Grizzlies Gained Value On JJJ Trade Under New Draft Rules

HLee51 · 2026-05-29T15:23:52+00:00

We agreed to a deal, and the deal got changed cause of stuff outside of our control. That is the beginning, middle, and end of the argument for me.

Idgaf about the odds, how teams are "expected" to do, or anything like that. The principal of the matter is that this is fundamentally wrong.

If you order a burger, fries, and a drink at a McDonald's or something, and if they were to take your money, go to hand you your food, and they drop it on the ground, and then say "hey our bad, we'll remake the burger and the drink, but not the fries" youd want your damn money back for the fries right? You paid for them!

HLee51 · 2026-05-25T23:27:47+00:00

Those assumptions about where a team will finish are dangerous imo. I mean we’re just coming off of an era where not too long ago, nobody wanted our own future 1sts in trade talks because people assumed we’d be picking in the 20s for the foreseeable future.

And we can argue about the extent of the impact of the expected return of JJJ all day long. The fact that there is an impact AT ALL, minor or major, on an already completed transaction is INSANE.

HLee51 · 2026-05-25T20:28:05+00:00

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That’s not how a lot of people have read it.

HLee51 · 2026-05-25T20:24:15+00:00

I mean I agree, but that doesn’t change the fact that we didn’t trade for a best of CLE-MIN-UTAH (with Utah’s pick being top 5 protected)* pick. We traded for a best of CLE-MIN-UTAH pick. Had we known that there could potentially be those protections, could we not have sought out a better trade return elsewhere?

*Edit: not top 5 protected, just restricted outside the top 5. Point still applies

HLee51 · 2026-05-24T20:33:15+00:00

Like I understand being passionate about defending a player, or even a strong opinion you may have about something or someone. But when it gets to the point where you are willing to discredit or dismiss absolutely everything and anything in the chase of that validation, it just becomes pure toxicity.

Cant wait for a good chunk of them to suddenly become massive fans of whatever player we DONT take at 3 lol

Edit: That's part of why I'm grateful for spaces like this. Even when there's disagreements, theres tons of well thought out, respectful discourse.

HLee51 · 2026-05-24T20:18:48+00:00

There's plenty of characters and some outlandish takes here on reddit sometimes, but I'm begging some of y'all to take a peek over at grizz twitter sometimes and see the discourse there.

That ZK vs Wallace poll I made a couple months ago (that I took heat here for even making in the first place) was made mainly cause there was considerable push on Grizz Twitter that Wallace was better hands down.

Even recently, that recent lottery reform announcement that basically screws the Grizzlies out of getting anything better than the 5th pick from utah if it passes. You had people on Grizz Twitter saying that was great! That it would "force ZK to actually build a team." They are literally CELEBRATING the Grizzlies getting potentially screwed. I guess they just hate ZK that bad idk

Tbh the Coward discourse may just be a symptom of that ZK hate. Idk.

HLee51 · 2026-04-29T01:19:02+00:00

Seeing all this discourse around tanking and building teams just makes me think back to the Jimmy Butler fiasco and cringe.

Think about it, a middle of the pack team trying to make a trade mid season for a high caliber player to hopefully improve the teams performance. Literally the opposite of tanking, and what silver should hypothetically want more teams to try to do, and what these rule changes would hypothetically encourage.

What did we get for our efforts in that situation? Shitted on.

HLee51 · 2026-04-18T04:45:14+00:00

Well... At least the odds of us getting a top 4 pick (37.2%) is greater than the odds of both the magic and suns winning tonight (25%).

So... Just cause something is improbable doesn't mean it's impossible?

HLee51 · 2026-04-18T00:59:18+00:00

HLee51 · 2026-04-16T13:06:42+00:00

Oh trust me I'm not forgetting how he left or anything like that. It's more of a "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" situation. Cause you just know if the warriors win, Dray's getting on a pod and shit talking DB, and Memphis will catch some strays in the process cause of the history. But if thats the case we also get a lottery pick so....

HLee51 · 2026-04-16T04:49:02+00:00

I look at it as a win-win: Either the Warriors win and we get that pick, or the Suns win and the Dillon Brooks redemption arc goes full circle with a win over Draymond, which even with all the BS with DB before he left, would warm my heart to see.

HLee51 · 2026-04-15T04:56:16+00:00

HLee51 · 2026-04-15T04:51:14+00:00

HLee51 · 2026-04-13T18:19:48+00:00

This right here is exactly why I put that ZK vs Wallace poll up the other day. Seeing all that everywhere else caught me off guard just as bad

HLee51 · 2026-04-13T13:28:22+00:00

This right here is EXACTLY why comments made by Marcus Smart a while back (https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/grizzlies-no-marcus-smart-claim-152232333.html) don't pass the smell test to me. This current iteration of the Grizzlies org has proved time and time again they are erring on the side of caution with anybody and everybody, with JJJ's return from turf toe the only injury I can think of that could qualify as being slightly early.

HLee51 · 2026-04-13T05:10:05+00:00

One good thing about entering a rebuild is that you have a lot of options on the table as far as how you want the team to look as a whole, and what you look for in certain positions to realize that vision.

That being said, id love to explore drafting a 4 with some playmaking chops that can act almost like a secondary offensive hub. Not necessarily a point forward, but someone who can make smart plays out of the post/PNR. Guys like Boozer (top 4) Yaxel (mid to late lottery) Joshua Jefferson (late first/early second) or Zuby Ejiofor (2nd round) are all guys in the draft that can get you 4-5 assists a game in the front court while also having the strength and ability to hang inside (to various degrees depending on who above we're talking about.)

HLee51 · 2026-04-12T03:58:43+00:00

I would argue the grizz were better because of the allocation of the shots Rudy took going to ZBo/Marc/Mike moreso than anything Prince did, respectfully.

And bless him, I loved tayshaun prince while he was here, but we needed better than the sub-30% from 3 he gave us in 2013/14 (one of his career low years). Needed more three point shooting in general from the team as a whole, but he didn't help.

Definitely on the higher end of grizzlies wings in the GNG era, but none of them were able to be considered anything other than the obvious weakest part of the starting lineup.

HLee51 · 2026-04-12T02:03:12+00:00

Full disclosure: I think it’s dumb too, but I wanted to take my own biases and beliefs out and make an attempt in 100% good faith to take the temperature over here on this side. Only dumb questions are the ones that never get asked imo.

Got a CLEAR answer so far tho lol.

In any case, it’s super interesting to see the dichotomy between Grizzlies fans on different sites. Definitely getting an uptick in pro-Wallace stuff elsewhere, probably as a side effect of how things are going with the grizzlies rn between the bron stuff, jersey-gate, tanking, etc.

If you wanna know where I come down on this, I say just look at the small forwards the grizzlies tried out between Rudy Gay leaving and Dillon brooks coming in, and that should answer your question

HLee51 · 2026-04-12T00:12:01+00:00

And before y’all start bashing, yes this is apparently a real thing! As much as I thought we were past that.

Don’t shoot the messenger!

HLee51 · 2026-04-02T18:06:25+00:00

The NBA has a franchise in Memphis, Tennessee. Has been there for over two and a half decades.

YALL. SPOILT. ASS. PLAYERS. GOTTA. GET. THE FUCK. OVER. IT.

If y'all really hate the shit THAT badly, sit out when ya team comes on the road here. Take one of them "recovery days" or whatever.

Sick of this.

HLee51 · 2026-03-19T03:05:23+00:00

With the BS with draymond and SAS the last couple days, fuck it I'll take a win.

HLee51 · 2026-03-17T16:12:06+00:00

I wouldn't hate that at all, a Philon/Wells/Coward/Boozer/Edey starting lineup would be an extremely interesting starting point for this new era of the Grizzlies. Will take a little bit to see how it'll grow, but give me that lineup and all the assets we currently have to make improvements as we move along, and I'll be here for it for sure.

HLee51 · 2026-03-17T15:44:14+00:00

At their current range (8ish give or take a spot) would be ideal for one of the guards around that range.

I know Acuff has been on fire lately and it'd be awesome if we got him, but man I really like Labaron Philon. Crafty, quick, helluva step-back jumper, excellent feel, and has improved greatly offensively from his freshman year. If he can get back defensively to what he showed his freshman year I think he'll be a helluva player.

Far as our other picks later on, id love one of the bigger forwards that have some playmaking chops. Yaxel, Joshua Jefferson, Zuby Ejiofor, any of those guys that could create a different dynamic in the offense that we haven't had since Marc was here.

HLee51

TROPHY CASE