Grizzlies and NBA summer wrap up. Memphis local sports developments
What’s up guys? Welcome to Let Me Clear My Throat. Your host Mike just wanted to jump on the podcast. It’s been a minute, but I hope everyone’s doing well. Uh lots to get to. Just wanted to touch on a couple of things. uh Memphis locally uh with sports in the uh Memphis Grizzly Summer League. Um just to name a few. See if I can uh just a couple things here. Uh but this summer’s been pretty pretty busy. Uh, lots to talk about since my last uh podcast, which I I think it’s been maybe a week or so. Um, uh, subscribe to my podcast. Uh, find me on Facebook. I got a lot of, uh, video content, uh, short video content out there that, uh, it’s very descriptive. I feel like uh that you can check out and enjoy. Just talking about things like uh LeBron James and where he should go, what he should do uh for this upcoming season and uh a couple of roster moves that I think a couple of teams in the NBA should make. Uh Grizzlies uh just had one of their most aggressive all seasons. Uh, this is my wrap-up of the summer league. Just just my opinion. Um, you know, the the Grizzlies, they went two and three. Summer league is is really not a huge deal to me. I just really want to see individually how these players play, how these players compete. Um because like I said in previous videos, this past uh college basketball season uh lacked a whole lot of all-star talent. Uh a lot of superstar talent that we could just rarely point out outside of Cooper Flag. So, um, just watching summer league, uh, in particular, just the Grizzlies, I thought Mach uh, played really well. Uh, showed his athleticism. I thought Small played really well, too. Um, he was injured a little bit, but he he played well. Uh, Jan Wells, I thought he did pretty good. I don’t understand why he had a lot of slander come his way by some fans. A lot of fans were disappointed in his play. I really don’t understand it. Really don’t even know know why he played uh as much as he played. Um I was just happy with the fact that he’s uh he’s uh recovered from his his wrist injury and he’s gotten better. GG looks like he’s uh you know showing growth, showing leadership, stepping in from time to time, being that leader that he’s supposed to be uh on the court. and I look for him to um uh definitely make the rotation, but maybe even have a chance at at starting uh at least at the beginning of the year with the potential of Zack Edy being out the first part of the season. Really don’t know exactly how long Zack Ed is going to be out. A lot of the speculation is to how uh TI, coach TI, that’s what I’mma call him, um is going to coach the Grizzlies this year, but we got a taste of that in summer league. Uh that they want to play fast, consistent, be the hardest working team, and they want to they want to pay attention to to the details. I think the players with the best IQ or the most high IQ are going to be on the court. Uh obviously the success of the team relies solely on Jaw and uh Jiren Jackson Jr. signed the contract and um quite frankly with Jaw, you know, I just as I’ve said many times before, I think Jaw needs to just play Allenson like basketball. um he needs to, you know, I think he is definitely capable of averaging at least 30 points a game, uh 25 to 30 points a game, uh with a couple of steals, uh just like Allan Iverson did, um in his MVP years and his years in the league. Uh that’s exactly what we expect from him. And if anything, what we’ve learned from watching uh OKC win the NBA championship is that the Grizzlies, as young as they are, uh they can win, too. And they’re not they’re not I wouldn’t even say that they’re really a young team. I would say they’re they are uh retooling just like Climman said. They’re not rebuilding. Um, but I mean J, he he’s been in the league. JJ, Triple J has been in the league. We got KCP, which uh I I thought maybe potentially he could have been traded. Uh or he at least he’s been rooted in Trey. I don’t know if he’s solid on the roster. I think he could be traded during uh uh Allstar of next year, Allstar weekend of next year maybe. But I mean, he he’s in there. He’s in the mix. Um rotation wise, I really really want to see Cedric Coward play. I really think that KCP’s um spot is dictated by the play of Cedric Coward. I think KCP is demanding like a $21 million uh uh against our salary cap. So if Cedric Coward Coward is uh able to to play, you know, to his expectation, uh then I think KCP will be expendable. uh a lot of talk. I’ve watched a lot of um Grizzly podcast from a various number of people. I’m not going to go into naming names, but they do a excellent job of breaking down the Grizzlies, uh breaking down the uh the rosters, and they just do a great job. Um, if I started naming names, I I would mess up for sure. But, uh, they they pretty much give good analysis, good opinions about where they think the Grizzlies are going. Uh, this is my starting five. This is just my opinion. Of course, John Jiren Jackson Jr. in there. I think a healthy Edy should be in there, but at the same time with the way basketball play has changed. I can see Edy as the league progresses, as he grows in the league, I can see his minutes kind of diminishing um to where a player like Gigi’s stature takes those minutes and Jiren Jackson Jr. plays more of a five where GG will be at the four. Um, that being said, I think GG probably needs to add a little bit more, but I think GG’s I I’m confident in GG. I believe in GG to to produce uh this season and be a major factor in the rotation. Uh, Scotty Pippen Jr., expect a big year from him. Taj Jerome. Uh the one thing I can say about this Memphis Grizzly team is that we got deeper uh in our in our depth. I don’t think there isn’t a lineup that we can’t be confident in. Uh, so TI has has a uh a wealth of athletic players at his disposal to use this season. and we’ll see just what he does with it and how much time the Grizzlies front office is going to give him to uh develop his system uh and for the players to adjust and accept their roles uh going in. But uh as far as the starting five, like I said, as I started, of course, J Triple J, Edy, and I think it really comes down. I think Wales and Jiren Jackson Jr. will be the starting five. So, J Wells, GG, Triple J, Zack Edy, I think will be your starting five. And then your bench, you got Scotty Pippen, Tajome, uh, KCP, Odama, and, uh, Vernon Clark, uh, coming off the bench. And I mean, we’ll see how Cedric Howard plays, uh, in the preseason. Of course, you got Ma, uh, Mhack and, uh, Landale in there as well. And then you got Vince Williams, um, who seemingly seems to be the odd man out, but you got him on the roster as well. Uh, like I said, there’s a lot of lot of depth to this Memphis Grizzlies line uh, this team. Uh, they also released the Grizzlies preseason. I think their first preseason game preseason game is a home game versus Detroit sometime in December, I believe. I don’t have the exact dates in front of me, but we’ll be looking forward to that. Seeing how that uh their preseason goes, their five games I believe that they’re playing. Three, I think the first three are at home and the last two on the on the road. Uh but uh on to the NBA just in general. Um, I think what we’ve learned from the Lakers, since I’ve been talking about the Lakers recently, is that it’s Lucas team and it’s not LeBron’s team anymore. Uh, and also with the signing of Marcus Smart, uh, that I I think Bronnie his development is now and playing time in the rotation is now in question because I I just don’t see it. Uh, and it’s, you know, every day I’m just kind of just waiting for for something a miracle to happen where uh, Cham sends out a tweet saying LeBron James has been traded to such and such. Um, or or Giannis has been traded to such and such team and or Kaminga has been traded somewhere uh, where he can be impact. But um in regards to the Lakers, uh this is Lucas team. This is not LeBron’s team anymore. I don’t see it going forward as such. Uh the Clippers, uh they just simply got older. I mean, Kawhai’s 34, Harden is what, 36, Bill is 32. Uh CP3 is 40. So Brook Lopez is 37 and I think they have Batum, he’s 37, too. So they got a they got a old roster on their team. Um a roster that the Clippers, they always have great expectation, but they just never seem to produce. But um I mean with Harden, Bill, Kawhai, Collins, Zubac, I mean it’s going to they’re going to have a great uh regular season, but once they get into the playoffs, we’ll see who who’s the last man standing um with the amount of age just on that team. I don’t never like to discount a team because of their age, but let’s be real. I mean, if if they were if this team was assembled five, six years ago, we’d be saying that they could be a dynasty uh and the best team in the NBA or maybe one of the best teams we’ve ever seen, but we know that’s not the case and we’re not even going to step in that stratosphere of being the best team that we ever seen. But they’ll be it’ll be interesting to see how the Clippers play this year. The New Orleans Pelicans, they’re building something really nice down there. Uh, as long as they can stay healthy and Zion, Zion, uh, can stay healthy, we’ll see what they what they do with what they got down there. Houston, of course, they look solid with Kevin Durant. Some suggest that this team, uh, this Houston Rockets team, the way they’re constructed, might be the best team that Durant has ever played on. I disagree. I still think Golden State, he should have went there. uh when he had the opportunity during the trade be you know before they acquired uh Jimmy Butler of course is it was said that Kevin Durant vetoed that trade but um he’s on the Rockets team and there’s a lot of expectations on that team. We’ll see how that how how they play. Uh, of course, Dallas looks solid with uh Kyrie, Klay Thompson, uh, Cooper Flag, AD, and Lively with Gafford. So, they are extremely deep. Um, you know, when healthy, when they get Kyrie back, uh, they’re going to be a really good team to reck they’re going to be a team to to reckon with. Um, Spurs just they’re going to be a dangerous team once they really uh when they when they as they continue to grow. I’ll just say that. Uh, I mean, back-to-back rookie of the years, they add Harper, you got Dearan Fox in there. They’re going to be a team uh that you don’t want to see in the playoffs as they get more experience. Um Atlanta Hawks, they look solid. They’re making championship moves. Knicks, they’ve pretty much stuck together. Haven’t done anything significant this off season other than fire coaching and hire Mike Brown. uh the Magic, they they made the first off season major move with uh trading for uh um Bane, Desmond Bane. Uh and not only that, but for the next five years, four or five years, they’re the way their roster is set up, they’re they’re going to be they should be in contention in the Eastern Conference uh for the next four or five years, the way that they’re set up with their players that they have signed. So, uh, we’re going to be talking, we’re going to be looking at the Magic, uh, more. We’re going to be looking at Detroit more as they continue to get healthy, as they continue to improve. Denver Nuggets, they look like a rebuilt team, a rebuilt roster. I mean, they got Tim Hardaway, they got Murray, Joker’s back, Gordon, they added Cam, who I think is is I would say he’s the same as uh Michael Porter Jr., but um it’s just a a fresh start, I think, for Cam and for Michael Borter Jr. So, I think we know who’s with Brooklyn now. So, I think uh that’s it’s good for him. Uh then he got Yonas Valenunis. I just have a hunch that with the Jonas Valon Tunis uh signing um I think it was a two or threeear deal and Joker pretty much declining this year to resign and is looking to resign next year that there’s potential for a Joker uh Luca Dantage uh team up with the Lakers. I definitely think that’s possible. No one’s really talking about it a whole lot, but I can see that pairing coming together. They seem to be real close uh friends off the court. And um that could be the next big big trade or signing uh for the Lakers is they are uh in rebuild, retool, whatever you want to call it, whatever they want to sell you uh whatever mode they on uh going forward. So, you know, you lose, let’s say you you have all those pieces that I just mentioned, those players I just mentioned, and you just plug in Vanachunis, you’re not you’re not a a playin team. You’re good enough to make the playoffs, but um Joker in a Laker uniform is ridiculous with uh Luca. I mean, that’s box office basketball. Couple of surprise teams that I think um are trying to change the narrative on what they’re doing this off season. I think the Washington Wizards are trying to be a sneaky move uh playin team. We’ll see how that goes. They they got a young the mixture of young and old and uh we’ll see how how they how they do. Uh let’s see. The Charlotte Hornets, they of course won the summer league. Uh and they’re looking to build off that. I would love to see LaMelo in the with the Lakers, you know, uh in a different location. I would like to see um just like I would like to see Zion in a new location other than New Orleans. I think Zion u would be good in Miami minus the distractions and I think um Jaylen Green who went from Houston to Phoenix uh would look would do well and look better in Milwaukee. But um I think if there’s one thing that we learned about NBA players is that they are a destination, they’re more destination uh type um players of comfortability or where they live, which is understandable, but we have more more players that are picking locations that they feel comfortable in rather than teams that they probably should be on. Seems that we we can see them thrive. You know, Dame Lillard, he decided to go back to Portland. And as much as I’m happy for Dame that he’s able to go back home, uh, rehab at home, be with his family, you know, we never really saw Dame in in high stakes playoff basketball, and he’s one of the greatest guards we’ve ever seen. Uh so you know it’s going to be interesting how we judge his career um compared to others since that’s the age that we live in you know uh but you know when when Bradley Bill went from the Wizards uh from Washington to Phoenix we were like ah finally we get to see Bradley Bill and Sirius play off on on a serious playoff team with KD and Booker and what did that what happened there? It was a complete failure, you know. So, we’ll see how how all these roster moves shake up. Uh there’s still a lot of moves to be made as the season gets closer. I mean, we saw Cat Carl Anthony Towns get traded from Minnesota to New York right before the season started. So maybe there’s another trade in the works. Maybe something, you know, another big trade will happen. Uh so it’ll it’ll be an exciting NBA season for sure as the East is wide open. Curious to see how Boston plays. I’m just wondering if they don’t have the identity and they don’t have the players that would tank. But, you know, I’m just curious how they’re going to play this season. And then there’s a whole lot of drama and it’s kind of comical, you know, with Milwaukee and Indiana with uh Turner deciding to leave Indiana and sign with Milwaukee. Uh, of course Turner had been in trade talks seemingly year after year after year. He signs with Milwaukee and now everybody’s upset. Uh, Giannis doesn’t seem to be phased too much by it. We’re not hearing a whole lot from Giannis. Uh so we’ll see how Milwaukee and how uh Indiana how that goes. Uh but East is is wide open. Um with probably the Knicks, Orlando and Atlanta being your your top three and then the West is just is wild. This is the wild wild west uh in the Western Conference. Um, I don’t see OKC, you know, they’ll probably repeat the same record as they did last year. Their defense, their unit still together, winning, you know, probably over 60 games. We’ll we’ll see though cuz Houston is up there. We’ll see how Houston and and and that whole deal shakes up. Uh J Morant uh they show highlights of Jarant in uh China I believe uh with his tour with his uh shoe deal, his shoe coming out which uh which looks really good. The shoe looks just super nice. I need to get me a pair of Jaws. Um, and you know, I kind of want to give John some credit cuz you know, he’s staying on business as far as the dunk contest. I’m completely fine with him just staking into his um in-game dunks and just random highlight dunks that you just that he just does, you know, that people catch on the internet and post. Um, but it just shows that we do have a superstar in Memphis and that we would be naive and and stupid to to slander his name in Memphis and talk bad about his game, talk bad about his family or just, you know, I’m off for holding people accountable still, but I mean, he is our superstar. He is our resident superstar. Jiren Jackson Jr. is our superstar. Give them their flowers. giving them their respect and pay them what you owe. Uh, keep them in Memphis as long as SC hopefully we can stay in Memphis. I know that there we have the lease uh to 2029 and um I’m hoping and praying that we get whatever resolve with the city. you know, whatever whatever keeps the Memphis Grizzlies in Memphis is uh what needs to happen. And um I don’t know, you know, with the with the talk of expansion uh adding two potential teams and then one in Vegas and one in Seattle. Maybe there’s a chance uh for the Memphis Grizzlies move to the Eastern Conference as opposed to the Wild West. That makes a big difference if Memphis Grizzlies are in the Eastern Conference as opposed to the Western Conference. I think you you put the Grizzlies up there again um at the very top in the East. Uh the way things shake out, uh we’ll see how that how that develops. Uh but this this is expansion is always exciting. uh with Vegas and Seattle, two very deserving uh cities that uh deserve uh NBA franchises. Uh on the local front with the Memphis Showboats, uh just wanted to touch on that. I never went to a Showboat game. Uh but it just seems like a real waste of investment. I know there are other other football UFL teams that had good markets, good attendance, and they still left, but Memphis Showboats just never really shook for me. I just was never felt motivated to ever to go to any of their games. I do think though, uh, the Liberty Bowl renovation, Simmons Bank, I believe is what we call it now. Um, but Liberty Bowl to me, uh, the renovations and the renderings that they have going forward and the progress they have made, uh, Memphis, uh, Tiger football football looks really, really good, promising, looks exciting, looks like something we can, um, look forward to, as well as just this season, even though we’re not playing really anybody except Arkansas, I believe, on the road. um still fighting that uphill battle trying to get in the Big 12. We know we submitted an offers upwards of 200 million and uh Big 12 obviously they weren’t interested. A lot of people uh suspect a variety of different reasons or factors as to why that is. Whether it’s enrollment, uh whether it’s racism, whether it’s crime. I don’t know. But, um, I just say to the Memphis faithful, to the fans, uh, to the administration, just keep working hard. Keep let’s keep supporting Memphis sports. Uh, let’s keep supporting, you know, from high school, high school to college. Uh, let’s continue to support the athletes, our student athletes. and uh attend the games, you know. Uh let’s continue to support that. Uh I’m a little nervous. I say we should we need to continue to support that. I’m a little nervous about Memphis basketball. Although Penny’s doing a great job. Every year we have turnover with the coaching staff of the roster itself. And then um with the case with Sincere Parker uh where we’re waiting on the investigation to to play itself out and this being a completely brand new team um again having to rebuild, having to reconnect and uh with the new players that are on roster. I’m uh curious to see how fan turnout is is going to be. Um seem like we’re averaging less each year, less than at least probably averaging at least 7 8,000 in the form. And I mean when I moved here 15 years ago, it was at least 15 uh in the Caliper years. So hopefully we can we can turn that around and Penny’s able to keep the same roster last year and able to maintain his coaching staff. Um because it’s got to be stressful. um every single year when you have turnover like that. Uh but all in all, Penny’s doing a great job professionally developing NBA players, developing uh the NBA Tigers roster, and um just keep winning. Just keep winning. Um Silverfield, just keep winning. penny harder with kids. Keep winning. Um there’s going to be a lot of negativity whether you win or lose. Unfortunately, that’s just the state that we live in. And unfortunately, that’s just the fans and the city that we live in. I don’t even know if you can really call them the fans, but that’s just the state of what we live in. Whether we win or lose, there are those that are just not going to be happy with it. But, uh despite that, just keep pressing on. Um, let’s continue to support Memphis athlete. Continue to support Memphis athletics, our students, uh, in the classroom, outside the classroom. Um, from a city standpoint, you know, do your best to make it as safe as possible for fans when we go to these venues. Uh, and and if you if if you know the crime that we have in Memphis, I’m not going to get I don’t want to get too political. This is a sports com podcast, but uh we just need to behave ourselves, plain and simple. Uh and just do better, you know. plenty opportunities out there to to stay busy, find a job, find a a hobby, find something other than breaking into cars, fighting, uh doing all kinds of different things, uh that make our city look bad. So, uh, my message to you all, if you ever come across my podcast, just do better. Find something better, do something positive, start a podcast yourself, you know. Um, maybe you go viral. You never know. Uh, try to do something different um, outside of stealing and racing uh, car on the highway. Anyway, I’m going to get off my tangent. U cuz I can go on and on. School’s about to start. Watch out for the kids. Uh my daughter’s school starts tomorrow and Memphis school starts in a couple of weeks, couple of days. So, uh let’s be in prayer for the kids as they go back to school safely for them uh for the school year. Next couple of podcast going to be focused on football. Uh we’re going to break down uh East division and uh also talk a little bit of fantasy football. So uh once I structure that up uh we start posting more podcast on uh the NFL season as well as uh college football. um in particular the local football, local college football, SEC specific, Miss Mississippi State, uh UT, Arkansas, uh and we we’ll talk some rivalries. We talking LSU, Florida, South Carolina. I’m kind of more so focused on SEC and um the local uh local college uh football teams. Uh so uh as as we get closer to the season, you’ll see more podcast uh more opinionated talk on that. Please share, subscribe, comment, share your thoughts, the things that um or send questions um to myself. I’m I’m more than happy to respond to them. Um also check out uh good friend of mine, Greg Rufus, and subscribe to his podcast as well. Uh he’s going to be doing I know some different things um sports related and just social related as well. So that’s what we have coming up for the next couple of weeks. Uh this will probably if nothing significant in NBA happens, this will probably be the last podcast that I really talk about NBA seriously. So, uh, you ready for some football? Let’s talk about it. Like, subscribe. Let me clear my throat. I’m your host, M Mike. Y’all stay safe out there. Stay cool. Peace.
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