Mailbag: Lamar Stevens, Ziaire Williams, Jake LaRavia, and non-Grizzlies things
Part 1 of mailbag with questions around the Memphis Grizzlies' young prospects, full-time roster hopefuls, skillset combinations, fashion, and Toy Story
I ran a mailbag this week to take questions via X (f.k.a Twitter), Threads, and the Substack app. I asked for anything from Memphis Grizzlies, NBA, the NBA draft, and non-basketball things. I wasn’t disappointed.
Let’s go ahead and dive on in.
Grizzlies
Garrett is a great Draft Twitter follow, by the way. Let’s go process of elimination.
I don’t see Hurt and Goodwin on the roster next season. Hurt is fine and could be a potential 2-way candidate, but his level of impact as a NBA big doesn’t warrant a full-time roster spot. He’s more of a tweener without the rebounding and rim protection to be a 5, and without the perimeter defense to defend 4’s. Goodwin is a solid defender but a non-shooter as a guard. He’s also ineligible for a 2-way starting next season, so his pathway to a ful-ltime role is murky.
Pippen could end up being a late-season conversion candidate, if the Grizzlies make a move that clears a roster spot next year. For a 6’1” guard, he offers intriguing 2-way potential. Before his back injury, he was lighting it up from 3. He can orchestrate an offense with his live-dribble creation as a passer and shooter. He defends well at the point-of-attack, while being an event generator as well. I’d place good money on Pippen being a full-time roster player by opening night 2025 — and on him playing more minutes than Derrick Rose next season.
Lamar Stevens is my answer here, and I’ll use the next question for an elaboration.
My take with bringing Lamar Stevens back next year is, yes … as long as they clean up the back-end of the roster.
So let’s just lay a quick landscape, with what we know:
Morant / Bane / Smart / Jackson / big
Vince / Luke / GG / Santi / Clarke
11-15: Konchar, Ziaire, LaRavia, Yuta, Rose
And that’s tentative depending on the draft pick and other moves.
They need more reliability and less redundancy in the 11-15 and maybe shave some cost here too — Konchar ($6.1M), Ziaire ($6.1M), LaRavia ($3.3M), Watanabe ($2.6M, player option), and Rose ($3.3M). They can waive and stretch Yuta at a relatively low cost, if (when) he opts into his player option. They’d maybe need to consolidate 2 of Konchar, Williams, and LaRavia — mainly for cost reasons ($15M for 3 players not projected to be in your rotation is a bit steep). I’d recommend a bigger 3-and-D forward that can potentially provide playoff minutes if the moment’s a bit too big for the young GG Jackson, or one that offers more size and defensive versatility than Luke Kennard.
Can Stevens be that guy? Maybe. He’s not a floor-spacer, though making them when he does (5/11 from 3 as a Grizzly, 1.1 3’s attempted per game). He offsets it with rim pressure and a sweet pivot-into-fadeaway mid-range jumper. He provides toughness and defensive versatility at the forward spot as well. He’s got that dawg in him.
So yeah, I’d be cool with Lamar Stevens remaining in the fold as an emergency guy (11th or 12th) man. It probably won’t break the bank (maybe 3 years, $8M with a team option in the final year). I’d just like to see the Grizzlies shuffle the deck a bit in the 11th-15th spots in the rotation in terms of positional need and financial wiggle room.
Expectations for next year with Brandon Clarke are hard to gauge because of the severity of his injury.
How much will it hurt his athleticism? It’s the central element of his game, what makes his skillset pop. Pre-achilles injury, Clarke was probably in the 98th percentile of athleticism. And if there’s a noticeable drop-off here, how does it impact the rest of his game?
Those are valid questions to answer and to monitor. However, I value Clarke’s floor game a bit more than others. He’s a solid screener who has soft touch around the free throw line area. He’s an underrated passer especially in Delay and short-roll actions.
I’ll dive deeper for another day — closer to his return — but I’d expect flashes of the “old Brandon Clarke” with more of an emphasis on his floor game (screening and playmaking).
Injuries suck. An ankle injury zapped LaRavia of 6 weeks for development time. The back and hip injury to Williams will cut at least 4 weeks of playing time with an amplified role.
I mean, at the core, making shots and playing good defense is the criteria. Their role next season and beyond for their NBA careers will be as 3-and-D connectors. Both players have pristine mechanics on their jumpers, but the results are uninspiring — Williams is shooting 30.7% on 3’s, while LaRavia is making 23.5% of his attempts. Defensively, they have to show the ability to hold up in perimeter defense, handle multiple types of archetypes with their assignments, and crash the glass.
When they’re tasked with live-dribble work, it’s about making right decisions — smart finishes, timely passes, elements tied into attacking a titled defense.
It’ll be fascinating to see what unfolds for LaRavia and Williams in the Grizzlies’ offseason plans.
Stuart, my life-long friend with an absolute heater. LaRavia with Stromile Swift’s dunking ability would go so crazy.
Part 1 will be a Starting 5.
Ja Morant with OJ Mayo’s off-the-dribble shooting. The only hole in Morant’s offensive repertoire is his shooting. Mayo is one of the best shot-makers in franchise history. Magic would be created with this dynamic.
Desmond Bane with Tony Allen’s defense. A star-level offensive weapon with otherworldly perimeter defense. Top-15 player in the league, rather easily.
Luke Kennard with Mike Miller’s height. If Kennard was like 2 inches taller, the Grizzlies’ wing situation would be solved.
Vince Williams Jr. with Tayshaun Prince’s measurements. Now imagine if Vince Williams was doing everything he’s been doing but as a 6’9” wing with a 7’2” wingspan. He’d be a lethal 3/4.
Jaren Jackson Jr. with Zach Randolph’s rebounding. I can give a quintessential modern big man all-time level rebounding? Stuart, you helped me solve the Grizzlies’ center problem.
Part 2: fashion.
Last year, I would’ve said Dillon Brooks — rocking pro wrestling style fits with sunglasses that cost more than anything in my closet. However, I’m going to go with the League Fits Legend Jaren Jackson Jr. Cool personified.
Not Grizzlies or basketball
Toy Story is my favorite childhood movie series. Perhaps by a landslide. So I’m a massive fan of all 4 movies, but for the sake of the question, I had to rank it.
2-1-4-3
Toy Story 2 was electric with a ton of thrilling battles, ones that fit the theme of the toy’s characters. Woody going toe-to-toe with Stinky Pete and Al from Al’s Toy Barn dominated the action — with Jesse and Bullseye emerging next to him. Buzz and Zurg’s war was awesome, as the Emperor tried to prevent Buzz from saving Woody.
The 1st one is a classic. Just your typical “shiny new toy” phenomena with the old toy getting jealous. It’s always sweet to see 2 “enemies” finally see the good in each other to become pals and allies — seen through Woody and Buzz’s quest to escape Sid and reunite with Andy. Also, the ending scene with Woody and Buzz hauling on a toy car then “falling with style” for the moving van — Slinky and the rest of the toys reaching for the lost toys, too — is a timeless classic, a staple in Pixar/Disney history.
I loved Toy Story 4 mainly for the new characters introduced. They went on heaters. Forky went “2022 Ja Morant” mode in the movie, with banger after banger each scene. Key and Peele as the Bunny and Ducky were so fun.
The 3rd one just isn’t as memorable, though still really good. I remember them being in a preschool, with Barbie and Ken then evil Latso the bear. Other than that, everything’s fuzzy.
Condiments ruin hot dogs and burgers. Only accept cheese, bacon, BBQ sauce, ranch, or onion straws on burgers.
Chipotle is hysterically mid.
If I want a good sandwich, I’ll make 1 at home rather than get one at a restaurant.
I’m not the guy for this question. Shoutout Devin Walker of Grind City Media and Memphis Grizzlies social for his thrift finds. The Grizzlies also typically have a garage sale of old merch and collectibles, so hopefully that comes back. Bad Timing Shop off Highland is pretty cool.
I personally rock with these types of shirts for “retro” items, the big letters with pictures all over it.
Found on Etsy.
Also have this sick Pau Gasol shirt that I got from my parents’ closet.
Hey, Jordan knows I’m a big wrestling fan. Alright!
I think partly why the women’s tag titles haven’t worked is because teams are rather forced and aren’t organic. Putting more creative effort into building these tag titles on the main roster or NXT would help. Longer reigns would help the titles matter more too, and the Kabuki Warriors are the perfect team to accomplish it.
However, I’d rather scrap it and give the women not fighting for either the Raw or Smackdown women’s championship some sort of variation of the Intercontinental or United States title. The women’s roster has gotten so deep with talent the past decade, they’re overdue for a “mid-card title.”
(Both a mid-card title and women’s tag team are possible).
Last and certainly not least, I can count on Will Stone asking me questions on topics way out of my expertise.
Arsenal leads the Premier League in goals and goals allowed. They’re just 2 points behind Liverpool. Go for the win.
I sure hope so. We need the USMNT to be so back.
Would be big if it’s true.
Thank you for the questions, I’ll be sure to run something like this again. Maybe after the draft before free agency, maybe after all the dust unsettles.
Nonetheless, this was fun. Thank you.
Part 2 coming shortly…
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