Off Season Interviews: Memphis Grizzlies
Jul 14, 2022 22:58:56 GMT -5
Golden State Warriors (Caleb), Grizzlies GM (Royce), and 3 more like this
Post by The Athletic on Jul 14, 2022 22:58:56 GMT -5
-Memphis, TN- What an absolutely amazing season for Royce and his Grizz. I don't think anyone really envisioned the Grizz having that sort of success last year. But we've seen teams have one and done playoff years. I'm absolutely rooting for Royce to back up last year. Let's check in with the man and see what his thoughts are on the upcoming year.
Hey Royce I just want to personally apologize for the disrespect last year. If you told me at the start of last off season that you would be in the WC semi finals with the Dubs Pels and Wolves I would have called you fucking crazy. Tip of the cap bro. But those are MY thoughts.
What are yours? When did you realize hey we actually have something here? What are your overall thoughts on your season as a whole?
A: Appreciate the recognition…but look. If you had told me before the season that our squad would have had the year we had, I also would have called you crazy.
Before the year, our goal was simple. Make some noise during the regular season and trade away some of our one year deals for long term assets at the deadline. And through the first 4 weeks of the season, that’s exactly what we were doing – treading water. Then in weeks 5 and 6 we went on a 4 game winning streak and that’s when the race was on to make the playoffs. The West wasn’t particularly strong this year so we thought we had a great shot at making the playoffs and we wanted to play the role of spoiler against the big dogs. We picked up some pieces at the deadline to help us go as far as possible this year and ended up picking up a win in the first round against a great team in the Clippers.
We would’ve loved to go further, but making the semis was a huge accomplishment for our young team and I couldn’t be prouder of our guys.
I don’t think people quite realized the puzzle that was your situation coming into the offseason. How difficult was the Portis/Time Lord resign situation for you to decide? Additionally what was your overall plan coming into the offseason?
A: Awesome question and I totally agree – it was a tricky situation. We fully expected to send Portis to a contender at the deadline and resign Williams, but we ended up being contenders and we loved the fire Bobby brought week in and week out. He was one of our most consistent players all season. However, at the end of the day we knew that Robert Williams was our future and we weren’t going to risk him signing a massive contract in RFA. We all saw what happened with Marvin Bagley.
Coming into this offseason, our goal was to reload and make another run at the title and I think we’ve done that with the Porzingis and Lopez additions.
When did you decide hey I’m dealing 10 for production? Were there certain players you woiuld have picked had they been available?
A: It was truly a game time decision. We had done extensive scouting of every player around that slot and actually had a guy we were ready to pick at 10 in Mark Williams. However, he ended up going earlier and we called an audible. We were already talking with a few owners about the pick so we made some calls and ended up picking up a guy that we’ve liked for a long time in Porzingis.
Other than Williams, we were fans of Sochan, Mathurin, and we even considered Dalen Terry at 10. At the end of the day, we thought Porzingis gave us the best chance to capitalize on our current window so we decided to make the move, but really happy for those guys as they all went to great teams.
Some might say Koloko was a reach. Are you comfortable telling us where he was on your big board? What made you guys feel so confident he was your guy there?
A: In all honesty, we were targeting Dalen Terry there at 19, but Trey swooped in at 18 and made a great pick right before us. However, the reason we didn’t push strongly for a trade up was because we saw Koloko as 1B to Terry’s 1A on our board. We look at everything when evaluating a player – talent, intangibles, and their NBA situation. We had a lot of success with our Scottie Barnes pick last year in large part due to the Raptors organization and their ability to develop talent. This played a part in our decision and he was a top 15 guy on our board.
Koloko is raw and has a lot to work on especially on the offensive side of the ball, but we love the tools and he has some things you just can’t teach like size. We’re very excited to watch him grow in the years to come.
What is the expectation for this team as you head into this year?
A: We expect to compete for a championship. The West is loaded this year and I think we’re getting overlooked, but I don’t mind it one bit.
Porzingis brings big time upside to the squad and we expect Primo to take a step forward this year.
You’ve done a wonderful job putting together an electric core. Is there any one player you want to be a Grizzly lifer?
A: Scottie Barnes is the face of the franchise. He brings everything you want as the franchise player – work ethic, relentless energy, and positive vibes 24/7. He came into the year with a lot of question marks about his game and answered every single one of them emphatically. He’s just getting started and we see him on the path to becoming a top 10 player in the league within 5 years.
If you could eliminate one other franchise in the playoffs this year, who would it be and why?
Milwaukee, without a doubt. They deserve all the respect as the back to back champs, but we’re confident we have what it takes to beat them. Knocking the back to back champs out of the playoffs would be an unbelievable feeling. You’ve got to beat the best to be the best so we look forward to seeing them in the finals.
Runner up would be the Utah Jazz, but they aren’t making the playoffs anyway so we’ll send them home in the regular season.
Hey Royce I just want to personally apologize for the disrespect last year. If you told me at the start of last off season that you would be in the WC semi finals with the Dubs Pels and Wolves I would have called you fucking crazy. Tip of the cap bro. But those are MY thoughts.
What are yours? When did you realize hey we actually have something here? What are your overall thoughts on your season as a whole?
A: Appreciate the recognition…but look. If you had told me before the season that our squad would have had the year we had, I also would have called you crazy.
Before the year, our goal was simple. Make some noise during the regular season and trade away some of our one year deals for long term assets at the deadline. And through the first 4 weeks of the season, that’s exactly what we were doing – treading water. Then in weeks 5 and 6 we went on a 4 game winning streak and that’s when the race was on to make the playoffs. The West wasn’t particularly strong this year so we thought we had a great shot at making the playoffs and we wanted to play the role of spoiler against the big dogs. We picked up some pieces at the deadline to help us go as far as possible this year and ended up picking up a win in the first round against a great team in the Clippers.
We would’ve loved to go further, but making the semis was a huge accomplishment for our young team and I couldn’t be prouder of our guys.
I don’t think people quite realized the puzzle that was your situation coming into the offseason. How difficult was the Portis/Time Lord resign situation for you to decide? Additionally what was your overall plan coming into the offseason?
A: Awesome question and I totally agree – it was a tricky situation. We fully expected to send Portis to a contender at the deadline and resign Williams, but we ended up being contenders and we loved the fire Bobby brought week in and week out. He was one of our most consistent players all season. However, at the end of the day we knew that Robert Williams was our future and we weren’t going to risk him signing a massive contract in RFA. We all saw what happened with Marvin Bagley.
Coming into this offseason, our goal was to reload and make another run at the title and I think we’ve done that with the Porzingis and Lopez additions.
When did you decide hey I’m dealing 10 for production? Were there certain players you woiuld have picked had they been available?
A: It was truly a game time decision. We had done extensive scouting of every player around that slot and actually had a guy we were ready to pick at 10 in Mark Williams. However, he ended up going earlier and we called an audible. We were already talking with a few owners about the pick so we made some calls and ended up picking up a guy that we’ve liked for a long time in Porzingis.
Other than Williams, we were fans of Sochan, Mathurin, and we even considered Dalen Terry at 10. At the end of the day, we thought Porzingis gave us the best chance to capitalize on our current window so we decided to make the move, but really happy for those guys as they all went to great teams.
Some might say Koloko was a reach. Are you comfortable telling us where he was on your big board? What made you guys feel so confident he was your guy there?
A: In all honesty, we were targeting Dalen Terry there at 19, but Trey swooped in at 18 and made a great pick right before us. However, the reason we didn’t push strongly for a trade up was because we saw Koloko as 1B to Terry’s 1A on our board. We look at everything when evaluating a player – talent, intangibles, and their NBA situation. We had a lot of success with our Scottie Barnes pick last year in large part due to the Raptors organization and their ability to develop talent. This played a part in our decision and he was a top 15 guy on our board.
Koloko is raw and has a lot to work on especially on the offensive side of the ball, but we love the tools and he has some things you just can’t teach like size. We’re very excited to watch him grow in the years to come.
What is the expectation for this team as you head into this year?
A: We expect to compete for a championship. The West is loaded this year and I think we’re getting overlooked, but I don’t mind it one bit.
Porzingis brings big time upside to the squad and we expect Primo to take a step forward this year.
You’ve done a wonderful job putting together an electric core. Is there any one player you want to be a Grizzly lifer?
A: Scottie Barnes is the face of the franchise. He brings everything you want as the franchise player – work ethic, relentless energy, and positive vibes 24/7. He came into the year with a lot of question marks about his game and answered every single one of them emphatically. He’s just getting started and we see him on the path to becoming a top 10 player in the league within 5 years.
If you could eliminate one other franchise in the playoffs this year, who would it be and why?
Milwaukee, without a doubt. They deserve all the respect as the back to back champs, but we’re confident we have what it takes to beat them. Knocking the back to back champs out of the playoffs would be an unbelievable feeling. You’ve got to beat the best to be the best so we look forward to seeing them in the finals.
Runner up would be the Utah Jazz, but they aren’t making the playoffs anyway so we’ll send them home in the regular season.