has laid them low uh yeah I mean there there’s a point where you can say like the sober heady analyst going well you know I’m gonna wait to worry about them until I see their whole team and it’s like dog it’s 30 games into the season and we haven’t seen the

Whole team yet so at some point it starts getting late kind of early um I so I think it is a completely reasonable pick especially now that we’ve got like uh as everything turns into you know online culture eating itself uh you know is this Kevin Durant being failed does

Kevin Durant need to be freed has Kevin Durant submarine another franchise is Kevin Durant worthy of the stands that he has whatever all of this stuff seems to be like ulating itself and that’s not a great place to be uh for the Phoenix

Suns I’m going to go just as a to add on to it the Raptors again being the same kind of generally like bad and not exciting like pick a Direction guys do something and if it’s you know I’m not I’m not going to be saying like free

Pascal sakam or free Oobi Scotty Barnes has been awesome and deserves all the praise that he’s gotten from you know people saying he should he deserves All-Star consideration even though that team has not been good if you want to build around Scotty and OG and figure the rest of it out I completely

Understand that just do something you know it’s like poking the poking you with a stick do something messeri and Bobby Webster um all right we’ll get we’ll finish up the fill-in theblank segment with this the best nickname in the NBA is I don’t know if this is the

Best best nickname but I’ll take the opportunity to let you adjudicate something on the from the esoteric corners of grizzly social media lately I appreciate that Vince Williams who we talked about earlier VW the bug how do we feel about the bug for Vince Williams uh I mean I I I personally

Enjoy it uh makes maybe maybe punch buggy is way we could punch that up you know he’s he certainly he does his damage um I wonder if it’s it it doesn’t suggest that he’s physically imposing it as he that he’s that he is as physically imposing as he is with those long arms

With that defensive activity but anything that gets more people talking about this player and about a guy who came from as you said second round two-way contract whatever get him a nickname get him into the public Consciousness I’m all for the bug until we figure out something better that

Comes along uh I don’t have a real great answer here although Mike connley Anthony Edwards calling Mike connley bite bite and saying it’s because he looks like he’s about to bite somebody when Mike connley is like the least about to bite somebody guy in the history of humanity let alone the NBA

And then Rudy goar laughing about it because apparently that either is or sounds like the French term for uh penis uh I think that’s kind of interesting um uh but you know we’ll play the classics here a little bit Splash Mountain for Brook Lopez to me it’s like chef’s kiss

Giant dude who like moves like a mountain and hits a bunch of Threes at a high volume Splash Mountain and the Disney connection to it really you know can’t be beat it works from all the all sort of angles for me uh we we move from

Fillin the blank to one of our signature segments here really it’s uh taking the nation by storm it’s catching the world on fire the closing Five because as you know Chris Harrington certified baller Chris Harrington how you start is not as important as how you finish so we finish

With five questions to learn a little bit more about you Chris Harrington number one in addition to your basketball coverage duties you are also a wonderful culture critic who again has Twin Cities connection so snap judgment what’s the best replacement song uh my personal favorite is I will dare off of

Uh let it be it’s hard to argue against can hardly wait though those would be my two uh you’re correct both ways uh no arguments here although if we’re gonna do Ken Harley weight it’s got to be the Tim version the elect the the sort of

The the demo version for me shout out to my friend Bob Mayer Who was executive produc the Tim box set that came out this year incredible stuff I love that question number two you have is it I know you are a parent you have one kid

Two kids two two kids ages uh my daughter is a freshman in college right now at the Paul University shout out Chicago and my son is 13 okay so you’re so mine are nine and six so you are age you know aging up ahead of me my my

Question was gonna be like what kind of kid content is most dominating your life now but maybe not much dominating right now what was the kid content that most dominated your life when they were younger and how did you deal with it um we had to have the Disney Channel so my

Son could watch all the Marvel movies and he got a Simpsons a Simpsons run which was good to see um he’s more into comics and video games these days but I’m starting to make him read again when my kids were a little I had a thing called family reading time where we

Would go to a coffee shop and we’d make everyone everyone would bring a book and we would all read so now that now that my son is drifting away from reading on its own I’m making him read again so we’re doing fatherson reading time now I love this that’s tremendous and and also

Whenever you can use I mean if it’s comic books if it’s graphic novel if it’s whatever anything that gets them reading is a plus we’re saying yes to that we’re not judging is it the right kind of reading or not the right kind of reading get him reading it doesn’t

Matter what uh this is also the podcast where the great Katy hindle recommends it as her weekly recommendation going to the library so we’re firmly Pro reading time in whatever context it comes here on uh the on divine intervention question three who is the best quote you’ve covered in

Memphis oh that’s got to be Tony Allen because he would he would even be in control of his quotes you know he would even understand what he was saying half the time one of the famous Ton Tony Allen phrases is milk that horse um Tony they don’t do that’s not

That’s not the right animal they do that he did he if you do that you’re gonna get in trouble actually yeah so Tony Allen’s the all time I mean Tony Allen like accidentally came up came up with a whole like era of branding just by just talking on the sidelines after a game

Like all heart git grind that wasn’t a marketing department that’s just Tony Allen talking after a game so Tony Allen by far incredible anytime we can shout out the grandfather on this show it’s a good day to me this is a little esoteric but go with me question number four you

Only get to have one and the other UA doesn’t exist are you taking like 80s early 90s broad comedy Bill Murray or are you taking Wes Anderson Sophia copela Jim jarmo billmurray you only get to have one you don’t get to have the other um I you know I think I’m GNA take

The ladder on that I I I I like I like that late period you know um Lost in Translation you know uh uh Rushmore especially Rushmore is very dear to my heart Bill Murray and Rushmore um I I always laugh to bring it back to basketball him blocking the little kids

Little kids playing basketball greatest rejection in film history without question so you know even some broken flowers Bill Murray to bring your Jim jish in so I’m gonna go with the the later the the Arty Bill Murray I think I feel like I’m gonna have to bring this

Question back for a lot of people because that is that is a big divide man you now we’re we’re walking away from uh Groundhog Day we’re walking away from Stripes walking away from Ghostbusters we’re walking away from from a whole lot of sort of uh integral stuff for people

Of a certain age but I think you know you might not be wrong it’s like my my love for the Wes Anderson version of this is is Giant and as you mentioned Rushmore I felt my heart growing like the Grinch so I might fall on that side

Of it too you know that’s that that’s the Tipping Point for me on the question is Rushmore much be considered I me Raley Sinclair and the Royal ten there’s a lot to think about I’m going to have to think deeply about this one now that

I forced you to do it uh question five you also among your the many hats you wear at the daily Mei you also cover the dining scene yes you cover nights out little bit more like a little bit more lightly but yeah okay so if I reach out

To you and say hey I’m coming to town for a home stand I’m gonna be around for a few games where do I gotta eat let’s presume that you like me let’s let’s start from the the presumption that you like me where are you sending me um the

Place I find myself taking people a lot just because who doesn’t like pizza and beer some people don’t drink beer but that’s fine but pizza and beer are classic combo there the best pizza in town is inside a brewery that’s actually pretty close to FedEx form the wiseacre

Brewery there’s a pizza Stand Inside called little Betty a great pizza beer combo if you want barbecue in Memphis I would send you to Cozy Corner or pays um if you want soul food I can hook you up there if you want fancy food I

Can hook you up there but but the little Betty pizza and the Cozy Corner uh barbecue shop barbecue would be my first choices I love all of that and I love if nothing else the fact that listeners here are going to be realizing that they need to know Chris Harrington that’s

What I want people to come away with he can hook you up with the spots and you need to know that uh we get out of here firmly and officially after the closing Five with a weekly recommendation which is actually something I stole from you when you invited me on the daily memphi

And Grizzlies podcast last KN I knew that bit seemed familiar when I listened to some of the earlier pods yeah listen you know the great one steal and and uh i c i I intend to be a great one so uh it can be any does not have to be about

Basketball can be about anything uh previous as I mentioned earlier Katie heindle recommended going to the library uh Josh Gan recommended sending your friend who just had a kid a like food delivery gift card I have recommended making baked ziti and making weekend coffee can be anything so Chris

Harrington what is something that you would recommend to our listeners just might might make them a little bit happier and a little bit better something cool and good for the people so you either chose either you know depending your perspective the best or the worst time of the year they to ask

Me this because okay I am still a at least a part-time Arts critic and as a part-time Arts critic I’m very much in yearend list Mode come December yes so I’m going to with your Indulgence I’m going to cheat and give you four quick recommendations from each of the four

Each of the four main corners of culture at least as I consume it so my movies pick we’ll start with that my movies pick my favorite movie of 2023 that is not ubiquitous on on various year end lists is uh showing up a small film that

Came out early this year uh the fourth collaboration of director Kelly richart and actress Michelle Williams U okay Williams is a Portland sculptor preparing for a show while dealing with her day job and her family and her cat and her negligent landlord who is also another artist who she resents for being

More successful than her and also probably her best friend um and it’s just a this this Ry little movie about how we just navigate our day-to-day lives and our creative Pursuits and our need to make money and all the other tensions in our Liv I’ve seen it twice I think about it all

The time it’s maybe not for all taste but then again what is um that’s my movie pick U my music pick uh my favorite album of 2023 is rat all God by the North Carolina indie rock band Wednesday um as someone who grew up in sort of a workingclass lower middle

Class environment in eastern Arkansas I feel like their evocation of a lower middle class working-class environment in Western North Carolina is spot on it feels very familiar to me they write very smart very funny songs they put them across with a sound a rock sound that to me is sort of halfway between

The driveby truckers and Dinosaur Jr it is very for me I think that’s my favorite album of the year that sounds tremendous I will be listening to that after we get off the line here my television pick and this could be my book pick but I’ll make it my television

Pick is the series slow horses which just wrapped up season three this week on Apple TV it’s a British spy series um B that that’s rooted in a a series of novels by this Arthur Mick Haron every season is an adaptation of one book in the series each season is only six

Episodes long so it’s very tight uh the plotting is great The Vibes and the characterization and the sense of place is even better uh Gary Oldman Stars you can basically smell him through the screen I don’t I love it good bad and different we’ll see but you know I like

That evocative and then my fourth pick my books pick um my reading unlike my listening and watching is not rooted in things that are new it’s just whatever in the various stacks of books around my house I’ve bought over the years what do I might pick up 10 years later and

Actually read and so for whatever reason this week this Christmas break the thing I picked up which I bought 15 years ago and I probably should have read in high school but never got around to I’ve been reading In Cold Blood by Truman capot yeah guess what shocking Revelation i’

I’ve join the hundreds of thousands of people who already know this book is hella great it’s elegant and gripping and like man he was on one so shout out to Truman capot I I can’t believe it’s taken two and a half months of making this show to

Get to shout out Tran capot but I very glad that we got there on this episode um those that is incredible you not only understood the assignment you blew the assignment out through the the back wall of this place uh and I can’t I could I

Was just waiting to get to this point this is why I’m here that’s right it’s all this boring Grizzlies talk yeah let’s get to the point where we recommend pop culture stuff to one another that is absolutely lights out thank you so much for that Chris mine is

Uh I don’t know why this is but it it struck me and I listened to it again a couple times this week and I’m going to it it is Paul F Tomkins the standup comedian his his bit about peanut brittle uh and you can hear it anywhere you’re I’m guessing wherever you’re

Listening to this if you’re seeing us on YouTube listening to us on whatever podcast platform of choice it is on his 2007 album uh impersonal and it is so anywhere you’re streaming records you could find that uh or Again on YouTube and uh it is a premise drenched in irony

Which is what if we treated the fact that you could still go into a novelty shop and find a gag can marked peanut brittle but that has Springs inside and pops out and scares you what if that we just treated that as a completely normal thing and then the speaker is like

Someone who has been taken in by the prank and it just builds and builds and builds and act outs and really overwrought character work and obsessive commitment to just making every word choice as silly and stupid as possible it is a five and a half minute chunk

Based brought out of this premise and it’s like that is what St like a comedian at the peak of his craft controlling an audience bringing everybody along with this thing and executing a premise that is like doesn’t make any sense it doesn’t seem like it should work but for five and a half

Minutes and it’s getting laugh after laugh after laugh the standup comedian John Roy wrote about it for vulture a few years back and he said talk show Bookers tell you to get your first laugh by 40 second Mark of your set Paul gets his in six seconds the only way to get

One faster is to fall into a pie um I can’t recommend it enough I think it’s wonderful and if you really are into it there is a phenomen podcast uh Jesse David Fox who’s a culture editor at vulture um and comedy critic uh interviewed Paul tumpkins

About this on his podcast good one uh they break it down in obsessive detail and talk about Paul of tompkins’s career and his approach to Comedy uh it was one of the best things I listened to in all of 2023 that episode of good one uh and

The bit is also one of the best things I’ve ever listened to so uh one of my favorite things in the world is when smart people put a lot of work into making something dumb and this is that and so if you like that too

I think you will like this and I think you will like everything that Chris Harrington does across the various areas of his expertise and coverage Chris where can people find your work is there anywhere else you’d like to point people to on the way at the door let the people

Get more of Chris Harrington um you know I again I write for the daily memphian which is a sort of one of the canaries in the coal mine of nonprofit uh internet newspapers we I I left the one of the people who left the daily traditional daily in town to help start

That up you can find me there at Daily mean.com if you’re on social media like on on X or Twitter whatever I’m just at Chris Arrington I’m also on threads but I can’t remember like what my handle is on that but I’m sure you could find me yeah

We’re we’re all trying to figure out which of the boats to to get into and how much to put into the boats and it’s not not sure not sure about that um I well whatever boat you are trying to get into folks L if you’re F following basketball if you are looking for

Coverage of the Memphis Grizzlies you uh owe it to yourself to follow Chris’s coverage and I am I am a subscriber to the Daily memphian for largely because of Chris Harrington’s coverage even though I don’t live there so I can’t I am I can put my my money where my mouth

Is and I can say it is some of the best coverage of any team you’ll get anywhere and I hardly recommend that that’s going to do it for this episode of divine intervention I want to thank Chris Harrington for taking all this time to be with us and also to reconnect with

Himself let’s be honest uh I want to say thank you to Super producer John Janeiro for doing all the things that he does to make this show look and sound great and a special thank you to the folks at hudco in dobs fairy New York co-working

Space that is hosting me the this we we’re not at the apartment studio in Brooklyn we are out of town for the holiday weekend with h family and so they are they graciously have allowed me to rent space here but uh they’re putting me up for the week so thanks so

Much to hudco for that uh if you have the uh opportunity to the take a moment rate US review us five stars always helps with discoverability and growing the show on whichever platform you are getting us thank you so much for listening and we’ll see you again next

Week take care of yourself you deserve It

Chris Herrington from the Daily Memphian joins Dan Devine to talk about the red hot Memphis Grizzlies, who are 4-0 since the return of Ja Morant, and the bright future the franchise still has.

00:00 – Count me in!
05:15 – Memphis Grizzlies
09:00 – Ja Morant’s return
19:15 – Desmond Bane & Jaren Jackson Jr.
30:00 – Marcus Smart
32:50 – Vince Williams Jr.
37:20 – When will Brandon Clarke return?
41:50 – Fill in the Blank
51:00 – The Closing Five
56:45 – Weekly Recommendations

On this episode of Devine Intervention, Dan Devine is joined by Chris Herrington of the Daily Memphian to talk about the Memphis Grizzlies, who are 4-0 since Ja Morant returned from a 25-game league suspension.

Dan and Chris talk about what Ja means to the city of Memphis and where he ranks among past Grizzlies players, but they also dig into the stats to figure out why Morant has had such an outsized impact so quickly since his return.

One thing that Memphis can take away from the 25 games Morant missed is the continued ascension of Desmond Band and Jaren Jackson Jr. Both of them continued to grow in his absence and now the team seems better prepared to eventually grow into a championship contender with three all-star level players in their lineup.

Marcus Smart finally got back on the court against the Pelicans last night and fans were able to see what the front office envisioned when they traded for him as their Dillon Brooks replacement. His leadership, on and off the court, should hopefully help this young team avoid any more issues in the future.

The guys also talk about the timeline for Brandon Clarke’s return from an Achilles injury and Vince Williams Jr. growing into another defensive stopper for a team that finds much of its identity on the defensive side of the ball.

#nba #memphisgrizzlies #jamorant #desmondbane

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