NBA 2022/23 Season: News and Notes

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This thread will be dedicated to news updates happening around the NBA as the season is in progress.

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https://www.yahoo.com/news/why-memphis-grizzlies-players-careful-120103189.html

Damichael Cole, Memphis Commercial Appeal
Tue, November 22, 2022 at 7:35 AM


Santi Aldama realized he had violated one of the NBA's most notable unwritten rules.

"Oh (expletive), I forgot," the Grizzlies forward explained.

Aldama was wearing a pair of Giannis Antetokounmpo's signature sneakers in a game against the Milwaukee Bucks. Wearing Antetokounmpo's sneakers are OK for 80 of the 82 Grizzlies games per season, but twice a year, Aldama is expected to switch shoes when the star of the Bucks is the opposition.

Aldama also shared another reminder from last season during shootaround when Dillon Brooks mentioned to him that he shouldn't wear the sneaker of an upcoming opponent later that day.

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Here's a conversation that needs to be discuss between us fans.

Teething the line of Confidence and Arrogance

As we know, the Grizzlies are the young and coming contender team who have the audacity to put their confidence on blast. Having confidence in yourself and your team is a great deal to have. The gauntlet like the Western Conference is no easy feat to beat and win out at the end. So if you're the Grizzlies or any team in the WC, it's best to have confidence and tact to be as good as the team can be. After, all, a team can only be as good as it's GM, coaches, and players when it all boils down.

Today's discussion focus on the ideal that can one can be too confident that one can breed arrogance.

The Grizzlies do have a confidence streak about themselves as a team. Grizzlies leader Ja Morant at the held and the franchise player presents those qualities and it bleeds down to the roster. Sounds good for the players and the organization. To the outsiders, there are critics who are of the belief that this young Grizzlies team are consider arrogant, delusional, and needs to be humble and keep the respect above board.

Most of the critiques stemmed from multiple stories such as the playoff victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves last season in the playoffs, their beef with Golden State in the playoffs and twitter over the summer. Recent comments from the Christmas Day game concerning the Grizzlies stating they are a dynasty as Warriors Klay Thompson shoots the idea down as to paraphrase that one can't be a dynasty if one hasn't won the title. Ja Morant's comments concerning can he beat the legend Michael Jordan in a one on one game. Then, the idea of Ja stating he's not worried about the West.

The critics of the Grizzlies are of the belief that the Grizzlies have painted a bulleye on their backs. Evident during their losing skid when they lost to OKC, Nuggets, GSW, and Suns from the last week. Critics have even gone further to say the Grizzlies do need to be humbled, grow more in maturity, and keep the respect when it comes down to their opponents. Although trash talk is part of the game, some critics suggest the Grizzlies earn some banners first to back up that confidence. Otherwise, it's full on arrogance to them.

That said, I welcome the confidence the Grizzlies show off to the city. It's hard to earn respect in a small market franchise. To the NBA media and propaganda, if you're not a large market city, you get no respect and will not be worth the media's air time. San Antonio during their championship years. The Spurs carried themselves with a quiet, humbled sense of tact. They executed their mission to win titles and the media begrudgingly had to give them their respect. Giannis Antetokounmpo and the small market Milwaukee Bucks. The media practically wanted Giannis to leave Milwaukee for a large market due to his improvement as a player over the years. Giannis chose to stay with the Bucks and won a title in 2021. Ja Morant and the Memphis Grizzlies. The NBA media literally ignored Ja and the Grizzlies due to the drafting of Zion Williamson to the New Orleans Pelicans(small market team). Due to Zion's history of injuries, the circumstances gave Ja and the Grizzlies the opportunity to improve and receive attention from the NBA media rather begrudgingly on the front end. Fast forward four years later, the Grizzlies do make the sports news regardless of wins/losses. Plus the controversy of teething the line of confidence and arrogance as a young team on the rise.

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As we now know, Kyrie Irving has been traded to the Dallas Mavericks. I can't say if the link up between him and Luka may or may not work. Both players demand the ball a lot to create their offense. It's a risky gamble for the Mavs to take. They sacrifice their defense to gain more offensive production. We know Kyrie is very reliable as a player. However, his availability at times has come to question along with recent controversies in the last couple of years. Will Kyrie improve his reliability for the long term or will this be nothing more than a short term gain with a long term loss for the Mavericks?

Plus with Kyrie being a Maverick now, the Grizzlies will see him for two games in back to back on March 11th and 13th both at home and away. They will have to make adjustments. Plus A Ja vs. Kyrie show can't hurt too much now the Grizzlies are neighbors with Kyrie now.