Memphis Grizzlies RISING STARS shine in 2025 NBA Utah Summer League

Memphis Grizzlies RISING STARS shine in 2025 NBA Utah Summer League

It is a jam-packed edition this Monday here on lockdown. Grizzlies to Michael Cole and I breaking down game one, a victory for the Memphis Grizzlies out in Utah at the Salt Lake City Summer League. Plus, a couple of trades finally get finalized with the moratorium ending in the NBA. And we will preview tonight’s contest for Memphis taking on the Utah Jazz. All that and more on this edition of Lockdown Grizzlies. Let’s lock in. You are Locked on Grizzlies, your daily Memphis Grizzlies podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. Welcome to another episode of Locked On Grizzlies. It is I, one of your hosts, Joe Mullenax. Very happy to be joined once again with by the incomparable, the award-winning Memphis Grizzlies beat writer for the Commercial Appeal there in Memphis, Tennessee to Michael Cole, my co-host. We’re happy to be talking Grizzlies basketball once more here on Lockdown Grizzlies. Today’s episode is brought to you by the good folks over at FanDuel. Right now, new customers can get $150 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. We are free and available wherever you get podcasts as proud members of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team each and every single day. Like, comment, rate, review, subscribe on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, Google, Amazon. Literally anywhere you get a podcast. You can hang out with the Michael and I each and every time that an episode drops. Hopefully, you’re in every day or by now spending time with the Michael and I getting to know us on a personal level, as personal as you can in our little corner of the internet. I appreciate everybody that made apparently we were the spot to be on the Fourth of July partner. We had a really good day over on the old podcast. I saw that I’m going viral on Tik Tok. I do not have a Tik Tok account, nor do I ever plan on having a Tik Tok account, but people love wrestling references. I don’t know how up to date you are on uh modernday WWE, but my son’s current favorite is Penta and I shouted out Sero Miro Zero Fear talking about my boy uh Small and and that that seemed to be that seemed to be popular. People think I’m very cool to Michael. People think I’m pretty uh I’m with it. I’m hip as the kids like to say. Um obviously that is not the case. And uh uh but I digress. Uh I haven’t said that one in a while by the way.
Yeah, it’s been a while since you digress. I’ve tried to wean myself off of it, but you know, digressing happens sometimes.
Grizzlies win game one. And we want to stress here that the actual winning of a summer league basketball game is not really what matters, right? And they could lose every summer league game and as long as the guys that need to look good look good feel really good about what Memphis is doing in their summer league journey. And obviously the Grizzlies won. And the other part of it was also true. The guys in my opinion that are most important this summer league. Jaylen Wells,
Cam Spencer, Gigi Jackson. Jaylen Wells looked very much like a guy who if they shut him down for the rest of the summer, I would be okay with it. He was a dominant force on both ends of the court. Cam Spencer should continue to play, right? There’s no reason to shut him down. But he looked good. What you would expect from an actual NBA player, end of rotation type.
GG Jackson was my biggest takeaway partner. M
I was really impressed with him being a physical force and I posted this on X. You and I for over a year have been talking about this idea of GG Jackson being more of a four than a three. A four that can play the old school small forward position. Yeah.
But he’s more of that combo big forward than he is a combo wing. And obviously we’re learning about Eelo how he’s going to use this talent that he has. Gi Jackson technically started at the four against Oklahoma City and while there were still some issues defensively, he looked good. I thought he did. And uh I saw that you did say something um about GG not settling uh in that game. He got he got downhill, had a couple forceful finishes, especially that two-handed dunk in traffic where it looked like he was going to lay it up and he said, “No, I I got to go to the cup hard right here.” And and he finished strong. But, uh, I I thought that’s the main thing that I want to focus on as well. And it’s not just I’ll go a step further. It’s not just seeing these guys play well. It’s certain areas of their game, especially with the returning players that I want to see improvement in. For example, you know, if want to talk about GI Jackson in particular, GI Jackson could average 40 points per game in the summer league. And I mean, I’d be moved a little bit if he actually averaged 40, but at the end of the day, I’m more interested in what will GG Jackson do other than the scoring. As a rookie, he averaged what, 14 points a game and was breaking, you know, records set by Kobe Bryant in 1996, 1997. Like scoring, he can go out there and score the basketball unless it’s, you know, now the way it looks could could move me. But I want to see the rebounding. I want to see the defense, as you just alluded to. I want to see the playmaking. Uh, in this game, I thought that Gigi had a couple plays where, you know, there could have been assists, but the end of the day, he finished with zero assist. That that that’s got to go up. That’s a number that I’m focusing on because he’s going to score, especially against these guys. But, as we know, in the NBA, the best of the best players, when Joic has a game where he shoots uh eight of 24 from the field, he still uh can be the most dominant player out there. because while he’s shooting eight of 24 from the field, he’s getting you 15 rebounds and 12 assists uh in the same process with a couple steals mixed in there. Same thing could be said about LeBron James. The same thing could be said, you know, about pretty much any of the best of the best players, Jiannis antenna, even Shay Gills Alexander when he isn’t, you know, scoring from the field as much. Uh he’s going to get to the free throw line and he’s also going to get you some steals and some blocks. That’s what I kind of want to see. So, as we get through the rest of summer league and Gi Jackson’s playing scoring, yeah, that’s cool, right? But I want to see uh I want to see more assists and things like that. And that was a thing where in Jaylen Wells uh in his game, we saw a couple times where they put the ball in his hands. He played out of pick and roll. And I don’t know about you, Joe, but it looked weird to me at first. It’s like what what in the world? Because we’re so used to seeing and he still did a lot of his, you know, his role with the Grizzlies, a lot of catch and shoot, uh quick decisions and things like that. and defensively he was a menace. But that that doesn’t surprise anything uh anyone uh with Jaylen Wells. But uh those are uh some of the things that really stood out to me. Glad we finally got to get a look at Javon Small. Uh Armando Bacott. Um he’s someone that Richmond stand up. Stand up. Richmond Richmond VA. Look
um I’ll put it like this. He has an opportunity right now, right? And the three two-way spots are currently occupied. If I’m a guessing man, I Well, the three two-way spots are not currently quoteunquote occupied just yet. Let me rephrase. But if everything goes according to plan, which we think Javon Small will get a two-way spot, Jamaek will eventually get a two-way spot, then you put those two guys on two ways with uh Zion Puland, and I’m of the opinion that the Grizzlies will end up with the big on the with the two-way spot. So, I say that to say that Armando Bacott, when you’re talking about someone who’s in the organization, played with the hustle, uh, he has an opportunity here. I think he played 19 minutes in that game. So, we’ll see how he continues to progress because if he doesn’t get it, we could see a situation similar to what the Grizzlies did with Jay Huff, who we’ll talk about later uh, in the show. Someone who was playing on another summer league roster and the Grizzlies, you know, uh, end up going to get a guy like that. But, uh, overall first game, like you said, we wanted to see those guys play well, the main guys, and pretty much all of them did what they had to do.
Absolutely. I love the idea of Bacott on that third two-way. And again, if Bacott doesn’t shine, opening up that third two-way and scouting the rest of the league, summer league isn’t just important for the Grizzlies in terms of the guys on the roster. It’s important for the other guys that are trying to get, you know, spots on other teams. They’re just trying to get tape, right? Whether it’s Bayott, if he doesn’t fit with Memphis, you mentioned Poland a moment ago. The writing is on the wall. Joe Mullenax is saying this, not to Michael Cole, Memphis Grizz’s beat writer for the commercial appeal. Poland looks like he’s playing to get tape to move on to his next team. Everything gives off the vibe that that third spot is going to be open after Mhach and Small, who I thought had a lot of strong performance moments, especially in that first half. He faded a little bit in the second half. I was impressed with him in the first. Uh, I think there’s going to be an open one. It could be Bacott, but it could be another big just like it was Jay Huff. Right.
Right. Jay Huff comes in and then Jay Huff earns that spot. And we’ll talk more about Jay here momentarily. Poor one out for the uh the Virginia alum who will not get a chance to play with Tai Jerome in uh in the NBA, which does hurt my heart a little bit. I’m not going to lie. But if it’s Bacott Virginia, oh yeah, you know, it’s not about me, right? Zack Climate has made it very clear. It’s not about me. It’s about the Memphis Grizzlies and what’s best for them. That’s probably the right decision in fairness to him. Uh, anybody else partner that kind of stood out to you in that contest? I really like the game of Cam Spencer and I like his game not just because he can handle.
Yeah.
I not just because he can handle, not just because he can shoot. I think you might have posted on X, you know, or somebody did that it might have been Harrington. Someone did. You know, if if Spencer is able to get open,
you expect that shot to go in, right? The first part’s important, he has to get open. But if he’s able to get open, very much like Luke Canard, you expect the shot to go in. Where he’s better than Luke is in his defensive tenacity, right? We would call Luke a tryhard. He would at least try. Cam Spencer takes that up to 11. This dude almost got into a fight in a summer league game in Salt Lake City. Were you surprised?
No, of course not. That’s a dog, right? Like that’s a guy that they are investing in and I think it’s going to pay dividends. Again, I don’t expect Cam Spencer to be a constant presence in the rotation. But to bring that competitive spirit and energy, that’s one of the ways if you’re trying to tweak the culture, reset this thing a little bit. Cam Spencer is going to be a guy that’s going to have a large role in that. He’s going to be John Mar’s going to hate him during training camp.
Yeah. I I tell you what, man. And when I watch Cam Spencer, like his game is offensively just polished for someone who is uh going into his second year in the league. I mean, I I like when he uh came up the court, had the ball in his hands and did that mid-range pull up. Like that’s that’s a veteran move. You know, a lot of a lot of guys uh aren’t as, you know, under control and and and you know, like he that was that was money. That was a shot. You could tell he practices all the time. But but yeah, um I think I told you this, Joe. I don’t know if I ever said it on the show. I but I know I told you. And there were a few times in practice uh last year we watched uh the players play like some one-on-one and this would be after the practice are over and all that and guys will play it oneon-one and Cam Spencer would be giving some guys the business and and and when I say that I’m talking about he has some wiggle. uh he has a little bit more of ability I think uh to separate and create and which was you know in my opinion a problem uh for Luke Canard and kind of led to you know this the wide discrepancy in one game Luke Canard would have nine three-point attempts and then everybody’s like oh let’s let’s that’s that’s what he needs to do then the next game he has two but it’s because of the caliber of defenses and his ability to get open against those defenses it feels more natural for Cam Spencer based on what I saw in those practices based off what we’ve seen and and he didn’t even take a lot of three points I think he took four or five uh in this game, you know, in Salt Lake City, but his game just has, you know, uh from that ability, just a natural flow to it. Now, Luk Canar, I’m not saying he’s going to be better than Lukar because Lukar is very good at his role in terms of spacing the floor and knocking down three-point shots at a very very high clip, but I think Cam Spencer can do a lot of that, but his ability to like like you mentioned, you know, the playmaking uh I think he had five assists, led all the starters like that’s what’s going to kind of keep Cam Spencer in the league for a while.
100%. And again, if Cam Spencer can be close to what Luke Canard was on the contract that he’s on, it’s a huge win for the Memphis Grizzlies. Let us know in the comments. Hit us up on X at Michael C at Joe Mullenex. What are your biggest takeaways from game one, the Grizzlies win, but again in summer league that’s not really as important. You want to win, but you want to see guys perform well.
Oh yeah. When
we come back here on Lockdown Grizzlies, Memphis did a little bit of business on Sunday. A couple of trades being finalized. We’ll talk about that. Jay Huff out. Who’s coming in to replace him? We’ll talk about that next here on Lockdown Grizzlies. Today’s episode of Lockdown Grizzlies is brought to you by FanDuel. Summer sports are in full swing and whether you are all about baseball under the lights. I know Demco is hurting about his Braves right now. At le if it makes you feel better, the Nationals are worse. Golf on the Greens or highstakes soccer action. FanDuel is the best way to make every game even more interesting. You’re already following the action. Why not make it a little more thrilling? With FanDuel, you can get in in the game into the game while your friends are getting sunburned at the beach. Easy to use, fast payouts, and every regular season game feels like a mustwatch event. If you’re new to FanDuel, you have a chance to bet just $5 and get 150 bucks in bonus bets if your first bet wins. That is a heck of a deal. Open the FanDuel app today. Visit fanuel.com to get started. At least I have James Wood, right? James Wood’s pretty good over for the Nationals, but maybe you want to make a home run bet on James Wood before the All-Star break. FanDuel, check him out. I do love James Wood. It’s not locked on, but he’s a beast. Yeah, I can’t wait for him to play for the Atlanta Braves someday because that’s the way it works out, right? Bryce Harper is with the Phillies now and Juan Sodto is in New York with the Mets.
I would love that. Yeah, it’s either Miami or Atlanta where James Wood’s going to wind up next. Um, but again, not locked down nationals. The Grizzlies did some business over the weekend, right? And and one of the moves has a couple of different layers to it to Michael. The the trade of Jay Huff for a couple of second round picks or pick swap down the road uh with the Indiana Pacers. Tumasel clearly has a type when it comes to bigs and it’s not what Taylor Jenkins was looking for. So, I do think that Jay Huff being moved, mildly surprising, but not only is it an opening for who the Grizzlies decide to sign to a veteran minimum deal, who I know you’ll talk about here in a second, but it also allows, and Matt Hardlicka on his Patreon page wrote about this, and I know a couple others have talked about it as well.
Yeah.
It also allows for the Grizzlies, there’s a sequence of events that has to occur before the Jiren Jackson Jr. renegotiate and extend get signed. This is pretty much the first step of that process.
Yeah. Uh you’re gonna see the order that all these transactions will be announced and the Jiren Jackson Jr. one will be official after uh all of this. So, uh as of this recording, uh there hasn’t been an official announcement on a potential Cole Anthony buyout. Uh there hasn’t been official announcements on, you know, uh Santi and Cam Cam Spam Spencer and these things. But um these things will start to kind of flow in uh eventually. But the way they’re going to be lined up is going to be around Jiren Jackson Jr.’s contract uh because that is the one that of course needs the most work. But of course the Cole Anthony buyout or whatever ends up happening there will be uh the most important factor into that uh part. But uh getting to Jay Huff uh here’s the thing. We’ve been talking about uh on locked on Grizz is the idea of the Grizzlies adding another big right and one thing that I’ve said over the past two to three weeks even going back to when we were going through the draft process is that um to me just the big man conversation from a depth standpoint wasn’t isn’t as much of an emergency uh to the organization as it is to the fan base. You’ve seen people say, “Oh, they need another big. They need another big. Um I think depthwise, and you can argue with this or disagree with it, but I think with adding Jock Land, um we’ll see if they add another big, but I’m not, you know, expecting them to go out and and double up there. But it it’s it’s very much possible. But to your point, uh this is more of the big that’s uh kind of complimenting the roster in terms of what they need. Uh for example, when we used to talk about Jay Huff, I like the shooting, right? But at the end of the day, there’s a lot of redundancy with him between Santi and Jiren and those guys. And we talked about they need another physical big. Well, guess what? Jock Landel uh if he ain’t anything else, he’s a guy who’s going to be physical. He’s rugged. He’s going to set some hard screens. He’s going to finish around the rim. He can step he can step out and shoot it a little bit. He’s not going to shoot it like Jay Huff, but he has that capability. Um he got some really good minutes uh on on that Rockets team. He got some really good minutes on the Phoenix Suns when they were I think the one seed that year. Uh so he’s played on some in some really good situations. Uh I’m looking forward to seeing you know how Iselo kind of uses him. Uh whether because I I don’t think he’ll be the starter. I mean I mean I could be wrong. I mean uh I I think at this point Brandon Clark will probably end up uh starting if we’re looking at you know Zack Edy, Jiren Jackson Jr. beginning of the season, whatever the case may be. and Jock London would be that backup big who can rebound the basketball, right? Who can set those hard screens and those have been the things that we’ve talked about. Uh if the Grizzlies go out and get another big, this is prejacale we’re saying it had to be someone with a different game. Jay Huff just like Santi, just like Jiren, uh in different, you know, different ways, but he wasn’t a great rebounder. He was more of a pick and pop guy and his screen setting numbers weren’t great. You can say the same thing for Santi. say same thing for Jiren. So, there’s a lot of redundancy there. At the end of the day, you needed a different type of big. You needed a big who, guess what, Landale might not shoot it like Santi and Jiren, but he can uh he can set better screens. He’s going to be rugged. He’s going to rebound the ball better. So, at the end of the day, it’s a different big. We’ll see if they should add uh more to the uh more to that. But, um I think I like this move uh for what Thomas Eselo wants to accomplish with this team. very limited chance that Landale is a starter. I do want to stress that. I I don’t see that either. I’m with you. I I think that he is a guy that comes in and he sets those screens. He’s a rebounder. He is a mini Zach Edi, right? Like that’s what he’s going to be. And I think that as this roster gets reshaped around Tumaselo and what he wants to do offensively, Huff being moved on from is not again it’s surprising but not surprising.
I think that the the biggest piece of this to me is a compliment to Zack Kimman who I’m off to hard on.
Um this is a good bit of business, right? Jay Huff with a summer league signing. This is a guy that you brought in on a two-way this past just literally a year ago and that turned into a second round pick and a swap down the road. That’s a good bit of business. And I think that that is a it’s something that in the moment it’s a blip on the NBA radar and maybe it remains that way, right? Maybe it doesn’t ever manufacture or come to something else. But that could be a second round pick that sweetens the pot on a trade deadline deal that Memphis really wants to do. or there’s a guy that they really want to get up in the 2026 2027 NBA drafts and they can use that as an asset to get up and get their guy that again it may it may never be something but it is another chance for them to be able to do the things they want to do and it was because they scouted summer league effectively and there’s no reason they can’t do that again. This is a good reminder of that. Yeah, 100%. And um that is one of those small little things as a GM that you you know you get some kudos for. I mean he got Juff off the street and was able to flip it you know into gaining some assets and then potentially getting a center who you you really need you know for this roster uh now. But that wasn’t the only trade uh Joe that that the Grizzlies uh that I guess you could say is official on the Grizzlies side as of this recording. You’re exactly right. And we’ll talk about the other trade and how that might be relevant to tonight’s contest against the Utah Jazz coming up next here on Lockdown Grizzlies. Stick around. Welcome back to Lockdown Grizzlies. I am Joe Mullenax joined by my co-host Demich Cole. Memphis Grizzlies beat writer for the Commercial Appeal there in Memphis, Tennessee. The incomparable Democ Cole, the award-winning Democ Cole, the soon to be traveling to Las Vegas Michael Cole. Very excited for you, partner. you. There’s a text thread of locked on NBA hosts and you said you’re going to be there almost a week.
Oh man, I am I’m I’m very nervous for you.
That’s it’s it’s a lot of heat and it’s a lot of uh potentially bad decisions being made.
I tell you what, I’m packing light. I’m I’m going to pack light and I’m going to go out there. I’m might hit the pool a couple days, you know. Okay.
I’m gonna be relaxing, Joe. I’m not going to go out there. I’ve been I’m a I’m a Vegas vet, I think, by now. Like they they they can’t fool me. They ain’t Look look they ain’t going to fool me. They ain’t taking my money. It’s all good.
Well, there’s a reason that those casinos are as big as they are, and that’s and I’ll leave it at that. I think we talked a little bit about that last week. Uh, you mentioned earlier in the show that it wasn’t the only trade, the Jay Huff transaction. The other trade was for Jamai Meshak. And look, I’ve learned how to pronounce his name.
He got it everybody. He’s got
Jamai Mack. Shout out to Grizzlies PR for sending along pronunciations. Um, Memphis also acquired a future conditional second round pick in the draft rights to Justinian Jessup, a pick in the 2020 NBA draft from Golden State for the draft rights to guard Will Richard at number 56 in the draft. Now, if you were confused like I was on X when all of this went down,
the sequence of things matters. Like we talked about earlier in the show with the Jiren extension, that’ll probably be the last thing that gets announced once all of these things start coming in. As Deich mentioned, as of this recording, no Cole Anthony buyout, no Cam Spencer officially, no Tai Jerome officially. The the sequence matters for the Grizzlies to maintain their financial flexibilities. So, this trade with Meshack couldn’t be official for Memphis until it was official in the Kevin Durant deal, and that didn’t come until Sunday afternoon. So, now Mhach is in the fold. In theory, he could play in the game tonight. He may not. uh he could it would to me it would make more sense if he plays in the finale because you’d imagine if Gigi Jackson play if uh Wells plays if Spencer plays those guys won’t play in a backtoback in Utah right like that doesn’t make any sense they’ll eventually make their way to Vegas and move on to the next part of summer league so to me Shack’s debut whether it’s tonight or tomorrow is fascinating to watch unfold you stole my thunder a little bit earlier in the show and I wasn’t going to say anything because you’re my partner and I love you Yeah, but you mentioned how
I won’t use the word disappointed. You noted
that GG didn’t have any assists, and that was absolutely going to be my thing to watch, assuming
that GG plays tonight, right? Assuming that he’s in the game out there for the Grizzlies, because again, they might go half and half to try to be as competitive as they can be. It’ll be interesting to see how ESO does this. Um, assuming Gigi plays, the assist number has to go up. His facilitation has to be better. One of the things that was most promising about Spencer and Gigi and Wells’s performances, not much of it was forced. It felt very in the flow of the offense, but the one guy, if you want to say one of them did force some things at times, it was GI.
So, making those decisions in a better flow of the offense, finding the open man,
they’re going to acknowledge him as a tremendous offensive weapon, as a scorer. Every defense in summer league is going to say, “Got to stop that guy. You’re going to see doubles.” You got to move on and you gotta find ways to get the ball to those open guys. Getting that vision up for a guy in GG Jackson. I think he still might be the youngest guy on the summer league roster.
Oh, there’s no thing. He He’s by 15 months. Like, it’s not even close.
And he’s going into his third NBA season. So, I want to stress this guy is still a work in progress, but we have to see that progress. I’m not going to be burned twice to Michael Cole. I’m not going to go into the preseason saying this is my guy if he’s not able to start showing facilitation growth.
Yeah, that’s that’s an important part of his game. And like we said earlier, um the scoring is natural to him. GG’s been a great scoreer since I was watching him and playing for Team USA, what under 17, 16, whatever those age groups were, but everybody’s been knowing about Gigi Jackson as a scorer uh for many years now. Uh so it’s about those other facets of his game that’ll carry him, you know, uh throughout the summer league. And we see the Grizzlies emphasize those things like we’re going to see it more with Jaylen Wells. We’re going to see it more with with Cam Spencer as well. But uh yeah, going back to Jamaak, uh want to make sure I touch on that because I look I’ve watched this guy play a ton obviously, you know, with him being at Tennessee for four years. Good old Rocky Top, right? Shout out to Rocky Top.
Rocky Top Tennessee, baby. And uh defensively, Joe, you’re going to love this guy. You’re you’re you’re going to love the way he plays. And after we watched the Grizzlies play summer league basketball uh last year when Scotty Pippen Jr. and all those guys were picking up full court and just being menaces and then we just saw it again somewhat with Jaylen Wells, Javon Small, and those guys. Uh just wait till you see Jamont Meek doing that and just wait till you see the ability to slip through screens and the screen navigation. His screen navigation is uh I mean Drew Holidayiday like it’s just a it’s I’m look I I ain’t scared to say it.
That’s lofty praise there.
I’m not I’m not scared.
Are you Are you seeing this guy through uh whatever that god awful orange is called glasses.
God awful. Come on Joe. Let’s let’s
It’s a very rough orange. It’s a very rough orange.
It’s it’s a beautiful color man. But um
but look, it’s it’s not through those guys. It’s I mean, I’ve watched them a lot, but I’ve seen him go against some of the best of the best in the SEC and guys struggle to dribble the basketball in front of him. But, uh the screen navigation is what I wanted to focus on more. But yeah, the point of attack defense, look, we’ll see when he gets to play. The bottom line here is he hasn’t been able to practice with the team. He’s been with the team, but he hasn’t practiced. So, um, you wonder if there’s going to be a conditioning or, you know, maybe some mental things that they want him to to get on top of before let him on the floor. If that’s the case, we’re probably, uh, not going to see him until Las Vegas, uh, so he can get a couple practices cuz the Grizzlies don’t play until July 11th, uh, in Las Vegas. So, maybe he gets a couple practices under his belt. But, if it’s just, you know, simple free flowing basketball, we could see him sometime in the next couple days. He’s someone I really want to see. But yeah, going to your second point about where guys can continue to build on their performances, you know, I want I want to see Jaylen Wells be dominant again. Like I mean I I think that first game was pretty much enough for me, but remember Joe, this is the guy that I said could be the third best player uh by the end of the season. I mean the third most impactful, third best, however you want to look at it for the Grizzlies by the end of the season. and uh if he comes out and sets the tone again defensively because that Utah team, look, they got a lot of young dudes uh on their actual roster. So, they got a lot of those dudes playing in summer league. So, these are going to be a lot of the guys when you play the Jazz three or four times next season, the guys he’s probably going to have to guard in the actual NBA game. So, I want to see Jaylen Wells continue to be forceful uh impact the game on three levels as a scorer. I want to see the three-point shooting, the mid-range, getting to the cup, but I also want to see the playmaking continue. I think he had two assists really early and then he didn’t really have many uh any other assists after that. So, I want to continue him to see him uh progress in that area as well. I’m sure we’ll see a lot of Javon Smalls. So, he’s a little bit lower on the list for me right now. Like we’re going to see a lot of the younger guys. So, I’m more focused on like you said with GI Jackson and like I just said um as well and then you with Cam Spencer too. I want to see those older guys really show that progression basically saying, “Hey, look what I worked on this summer.” I’m not rooting for close games, especially late night, right? Because this is going to be a later contest, at least for me. So, those of you that are every day to lock down Grizzlies, you already know. You already know who’s going to have the Tuesday edition of Locked on Grizzly solo, and it will not be Joe Mullenax. Um, but I I do think that
Small is somebody that’s going to play a ton of summer league basketball. So, you really want to prioritize those minutes with those older guys. I agree. I’m not rooting for close games, but I want to see what they do in the clutch, right? Wells in those big time moments, as big time as a summer league game can be. You forget that it’s summer league when you’re down by two and you’re trying to get a bucket to win or tie, right? Like you you you don’t care where you’re playing. Whether you’re playing pickup ball like I used to do and I know you still do, whether you’re playing pickup all the way to the heights of professional sports, regardless of where you’re playing, if you’re worth your salt as a competitor, it doesn’t matter. you’re trying to get that bucket right in the in the wake of it all you oh it with summer league whatever but when you’re out there in that moment you’re trying to win you’re trying to score you’re trying to get that play and I’d like to see some of that I don’t know if that’ll happen against the Jazz the Jazz obviously are the host team they have a young team that’s pretty talented like you alluded to it Michael but it’s going to be really interesting to watch and again it’s more so about the Grizzlies than it is anybody else they play over the next week or so hit up to Michael let me know on X at Joe Molenax at Michael C hit us up in the comments what are you most excited about going into the next couple of games. Obviously, the Grizzlies play the Jazz tonight and they’ll close out their summer league set against the 76ers on Tuesday. Speaking of Tuesday, that will be our next episode of the show. As M mentioned a moment ago, I will not be on that program because I am old and washed, but to Michael will have you guys nice and lined up, not just with a recap of Grizz Jazz, but a preview of the 76ers. And Demich, we talked a little bit before the show. there’s a topic that you’re keeping an eye on that is uh pretty interesting not just to the Grizzlies but the NBA at large.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um I mean a couple in terms of you know still some free agents out there but the Bradley Bill one is uh is starting to gain some traction right and and um if you know a little bit about Bradley Bill uh he’s a he’s a St. Louis guy through and through. And um I don’t have to tell you uh Memphis isn’t far from St. Louis. And when Bradley Bill and Jason Tatum, when those dudes come into Memphis, I see the crowds. I I they have fan clubs, not sections. They have fan clubs when they come down. Look, very unlikely stuff, but uh yeah, just something to kind of uh throw in your mind a little bit.
That is a fascinating reason to check out the Tuesday edition of Locked On Grizzlies. I think that uh the Michael, you know, I like it. I like that cliffhanger kind of stuff there, partner. That’s how you That’s how you run a podcast, dude. That’s how you do it. I like it. That’s how you do it. Make sure you’re checking out the Michael’s Tuesday show of Lockdown Grizzlies. And thank you for making today’s Lockdown Grizzlies your first listen. For your second listen, find the Lockdown NBA podcast where there is no offseason. Doug, Matt, and Hayes keep you up to date on contract negotiations, rumors, obviously summer league across the league, and everything you need to be the most informed NBA fan. Find Lockdown NBA on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcast. part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Make sure you’re liking, commenting, rating, reviewing, subscribing on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, Google, YouTube, literally anywhere you get a podcast. Hang out with the Michael and I. Make us a part of your NBA and Memphis Grizzlies content consumption each and every time an episode drops. Enjoy the summer hoops. Until next time, he’s the Michael. I’m Joe. Stay locked in. Go Grizzlies. Got to tell you, it’s going to be fascinating watching these next couple of days. The Tulumas iso era continues to run. We’ll see you next time.

Jaylen Wells. GG Jackson. Cam Spencer. These three and more started off Utah NBA Summer League with a bang for the Grizzlies. How can they get better, and how did Memphis start their official offseason process via two trades this past weekend? Hosts Damichael Cole and Joe Mullinax break it down here on Locked on Grizzlies!

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