Which Memphis Grizzlies player has the inside track for the fifth starting spot?

Which Memphis Grizzlies player has the inside track for the fifth starting spot?

It is a Wednesday edition of Locked on Grizzlies. We’re talking inside track today. Inside track for the fifth starter, inside track for the 10th man. You guys know where I stand, but we haven’t heard from Demich Cole on the matter or at least not together just yet. We’re going to close out today’s show taking a look at duos to pursue as well as duos to avoid. One duo you’re not going to avoid is to Michael Cole and Joe Bolax. This is 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, welcome, welcome to this Wednesday edition of Locked On Grizzlies. It is I, Joe Mullenex, once more with you and once more riding with the Michael Cole, my wonderful co-host, Memphis Grizzlies beatr writer for the commercial appeal. the awardwinning beat writer for the Memphis Grizzlies at the Commercial Appeal, the incomparable Dem Cole. So, good to see you again, partner. How are you doing on this fine Wednesday? I’m doing great. I’m doing great. You know, it’s it’s it’s a Wednesday. We had National Chicken Wing Day uh yesterday, Joe. You know, I I got busy. I I get busy. I don’t play about my wings. People talk about barbecue with Memphis all the time. Understandably so. Yep. The best chicken wing I’ve ever had in my life was in Memphis, Tennessee. Very underrated. chicken wing. And I I’ve had a good amount of chicken wings in my day. Hello. Right. You can tell by my uh general presence and and demeanor. Um but shout out to Central Barbecue. We need to get a sponsorship. Send me some smoked chicken wings. That that’s where. And again, I know there’s other places. Hit us up in the comments. Let us know the next time I’m in Memphis where I need to go. But that is my number one with a bullet right now is uh is Central Barbecue. The smoked chicken wings there at Central. This episode of Lockdown Grizzlies is brought to you by Monarch Money. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code lockdown NBA at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. We’re free and available wherever you get podcasts as proud members of the Locked On podcast network. Your team each and every single day. Like, comment, rate, review, subscribe on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, Google, YouTube. Literally anywhere you get a podcast, you get to Michael and I each and every time an episode drops here on Lockdown Grizz. Hopefully, you’re an everydayer at this point. Every time we have an episode, you’re joining us. If not, by all means, hopefully you enjoy the show and you decide to subscribe and you hang out with us each and every time we’ve got a show. And if this is your first time here at Lockdown Grizzlies, hello, welcome. I promise I don’t open the show talking about food every day. Although, in fairness, this time Demich started it. Uh, but if you look at the two of us, you can easily tell who eats more food. And we can leave it at that. Uh, Deichel, so good to be back with you as always. And we talked about this a little bit on yesterday’s show. Really kind of taking a look at the roster as it currently stands. Again, trades can still happen, signings, all that sort of stuff. But where we currently are at, um, we’re going to start with the starting lineup. And I think you and I are on the same page with the four guys that are going to be starters. And let’s let’s start there just so we’re on the same wavelength here. John Mar, Jiren Jackson Jr. because obviously uh Zack Edy because obviously if Zack Edy wasn’t a part of the long-term plan, Taylor Jenkins would probably still be the head coach and Zack Edy would probably be playing somewhere else in the NBA is uh I think at this point fair to say. And then the fourth guy is Jaylen Wells, even though some people for some reason have fallen out of favor with Jaylen Wells. I don’t fully understand that. Jaylen Wells is my fourth confirmed, at least in my mind, starter. Are we on the same page with that? Oh yeah, for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Those are the four guys that separated themselves in that way. Yeah, for sure. All right. Now, when I talked about this the other day, it was Contavis Cwell Pope. That was my fifth starter. That is who I went with. But in conversations you and I have had since that solo episode where I talked about this, you made it seem like there might be other guys that are in that mix. So, I want to give you the opportunity. The floor is yours. Are you with me that it’s Kavius Cwell Pope or do you think this is a fluid situation and it’s not just competition for the 10th spot on the roster like we’ll talk on the rotation, excuse me, like we’ll talk about later. There’s competition for the fifth starter. Yeah. Yeah. This is where I tow the line between, you know, reporter and giving my opinion and things like that because um when I will you talk about the reporting side of me here and I’ve talked about this a little bit in previous episodes like the fifth starter is is not some closed off it’s automatically Contavius Cwell Poke thing. Um, and I mentioned it even before summer league, before GI Jackson played well in summer league. You can go back and listen, you know, uh, it was not it’s not a closed idea that GI Jackson uh, could be uh, the potential fifth starter. Now, with all that being said, I do think it’ll be Contavius Cwell Pope. Uh, but as we get closer to camp, you know, when camp gets here, it’s it’s not going to be some foregone conclusion that Contavius Cwell Pope automatically will be the starter. Sure. You can you can chalk it up as he has the inside track. Um he has the veteran, you know, uh presence. He is kind of uh you know, the most stable option so to speak. Like I like to think of it as if you’re talking about in terms of you know who presents the highest floor or who do you know exactly what you’re going to get from? Uh Contavius Cwell Pope is probably the best option in that case scenario. Whereas if you’re trying to think about the ceiling, um that’s why we keep talking about Cedric Coward, preseason will be very big for him. Uh Gi Jackson, uh same thing. You know, those are two guys who can really, uh, you know, who could really potentially be the long-term fifth starter for the Grizzlies, but uh they got to show it and they got to consistently show it. And there are question marks that come with both of them, whether it’s GI Jackson, we know the Grizzlies want to see more on the defensive end. um he has to uh the same way that he played in summer league, it has to translate to when he’s on the floor with John Morant, Jiren Jackson Jr. and in those lineups uh and then of course with Cedric Coward, you know, he’s like the mystery man right now. He’s like, you know, we think and and we have that idea, but uh you know, it’s almost like Bigfoot, you know, we got to see it to believe it, right? So, um, Cedric Coward as has he’s I mean, you’ve seen what people have said about him, whether it’s the workout videos, whether the fact that you mentioned though, like he was committed to Duke, like that should tell you enough in itself. But, but those two guys uh really jump off the table with me. Gigi Jackson and Cedric Coward as you know, the biggest contenders. But, uh, right now, I think if you’re just talking it up as who who will it be, it feels like it’s going to be Contavius Cwell Pope. And I do think there’s an important differentiation demarcation line to have there, right? Like Cedric Coward in terms of me not being worried about him, it’s the injury angle. Like there wouldn’t have been a bidding war among the blueb bloodoods of college basketball if there was some grand fear that this guy’s shoulder wasn’t going to be ready to go by the season. That just wouldn’t happen, right? So I am of the mind that Cedric Coward’s going to be ready to go. Will Cedric Coward be, like Coach Thorp said, the second best player in this draft? Going back to the the the article we talked about a few weeks ago around the draft. I hope so. But like you said, that that is the definition of the Bigfoot angle that you just took there. Like it’s a flash, you know, we have to see it. This guy has only played six basketball games in the last year and a half or so, right? So, uh, I I think that the biggest piece for him is going to be getting into preseason, showing that he’s physically capable. Is it possible that he has a Jaylen Wellsesque ascent to the starting lineup? Yeah, that’s possible. But if we were placing betting odds, I think Kantavius Cwell Pope is the favorite as of now to be that fit starter. I love the GI Jackson idea. And that is, again, we talk about people being mad at me online a lot. Folks think I don’t like Gigi. That makes no sense. I’ve always liked GG and I like GG in a starting role because of Jaylen Wells’s defensive ability. If GG is able to continue to grow as a defender, which we did see flashes during summer league, you talked about that on a recent episode. And I like it because Jaylen Wells, you don’t want Jaylen Wells to score 18 points a game. That’s not really his game, right? That’s not what you’re looking for from him. At least that’s not what I’m looking for. GG Jackson as your second perimeter scorer. You combine the defensive acument of Wells with Gigi as a scorer. I think there’s real possibility there. I I like that potential. I would want to see GG get that opportunity before anybody else if it’s not going to be KCP. Yeah. And and you when you factor in you got to factor in kind of lineup balance and things like that as well. And we talk about the floor with Contavius Cwell Pope because of the fact that if you start Contavius Cwell Pope, you start Jaylen Wells uh and then of course Zack Edy, you’re going into the season, well not the beginning of the season probably because of injuries, but you’re going into games where Jiren Jackson Jr. and John Mor are your only guys in the starting lineup who are, you know, positive self-creators, you know, at this point of their careers and guys who pretty much can score 20 plus points. So, it’s going to be a heavier load on Jaw and Jiren if that’s a starting lineup on the offensive end. Now, defensively, you’re going to get after it because you got Kavius Cwell Pope, you got Jaylen Wells, they can switch up some matchups. If Jaylen Wells is having a tough matchup against this type of guy, okay, Contavius Cwell Pope, you go get him and Jayen Wells, you go get the other guy. Uh, so it it’ll work out in that way. um in terms of just giving this team more defensive versatility on the perimeter, something that they really really wanted to target in the offseason and clearly, you know, it’s been an emphasis. Whereas with the guy like Gigi Jackson and potentially we think it could be with Cedric Coward as well, uh they are the type of guys that give you that scoring balance where you know what you lose some of with Desmond Bane being gone, you know, where if John Mor, you know, is having an off night or just having another guy on the perimeter who could be a threat. Uh so teams won’t just throw, you know, their top perimeter defenders at at J for 48 minutes or whatever the case may be. Uh so it gives you that other option and um you know I think that is kind of being factored in as well. That’s why uh the the progress of GI Jackson on the defensive end is really really being closely monitored within the organization because uh if he takes the steps uh that I mean summer league he I thought he looked fine defensively. if he he looks like that player over the course of NBA season, the you know engagement, the the activity and things like that, Gigi Jackson will have something to say. And then Cedric Coward of course if he um looks like a lottery pick and you know plays with some of that efficiency that he played with in college basketball at all three levels with the defensive potential that he has, he’ll definitely have something to say too. Context is significant. Putting you on the spot a little bit here. How many NBA players would you say actually played for the Memphis Grizzlies in summer league? Five or six? Yeah, probably about. Yeah, four or five. Yeah. Okay. So, let’s do a rough estimate that 33% of the summer league guys were actual NBA quality players, right? Is that a fair guess? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, the point I’m trying to make is we talk about Cedric Coward being a real important focus of preseason and that’s 100% true, especially for what we’re about to talk about with the 10th man conversation. If Gigi’s going to be the starter, preseason’s most important for him next, right? Because we have to see him do it against actual NBA level talent on a consistent basis on the defensive end. Let the Michael and I know in the comments. Hit us up on X at Michael Cat. Joe Mullenax. Who is your fifth starter as of this moment? Inside track goes to Kentavius Cwell Pope for the moment, but GG Jackson may be on his heels. When we come back here on Lockdown Grizzlies, we’re going to extend the conversation to the reserves. Right. Again, I think there’s four pretty set solid reserves. Who’s going to be the 10th man on this Grizzlies team? Stick around here on Lockdown Grizzlies. Today’s episode of Lockdown Grizzlies is brought to you by Monarch Money. Have you ever wished managing your money felt easier? I know I have. With Monarch Money, it can. Whether you’re growing your savings or planning a big purchase, Monarch puts you in the driver’s seat. It’s like having your own personal CFO giving you full visibility and control over your finances. Monarch Money is much more than a budgeting app. It’s a complete financial command center where you can track all of your accounts, investments, and spending in one place. So, in addition to managing your money, you’re also building wealth. I share my life with my beautiful wife, Meredith. We plan around our three kids. We have so much going on each and every day. It’s a fantastic way for us to stay on the same page and manage what our money is. We want a retirement. We want to retire someday, right? If you’re thinking about retirement, you’re old and washed and you got a little gray in your beard like me, you need to start thinking of those things and Monarch Money helps that happen. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use the code lockdown NBA at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. That’s monarchoney.com code lockdown for half off your first year. All right, Demich. So, we’re continuing our conversation here. And again, this is similar to something I did on a solo show while you were out a week or so ago, but you didn’t have a chance to really kind of chime in. So, I wanted to make this a more complete conversation uh with, you know, somebody that’s much smarter about the Grizzlies than me, also, you know, better looking, younger, just all around a superior person. Um, I think that for the contenders for the 10th man, you’ve got Tai Jerome, obviously. Shout out to University of Virginia Wahoos. Okay. You’ve got our boy. Can I Can I say that now? Our boy. Scottie Pippen Jr. Or is it still our boy? He’s clearly Everybody understands that. But he’s our boy now, right? Friend of the show. Yeah. Friend of the show, Scotty Pippen Jr. Um, he clearly is going to be in the rotational conversation. I think I think he’s earned that. He deserves that. Yeah. And then the two bigs that may be starters as the season starts, you mentioned a moment ago health-wise, you’ve got Santi Alama, Brandon Clark, right? To me, those are the four locked in reserves, which leaves open the contenders for the 10th man. Is it as simple for you as the names that we talked about in the starter conversation that don’t win that competition? Is there somebody like a Cam Spencer who could sneak in there? Or is it something where it could be a night toight? Maybe Iselo is a little different than Jenkins in that way. Maybe on one night due to the matchup, it could be a guard like a Spencer because they’re smaller in their reserve unit. Maybe another night it’s a Landale. Maybe it’s multiple bigs and going big in a lineup. Do you think there’s more malleability of rotation under the Eselo regime? Yeah, I’m going to work backwards with this one because that is an important factor too that, you know, we we can’t really, you know, talk too much about yet because we don’t know with with Eelo and how he’ll use his rotations and things like that. We know Taylor Jenkins was a very unique guy in terms of the way that he used his rotations. I like that. It it it was not kind of the mold of the way the league was going, but you know, you got a new coach. We’ll see, you know, kind of his tendencies, you know, along those lines as well. But you talk about a 10-man rotation and the theme of the show so far is just it’s all about the wings. Like you you have, you know, a lot of certainty with the guards and and how that’ll shake out and and the bigs, right? And you know, the guys who are going to play there, but along the wing, that is pretty much where most of the competition will be. That is where most of the opportunity uh will come, you know, for players who don’t know whether they’re going to be playing a lot of minutes, a little bit of minutes, or not playing at all. Uh, so, so yeah, I think it’s going to be the same name. So, we’re talking about the tent man. You you know, you mentioned it already. It’s gonna probably gonna be Scotty Tai, Santi BC, and then there’s going to be that fifth guy where it could be Vince, it could be Gigi, it could be Cedric Coward. It could be John Kar. Um, a bunch of different names. Even a Cam Spencer, as you just said, Cam Spencer, uh, with his three-point shooting could get a chance. But I said I’m going to work backwards because uh these things tend to always work themselves out, right? Like every year we go into the season, it’s like, “Oh, who’s going to be this guy? Who’s going to be that guy?” And naturally, it plays out and it becomes pretty much a no-brainer at some point. Like it and I think that’s exactly what’s about to happen this season because we’re going to go into the season, Zack Edy’s not going to be available, and you know, the Jiren Jackson Jr. situation is in the air. But I think with maybe a little bit of certainty, I don’t know this for sure, but we could say that Jiren will probably miss a preseason game or two. And I point that out because uh that will give you multiple opportunities where Zack Edy and Jiren Jackson Jr. probably won’t be in the rotation. You’re like, Deich, what does that have to do with the Wings? Well, if those guys are out of the rotation, let me tell you what, the Grizzlies aren’t just going to throw two bigs uh in the lineup uh to replace those guys. They have too much talent on the wings. They’re going to slide a couple of those guys down to the four. Whether it’s is me and Joe talked about, you’re going to get some GI Jackson backup minutes at the four. If Santi goes into the starting lineup with Jiren being out, I I envision in that situation GI Jackson would move to to the backup four spot. Uh and then that clears up a spot on the wing. Maybe Vince Williams, maybe Cedric Coward, maybe both of them mix into time. And we’re going to see that over the course of the preseason, maybe even early in the season if Jiren Jackson Jr. and Zack Ed miss some time because at that point you got Brandon Clark, Santi Alama, and Jock Glendale as kind of the three guys who who probably will play the majority of those uh minutes at the power forward and center spot. So, you got another uh spot there for a guy like GG. And when that happens, everything’s going to take care of itself because either GG’s gonna own that moment or, you know, such a coward’s gonna come in, take advantage of the extra opportunity. It always works out this way. So, uh, that’s kind of how I feel it’ll work itself out. But if I had to say a name, you know, um, I mean, I’m not closing the door on Vince Williams yet, but it just feels like a it feels like a strong opportunity for GI Jackson. GG is going to be given every opportunity. I I truly believe that and that’s a good thing. I think we have to remember he’s still one of the younger players in the NBA even though he’s entering his third NBA season. A very unique situation when it comes to GI in terms of his age and experience. I am happy to say that this team is pretty much set in terms of primary creators in the guard position, right? Like that makes me excited that you have John Morant, Ty Jerome, and Scotty Pippen Jr. all able to fill that void because that’s been a space that has been a problem in the past, right, for this Grizzlies team. It feels like the Jerome signing obviously helps address the shooting that’s lost in the Bane deal, but it also between him, Pippen Jr., and job. There should always be something on the court that can be that primary initiator of offense. That hasn’t always been the case with this Grizzly scene the last few years. Yeah. Uh exactly. So, I think you know that that is a big part of bringing in Tai Jerome and and then you talk about you know we’re going to talk about a little more the next segment like just having guys who have that versatility, can play on the ball, can play off the ball and uh they’re going to have that, you know, with the guards. So that that gives you some lineup versatility, you know, as well. But, uh, but yeah, the the shooting, I think, is a big part, you know, of this because I mean, if you you just be honest with yourself, you just look at the makeup of the roster. I mean, even listen to the names that Scotty said um when he was on the show, but the best shooters are the guys who are going to be coming off the bench. So, um, you know, I think Jaylen Wells could take a a leap forward. Um, I mean, Jaylen Wells shot the ball terrific for most of the season and I think February, March, he kind of just like fell off towards the end of the year, but he’s talked about, you know, kind of maintaining uh going into this season and maintaining that level. Uh, Contavius Cwell Pope didn’t have a great shooting year. We know he had some great shooting months, but he did not have a great shooting year overall last season. But, I mean, I feel like I feel confident in saying Ty Jerome will be a very efficient three-point shooter. Cam Spencer will be a very efficient three-point shooter. Santi Alama showed last season he’s going to get him up. He’s going to be a nice volume three-point shooter. And I think he could stick around 36, 37, maybe even 38%. So, I trust his three-point shooting, you know, to that level. So, you got pretty much three guys off the bench who could really light it up on any given day from beyond the arc. And you got a couple guys, you know, Jaylen Wells, Kavius, Cwell, Pope, those aren’t guys you just leave and open during the shoot. Like, don’t get me wrong. Uh but when you lose a Desmond Bane, when you lose a Luke Canard, that immediately becomes a question in terms of how do you replace that shooting and uh a lot of it is going to be in the bench. So curious to see, you know, how much how many of those lineups where we see where it’s less about the tent man playing it’s less about the tent man playing with the reserves and more about that tent man probably potentially u you know being in those lineup combinations. We used to talk about how John Morant and Luke Canard, you know, played together or how Desmond Bane and Jiren Jackson Jr. played together. It’s about those combinations as well. And that plays perfectly into what we’re going to close out this edition of Lockdown Grizzlies with when we come back here on the show. Duos to pursue and duos to avoid because rarely do starters and reserves never interact, right? There’s going to be mixing and mingling. Who do we want to see play together and who do we not want to see play together? We’re going to talk about that next. Stick around here on Lockdown Grizzlies. Welcome back to Lockdown Grizzlies. I am Joe Mullenax joined by Demich Cole, my wonderful co-host. We are here closing out this Wednesday edition of the podcast. Thank you so much wherever you’re checking out the show. Deichel duos, right? Twoman game. We talk about this a lot. Twoman lineup data is a very significant piece of the puzzle when you’re breaking down guys playing together next to each other. Rotations are going to mix. There’s never going to be or hopefully, knock on wood, there’s never going to be true second units out there. At least there shouldn’t be, right? In terms of how you’re managing the rotation, especially for this Grizzlies team. So, let’s start on the negative end. All right, let’s start. Let’s I don’t want to end on a downer here. So, I’m going to give you my duo to avoid first. And you may disagree with me on this. I have a feeling our audience at Joe Molanax at the Michael C in the comments, you might disagree with me on this. I am not touching John Mar and Ty Jerome with a 10- foot pole. I am avoiding that combination entirely. Unless you have somebody like a Jaylen Weld or Contavius Cwell Pope as that additional perimeter player, then maybe I can be talked into it. But I think that Jerome is a defensive liability. It’s fair to say that Jaw is probably the better defender of those two guys. And that’s, you know, more so about Tai than it is about Jaw. So, I would not want to put those guys in that situation unless you’re talking Jaylen Wells, Brandon Clark, Jiren Jackson Jr., right? Like something like that where the other three dudes are really strong defensively and kind of clean up messes off the dribble penetration. My duo to avoid unless it’s in a very specific lineup combination would be Jerome and Jaw. Uh Joe, I I actually think that lineup will be good in the regular season. Now in the playoffs, I I I do think we see less of it because I Yeah, and that’s important. Well, you know, we’re not necessarily trying to win a championship anymore, right? But we are trying to, you know, not be a playin team. And I think if you’re if your goal is to improve your defense, having your two point of attack defenders at least on ball, like that’s a lot of switchability. If you’re an opposing team, like let’s use the Lakers, you got Luca, you got LeBron, you could pretty easily get a switch and now you’re going against Tyrone or John Morant as a bigger creator of offense. The Lakers are going to feast on that. And that’s just one example, but you could go down the list of the Western Conference. No, no, for sure. I mean, look, I’ve been, Trust me, you’ve seen everything I’ve said about the Tai Jerome sign. I’ve been saying that as much as anyone. Look, in terms of the regular season, Jaw and Tai, the the dynamic ability you’ll be able to have on the offensive end, the self-creation that both of those guys give you, like I think it’ll it’ll be all right. It’ll be certain matchups, you know, you you play against OKC or you play against certain those physical teams uh that can can limit, you know, uh some of the things that the Grizzlies like to do on the offensive end with those two, then I think that’s when it’ll really come into play. I’m going to pivot a little bit. I’m going to go to the Wings because I’ve been giving the Wings a lot of love. Um, so now we got to go in a different direction a little bit. Um, you you say John Morance uh at point guard. I really don’t I don’t really don’t like the idea of the combination of Jaylen Wells and GI Jackson at this point in time. Um, it’s it’s it’s primarily centered around the idea of being playmakers. Now, this is something that both of those guys came into summer league uh with the idea of wanting to improve their playmaking. Towards the end, we saw it more with Gi Jackson. There were stretches where Jaylen Wells looked like he had solid moments at playmakers, but overall, uh, neither of them were were were great, uh, secondary playmakers over the course of summer league action. And then, as you said earlier, I mean, most players playing in summer league aren’t going to be playing in NBA games. And then if you go to last season, uh, Jaylen Wells nor Gi Jackson were really high assist guys, and neither of them were really put in high volume situations as well. But even when Gigi Jackson was put in high volume situations over the last couple seasons and when Jaylen Wells was put in a little bit higher volume situations in the course of summer league, neither of them took that jump as playmakers as you wanted to see. So it it just my thing is when you put those two lineup together, I mean John Mor can can handle you know a large load like he he’ll be fine. Uh but when you go against certain teams and you like a OKC or or like a Dallas when they have, you know, the size uh in in the paint and they have the size on the perimeter to basically say we have the ability to make it a really tough night for J. If he gets 30, he’s going to have to work his butt off for it. You’re really going to need those secondary facilitators for J to hand the ball off to in certain situations to kind of alleviate some of that pressure. And they’ve had that in the past with Desmond Bane. And sometimes it works out really well. you go back to that Timberwolves series in the playoffs. I’m I’m always going to point to that because that is a per perfect example of why I’m saying uh this duo would be incapable of doing uh what happened in that series. The Timberwolves basically formed I mean a goal line defense um when John Mor drove the basketball in that series it was wild. Uh but in that series, the Grizzlies had a Desmond Bane and he was able to not only score for himself, but he was able to create for for his teammates and kind of take advantage of, you know, the the pressure that John Morant uh was receiving in that series. And that series is probably the most prominent example, but there are several times where we saw that be the case. And you throw a combination out there like a GG Jackson and a Jaylen Wells. Right now, I don’t think they’re ready to to take advantage of that just yet. two very talented players, but uh uh the playmaking has to take that leap for me to confidently say they can complement John Morant uh to the best of their abilities. This probably won’t shock you, partner, but two, we’re going to end on a positive note here. Two a duo that I want to see that I want to pursue is two dogs. I know some of you might be afraid. Is there an actual dog on the podcast? No, that was just me doing uh doing my excellent dog. That’s just Joe. That’s just um Contagious Cwell Pope and Brandon Clark. I can’t wait to see these two together because I love defensive malleability, right? The the ability to go out there and fill multiple needs. I’d love to see the Grizzlies switch a little bit more defensively. And Contagious Cwell Pope has that dog in him. I don’t need to bark again. He has that dog in him. That’s one of the reasons he’s here. Uh Scotty Pippen Jr. talked about it a couple days ago. Zack Kleimman, the Grizzlies GM, has actively said, “We’re looking for those types of players and KCP is that.” We know Brandon Clark is that, right? Shout out to Modern Medicine. We know that guy is going to compete even if he loses half a step or whatever the case might be. He looks fine when he’s healthy. That guy can go and get after it. You mentioned the Timberwolves series from a couple years ago. He was one of the major reasons the Grizzlies won that series, right? So, I think that when you look at KCP and Clark, that defensive versatility, the ability to do a lot of different things together between the wing and the perimeter in a big I can’t wait to watch those two guys on the floor at the same time. This is just a a GI Jackson themed episode for me, huh? Because I’m g I’m going to stick with Gigi Jackson in the lineup that I want to see him in. And Joe, I don’t know. You might like this one. We’ll see. I want to see GI Jackson and Jiren Jackson Jr. on the floor more together. We we talk about the the the GG at the four idea. Slide Jiren over to the five. I know everybody’s going, “Oh, but rebounding.” But rebounding. Put Cedric Coward at the three. Let’s see if you have a rebounding problem. Then he is an elite rebounder for his position. I mean, basketball unlike John Kar and you got some size there. You got size all across the board. And GI Jackson, uh, it’ll be it’ll be a bigger emphasis for him as well. Uh, and then you got Jiren Jackson Jr., the offensive versatility that that grouping gives you uh defensively, you know, the potential there. And and I think Gigi just uh tends to operate better at the forward. There’s more spacing. I think he’ll take advantage of that more on offensive end. We know Jiren can play at the five on the offensive end. He’s done that. Um I I want to see a little bit more of that combination going forward. I I think uh that can be, you know, I mean, we see it with Santi in and Jiren. We’ve seen it with BC and Jiren, but Jiren kind of playing that five and and having that other guy alongside of him that can be kind of a Swiss Army knife has really worked out well for the Grizzlies in the past. Absolutely. And I do believe that there is going to be a lot of opportunity for GG at the four because you don’t need him to be that offensive facilitator at that position. Right. It’s not as important. You have him out there and Scotty Pippen Jr. and John Morant are your guards. Yeah. in that with in that front court combination that you just talked about. Who cares if Gi Jackson gets an assist? He doesn’t have to worry about that. That doesn’t need to necessarily be his focal point. So, I like that pairing to be sure. Let us know of some pairings that you’re excited about or maybe afraid of going into the season. Hit us up on X at the Michael CJ Molen. Hit us up in the comments as well. Thanks for being with us on this edition of Locked On Grizzlies. Thanks for making us your first listen. For your second listen, find the Locked on NBA podcast where there is no offseason. Doug, Matt, and Hayes keep you up to date on contract negotiations, rumors, and everything you need to be the most informed NBA fan. Find Locked on NBA on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Tomorrow, I will be flying solo on the podcast. It’ll be just me on our Thursday edition of the show. Not a big deal. Closing out July. Happy to do that. And thank you so much for being with us on this edition of Locked on Grizzlies. Hopefully you’ll be back with us tomorrow. Make sure you’re liking, commenting, rating, reviewing, subscribing, wherever you get podcasts, Apple, Spotify, Amazon, Google, YouTube, literally anywhere you get a podcast, you can check out Locked on Grizzlies, of course, make sure that you’re a subscriber. Make sure that you’re with us each and every day. We’ll be back with you tomorrow. Until then, stay locked in. I’m Joe. He’s Deich. Have a great rest of your Wednesday and we’ll catch you next time right here on Lockdown Grizzlies. See you.

The Memphis Grizzlies have an opening in the starting lineup after trading Desmond Bane. In this episode, co-hosts Damichael Cole and Joe Mullinax break down the options, a potential 10-man rotations and key Grizzlies duos.

This Episode is brought to you by Monarch Money. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNBA at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year.

Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!
5-Hour ENERGY
Time to fuel up and turn it up with 5-hour ENERGY®️ Transfusion! Go to https://5hourenergy.com today and use my promo code LOCKEDONGOLF to receive 20% off your order. This offer is only valid until September 30th on one order and cannot be used with other promotions. The code is not good on subscription orders.

Monarch Money
Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNBA at monarchmoney.com/lockedonnba for 50% off your first year

Gametime
Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.

FanDuel
Right now, new customers can get ONE HUNDRED FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA.

FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)

Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…
🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOGrizzlies?sid=YouTube

Locked On NBA League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft, WNBA & More
🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNBA

Subscribe to the Locked On Grizzlies Podcast
🎧 Apple https://buff.ly/4cU05hI
🎧 Spotify https://buff.ly/2QOHoEL
🎧 YouTube Music https://buff.ly/4cVlgjf
🎧 Castbox https://buff.ly/3VWn9W1
🎧 Overcast https://buff.ly/3LppHXL
🎧 Pocket Casts https://buff.ly/3WhiyPG

#MemphisGrizzlies #JaMorant #Grizzlies #NBA