RealGM

If you looked at last years playoff score results abd completely ignore any preconcieved notions and ignore injuries and ignore playoff seedings the numbers say that the Gizzlies were the 2nd best team in basketball. You can make an argument for the Mavericks Celtics and Heat because they won more playoff series but the Grizzlies gave the Warriors the hardest time. Grizzlies struggled vs the TWolves but if you don't assume that the Twolves are not good that struggle does not matter much. I think the Twolves are also overrated.

Then subjectively me coming from my Warriors fan bias, I think the Grizzles have the most complete team. I like Jones as your pure point guard and Morant is my favorite player to watch for spectacular plays as your tweener guard. I love the Adams and Jackson center pair. Adams is one of the stongest men in the NBA and Jackson is perhaps the best defensive above the rim presence. Jackson swoops and Adams is such a force of muscle below the rim.

Bane and Brooks are good two way players that provide modern floor spacing. Green provides championship experience.
Too bad Anderson is gone but you have replacements.

A sector of the betting fans are overly impressed with stars. Thinking that the Nuggets and Lakers have a better chance to win the championship than the Grizzles is crazy.

I pick the Grizzles to beat every team except the Warriors. Now, how do I bet this? Last year I won $1,000 betting on the Warriors to win the championship. But last year the Warriors were underrated. It is a bettors mistake that the Celtics and Clippers are favored to beat the Warriors this year but the Warriors are not so underrated this year.

The underrated team is the Grizzles. If the Warriors did not exist then betting on the Grizzles to win the championship would be a no brainer for me with the attractive odds I am getting. But I think the Warriors will still beat the Grizzles. I need to find someplace that will allow me to bet on the Grizzles making the Western conference finals. I still have a risk of Warriors and Grizzleis meeting before the conference finals. I think the Warriors and Grizzles will have the best records and therefore not meet before the conference finals but some team could over achieve and take 1 spot pushing Warriors and Grizzles to 2 and 3 and having them meet before the conference finals.

Still I think betting on the Grizzlies to make the conference finals woukd be a great bet but I am not sure that the betting websites will offer that bet. Even if that bet is offered the stupid betters that think the Nuggets and Lakers will be better than the Grizzlies may not participate in an obscure bet like making the conference finals so the Grizzlies might nit be as underated in that bet. Maybe I should just place a bet on the Grizzles to win the championship as my back up bet to my Warriors winning the championship bet.

SinceGatlingWasARookie wrote:.

Appreciate the love. Yeah when healthy we are a very complete team. Hopefully this last playoff run against you guys will help give us the experience we need to take the next step. I'm pumped for the Christmas Day game against you guys. Unless injuries muck it up, it is probably the game I'm most excited for this year and should draw a ton of viewers.

I appreciate the love as well, but I am concerned that we're due for a regression this year. Starting the year without JJJ, losing Anderson and Melton, and relying on rookies for significant minutes (particularly until JJJ returns and returns to form), I think we'll win less regular season games.

From there, we'll secure a lower playoff seed (and potentially have to make it through the play-in) and face a tougher road in the playoffs. If we can get everyone healthy and the team collectively peaking by the end of the regular season, then anything is possible . . . but, I have my doubts.

I am a bit surprised that someone is still calling underrated the team that blew the champion in the PO game by 50+ pts. That team has only matured since then…

esvl wrote:I am a bit surprised that someone is still calling underrated the team that blew the champion in the PO game by 50+ pts. That team has only matured since then…

I believe he was referring to the multiple analysts and such who have Memphis barely clearing the play-in tournament. He agrees we are better than that with room to grow.

VCfor3 wrote:

esvl wrote:I am a bit surprised that someone is still calling underrated the team that blew the champion in the PO game by 50+ pts. That team has only matured since then…

I believe he was referring to the multiple analysts and such who have Memphis barely clearing the play-in tournament. He agrees we are better than that with room to grow.

I referred to the same analysts.

Yes, the media analysts are underrating the Grizzlies, RealGM posters are underrating the Grizzlies, and the bettors are underrating the Grizzlies. Normally the bettors outperform the media personalities but the bettors get too infatuated with proven stars like Kawhi and Giannis and LeBron and heralded stars like Jokic and Doncic.

Somehow Ja Morant and JJJ have slipped under the radar to a degree, Grizzlies and JA need to fix whatever made the Grizzlies play better without JA. Now if the Grizzlies step up their intensity when missing a star, the JJJ injury might not hurt the Grizzlies regular season wins losses rate.

Is anything wrong with Ja Morant's defense compared with Jones? I did not notice anything wrong with his defense when he played the Waariors. I don't think Ja Morant's defense explains why the Grizzlies seem to play better without Ja Morant.

Perhaps Jones is underrated and does many good things that Ja does not do. Still I doubt that Jones is better than Morant.

The only thing I noticed to explain why the Grizzlies might play better without Morant is that the Grizzlies offense is more predictable with Morant and they don't swing the ball as much with Morant and maybe don't move as well without the ball with Morant. I think that is fixable. Have Morant play more like Jones but still do his amazing superman plays but without setting up an isolation. The 2 seconds Morant waits before going into his moves allows the defense to reposition itself. We want Morant doing his super stuff out of the sort of motion offense the Grizzlies play when Morant is not on the court.

Is Robert Williams any better than JJJ? I don't think so. JJJ being injured should not be a big deal. I expect the Grizzlies to get a top 3 seed despite JJJ's injury. JJJ just needs to be healthy for the playoffs.

I don't think losing playoff games to the TWolves meant anything. TWolves are capable of playing a few good ganes. The Young Grizzlies may have been looking past the Twolves. Young teams sometimes expect the opposition to play as bad as their record and the good young team wrongly thinks it can coast to victory against an inferor team. But I did not see the Grizzlies Twolves series.

What is a timberwolf anyway? They should drop the "timber" and just be the wolves.

Based on seeing NBA teams rise and fall since the late 1970s I don't think the Grizzlies will regress this year. I think the Grizzlies are still hungry and are not about to take success for granted. Maybe they mightbget bired with winning next year, 2023-24 unless they think the championship is within reach. The championship is within reach so maybe they also won't be bored with winning next year and won't be one of thosevteams that thinks they can be a contender in the playoffs without making an effort in the regular season which is something that happens to teams that have gotten very very used to being playoff teams.