Joe Mullinax here, the host of the daily Locked On Grizzlies podcast, with your daily Locked On Grizzlies newsletter. Each day we bring you the biggest stories about the Grizzlies and the NBA, including the hottest links to other stories you need to read. Plus, Josh Lloyd delivers daily fantasy notes to crush your league.
Why Memphis should care about the NBA Cup
Nov 8, 2024; Memphis, Tennessee, USA; Memphis Grizzlies forward Jaren Jackson Jr. (13) reacts during the second half against the Washington Wizards at FedExForum. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images|Petre Thomas/Petre Thomas-Imagn Images
Before you roll your eyes, dear reader - know that this isn’t a trick. The Memphis Grizzlies should genuinely care about the NBA Cup.
No, the newsletter hasn’t been hijacked. I am not currently being kidnapped with my only way of surviving being hyping up an overrated mid-season money grab by the NBA. I mean it - while it may not matter to me, it should matter to them.
Why? The better question is, why not?
Forget the fancy courts that are more distraction than distinction. This is a chance for a roster that has not had much of an opportunity to play “meaningful high stakes basketball” together to do just that. The starting five of Scotty Pippen Jr., Jaylen Wells, Santi Aldama, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Jay Huff from Wednesday night against the Lakers is an...inexperienced group.
Three of those five were not full-time members of the NBA six months ago, much less experienced postseason-savvy veterans. Any chance to be in a close contest that (in theory) means more than the regular mid-November game should be valued.
Nevermind the money that surely does mean something to those further down the Memphis roster. Someone who is not hurting for cash, Jaren Jackson Jr., should be thrilled for tonight’s Cup opener for the Grizzlies against the Golden State Warriors. Jaren, a year before contract extension talks really get interesting, is Memphis’ best active player. He’s going up against Golden State - a team that has struggled to defend him in the past - on quite the tear.
Only Nikola Jokic and Domantas Sabonis marry large roles with efficiency better than Jaren Jackson Jr. among NBA big men right now. That’s lofty company - but it’s also indicative of the combined impact that JJJ is bringing. Where better to do it than against a rival, on national television?
Ignore the sponsorship money and European “it matters because it’s a tournament!” logic. More than anything, it is a chance for the Grizzlies to continue to develop their depth and find ways to maximize their talent. The Grizzlies group for the NBA Cup is brutal - Memphis, Golden State, then the Dallas Mavericks, Denver Nuggets, and New Orleans Pelicans.
While NOLA may be the only team in the league more banged up than the Grizzlies at the moment, the rest? The undisputed best player on the planet in Nikola Jokic. Perhaps the 2nd best in Luka Doncic. And tonight’s opponent - led by the guy who helped revolutionize the modern game in Stephen Curry.
But he’s not alone. Draymond Green may be the early front runner for Defensive Player of the Year (we will see what he has for Zach Edey, who is almost a foot taller). Buddy Hield is having a renaissance. The Warriors are good. And Memphis will have to go through them to get to where they want to go.
No better time than now to see who is up to the task. Because eventually? The games will be for a bigger trophy than the NBA Cup.
I held off on writing about the apparent rash, or rise, of early-season athlete injuries because there’s always some recency bias involved when the subject comes up. Are there really more injuries this year than any other? Do we have the data to support it? Is there a new, underlying cause? Or are injuries due to the same compounding mix of bad luck and the NBA’s 82-game schedule running into a long postseason, running into the offseason, running back into a brand new long regular season and the erosion of bodies this eventually leads to?
A report early this week showed early-season injuries were up 35%, and indeed ESPN’s list of injuries, at a glance, looks like a ferocious Christmas tree, lit up in blazing reds and yellows. A handful of teams (the Grizzlies, Pelicans, Raptors) are cobbling together rosters game-to-game depending on who’s still healthy. TrueHoop’s Henry Abbott ran a draft of the injured list this week and each team reads like an All-Star squad on steroids, and when Abbott printed out the league’s official injury report it was 10 pages long.
Injuries are definitely up — but why?
The Paris Olympics proved extra playing time for a few top-tier stars, but most of them remain healthy. The early season schedule hasn’t served up any more back-to-backs to longer road game stretches, which tend to be more gruelling on athletes, than usual. However, when everything appears to be normal and the bodily price is anything but, perhaps it’s time to examine that “normal”.
The NBA’s current schedule of 82 games was adopted in 1967. Already, I’m sure your brain is picturing black and white basketball, that’s good. When you picture that grainy, glitchy footage, how fast is it going? The reality is that the game used to be a lot slower. Not just in its mechanics (think of an offensive passing sequence, the ball flipping from set of hands to hands at a speed that can be hard to follow), but the athleticism too. Bodies were moving slower. The game was still physical — the trope of players from the 80s and 90s complaining about the “softness” of current athletes is a trope for a reason — but full tilt sprinting, cutting, complex rotations, these weren’t the norm. Given that, the bodily mechanics were different. Guys weren’t stopping on a dime, pivoting hard, having to force their ligaments and muscles and bones into exacting motions with all sorts of volatile force behind them.
Katie Heindl is a credentialed NBA and WNBA writer, her bylines have appeared with The New York Times Magazine, SLAM, The Athletic, Yahoo Sports, Dime, Rolling Stone, among others. She writes the bestselling Substack, Basketball Feelings and is working on a book of the same name.
Home and Away
Analysis Balanced scoring has been crucial to the Grizzlies’ hot start this season. With multiple players contributing, the team has found a winning formula. (Beale Street Bears)
Must Read A Boston Celtics legend made a compelling comparison between Ja Morant and an iconic player, highlighting Morant’s rising star status in the NBA. (Sports Illustrated)
Preview The Grizzlies head west to take on Golden State in the group stage of the NBA Cup. Read the preview.(NBA.com)
Oklahoma City Thunder forward Chet Holmgren (7) holds his leg after a hard following a play against the Golden State Warriors during the first quarter at Paycom Center.|Photo by Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images
This week in the fantasy basketball world has been a rollercoaster of highs and lows. A major talking point has been Chet Holmgren’s unfortunate injury, which has fantasy managers scrambling for replacements as the Oklahoma City Thunder adjust with potential lineup changes. Keep an eye on players like Aaron Wiggins and Cason Wallace — who might see increased minutes — and consider them as temporary pickups in deeper leagues.
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