Three key storylines to watch as Memphis Grizzlies season begins

Happy Memphis Grizzlies Media Day, to all those that celebrate. Chances are, if you’re here, you are one of those poor, unfortunate souls whose sense of joy is directly connected to a professional basketball franchise whose fate is entirely outside of your realm of impact. Welcome! You have friends with you at Bluff City Media!

After all, “fan” is short for “fanatic” of course.

The Grizzlies will be without their superstar to start this preseason journey (more on that in a moment), but there is plenty more to keep an eye on starting today with the “first day of school”-esque Media Day festivities. From Memphis GM Zach Kleiman to the bottom man on the depth chart who likely will be waived and on the G-League Memphis Hustle in a month, every Grizzlies franchise member will be available for questions and interviews. And much reading between the lines will occur, and many prognostications will be declared.

This space will be no different. But even before the full fireworks of the season begin with practice getting under way, there is plenty to look from from this Media Day. Here are some key stories to listen/watch for.

No “next man up” drinking games allowed

Between the absence of Ja Morant, the possible “easing in” to full basketball activity of Steven Adams as he returns from his knee injury from last season, and the continued absence of Brandon Clarke due to his Achilles injury, there will be plenty of opportunities for Grizzlies coaches and players to utter one of their favorite phrases. Because of that, if you’re making a Grizzlies Media Day drinking game card, you may want to leave “next man up” out of the rotation.

It’s a Monday after all – we’ve all got work to do.

But in all seriousness, from Morant being replaced by Marcus Smart (for now) to how the 5th starter void is filled (for now), from Adams’ preseason game availability to how much run Kenneth Lofton Jr. gets in direct competition with Xavier Tillman Sr., the potential absence of three key Grizzlies looms large. Steven Adams will be at camp, and all indications are he looks great.

But he supposedly looked pretty good before effectively being shut down to the season last Winter. Apparently with this specific issue, looks can be deceiving.

The Grizzlies remain one of the NBA’s deepest rosters, and that’s a good thing due to the sure absence of Morant and Clarke and the questions surrounding Adams. How those spaces and minutes in the rotation get filled early in the preseason will be fascinating to watch unfold.

How Smart and Rose see Morant

The Grizzlies players that have been around Memphis and Ja Morant are unlikely to say anything too different from what has already been stated about the Morant suspension situation. They miss him, they support him, he’s doing well, so on and so forth…for a variety of reasons it isn’t probable you’ll get the full truth on how they really “feel”.

That’s probably true of Marcus Smart and Derrick Rose as well. But since they’re the newest members of this roster – and the latest “veteran leadership” Memphis – their responses to questions about Ja will be interesting. In this setting for the first time before the Memphis media, they at least will be less predictable than what the likes of Desmond Bane and Jaren Jackson Jr. would share.

Positional similarity matters, of course – Ja’s absence forces Smart to be the starting Point Guard (he’s likely better suited to be a combo guard off the ball more), and Rose’s existence on the Grizzlies roster is probably pretty clearly connected to Morant missing roughly a third of the regular season. But beyond that, both Rose and Smart have unique perspectives on what Ja is, and must be moving forward.

Smart is the prototypical leader, the “dog” this team pretty clearly needs on the floor that also is a model professional athlete off of it. Rose quite literally was Morant about 11 years ago, a MVP-level player with elite athleticism and a bit of a checkered history (granted the issues Rose faced were admittedly not the same as the ones currently in front of Ja). While their basketball fit can be argued for, perhaps their ability to mentor and advise Morant specifically is most important long-term for Memphis.

They may be vague themselves when speaking about Ja. But at least their responses will be fresh – as are their eyes on where the Grizzlies currently are in their development and where they still need to go.

Finding halfcourt offense

Beyond self-inflicted wounds off the court, to a lesser degree the ones on the floor will also be a focus. Marcus Smart’s arrival is more about replacing two players in one with Smart for Tyus Jones and Dillon Brooks – it’s not meant to fix what ails the Grizzlies offense in the halfcourt (outside of simply not being Dillon Brooks). Memphis has, again, chosen the path of internal development to try to solve perhaps the biggest problem that keeps the Grizzlies from being “real” contenders.

Time will tell if that was the right call. But the players in that conversation will be heard from today, and early in camp.

Is Luke Kennard the 5th man alongside Steven Adams/Jaren Jackson Jr./Desmond Bane/Marcus Smart to theoretically start the season? The Bane/Kennard duo is deadly from range and answers some half court questions, but may raise others on the defensive end. John Konchar can rebound with the best of them, but will he actually shoot when open enough to make a difference? Ziaire Williams has all the tools, but can he connect his physical ability with what Memphis will continue to ask of him as a scorer from range?

None of this even mentions Jake LaRavia or David Roddy, two 2nd year players who had varying levels of success last season, or how Kenneth Lofton Jr.’s scoring prowess may be an underestimated “answer” to the slow down scoring question. That’s part of the Kleiman logic – why spend additional resources on outside solutions when within there are multiple paths to take to offensive growth?

If things do not work out, a Kennard-esque player will be on the market come Trade Deadline season. Surely that’s what Kleiman already knows – especially with Morant out, Memphis won’t really be sure what the Grizzlies “need” until mid-January at the earliest. There is “some” time to develop strategy.

But the pursuit of that starts in earnest now. And will be fascinating to watch play out in the days and weeks to come.