Day 3 of Grizzlies Training Camp, MLB Playoffs | Gary Parrish Show
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They’re mean, not very cute, and in my opinion, way too big for a bird. Don’t miss the Sonic Fun 999 menu. Five items, always $1.99. Live free, eat Sonic. Tax not included. See menu for details. [Applause] Live from the Built Ford tough studio at FedEx Forum, it’s the Gary Paris show presented by Ortho South on YouTube at Grind City Media and the official Grind City Media app. Now, here’s your host, Gary Parish. [Applause] All right. Um, here my name is Gary Parish speaking to you from the Bill Ford tough studio FedEx Forum. We’re in downtown Memphis. Bennett Doyle right there producing the program. Glad he’s with me. Glad you’re with me. Hope you’re getting through the day best you can. Daddy lost everything. [Applause] [Music] And I hope you’re enjoying the first week of Grizzlies training camp. Today’s day three. The Grizz remain in Nashville, Tennessee. That’s our state’s capital. John Jiren are still the focus. We’re going to talk about it momentarily. First though, quickly, let me set today’s schedule for you. The next segment live from Nashville. Michael Wallace is going to join me. Senior editor, Grind City Media. He’s got his boots on the ground at Belmont University for Grizzlies training camp. He’ll join me on Zoom. He’s going to be here in about 20 minutes. Finished talking to Mike. We’re going to take a break, come back, do five more things you need to know, at which point we’ll discuss five previously undiscussed stories. Among them, day two of the MLB playoffs, it’s in the books. Day three gets started soon. We got three elimination games on tap, including Yankees Red Sox. Fun moment last night involving Fernando Cruz. That’s getting a lot of attention. We’ll show it to you. We’ll do that in about 40 minutes. Eagles receiver AJ Brown met with the media and discussed Sunday’s I guess it was a pity party on social media that that generated some some headlines over the weekend. He insisted it wasn’t directed his his post at any of his teammates, coaches or front office members. I’m calling BS. I think he’s speaking Japanese. I’m going to get Bennett’s thoughts on the former Titan. We’re going to do that. We’ll do it in a third segment. Former Grizzly Mike Connley, he met with the media yesterday during Timberwolves training camp and he was asked among other things about mentoring, you know, the the young guard Rob Dillingham. His answer was really good. We’re going to play that for you. We’re going to do it in just a bit. Maverick’s big Anthony Davis is reportedly bigger than he’s ever been. He’s listed at 268 lbs right now, which is 15 lbs heavier than he was listed at last season. Hilarious. Nico Harrison, if you if you see if you can follow this. Nico Harrison traded a fat Luca Donuch for an inshape Anthony Davis. But now he has a fat Anthony Davis after trading what is now an inshape Luca Donuch and a younger Luca Donuch. Oh, it’s the goofiest trade ever. We’re going to laugh about Nico again. We’re going to do that a little later on in the show. And congrats to News Channel 3’s Mike Sadi. He announced his retirement from local news last night. Real legend in the market. I’m going to tell you a story connected to him. It’s one that at least makes me laugh. We’ll do that during a segment we call five more things you need to know. Then we’ll eventually do GP’s carry out and we’ll call it a day. So that’s the rundown. We got a lot to get to, but I did want to start with your Memphis Grizzlies because day two of training camp in Nashville. It’s in the books. Today is day three, which means the Grizzlies first preseason game is now just four days away. Specifically on Monday night inside FedEx Forum, Kate Cunningham and the Detroit Pistons going to serve as the opponent. As you know, a handful of media members are at Belmont University covering the Grizzlies training camp, boots on the ground. Among them, Michael Wallace, who again is going to join us in the next segment. Also there, the commercial pills to Michael Cole. Uh, and the Daily Memphians, Drew Hill and Chris Harrington. Okay. The latter of whom, it’s a who’s who of Memphis media. You don’t have to tell me. I love it. Chris Harrington has published a nice story about heading into year seven of John Jiren. You can read it at dailymeian.com. Did you happen to see it yet? I have not. Okay. So, a really nice piece. And he starts it with a scene from January 2020, which looking back uh was, I guess, a few weeks before we knew the world was about to change in a way that seemed unimaginable to most of us uh just a few weeks earlier. Perhaps we were all stupid. In hindsight, it looks like we were. But either way, most of us had no idea what was coming, right? January 2020. Regardless, in less serious news, the Grizzlies were playing a game that January in Detroit, and Chris sort of recaps a late sequence where a 20-year-old Jiren Jackson Jr. and a 20-year-old John Morant in their first season playing together. Uh, we’re playing little twoman games that suggested the NBA’s next great inside outside duo consisted of a pair of top five picks, both of whom were showing future all-star level promise, even before either could legally have a drink on Bill Street steps away from the arena where they work and entertain thousands throughout the winter. And this is precisely why ESPN in back-to-back years identified the Grizzlies as the franchise in the entire NBA best set up for future success. It was the ESPN future power rankings and the Grizz were number one in 2021 and number one again in 2022. It was because of what those young future Max players, future Allstars had already shown. As you know, things haven’t gone quite as planned since then. Sure, they’ve won more than they’ve lost. 254 219. That’s the record over the past six seasons with two second place finishes in the West and five trips to the postseason. But there’s only been one playoff series won in part because John Jiren, the two stars, um they haven’t played together as often as any of us would like. As Chris Harrington points out, they’ve only combined to play 125 games in the same season once. And that also happens to be the season where they won 56 games which tied a franchise record. So undeniably when John Jiren are healthy, this is a a really good team, perhaps even a contender. Um, but the biggest question heading into the season is like, all right, what does that look like? And how likely are we to get it? Can they both stay healthy healthy? If so, how good can it be? Big Bennett, as we sit here on October 2nd, just four days away from preseason opener, where are you at mentally? Talk to me about your Okay, talk to me about your mental health. Are you Are you optimistic? Are you pessimistic? Or are you unwilling to get emotionally involved in early October because you’ve just been burned too many times? I mean, I I’ve said this a couple times this week and I think most people Well, say it again. We got hours to film. Well, I I I’m obviously a little nervous about having to I’m not saying that like they have to have Zack Edy to get where they want to go, but I’m saying they have to have a good big man rotation where everybody’s healthy to get where they want to go. They’re not going to have that to start the season. Now, hopefully Jiren’s back to start the season. We We don’t know yet. Um I’d be surprised if he plays game one, but maybe I’m wrong. I I that is the big question now. Like is Jire is Jiren gonna play in the opener? I guess it’s like here’s the truth. He’s either going to play in the opener or he’s going to play very soon after the opener. That’s what it looks like right now. I don’t have any indication one way or another. Although he does talk like he intends to try to play in the opener. Here’s what I would say just practically speaking. If they were planning on him to play in the opener, I don’t think they would have extended the window. I agree with on the announcement past the opener. It technically the window they established last Friday at Grizzlies PR. That window takes them past opener, the home opener, the season opener against the Pelicans. That leads me to believe they are not counting on him or even expecting him to play, but it’s still weeks away and you know, we’ll see. We’ll see. Yeah. Um, so the front court just depth makes me nervous to start the season regardless. Sure. I mean, you’re you’re you’re probably relying on Jo Landale, who’s barely played in the NBA. Yeah. And Brandon Clark has been not lately, but he has been a big part of winning for this franchise. And I just right now at this point, it’s hard for me to just even imagine like what he’s going to be able to contribute at least for the first half of the season. That’s just kind of where I’m at right now. Um, but I think that the guard depth is really good. Um, so I’m excited about that. Um, but just specifically what you were asking about John and Jiren, like I can’t just sit come in here and and we just talked about Jiren’s injuries, but it’s hard for me to say, “Well, we’ve never seen them play a bunch of games together, so of course I can’t be optimistic because I just don’t like assuming that they’re going to get injured.” You know what I’m saying? Like, I’m going to assume that they’re going to be healthy and play together. And if they are healthy and play together, I do think I’m I’m very excited. You’ve talked a lot about coach Eelo this week. I’m excited about what he’s going to bring to the table. And I think hope that this is the beginning of like those two guys having a great twoman game together. And I’m excited about that. It’s reasonable to be I don’t know about pessimistic, but um worried about how I’m always going to be nervous, how things could possibly go wrong if both of those guys aren’t on the court because they both, this isn’t just madeup stuff, they have both struggled with staying healthy at different parts of their career. For Jiren, it was mostly early. He’s been healthier lately. He played 74 games last season, 66 the year before that, 63 the year before that, 78 the year before that. That’s that’s acceptable averages. You add those four up, divide it by four, you get a good number. We’ll take that. But early in his career, it was to start 58, 57, 11, and that’s where that label sort of got attached to him. By the time he started consistently playing is when J ran into his injury problems. It’s been an unfortunate timeline for sure. So, they’ve both struggled staying healthy for different reasons at different times, but there’s no there’s no actual reason. You can’t assume they’re going to be healthy this season. Jiren is on the mend going to be ready to go very early in the season, if not at the home opener, and J is by all accounts healthy and coming off of one of the best off seasons he’s ever had. That’s what everybody tells us. So, you just got to keep your fingers crossed and and hope that that that stays that way. I mean, remember once upon a time Steph Curry had bad ankles and one ever gonna have a long career because he had bad ankles and he got past that fairly quickly. And if you’re the the optimistic thing attached to the jaw injury stuff has been that it’s been various injuries. It’s not like he’s had four knee surgeries or five shoulder surgeries. It’s always the same thing. Like Michael Porter Jr. has a back issue. that is never not going to be a thing with him with J. It’s just like it’s it’s this one day and this the next week and this another month and but they’ve all just sort of been random and different things. So like I’m I’m just like Chris and I were joking yesterday. What is the point in not being hopeful? Like you know like do you think Kinius Carwoke can still shoot? I mean I hope so. You know I hope he I hope he’s not a below 35% three-point shooter because if so that’s not ideal. So, like, let’s just hope that he didn’t get good shots or um that the the same type of shots in Orlando that he’s going to get in Memphis. And when he gets better shots here playing with John Morant and Ty Jerome and Scotty Pippa Jr., then then the percentage will go back up where it has been for for much of his career. Like, what is the point in not believing in that? I know. So, like, let’s just believe in it and have fun until something hits us in the face and we have to deal with reality. But on October 2nd on the third day of training camp, I’m just interested in like believing that this is actually somebody owes us going to go well. You mentioned John and Jiren playing together. And I know when you say that and when most people say it, your mind goes to this like, are they just on the court with three other dudes in Grizzlies uniforms? Part of Harrington’s piece at dailymeian.com and I I think among the reasons he started it with that scene from Detroit from January 2020 is in that sequence. It’s a lot of John and Jiren stuff. Jiren setting a screen. Mhm. J using that screen. Jiren rolling. Jiren popping. It was a twoman game they were playing. And as Job points out in the piece, they haven’t really played that way too often lately. Um, you know, Stephen Adams was setting screens, Zakiti was setting screens. They haven’t really played together that much anyway. But when they do play together, it hasn’t been a heavy dose of bring Jiren up to the top, set that ball screen. Now, let’s play. let’s get you somebody in the corner, but we’re gonna play a two-man game with these two in their prime all-star level guys. It really hasn’t been a recipe um that they’ve gone to too often, but it appears that is going to be something you’ll see more often this season than maybe you have seen in recent um in recent seasons. Jai actually talked about it. Here’s the quote. Lately, we’ve been around each other because obviously if Jiren’s in ball screens now, it’s something he hasn’t done before. So, he’s asking questions. I would say he’d be in the screen. He would get some screens. So, Jai is basically telling us we can expect to see Jiren Jackson Jr. setting screens for him in in regular season games. The indication is more often than we’ve seen in recent years. Perhaps more often than we’ve ever seen. Sounds good to me. Sounds great to me. Sounds good to me. Yeah. Like you’ve got a guy who can roll to the rim as a legit sevenfooter or pop out and knock down jumpers as a legit floor stretcher. I mean, this is why he was drafted where he was drafted and why he got the contract that he got. It’s why the label unicorn gets attached to him. I I I we went through a little phase where everybody thought they were unicorns. Remember James Wisman? We did talk a lot about unicorns. James Wiseman running around talking about I’m a unicorn. Like, shut up, buddy. You god Damn. You you quit your you quit your college team. Now you’re just bouncing around the NBA. You’re not a unicorn. You’re a tall guy who was a good high school basketball player. All right. That’s that’s what you are. Okay. All right. Jiren is actually what James Wiseman thought he was. I agree with that. That’s the truth. Jiren is actually what James Weisman thought he was. Um, and any sort of action that puts a Jiren twoman game on display is is something I’d be interested in in seeing. And it sounds like uh the news coming out of out of Nashville is that we’re going to we’re going to get more than that when than we’ve been getting lately and perhaps more than we’ve ever gotten at all. I’m I’m down. I’m down. Yeah, let’s go. Let’s go. it. I I did see a video of them like uh that it might have been Chris that posted it, but it was of Jaw and Jiren. And Jiren’s not practicing or at least not, but he’s getting he’s getting work done. But they but everything you just talked about like it’s them two talking each other and Jaw’s like, you know, if I do this, you do that. Yeah. And I’m like, “Okay, man. Now, now you’re getting my hopes up.” And we’ve talked to I can’t remember whether it was Ryan Hollands or Brendan Haywood, but a veteran NBA big came on and we were talking about maybe it was Zack Edy and J. And I was like I we keep hearing, you know, J’s got to get comfortable with Zack, Zach’s got to get comfortable with J. What does that entail? How do you do that as a big? How do you get comfortable playing with somebody, setting screens for somebody, knowing where they want you to set the screen, how they want you to set the screen, what they want you to do after you set the screen. Where does that come from? And the answer was just got to do it. Yeah. It’s just get out there and do it and then do it again and then do it again and then do it again and just stay on the court and stay in the gym and work and work and work and before long or at least after a while some period of time. Then it just all feels natural and you just you know where he’s at at all times. He knows where you’re at at all times. You don’t even really have to say anything. You don’t even really have to see anything. It’s just when this happens you know he’s there. When this happens you know he’s here. when this happens, you know, you can reject the screen and come back this way. It’s just it all then you’re just playing. You’re just playing. And it sounds like that’s an emphasis in Nashville. Michael Wallace is there. I’ll ask him about it next. Jiren Jackson has a message for y’all. Jiren, say it now. What? It’s the best show in the world. Yeah. Hey. Yeah. Trip, when I showed up at the event last night, he goes, “You got the biggest show in the world.” And I said, “No, I really don’t.” And he goes, “To me you do. I see you every day.” I asked him why he doesn’t just walk up here and he’s like cuz I don’t want you to be able to prepare. I’m like the Chris Vernon Show live on weekdays at noon on YouTube at Grind City Media and the official Grind City Media app. [Music] [Music] You ready? I’ve been ready. What are we waiting for? Kroger shoppers and Grizz fans want exclusive last minute discounted ticket deals texted straight to you. Sign up with the new Kroger buzzer beater deal. Fans can sign up by texting Grizz to 636479 or visit your local Kroger store in the Delta Division and scan the QR code. By signing up, you agree to receive recurring automated promotional and personalized marketing text messages from the Memphis Grizzlies. Consent is not a condition of any purchase. Message frequency varies. Message and data rates may apply. Let’s go, Grizz. Let’s go. Oh, John Moran just broke the rim with that finish. Defense take that ball. Defense take that ball. Jared with a rejection. Give me that. Digs at it. Knocks it away. Picked up by Tippon Clark. [Music] Catch us if you can at Southland Casino Hotel and win your share of up to $1.8 million in free play and prizes. Join us for drawings every Saturday in May, June, and July. Each month, over 900 winners will take home free play or drive off in a new car or motorcycle. Be there for all six grand finale drawings and try to catch us if you can. Only at Southland Casino Hotel. Must be 21 up. Play responsibly for help quitting. Call 800522-24700. [Music] Welcome back Gary Paris show presented by Ortho South. We’re inside the Bill Ford tough studio and on Thursdays in the second segment we’re joined by Michael Wallace. He of course senior editor grind city media. He’s got boots on the ground in Nashville, Tennessee. He’s there for day three of Grizzlies training camp. Michael Wallace is GP. How you doing? Hey, I’m doing great, man. Thanks a lot for having me. Always a pleasure to be on with you, man. It’s a lot going on out here. Looking forward to it. Walk me through what training camp in Nashville looks like? Like, are the players just in the gym and then back to the hotel or is like, can I jump on TMZ perhaps tonight and see a video of GI Jackson and Morgan Wallen kicking it on Broadway? Hey, you probably could. I mean, you can find anything on TMZ at this point. But hopefully hopefully it wouldn’t rise to the level of TMZ needing to put the Grizzlies on blast like that. But, um, no, it’s it’s it’s a lot of work, you know, a lot of meetings. Uh, they’re at the team hotel right now, uh, going through their last meetings before heading on the buses over to Belmont University uh, to put in two, three hours worth of work. And then they come back and do a couple of, uh, you know, sponsorship team functions. There’s a big team dinner tonight uh with with a lot of uh uh sponsors and and local politicians, statewide people, and uh it’s going to be fun. Man, tonight is one of those, you know, you get a chance to get out and see the Grizzlies. Um you know, they’re going to be at the African-American uh music museum uh right here in downtown uh for a private function. So, I’m looking forward to that as well. I know the Titans matter to Bennett immensely. He’s a Titans fan, but I I have never thought, and perhaps I’m wrong, maybe Bennett would correct me, but I’ve never thought the Titans matter much in Memphis. It’s Tennessee’s football team, but I I don’t know that the Titans matter in Memphis as much as the Cowboys matter in Memphis, or even the Steelers or Packers might matter in Memphis. Do you have a sense? Do the Grizzlies matter in Nashville? Do people there pay attention to our basketball team? I I think this year is especially a challenge because the Grizzlies are coming off of a season where the season got away from them at the end of last year. You know what I mean? Obviously, everyone knows who John Moran is. I think this region has come to know and and appreciate Jiren Jackson Jr. Um, but during the week where your Vanderbilt ranked team is going to be playing Alabama, nah, that’s not the reason he’s gonna resonate. During a week where any day now, Bennett’s beloved head coach of the Tennessee Titans could be dismissed. Nah, that’s not the number two story here, right from the Grizz the Grizzlies can’t rise and the Grizzlies are like Shador Sanders right now. They’re relevant, but they’re not cracking the top two of of the daily depth chart when it comes to uh biggest stories here. But what what they do get here is a chance to get away as a team, the chance to get into a gymnasium that has multiple ports and everything that they need to get their work done and to pretty much galvanize this this new group right here. So, you know, that’s what you’re getting by being in that. And and I think that stuff’s important, like really important, whether it’s Nashville or Murphy’sboro or Little Rock, I don’t care. I do think it’s important to get out of town because if you hold training camp near your home, you know what everybody does? They come to work, they do their job, and then they go home. And you lose some real possibly valuable time of I mean, I know this is true when I’m on the road. I in my dayto-day at this is my dayto-day, my normal life. I come here, I I get up, I take my kids to school, I come here, I do a show, I go have lunch by myself, work, go pick my kids up from school. That’s that’s large. But it’s never with other people. I’m I’m alone. But when I’m on the road, it’s like, hey, we’re all on the road. None of us have our families here. you want to grab lunch, you want to grab a drink, you want to grab dinner, whatever. And by taking a basketball team out of town, you’re going to get some of that um personal time together that you just would not get if you hung around here. And I I think there I think you gain something from that. Yeah, you do. You do. And a lot of teams are doing this. I mean, last year you had two teams here. The Pelicans and the Grizzlies were here in Nashville training last year. Um you know, Chicago gets out and does training on the road. I remember being in Miami for 10 years and the heat at one time they trained on a military base uh in the panhandle of Florida way on the other side of the state from uh from Miami. They’ve since gone to the Bahamas in different places. Golden State, the Lakers, they all get out of LA. Um so this is the time where for for for a week straight you get to lock in on meetings. You’re in close proximity. Everyone is together. No one has to scatter. Um and and everyone can be on time. Everyone has the same opportunity to catch the first, second or third bus. You know, everyone has the same opportunity to go to meals and dinners and those kind of things. And with a team like this, coach Tuoma Salo is really in his first full year. You know, you have half the roster are are newcomers or secondyear guys who still need to learn some things. And then you even the veterans that you have bought in, you know, the contavius Cwell Popes, the Jock Landals, the Tai Jeromes, they need to understand what the chemistry and and the uh you know what the culture is for Memphis and what’s trying to be established right now. So you do all that in one concentrated time in a remote place outside of your home base and then you come back on Saturday for the open practice and then you embrace everything that comes with that moving into Monday’s preseason opener. It’s always interesting hearing the quotes at the end of the day coming out of training camp because right now all we have is words. We haven’t seen anything yet. We’ll get to see it on Monday night in preseason form and then the regular season will start and we’ll do what we do. But right now it’s mostly just a words game. So you you you you listen to all the interviews, you you read all the quotes, and there’s some indications, I think, and you correct me if I’m wrong, but it appears that they are planning to implement more Jiren twoman stuff than maybe we’ve seen in recent years, perhaps more than we’ve seen ever. There’s quotes from Jaw talking about Jiren is going to be setting me screens, and that’s something we’re working on now because he hasn’t done it too often in the past. Can you expand on that at all? And you know, if you go to uh my Twitter and Grime City Media’s retweeted as well, I showed video of them working on that uh after practice yesterday. I I said it today. You know, that was the most compelling uh uh moment that I’ve seen from training camp. Now, we’re not in there for the bulk of practices or anything like that, but once they break up as a team and start working on individual things, uh that’s when the media is sort of allowed in. And then you see these groups and these clicks kind of work together. And what John Morant did yesterday was, you know, he pulled Kavius Cwell Pope, Jo Landell, and Jiren Jackson Jr. together on their court on a court on the far end and he walked those guys through what these pick and roll coverages would look like and what these pick and roll offensive sets would look like. And it was very very encouraging to see because that’s one of the things that’s uh not been uncovered or you know you know jumped into as much over these last seven years that they’ve been together is the John Morant Jiren Jackson Jr. pick and roll. And it’s largely because Jiren hasn’t necessarily been comfortable as a screen setter, but he’s physically able to do it now. I think it’s just something where, you know, when you when you come into the league or you come into your own and you haven’t done it, it’s harder to try to get to learn to do it. But unlocking those two guys together in tandem is something that we haven’t seen and I think something that Tuomas Iselo is committed to doing. So that’s some real thing right there. Now, Jiren is limited in terms of what he can do, but it’s all about mental reps, being in a position where he needs to be at right now until he can get on the basketball court and do it in some live scrimmage up and down. And I don’t know that he’s always had the body to be a a proper screener, but like he does now, like even when he sat down with us uh Monday at media day, you can just see he’s big through here now. He’s big and his shoulders are like he’s filled out and so he’s got to get comfortable, but he’s got the body to to to be what they need him to be. Yeah, they he certainly does. He certainly does. Now, having said that, the mentality is the biggest thing, though. Jiren has always been seven feet, right? Um I remember Tyson Chandler coming into the league as a real thin center, but what did he do? He set the screens and rolled for the lob dunks. Um and that’s all he did. I remember him doing that with New Orleans, and I remember him doing that with the Knicks. Um, you don’t have to be a big physical, you know, Jo Landale, Stephen Adams, Jonas, Valentis guy. You just have to KG. KG was a perfect screen setter and he’s rail. Um, you just have to know your positioning and what you’re trying to do. So, Jiren just has to embrace that part of it. He’s really a guard or wing in a big man’s body. And that’s the thing that we have to accept about Jiren. But it’s also something that at year eight knowing what this team needs and knowing you you’ve been paid to be an elite player, it’s time to do whatever is needed. Uh regardless of what’s necessarily comfortable, get uncomfortable in order to get comfortable. And that’s what the challenge is for Jiren right now. With Jiren, he every time he talks seems to suggest he’s doing well and is planning to play in the season opener. when the Grizzlies set the time frame last Friday, the window surpasses the season opener. What do you make of that? Do you expect him to play against the Pelicans on opening night? You know, this looks a lot like uh last season’s training camp where Jiren, you know, he tweaked the uh the hamstring on the first day of training camp and then they kind of, you know, had kid gloves with him and and you know, they were being cautious with him the entire time. um he missed the first two games or the first game of the regular season and then came back uh after that. This is more of a I think he’s physically ready to go, but I just think they want to make sure they check off all the boxes to give his conditioning a chance to catch up because what they don’t want to do, the toe is fine. I’m assuming that the toe is good, but is he ready to go full throttle conditioning wise? because you don’t want a soft tissue injury as you try to compensate to keep up and down with these guys who are playing at a much faster pace right now too. So I think it’s a comprehensive approach for Jiren. If you ask me right now what he is he going to play on the season opener, I would almost lean towards saying yes because I really think number one he stated that he wants to do it and they’re protecting him with the time frames the four to six week time frame but they certainly can be on the shorter end of that. Zack Kleman, president of basketball operations, said it would be optimistic to expect them to play in the season opener, but that door remains open. Let’s talk about two of the new guys, Jo Landell and Tai Jerome, because both are expected to have real roles on this team, especially early in the case of of Landell. I think it’s interesting because they’ve both told us um in recent days that they wanted to be here. You know, they wasn’t like, well, I got one offer, I guess I’ll go to Memphis. Um, Tai Jerome could have made more money other places, but wanted to be here because of the opportunity it presented. Jock Landell like four hours as he tells the story after having a child, he was enthusiastically signing a Grizzlies contract. He recognized an opportunity. Let’s start with Landell. He’s probably going to start at 5 on opening night. And we’re all, I think, talking ourselves into it because there’s some advanced metrics that suggest perhaps there’s like some interesting stuff here. But we are relying on somebody to start at center on opening night who’s, you know, barely been a relevant NBA player ever. Just where do you put the expectations on the St. Mary’s alum, former West Coast Conference player of the year as he begins his Grizzlies career? You know, I I think Jollandel and we had a chance to talk to him too on our Grind City Media media day stream, right? And he sat down with our group right after your group got up and one of the things that he talked about was understanding what’s expected of him. He’s not coming in here. This guy was an MVP in the Australian League, right, a few years ago. He’s been a journeyman in the NBA, uh, a a limited role player for the most part. But the one thing that he’s being asked to do is the thing that he specializes in the most, and that’s being able to set screens, create space, and be an option threat at the rim or even to create more space for the secondary offside or weak side ball movement as well, too. So he’s not coming in here thinking that all right I have to be Jonas Valenunis and call for the ball down low or I have to be Mark Cassaul and be able to step out and shoot three. I just have to do this one or two things that’s going to make John Morant better and that’s going to calibrate everybody else. And as long as he keeps that mindset I think it’s going to work. Now again this is a journeyman center who’s never had a prominent role in the NBA. So you’re not going to expect this to just work right off the bat. he doesn’t have Jiren playing Adam uh probably uh in in the opener and he you know certainly won’t have a lot of depth up front. So you know it’s going to be one of those things where as you can hear probably the the construction going on beside me. It’s going to be a work in progress for the Grizzlies front court too with Jacqu Landon. Last thing before I get you out of here on Tai Jerome, he’s had an interesting career, you know, plays at Virginia, wins a national championship, comes into the NBA, and for the first five years is just whatever. And then in year six, he’s a real rotation piece for Eastern Conference contender and finishes among the leaders in the sixman of the year voting. Um, do we have a sense of of what’s real and what isn’t? when he talked to Chris Vernon and that group the other day, he said, “You know, the thing that changed from year five to year six is I finally got an opportunity to get on a court and show who I am, and that’s who I am.” But, um, I imagine there’s other people who will say, “If you’ve only had one good year out of six full years, um, you know, what kind of player are you actually? How do you chop all that up?” Well, some guys are just late bloomers, man. I mean, it took a while for a lot of these guys to kind of find their way. You can say there several other players that have gone along that route as well, too. But in in his situation, he had the perfect cast around him to allow him not to do too much. He just had to do his job, right? So when you look up and you have potentially four allstars or all-star caliber players and Donovan Mitchell, you know, obviously, uh, the two bigs down there, Jared Allen is a defensive player that you’re kind of guy. Um, you just have, you know, so much, you know what I mean, when it comes to, you know, uh, uh, what what you’re having to play with. So you just step in and play your role. I think in Memphis, he kind of sees that same. John Morant with Jiren Jackson Jr. um with some of the young guys so he can just come in and fill his role. He feels comfortable. Now you’re right though. Uh five years really kind of uh didn’t do much. Six year had the breakout year and in two of those games those breakouts came against the Memphis Grizzlies. Right. He well for the one team that ended up signing with him and then he was convinced that I can have a fresh start here uh with a dynamic guard that I’m used to kind of playing with and I know how to play in this kind of system. So, I think it’s going to be a seamless transition for him and uh as long as he picks up the defensive principles, we know what he can do offensively, but def if he can pick up some of the defensive principles and some of the secondary ball handling, I think that’s what’s going to break him out as as a potential. He was a six man of the year finals last year, I think if he’s in that role this year with the Grizzlies, he can contend for it again. That is Michael Wallace in Nashville for Grizzlies training camp. The latest column is posted grind cityia.com. headline. Despite key absences, Grizzlies open camp capable of maybe surprising people. You can find that grindcity media.com. Follow him on X at my mic check. You’re the best. Enjoy Nashville and I’ll see you when you get back home. All right, man. Y’all take care now. All right, that’s Michael Wallace. Grind City Media. Make sure you’re reading him. grind city media.com. We come back, turn our attention to Major League Baseball. Oh, man. We got three elimination games today, including Yankees, Red Sox. Dodgers are the only team that was able to get a first round sweep. We’ll talk baseball. We’ll do it next. Gary Paris show presented by Ortho South. Did you see the end of Aces Storm? Let me play it out for you. Storm get the ball back and it’s Gabby Williams and oh god. You’ll never know. We’ll never know. A hell of a way to say you lost. Lights are out. Take the ball. Go home or don’t take the ball because your season is over. Tune in to the Jessica Benson Show with CJ Hurt live every weekday at 8 a.m. on YouTube at Grind City Media and the official Grind City Media app. [Music] [Music] You ready? I’ve been ready. What are we waiting for? Let’s face it, there’s a lot of trash talk in basketball, but the great teams let their performance do the talking. Like Ford F-150 with Pro Power on board. 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[Applause] Orthopedic injuries can be unpredictable, unforeseen, and unscheduled. And Ortho South understands this better than anyone. Since your injuries don’t make appointments, you don’t need to either. That’s because Ortho South welcomes walk-ins during the weekdays, in the evenings, and even on Saturdays. So, next time an unforeseen injury makes an unscheduled appearance in your life. Visit orthos.org to find your nearest urgent care location, just walk in orthos to take care of everything, especially you. Learn more at orthosouth.org. That’s orthosouth at orthosouth.org. Now, I got five more things you need to know. Number one, day three Major League Baseball playoffs. We’re here two o’clock. First pitch we’ll get started today. We got three elimination games, four wild card series started on Monday. The only one to sweep, Dodgers over the Reds. Not too surprising there. But everything else is tied 1-1 heading into a decisive game three on the schedule today. Big Bennett, we’re going to go Tigers Guardians live from Progressive Field in Cleveland. That’s at 2:00 on ABC. Padres’s Cubs. Going to follow that at 4:00 on ESPN. We’re doing it at Wrigley. And at 7:00 in prime time on ESPN, it is Red Sox Yankees in the Bronx. Winner advances, loser season is over. Do you watch Red Sox Yankees again last night? It’s so good. So good. Yeah, it was. That was That’s like as good as it gets. As good as it gets. So, the Yankees win after losing game one uh while sitting Jazz Chisum, while pulling Max Freed, Aaron Boone was really getting, you know, questioned in a variety of ways. Um, puts Jazz Chisum in the lineup last night. That seemed to work. Yeah. Made a big defensive play. I would do that again. Yeah. Well, he’s already said he’s Yeah, he’s playing left-hand starter, rightand starter. I don’t care what the analytics show. Jazz Chisum is going to be in the starting lineup. Um I think they’re still trying to decide what to do other places. But Aaron Boon did say last night Jazz Chisum is playing. So he was in the game last night. Um ends up making a difference. Perhaps the the biggest difference. But the the moment that’s getting a lot of attention is a high leverage moment late in the game where journeyman career journeyman Fernando Cruz is on the mound, bases loaded and needing to get out of a out of a tight spot. Kyra, if you if you got that pulled up, let’s show it to everybody because the reaction Fernando Cruz has after getting this final outlet in the inning had some people goofing on him a little bit on on on the internet. Let’s see it. [Applause] So, if it’s not obvious to you, the reason people are having fun with this is because that ball was hammered. Mhm. That ball went 400 ft. It did. Okay. So, you didn’t really overwhelm anybody. This was not Paul Ski. Correct. you got hammered, but you know, it’s a big ballpark and sometimes you hit it right in the glove and it was hit right in the glove and so you get out and I guess the joke is yo man, it’s not like you got somebody out on a 3-2 slider or got somebody to pop up or blew one 101 past somebody. You grooved one, it got hammered and just fortunate for you, the ballpark could hold it and it was hit right into a glove. Calm down, buddy. you ain’t you ain’t as awesome as you think. And I get that on a very basic baseball level. Yeah. I also don’t care. That was awesome. No, it was awesome. And like again, like you said, he’s been a journeyman and I know that like I know it’s like, okay, well, you didn’t really do much there, but you got out of the inning. It was a big inning and it’s against the Reds. Like, it’s Yankees Red Sox, dude. Let me provide some more context because you sent me this and I I don’t think I knew all of this until you sent it to me. This guy’s 35 years old. Okay. He didn’t even make his major league debut until he was 32. Grew up in Puerto Rico as a diehard Yankees fan. Gets drafted and just nothing. He’s a nothing baseball player. And the Yankees decide to turn him into a project and he’s been injured but has been an important part of that bullpin. So imagine growing up in Puerto Rico, you’re baseball player, diehard Yankees fan, you get drafted. Woo! Amazing. Think about all the people grow up playing baseball. Most of us never get drafted. Never sniff it. You get drafted. Amazing. But then your career is not going well. You’re 31 years old and you haven’t made it to the big leagues yet. Didn’t make his major league debut till he’s 32. Think about how crazy that is. What have you heard today? And starting this weekend for the Packers is so and so making his NFL debut at the age of 32. Yeah. I mean, it’s the only league it could probably even happen in. And it probably need to be a kicker, right? No, I’m talking about baseball. Baseball is like the only league I think this could really happen. You’re right, though. Yeah. There was there was a story with a Laker a few years ago. Yeah. I can’t remember the guy’s name. He was in the G- League. He was in the Lakers G-League team for a long time and it was like they called him up and he got to be in an NBA game and I just remember other players like hugging him and he he looked like an old man in an NBA game. It was a sweet moment but like yeah this stuff this is not normal but it is it’s more normal in baseball than it is anywhere else. Like you might not be 32 when you make your big league debut but you could be 26 27 like Deg Grom was around that age. So you don’t even get there till you’re 32 years old. When you get there, you’re not anything anybody cares about, but suddenly you’re on the Yankees and you’re like carving out a role and now you’re in the playoffs in Yankee Stadium in a high lever situation. Yeah. And you get out of it. I don’t really care how you get out of it, right? What a feeling. What a dream come true. I just am never going to be somebody who is bothered by other people enjoying their success, their dreams come true. Can you imagine what that must feel like? We all grow up, if you play baseball at all, you you you you daydream about that. You you get a a a bat and a tennis ball and you get your friends out in the yard. At least this is the way we used to do it. And it’s like bottom of the night. You set the stage however you want to set it. I’d always be at Sha Stadium, but you could be at Wrigleyfield if you wanted to. You set the stage how you set it, and then you try to come through in that moment. Most of us never get to really try it in real life. We just watch it on TV. Mhm. But some people actually do experience those moments in their real lives. 32, bottom of the whatever, sold out stadium, national television. Most of us don’t get that. Some people do. He did. I’m gonna be mad at him for being excited. No, that’s crazy to me. That’s crazy. I’d be I would think it was weird if he wasn’t excited. He’ll have that forever. I don’t know where his career goes from here. I don’t know where his life goes from here, right? But he he have that forever. Like Bill Selby, you don’t know him, but he’s a Horn Lake High graduate and is like our the guy we looked up to as a baseball player. He’s like made it to the big leagues, you know, played for the Red Sox. Like like that’s cool. Homer off Mariano Rivera. That’s cool. All right. Like a game-winning homer. You can find it on YouTube. Bill Selby, Mariano River. Pop right up. Right. Greatest closer of all time. Bill Homer off of him. He’ll have that forever. Yes. That’s a story forever. Oh, so Oh, you played baseball? Yeah. Played in the big leagues? Yeah. Oh, wow. So, who’d you play for? You know, this and this and this. So, like what that what’s like the great Well, I homerred off Mariano Rivera. What? Yeah. Go. It’s on YouTube. Go look it up. You have the these the you have them forever. I love that he has that moment forever. You may too. I don’t know what happens today, but that was a special moment in a person’s life that that person had probably dreamed about forever. So, if you’re mocking him for being excited, like, you know, whatever. It’s the internet. Everybody gets mocked for everything. But I I look at that and even as a Mets fan who don’t care about the Yankees at all, I just look at that and see I smile. I like look at that and I’m happy for that guy. I don’t know anything about him. I look at that guy and I go, “Man, what an awesome moment.” Who are we rooting for today? Just all three. Okay. I I think Can I say mine? Yeah. Yeah. I’m gonna say Tigers, Yankees, and Cubs. You definitely want the Cubs. But the Padres’s are still fun. Like if they if they win. Yeah. Like that team’s fun. I can get into that either way. Yeah. I like I like It’s still the Cubs, right? Cubs. I as a baseball fan who just wants people to enjoy baseball. Yeah. Like my first want desire is always for the Mets to be great. It is what it is. After that, I just want baseball to be fun. Yeah. And I love this stuff. Like I cannot wait to like I I just want to go home and watch baseball like at least have it on. I don’t want to like, you know, I want my wife to be right here, my kids to be right here, but I want the baseball to be on. And I I love it. But often I not so much in the postseason because I do think we bring people in, but in the regular season I always feel like I’m just sitting there watching it by myself. Like nobody else is watching this. I’m just sort of and I know it’s not true, but like I just feel alone watching baseball throughout most of the summer. I know most people don’t imagine me. My kids are like, “Dad, shut up.” No, I don’t even mean that. I just mean like if something big happens on an NFL Sunday, I can tweet what a catch and everybody will immediately know what I’m talking about. But if something happens in Major League Baseball, I can’t just tweet. Nobody else is watching what I’m watching. That’s what it feels like. So, I like just people getting excited about baseball. And so, I’m always rooting for what what would be the best for baseball? What would just bring the most people in? And if I answer the question that way, we already got the Dodgers advancing. That’s great. I think it’s Cubs over Padres’s just because it’s the Cubs. I think it’s I still think it’s Yankees over Red Sox just because of Aaron Judge. I don’t know. Like Yankees Red Sox are both two of the biggest brands. I hate the Red Sox though. I don’t care. I don’t care around hate my heart. I do. But Aaron Judge is Aaron Judge. So, I think you want Yankees, Cubs, and Tigers were such a good story early in the season. It kind of went the wrong way on them, but I don’t think that one matters that much. Detroit, Cleveland, they’re the same thing to me. I know they’re not the same team, but they’re the same. Good on the Guardians. I I’ll pass. Yeah. Give me something different. Yeah. Okay. Tigers. Yeah. Give me something different. Let’s go. Tigers, Cubs, Yankees. First game starts today at 2:00. Number two. Did you see AJ Brown? I did. Yeah, I remember that. AJ, he used to be with you. Now he’s with Now he’s with the Eagles. Yeah, he’s done great. Well, we have never been the same. Well, he might not be the same now. He may not be. Okay. Over the weekend, scared me. Over the weekend, he in a 31-25 win over Tampa Bay, he finished with two catches for seven yards on nine targets. two catches, seven yards on nine targets. And after the game, he decided to post a Bible verse or a quote from the Bible, okay, on X social media. I know he’s a reader. I saw him remember he was reading on the sidelines last year. He had his book. So, here’s what he here’s what he here’s what he posted. Okay, remember two catches, seven yards on Sunday. Uhhuh. And shortly after it, he posts this. If you’re not welcomed, not listened to, quietly withdraw, don’t make a scene, shrug your shoulders, and be on your way.” End quote. So, needless to say, the Philadelphia media showed up yesterday to ask him about it. And you know what he said? That that wasn’t that that was nothing. I was just quoting the Bible. Yeah, it was nothing. Yeah, it was nothing. He’s speaking Japanese. I I I call foul. I do I do not believe that he’s speaking C. What’s that mean? Stop the cap. Oh, what the hell is that? He’s He’s speaking Japanese. Okay. Yep. He isn’t telling the truth. I don’t No, he is. Uh and I love AJ Brown. Don’t get it. Hey, come home, man. We would love to have you back. Well, he might love to come back. I’d give anything. I’d give anything. Literally anything. You can have anyone on our roster, but uh he is definitely the uh he’s your quintessential like diva wide receiver. Passive aggressive I hate stuff like this and I see it on social media all the time whether it’s Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. And I’m not saying I’ve never done it. I was young one time, too. You know, I I I used to be young and drink so I posted some stupid stuff. I’m certain. Right. But at my age, I can’t stop rolling my eyes when I see stuff like that. Like I’ll I’ll be Instagram stories and I’ll be like, “Oh, here’s so and so. Oh, I wonder what wonder what she has to say today.” And I’ll hit that and then it’s like a quote and it’s like if somebody doesn’t appreciate you, you know, there’s always somebody else who will. And it’s like like can’t you just text that to whoever you want to see it? Why do I have to see that? That’s not for me. That’s but it’s clearly for somebody. You’re sharing it with the world, but you really just want one person to see it. Yeah. Text it to them. Yeah. Why do I need to see that? The funny thing, too, is what did it say? It said keep your head down and or something like that. They won on Sunday and there’s video of him walking through the tunnel and his head’s down. He looks mad. That’s the other thing that that would that would be the thing that if I were in Philadelphia would concern me. This guy’s pissed after a win. Yes. No, he I mean we won. I I’m not judging. We won and you’re mad. He did look mad walking off the I mean whatever. He’s quoting the Bible talking about if you’re not welcome, not listened to, quietly withdraw. It doesn’t like he didn’t even follow his own stupid advice. You know when it says quietly withdraw, it doesn’t say post this on Twitter. Yeah, dummy. or withdraw in front of like a camera. And I would even mind it if he just stood up yesterday and been like, “Of course it was about my teammates and coaches. I’m I’m mad. I’m AJ Brown. Throw me the ball.” You know? I’ I’d have more respect for him if he said that. I am AJ Brown. You know who I am. Pulled a Kevin Durant. You know who I am. I’m AJ Brown and I caught two balls for seven yards. Yes, I was pissed. So, yes, that’s what that was about. I didn’t mean I don’t know if it was directed at Jaylen or my coordinator. I But I’m just mad. I was just mad. Yes. That’s what But to act like it wasn’t what it was. Like if you’re going to if you’re going to play these little internet games, at least stand on it. Yeah. Like don’t act like, “Oh, I didn’t mean that. I hate it.” You see that all the time, too. Yeah. Oh, I saw that tweet. Oh, that was nothing. Yes. What you do? Yes, it was. Just say it. Just say what you want to say. Stop with all those little sneak and stuff. Just say it. Yeah. They’re winning though. It’s always like boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wives. Oh, yeah. And they’re always posting these little things. They only want their husband to see it or their wife to see it or their boyfriend to see it or their girlfriend to see it. But why are you showing it to all of us? Yeah. I don’t I think if I want to say something to my wife, I just say it to her or text her. I don’t I don’t put it on Instagram. That’s right. You know. Yeah. We like to air it out right there in the opening. Yeah. In front of the kids. Let’s do it. Let’s do it in front of the kids. Let’s not take it to Instagram. Let’s do it in front of the kids. Hey kids, sit right there. Listen to mommy and daddy hatch this out. This is what life’s really like. This is This is what life’s really like. None of that nonsense you see on Instagram where everybody looks like they’re happy on vacation. Right now we’re in it. Let’s try to figure out who’s taking who to football and basketball practice. Argue about that for 10 minutes. Yeah. All right. Yeah. Let’s hash it out in person. I don’t need all this stuff on Facebook. Mm- If somebody doesn’t recognize you’re a gift from God, then just know there are millions of fish in the sea. Why are you posting that? All right. Just send it to your boyfriend. Yeah. Just send it Send it to your Instagram. Send it to your boyfriend. That’s right. Okay. Don’t Don’t send Don’t Don’t make me Don’t make me watch that on Instagram stories. I’m trying to look at other things on Instagram stories. Not that nonsense. Yeah. I’m trying to look at deaths. Yes. I’m trying to watch. I I don’t think that joke works as well as it used to. Oh, yeah. That’s actually not funny. Sorry. Apologies. We’ve been doing this a long time. We were watching this on the internet long before it got weird. Long before it got long before it got Number three, Mike Kley’s at Timberwolf’s training camp. Mhm. He was asked yesterday about mentoring Rob Dillingham. You know, Rob Dillingham played at Kentucky. He’s a little guy. And uh is expected to I don’t know. He was picked pretty high for a reason, but you know, there’s some some obvious areas of concern, most notably that he’s a really little guy. Anyway, Mike Conley, what’s I mean, relative to NBA players, I mean, he’s bigger than me. Yeah. Yeah. But rel Michael’s a little guy. I mean, I guess he is. Yeah, but Mike’s bigger than Rob Dley. He is. Yes. Yes, he is. Listen, all these guys are bigger than me, right? So, when I’m calling somebody little or small, I don’t mean it in the traditional way. I just mean relative to other basketball players. He’s a little guy. So, Mike Connley was asked about this. I thought it was a a neat answer, if only because it it did play into something we were kind of talking about yesterday. Kyrie, we got it. Let’s hear what Mike Connley had to say. Um, like I tell Rob, man, I’m I’m here for him. Honestly, I I could care less about um who’s, you know, taking my minutes. Is Dante or him or whoever? Like, man, I’m I want y’all to be the best y’all can be. And and I’m helping him at any point. Like, I’m helping him when he’s guarding me during a five on five game. I’m telling him, “Hey, the screen’s coming. Get your leg over this way.” Like, just trying to make sure he he’s getting this stuff right in real time. Um cuz I know, you know, this will be his his show whether it’s now or 6 months or a year, whatever it is, it’s it’s his thing. So, he’s got to be able to process and be able to to, you know, for the for the moment learn as much as he can. I’m just here for that. That is always the way you’re supposed to do it. Unsurprisingly, Mike kindly nailed it. He seems to nail most things. Um, that’s the way to do it. And we sort of started talking about this type of thing yesterday, oddly after the Nicki Minaj, Cardi B conversation because like what what is the problem here? What? And it’s it’s that Nicki Minaj did not know how to be what Mike Connley is, you know, like I’m aging. Here comes the younger rappers and I could put my arm around them or I could start wars with them. And she just wants to start wars non-stop. Um, famously there was the I was I was following that closely yesterday after we talked. It got wild. Oh, it got real wild, he said. Let’s let No more talking on the internet. Where you at? Where you at? I like that. I love it. Uh-huh. Let’s Yeah. I don’t want anybody to get hurt, obviously, but I love reading about it. I do, too. I love the tweets. As long as they just keep tweeting each other, I’m for that. Cardi told Nikki that the reason she’s mad is because her son’s favorite color is five. I don’t like I don’t like bringing in the kid. See, that’s too late for that. Well, Nikki did it first. Nikki called culture ugly and then Cardi called Nikki’s son. But you got to take the high the high road there. It’s tough when that’s stupid down to someone’s level. Here’s the thing. Here’s the thing. know about rap beef. The winner is always going to be the one who’s willing to take it go there. Who who can creatively take it there? Who who realizes, oh, no, I’ll say that. That’s not that’s not off the table. That’s who usually wins these things. And Cardi drilling down on the 5-year-old who color is five. Damn, it’s rough. That’s mean. She also hit her in a pretty good one. This is I think she took a honestly like jokes aside, she took a a page out of the meet the grams playbook which is hit them with their real insecurities. Hit them with the stuff that you know deep down they must there’s it’s in there somewhere. That’s how you really get to somebody. So, like Kendrick’s talking to Drake about, you know, you got gamma problems and women problems and pill popping problems and you’re a terrible father and like and you know Drake’s like on vacation probably being an absentee dad and hearing that and probably like, oh god, am I like he’s probably high with Instagram models on an island. I know you have Bill Rolls. Well, it’s not for me to say. It’s not for me to say. Dot said it though. Yeah. And if Dot said it, it’s true as far as I’m concerned. So, you just hit him with the real stuff, right? And so, did you see what Cardi hit Nicki Minaj with? You need help. You had childhood trauma because of things that happened to you and you’re carrying that around and you’ve never addressed it. And I’m just really worried about you. I’m not even mad at you. I’m just really like worried about you. you need to get help because you use the drugs to numb that trauma and your deadbeat husband, he keeps feeding those drugs to you or allowing you to be this way because then it just numbs you and frees him up to have fun with your money. And so you just need to I know this isn’t who you want to be and not how you want to be. So you just need to get you need to get some help and I’ll be praying for you. How do you encounter that? That’s tough. I’m not sure cuz you know deep down somewhere any normal person it’s probably got that those types of feelings in there somewhere. Good stuff. Here’s my point. If Nicki Minaj were more like Mike Connley could have avoided all of this. It’s important to send the ladder down for lack of a better phrase. A because it’s the right thing to do but B because you never win fighting it anyway. What aging anything has ever come across well not trying to be helpful to the next generation? Can you think of any? It always comes across the wrong way. Whether it was Brett Favre and Aaron Rogers, it just always comes across the right way. And Mike has handled this perfectly. Yeah. Two different times. First with John Morant in Memphis and now with Rob Dillingham in Minnesota. two different times he’s been asked to like, “Hey, this has been your thing, but now we think it’s going to be somebody else’s thing. How do you feel about it?” And he’s just always said the right things. A, it’s the right thing to do. B, why would you not want to be remembered that way? Mike Connley is going to live another, you know, half his life ain’t even over yet. He’s got a long time left on this earth, God willing. Why would you want the rest of your life people to walk around thinking of you? Oh yeah. Remember when he was aging out of the NBA and he was a jerk to the young guys? Like why wouldn’t you want when you retire someday for somebody like Rob Dillingham to jump on social media and say, “I couldn’t have asked for a better mentor. I couldn’t have asked for somebody to serve as a better teacher. Mike Connley helped me. He was thoughtful, welcoming, and I’ll owe him forever.” Why wouldn’t you want people to think that way of you? Right. I agree, man. What a career for Mike. It’s an I can’t believe he had I mean, dude, it’s like obviously LeBron Al Horford just signed Al Horford’s that same draft class as Mike. I’m They got to be They’re up there. It’s an incredible career. An incredible incredible career. I just think it always it’s better to be that way. Just always better to be that way for sure. And Mike’s I don’t think anybody even had to tell him that. I think he just naturally understands that. it seems to be his demeanor. So, I thought he handled that well. And if you’re an aging basketball player who is going to someday find yourself in a similar situation, watch that clip from Mike Conley and learn from it because uh because uh that’s the way to handle that situation. Number four, did you see this Anthony Davis stuff? I did. I love Kyra’s caption, too. Says swole ad. He’s up 15 pounds. He’s up 15 pounds. Anthony Davis in the pictures, Kyra, if we have it, he looks big. He looks like a taller Luca Donic. Yeah. I mean, yeah. And and again, we always have to clarify this that I would I would cut off my pinky finger to look like that. I just want that to be crystal clear. I would grow my eyebrows together in a circle all around my face if I could otherwise look like Anthony D. Right. We’re talking NBA. We’re talking NBA. It is always silly. Can you imagine? I know. Like so like like there’s there’s young men out there like look looking at us like going look at how dare you look at look at Anthony Davis’s fat ass look at us two old white guys yelling about Anthony Davis’s physique he does look heavy though and he is like relative to last season’s weight 15 pounds 15 pounds higher than he than he was than he played at last year and he was asked about it and he said I always come in a little heavy but did acknowledge this is the heaviest he’s ever entered training camp and I just can’t get past how funny it is. Uh it is ironic. Yes, there is some irony here. The main motivation for Nico Harrison trading Luca Donuch by his own acknowledgement was that he was out of shape. He would not stay in shape. Yeah. And was heavy and was never going to be able to stay healthy. So you trade him for an older guy who also has a history of not staying healthy and who’s now heavier than he’s ever been and Lucas thinner than he’s ever been. Now, in fairness to AD, I I believe he’s dealt with like injury stuff this summer, so he’s But he’s dealt with injury stuff like every summer, which is hilarious. Just so funny. Like, could not be funnier. And Nico Harrison sitting up there like around the lottery, around the draft, like, and now y’all are finally starting to see the vision. The vision. You made the goofiest trade of all time and then got lucky in the lottery and got Cooper flag. There’s no vision to that. That’s not a vision. They might be good. That’s like That’s like quitting your job and then taking the last $2 you got and buying a Powerball ticket and hitting the lottery and saying, “See, I knew what I was doing.” No, you didn’t know what you were doing. You’re stupid. You got lucky. You got lucky. You made a dumb decision and then you got lucky. That’s not vision. That’s that’s that’s luck. Frankly, you owe the Grizzlies everything for being play game. I love it. I I don’t wish bad on the Mavericks, but I do like watching people not like, but I don’t mind watching people who make incredibly silly decisions, but then try to present them as, “Oh, y’all just didn’t see what I saw.” I like watching that kind of stuff blow up in their face. So, I’m loving this. But they might be good. Not worried about him. We just got to see how Kyrie is. Well, we ain’t going to see him for a while. He said he’s ahead of schedule. Yeah, they’re saying he’s ahead of schedule. I’ve heard that. I’ve heard that before. Okay. I’ve heard that before. Number four. Number five. Congrats to Mike Sadi. Yes. News Channel 3 legend. Local legend. Were eG legend announced last night on the air that he is retiring from News Channel 3 after nearly 28 years, nearly three decades. a legend in this market in a way that I I don’t know if you can become a Mike Sadi, Jarvis Greer, Glenn Carver in today’s reality. But there was a time where you could become a a a really relevant, successful and well-known, famous person in this market by being, you know, one of the prominent local sports casters. And Mike has been that for like nearly three decades. I can just tell you as somebody who, you know, entered this profession, it was like a cool thing when I got to be around Jarvis Greer for the first time. Got to be around Glen Carver for the first time. I got to be around Mike Sadi for the first time. Like that like I’m like I’m in a room with these people. These are the people I watch on TV and now I’m now I’m now I’m here with them. I don’t know that I am them, but I’m in the same room. and they, you know, just about everybody has always been awesome and Mike especially so over the years we’ve, you know, become friendly. Um, you know, he lived in North Mississippi. I lived in North Mississippi and I tweeted this last night. Hand to heart, this is true. When my wife and I first started dating, my wife was sort of trying to tell her grandmother about me. My wife and her grandmother were were very close. And uh like the first thing my wife ever asked me to do, this was such an odd thing because I just was not living in in or swimming in these waters at the time. Like she was like, “Hey, would you like to?” It was a Friday night. She was like, “Hey, would you like to come to my grandmother’s house?” And I’m like, “For what? Like what’s going on?” And she’s like, “Oh, nothing. I’m just going to just hanging out with my grandmother on a Friday night.” And I was like, “A 20-year-old woman isn’t trying to go to all the bars tonight. she just wants to hang out with her grandmother. There’s something sweet about it. I thought I was like, “Okay, let’s go do that.” So, in preparation for that, I guess I just remember this some story where she was trying to tell her grandmother like about me, this guy. And he covers sports, right? Mhm. And her grandmother immediately asked if it was Mike Sadi cuz that’s all she knows about sports. She watched Channel 3 all day long. She watched Channel 3 all day long. Yeah. And she loved Mike Sadi. And if you covered sports in America, like the only person she knew who did that was Mike Sadi. Period. Hey, hey, Dorothy. Hey, Grandma Dorothy. You know anybody who covers sports? Mike Sadi. Anybody else? I think it’s only Mike Sadi who covers sports in the whole world. That’s how big of a deal Mike Sadi was to her. So, I had to I got off to a rough start. I I was disappointing out of hand. That wasn’t Mike Sadi. I was some other guy who covered sports. And then you should have heard you should have heard the commotion when I got the job at CBS cuz you’re working with Mike Sadi. Or she thought I was taking his job. Oh yeah. And I said, “Dorothy, I pro I’m not taking Mike Sad’s job. It’s a totally different thing. It is a totally different thing. Mike Sadi is still going to be on channel 3.” Good. Every night for the for the rest of your life. And he was right. Sure was. But that’s my connection. my grandmother-in-law um who was the best but initially just slightly disappointed that I wasn’t Mike Sadi from News Channel 3 and in fairness I was kind of disappointed I wasn’t Mike Sad from News Channel 3 too man you know yeah you know seriously like made an impact in this community yeah man I mean I but like I don’t want to I’ve just been watching him forever like like 30 like nearly 30 years in a market on TV like that’s a big deal that’s an awesome career Scott Van Pelt sent him a tweet, too. Nice. Um, yeah, it is nice. It’s nice to, um, you know, I didn’t want Mike to retire. I didn’t need him to retire, but when I saw that last night, it conjured up all these memories and stories and, uh, I’m glad to see him getting the reaction and recognition that uh, I think he deserves because he was a he’s been a important part of the sports community here in Memphis for for a long long time. Congrats on retirement and I’ll see you soon. Be back with GP’s carry out. Jiren Jackson has a message for y’all. Jiren, say it now. What? It’s the best show in the world. Yeah. Hey. Yeah. Trip. When I showed up at the event last night, he goes, “You got the biggest show in the world.” And I said, “No, I really don’t.” And he goes, “To me you do. I see you every day.” I asked him why he doesn’t just walk up here. And he’s like, “Cuz I don’t want you to be able to prepare.” Oh my god. The Chris Vernon Show live on weekdays at noon on YouTube at Grind City Media and the official Grind City Media app. Grizzlies fans know it’s the team that gives you the edge. Big River Steel does, too. And much like the Grizzlies have recruited legendary talent, we want you to be part of our team. Are you ready to be part of something legendary? Then visit www.bigriversteel.com. That’s www.bigriversteel.com. [Music] Kroger shoppers and Grizz fans want exclusive lastminute discounted ticket deals texted straight to you. Sign up with the new Kroger buzzer beater deal. Fans can sign up by texting Grizz to 636479 or visit your local Kroger store in the Delta division and scan the QR code. By signing up, you agree to receive recurring automated promotional and personalized marketing text messages from the Memphis Grizzlies. Consent is not a condition of any purchase. Message frequency varies. Message and data rates may apply. Grizz Nation, don’t foul out on dinner plans. Hit Sticks Express in downtown Memphis instead. Fresh habachi, steak, shrimp, sushi tacos, and yes, our legendary saki slushie to keep things cool. Order online with code sticks 901 stix91 and knock 10% off your tab. It’s the perfect pick and roll for game night. Sticks express. Fast, fresh, always a slam dunk. And hey, come see us at our Cerville location, too. Sonic Radio. Welcome back to Sonic RN Dio. That spells radio with me, the CIO. This just in. The new Sonic $1.99 menu lets you build a craveworthy meal for just a $1.99 an item. Whether that’s a creamy shake, crispy tots, or a quarter pound double cheeseburger. This just out. Ostriches. They’re mean, not very cute, and in my opinion, way too big for a bird. Don’t miss the Sonic Fun 999 menu. Five items, always $1.99. Live free, eat Sonic. Tax not included menu for details. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] Welcome back Gary Paris show presented by Orthos. Let’s wrap this up with GP’s carry out. It’s time for GP’s Carry out. One final segment filled with stuff to take with you. It’s not everything you need to know, but it’s most of it. What did we miss today? Some breaking news from our buddy Pete Thamill at ESPN.com. Duke coach John Shy has agreed to a new six-year contract with the Blue Devils. Takes him through the end of the 203031 season. No surprise or big deal. Well, it’s not like John Shy was on the hot seat or getting ready to leave for another job. And I’m not really sure why you need six years on a contract, period. But I guess it’s good if you can get a school to give you one. And he and his age and half. So, congrats to John Sh. New six-year deal with the Duke Blue Devils. He of course coming off a trip to the Final Four. What’s today’s biggest game? Thursday Night Football. Amazon Prime Video. 49ers at Rams Sofi Stadium. We’re going to do it in Englewood, California. Man, the 49ers are all banged up. Everybody’s hurt. Whole team’s hurt. Yeah, whole team is hurt and they’re on the road. Brock Pury is not going to play tonight. So, M. Jones, he’s your starting quarterback. Rams minus 8 and a half. Total 43.5. How you going to act? I don’t love eight and a half. It’s so big. you, Bennett. It’s got to be a better way to say that. No, sorry. Sorry. Um, I’ll be That’s a big number. The 49ers are missing. They have all all their starting George KD everybody. They’re all dead. Both starting receivers out. Still got McAffrey. Can McAffrey, you know, keep it close with M. Jones? I’m going to say I’m going to take the 49ers. Bennett said he’s taking the 49ers plus the 8 and a2. He says the number’s too big. 7:15 kick. We’re going to do it on prime video. What are we watching on TV? Can I interest you in the morning show? Have you ever watched the morning show? I’ve never watched it. Uh why do you think nobody watches the morning show? I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know another person on the planet who watches the morning show. No, I don’t either. I I want to say my wife tried to watch it and thought it was boring and quit watching it. you. So, okay, I had the opposite thing. I watched it. I watched season one. I don’t want to overstate it. I don’t want to overstate my morning show fandom. Okay. But it was like Steve Carell, Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston. Mhm. Billy Crutup. Great group. Like, okay, I I can’t screw this up, I don’t think. And it’s about it’s about television. Yeah. You know, behind the scenes television stuff. Okay, I’m in. And I watched season one and I was like, this is okay. It’s fine. It’s okay. I don’t think I ever got past it’s okay, but I was like, it’s okay. But the r the uh reviews were terrible. People didn’t like it. And I was like, I I don’t love it. I don’t think it needs to win all the Golden Globes, but I don’t know why everybody’s trashing it. And then they came out with season two and I never started it. And then they came out with season 3 and it’s nothing. And now they’re on season 4. Episode 3, season 4 has dropped. I might need to catch up. I’m way behind on TV, man. I’m struggling. Oh, yeah. I feel behind. I have anxiety connected to it. I’ve given up on TV. You don’t even do it anymore. Well, I’m I’m in my I’m watching a horror movie a day for the whole month of October. That’s my goal. Silence of the Lambs. I don’t know if you consider it a horror movie, but you know, it’s it’s kind of considered the only horror movie to ever win best picture. So, explain to me how this happens. How do you just end up watching Silence of the Lambs on a Wednesday night? So, you know, we get we get a little fired up for for spooky season and fall. And so, ahead of time, we’re like, “Okay, what do we want to watch this year?” Cuz I’ve watched everything. I know you have. Um, own it physical. And my wife’s never seen Silence of the Lambs. How does that happen? I know. I’m like, you never seen Silent Lambs at You got to see it. It’s a classic. Some of it takes place in Memphis. They didn’t film it here, but it takes place in Memphis. Um, and so, uh, we we watched it last night. We started off with that and it holds up. It’s so good. Just a great movie. Okay. Yeah. Okay. A classic if you will. I saw randomly a clip from that movie like two days ago, three days ago where when Hannibal Lectar is talking to Clarice. Clarice. And he goes into I think her character is from maybe West Virginia. Yes. And he goes into like a West Virginia accent. Yes. and you see this look on her face sort of come over and as they were explaining it that was not in the script and she had never seen him or heard him do that before and he just sort of in a take did it and as she has apparently explained it the look on her face is like it’s a look of like shock and concern and like what the what is going on here and she’s like yes I’m acting but that was kind of real cuz I didn’t understand like What is happening right now? Really good. I’m happy for you. Yeah. I don’t know what’s on the docket tonight. I’ve got some stuff saved, so Okay. Okay. Well, I’ll let you know. I’m thinking about getting back into the morning show, but I’m going to watch th Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And I got to get through Black Rabbit. I don’t know what that is. It’s a Jason Baitman. The new Jason Baitman. Oh, yeah. On Netflix. Yeah. Okay. I think we’re I think we’re on episode three. It’s fine. It seems It looked like it. It was one of those that I was like, I bet this is okay. Jason Baitman, Jude Law. I think it’s I think it’s fine. I think it’s gonna be okay. I need elite. I got too much on my plate, Bennett. Yeah. And when I get too much on my plate, I get overwhelmed and I shut down. I just end up not watching anything because I feel like I have too much to do and I can’t do it all. So, I do nothing. Mhm. Real problem I got to address. I’m going to work on that. The morning show, it’s on Apple TV Plus. Season 4 is underway right now. What’s the best thing we’ve read? Well, we did our latest candid coaches question over at cbsports.com. We asked more than 100 college coaches the following question. Given that there are now recruiting rules back in sports, college athletics, and what amounts to a salary cap in college basketball, do you trust that your competitors will follow the rules? 89% of the coaches who responded said no way, Jose. Only 11% said yes. And of all of the yes votes votes, only one came from a high major coach. Okay. Basically, at the low major and mid- major level, what we heard is, “Yeah, I guess we’ll follow the rules down here because we don’t have the money to go about buy people anyway, really.” But at the high major level, one coach, only one said, “Yeah, I think we’ll be fine.” And even he was like, “Well, I just mean like most of us will follow the rules.” Not everybody. He was like, “Do I think 80% will follow the rules?” No, but like 51% sure. Everybody except for that was like, “Are you crazy?” Like some of the answers were like, “What the f do you think?” I’m like, “Of of course not. We’re not. Nobody’s following these rules. We’ve never followed the rules. the reward outweighs the risk. If I try to like we had multiple coaches say, “I work in the SEC. If I try to follow rules, I’m’ll be working with you.” No. One coach told me, I said, “Do you trust your competitors will follow the rules?” He says, “No.” I said, “Why not?” He said, “Cuz I’m not.” So, I just assume nobody is. I’m not. I’m not I’m not going to be the idiot out here doing it the right way and get my brains beat in. So, if you want to read that and the funny quotes, you can find at cbsports.com. What’s on tap for tomorrow? Well, tomorrow be Friday. Hey, we’re going to get ready for big college football weekend, big NFL weekend, Major League Baseball playoffs continue to unfold. Should be a fun day. Looking forward to it already. Enjoy the rest of your day. I’m going to enjoy mine. We’re going to meet back here tomorrow at 10. Till then, be careful, be kind, be good, wrap your hood.
#garyparrishshow
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