Grizz fans. They traded JJJ

[Drebin]

What you describe as “hits” are little more than finding serviceable role players, nearly all of which have serious flaws somewhere in their game. Otherwise, they could’ve easily been used in trade packages to bring playoff caliber players to this roster, yet Kleiman repeatedly whiffed on these attempts.

For all the good work that you claim he’s done, why is it that teams that were in similar positions (OKC, Houston, Detroit, Orlando, San Antonio) are now surging while Memphis is having to hit a giant Reset button?

OKC and San Antonio hit on the draft lottery and got #1 picks. And in OKC's case, they had another MVP on the roster in SGA too. But in almost all the cases you mentioned, those teams were among the worst teams in the league for multiple seasons. They tanked, accumulated assets, and slowly rebuilt. The Grizzles never really bottomed out - they've been in the playoffs or play in the whole time. They tried to make it work with what they had and that was their mistake. Now they're blowing it up and doing what they should've done earlier. And don't look now but they're the only team in the league that holds their own #1 pick for the next seven years, and they have five additional ones and a handful of twos over the next few years.

 

[AT4 Dawg]

We need Coward to be worth building around. I believe that he will be but it helps to have at least one piece in place when the rebuild starts.

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

We need Coward to be worth building around. I believe that he will be but it helps to have at least one piece in place when the rebuild starts.

If Edey stays healthy he can be dominant in the post. That remains to be seen so far.

 

[Drebin]

If Edey stays healthy he can be dominant in the post. That remains to be seen so far.

I'm not very high on Edey. First of all it's a hugeass red flag that he's missed almost all of the season due to an ankle sprain. Even when healthy he doesn't have great hands and he's horribly slow footed. He's good on the boards and he's a big body for screen and roll, but man is he limited skills-wise.

 

[AT4 Dawg]

I wish we could have gotten Clingan instead of Edey. Clingan is looking great for Portland. Edey might have a tad a higher ceiling but Clingan is a going to play basketball a long time and have a much higher floor.

 

[MSF87]

Edey looked way better than his rookie season. His screen setting, rebounding and rim protection have a major impact, but his hands and offensive game took a step too. And I say all of that as someone who hated the draft pick at the time, but the flashes we saw from him (especially in his first 3 games this season) have me really excited. I just hope they're handling his ankle situation out of an overabundance of caution.

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

I'm not very high on Edey. First of all it's a hugeass red flag that he's missed almost all of the season due to an ankle sprain. Even when healthy he doesn't have great hands and he's horribly slow footed. He's good on the boards and he's a big body for screen and roll, but man is he limited skills-wise.

I disagree. He took a big step up from his rookie year. I just hope the injuries aren’t going to plague him.

 

[Drebin]

Edey looked way better than his rookie season. His screen setting, rebounding and rim protection have a major impact, but his hands and offensive game took a step too. And I say all of that as someone who hated the draft pick at the time, but the flashes we saw from him (especially in his first 3 games this season) have me really excited. I just hope they're handling his ankle situation out of an overabundance of caution.

I hear you and I hope you're right. He's just not a max dollars guy and I hope the Grizzlies don't overcommit a bunch of resources for him because The jury is still out in my eyes. Allegedly Kleimann loves him though.

 

[Drebin]

I disagree. He took a big step up from his rookie year. I just hope the injuries aren’t going to plague him.

I wouldn't say he took a big step up. We didn't see enough to know. He definitely flashed and showed some things to get our hopes up, but he hasn't played enough to show me it's a sustained thing.

 

[MSF87]

His biggest leap honestly might have been his hands. It was noticeable how much more reliable he was at catching both bullet passes and lobs, compared to the stone mits we saw last season. But he looked a bit more mobile too, and I remember him saying he felt like he was actually playing on two good ankles after the surgery... then the stress reaction showed up. Either way, have a good rest big man because we're tank commanders now.

 

[Seinfeld]

OKC and San Antonio hit on the draft lottery and got #1 picks. And in OKC's case, they had another MVP on the roster in SGA too. But in almost all the cases you mentioned, those teams were among the worst teams in the league for multiple seasons. They tanked, accumulated assets, and slowly rebuilt. The Grizzles never really bottomed out - they've been in the playoffs or play in the whole time. They tried to make it work with what they had and that was their mistake. Now they're blowing it up and doing what they should've done earlier. And don't look now but they're the only team in the league that holds their own #1 pick for the next seven years, and they have five additional ones and a handful of twos over the next few years.

The Grizzlies also hit on the draft by landing the #2 pick when they had a 6% chance, and it was arguable for at least a few years that they even lucked out by not getting the #1 pick which turned into a constantly injured and out of shape Zion. OKC didn't have SGA on the roster until their GM swung an incredible deal to land him and picks for PG. It's amazing what can be done when you have a GM that can actually get deals done.

As far as not bottoming out, yeah... that's true. But it doesn't change the fact that Memphis was stockpiled with assets at the time, and Kleiman completely squandered them.

I'll say again that I'm not against the decision to blow this roster up because it wasn't going anywhere, and I was done with Ja two years ago. My gripe is that we're letting the same idiot try to rebuild this roster that made not one, not a couple, but dozens of horrible decisions over the last 5 years.

 

[Drebin]

The Grizzlies also hit on the draft by landing the #2 pick when they had a 6% chance, and it was arguable for at least a few years that they even lucked out by not getting the #1 pick which turned into a constantly injured and out of shape Zion. OKC didn't have SGA on the roster until their GM swung an incredible deal to land him and picks for PG. It's amazing what can be done when you have a GM that can actually get deals done.

As far as not bottoming out, yeah... that's true. But it doesn't change the fact that Memphis was stockpiled with assets at the time, and Kleiman completely squandered them.

I'll say again that I'm not against the decision to blow this roster up because it wasn't going anywhere, and I was done with Ja two years ago. My gripe is that we're letting the same idiot try to rebuild this roster that made not one, not a couple, but dozens of horrible decisions over the last 5 years.

I will agree with you that I felt Kleimann had some opportunities with the assets he had to swing for some trades and update the roster. He had a glut of young talent particularly at the 2 and 3 and he held on to them instead of packaging in trades for upgrades. Zaire is an example of a guy that I felt had real trade value and we hung onto him too long. GG's development has been stunted because he wasn't able to get on the floor.