Jahmai Mashack DETERMINED to EARN a spot with Memphis Grizzlies

Jahmai Mashack DETERMINED to EARN a spot with Memphis Grizzlies

Well, former Tennessee basketball players have certainly found themselves in the spotlight here in the NBA summer league. We talked about Chaz Laneir a couple of days ago. Now we get to one Jamai Mhak who was able to stay in state when the Memphis Grizzly uh selected a Naymith defensive player of the year finalist. We have Drew Hill joining us here on the show, a beat reporter for the uh Daily Memphian for the Memphis Grizzlies. Drew, I appreciate you joining us here on the sports page. Yeah, thanks. Um, it’s been really fun to cover Jamai and summer league’s one of the most fun times of the year. So, I appreciate you having me on. Yeah, definitely. Especially with the trips you made to Salt Lake City and then to Vegas. You certainly have had a really entertaining summer so far, of course, Jamaak playing in about a handful of those games. What’s the first thing you were hoping to see when it was official that he heard his name called for the Memphis Grizzlies? So he was advertised as sort of this defensive specialist player who’s was one of the best onball defenders in college basketball and obviously the Grizzlies sort of viewed that reputation as something that was legitimate and so everybody wanted to see him play that level of defense but I don’t think anybody um thought that he would be bad on that end of the floor like everyone thought like that we knew what Jamai was uh when it came to to his defensive game. So, um you know, he lived up to that, I think. Yeah. So, when you obviously know about his defense and all the stories that are there, I remember back when the assistant coach for Tennessee, Rod Clark, told me a story about how when they’re I think it was like in the Bahamas and he’s just laying in the on the couch in the elevator lobby just studying film of the guy that they’re about to go play. How much have you seen maybe that laser focus or oh, I could tell this guy studied film before he stepped out on the court today. How much maybe did you see of that? I know it’s summer league, but could you sense that like, oh, this is a guy who did his homework coming into this game? Oh, I knew that was the case because I I actually asked Javi a I said this is a really simple, maybe stupid question, but how do you avoid a screen? like can you just to tell me in the most basic ter like how do you explain to me like I’m five years old. How do you avoid a screen? And he went into an explanation that was probably longer than four minutes about wow like slips and probes and all the different types of uh bigs and the way that they want to screen and and and studying your personnel and knowing who’s coming. And like in that moment it was so clear like that this is sort of the way he plays defense is that 99% of it is is up here. Um and that’s I think what really impressed the Grizzlies in the first place. Um you know the Grizzlies identified Jamai as a player that has a talent that’s really hard to teach and even harder to find and that is he has an amazing feel for playing defense. Right. Uh, and the way it was described to me is that there’s two types of defenders in the NBA. There’s the ones that are really sound defensively and can play in a way where, you know, they they fit with that fits within the game plan. And then there’s defenders that are gamblers that that take more risk that try to generate uh steals and other types of plays, but do in doing so, you know, do sort of compromise what you want to do defensively. And they believe Jamai had the rare ability to do both, right? To be somebody that can be sound but also uh gamble because he’s able to recover so quickly because he he knows what’s coming because he studies the game so much. So, I think that that’s why the Grizzlies picked him. I I know for a fact that’s why the Grizzlies picked him. Uh, and his his studying is uh is a lot reminiscent of uh a player who many many know who has his jersey retired by the Grizzlies, which is Tony Allen. And I think, you know, to expect Jamai to become Tony Allen would be totally unfair to Jamai. But, uh, I did have the chance to talk to Rick Barnes last week, and Rick coached against Tony Allen. uh he watched Tony Allen play a lot of games and he said, “You know what? You know, Javi uh and Tony Allen, they have one trait in common and that is, you know, no matter, you know, who’s playing against them, the opposing coach is going to look at what they can do on the court and say, I want that guy on my team.” Um, and I think that’s because those two guys really, really studied the game at a high level. So, long- winded answer for a short question, but yes. Yes, you can obviously tell when he studies the game. Maybe the way that Jeremiah Mishack has played in his handful of NBA Timber League games, he’s maybe showing a little bit more flash on the offensive side. You mentioned the 41% from three. I think to maybe add to that, 31% of his shots were three-pointers and he’s making 41% of those shots. And I believe it was against um Atlanta maybe where he had his best game. I think he poured in 15 some odd points in that game. What have you liked in this small sample size of maybe where he’s showing that he has some promise offensively? I like that he’s he was asked to do something that he probably didn’t think he was going to have to do coming into summer league. um which was handle the ball more and play point guard because the Grizzlies didn’t have Javon Small who was their other second round draft pick for most of summer league as he dealt with a groin injury and so they asked Jamai to step up and and do that and honestly the scoring’s great but the passing is also part of the offensive package and that’s where he was his best um in in summer league and so I thought it was it was a really positive sign that they asked him to do something that maybe he didn’t think he was going to do coming into summer league. Be play point guard, be a creator, and he did it really well. You know, 22 assists is a lot of assists league games. Um, and especially in that setting where I don’t want to say players are selfish, but like everybody’s trying to make a name for themselves and uh prove that they can play at the NBA level. So, you know, you you don’t always get the best shots being taken in summer league. Um yet Jamai was able to create good shots for his teammates. And like that to me is really really important and something that um he’s going to have to do if he’s going to play with the Grizzlies and in the new coach Tomas is system um is he’s going to have to be able to play on the ball and create for others. And for him to show that, I think that was the best part of his offensive game uh in Las Vegas for sure. I’m VFL Chris Brown. Experience the VW brand proudly being produced in the great state of Tennessee. Harper Volkswagen is a proud partner of Tennessee athletics. Go Vogs. [Music] A couple other things I know, especially in his senior campaign at Tennessee, a lot of what he did, people would coin it as, “Oh, it just doesn’t show up on the box score. It doesn’t show up in the stat sheet.” And I’ve heard maybe a little bit of talk during the summer league about his offense that he just had some really good reads offensively. And maybe that didn’t convert to something that show up in the stat sheet. maybe what jumps out at you as something maybe even deficient effort-wise offensively that maybe doesn’t automatically show up on the stat sheet. Um, offensively I think that there’s some athleticism there that makes you feel like he like he he had a huge dunk at the end of Yes. Uh, which does show up on the box score. It sure does. But I think that the athleticism uh as he works towards what we talked about just him needing to be more of an offensive threat. I think that that’s you can see that he has the skills and the athleticism to become that type of player. I think there are at times some empty drives from him where he should shoot it around the basket a little bit more often. I know that was some of the constructive criticism that, you know, he had for himself um after some of these summer league games. And so I think it’s for him a matter of of getting all the way to the basket and keeping the mentality of of being score first at times and being a little bit more selfish at times. Um and I think if he does that, he’ll he’ll become a better offensive player. I I mean that those are things that show up on the box score. I’m not sure what would wouldn’t show up on the box score offensively because he’s not going to be like much of a screener. But he has to be able to space the floor and that’s a big part of this too. Like if he, you know, if he’s a non threat from the three-point line, the Grizzlies are not going to ever play a lineup that has more than two guys that don’t shoot threes out there. So he’s got to be able to make threes to uh to stay on the court for this team. And if he does that, then he could be a floor spacer. then, you know, maybe he he impacts the game a little bit more uh without showing up on the box court that way. I think the other thing that a lot of ball fans maybe started to like about Jamaak is he kind of grew into this offensive type player. And I think that maybe showed a little bit of the hunger that he had. And I know during the NBA draft, I think a lot of the picks were like, “Oh, they’re bringing a hunger that the league has missed for quite some time.” How much do you see that hunger, so to speak, in Jama? I mean, yeah, he’s he was the 59th pick, which was the last pick in the draft. And at his introductory press conference, you know, that usually that the last pick more so for football than basketball, gets the tag of Mr. Irrelevant. And uh he said, you know, he’s going to embrace that. He’s going to accept that. He’s going to use it as motivation. Um, and I think he, yeah, he he wasn’t on a lot of draft boards, but the Grizzlies saw something in him and took a chance on him, and so he he has a lot to prove. Um, and I think you’re going to see that from him, you know, over the course of his his rookie year. um he you know he doesn’t necessarily um have a game that is conducive to drawing global fans if that makes sense. like you’re not going to watch him play and be like, “Wow, who is this guy?” like, you know, I don’t suspect that he’s going to have some massive fan base, but you know, in Tennessee, he’s so beloved and in Memphis, uh, he I’m sure he’s going to be so beloved and, you know, he’s already people are already really impressed from what they’ve seen, uh, in summer league because people really have a pre an appreciation, I think, for the players on their team that do the little things, that do the dirty work, and that’s really that have that hunger and that is the type of player that Javai is. Um and so and that that’s honestly the type of player that this franchise has a long history of and it’s why it’s you know grit and grind became the motto. So um while it may not be as popular as Kevin Durant scoring 30 points like I have I think Jamaach’s going to have no problem finding uh appreciation in Memphis and I just hope he he keeps that hunger uh to do so. So, what I’m hearing is that there might be a couple of opportunities and ways for Jeremiah Meshach to maybe get a contract with the Memphis Grizzlies. Yes. So, the Grizzlies came into the summer league uh with knowing that they were going to sign Javon Small, who’s the number 48 pick just before Jamai to a two-way contract. So each NBA team gets three backs that allows the player to play in 50 NBA games um during the regular season and then the rest of it can be played in the G- League. And so the Grizzlies knew they had one point guard already signed. Um they knew that they needed a h to add a big to one of those two-way spots. Um which they did. They added PJ Hall yesterday um you know into one of the spots and that left one spot with two players that were really competing for it. Jamaimai Mhach and Zion Poland. And um Zion Poland was waved in order to make uh a spot open for PJ Hall to sign. Um and then that leaves one guy left and one spot open. Uh and it hasn’t quite happened yet. I think that the Grizzlies can afford to wait if they wanted to wait a little bit longer and take this into training camp and and still have more competition for the two-way spot, but based on everything that we saw from Jamai at Summer League, he was so impressive. It just feels like he’s he’s very deserving of the spot and it would be a surprise at this point if he if he doesn’t get that two-way spot. Yeah. Well, hopefully uh when this airs on Wednesday, it’ll be maybe a near a done deal. Well, Drew, I appreciate all your time. I know you have a lot coming up um at the DailyMian. Where can folks find you and follow your work? Yeah, you can uh you can find me um at the daily memphian.com. I have a story over there. Like I said, uh where I spoke to Rick Barnes over the phone. Rick has been very gracious with his time for us as we’ve had several vss uh in Memphis over the years with Eve Pawns first and then Kennedy Chandler and uh now Jamai Mhack and you know I thought Rick told some really great stories about Jamai and his time at Tennessee. So you can go check that out over at the Daily Memphian. Um and other than that you can just find me on social media drewill_dm. Awesome Drew. I appreciate your time as always and hopefully we’ll be talking more Bay Shack as the season comes up. Yep. Thank you. Thank you.

Former Tennessee basketball player Jahmai Mashack left a mark during the NBA Summer League. Selected with the last pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, the VFL would stay in state with the Memphis Grizzlies.

How the former Naismith Defensive Player of the Year finalist performed in his handful of outings during the NBA Summer League. Drew Hill of the Daily Memphian who covers the Grizzlies, offered his insights.

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