Grizzlies Catch-Up: October 2015
Disclaimer: For those of you who have been following the Grizzlies throughout the offseason, many of the initial talking points I will make will be old news to you. To make this column as concise as possible, I will be briefly discussing the Grizzlies’ participation in summer league, roster additions and losses (primarily Marc Gasol, Brandan Wright, and Matt Barnes), preseason results, and what this season has in store for the Memphis Grizzlies.
Summer league is a solid indicator of which free agents, development league players, or rookies have the best chance of getting a bench spot during preseason or even regular season. This summer’s MVP for the Grizzlies was easily point guard Russ Smith, but Jordan Adams also performed extremely well. The Grizzlies won the 2015 Orlando Pro Summer League Championship against the Orlando Magic on an offbalance shot by Russ Smith during the second overtime of the final game. Smith finished summer league by averaging 14.8 points, 6.2 assists, and 3.2 steals. Russ is an impressive player whose athleticism and fearlessness elicit a sense of confidence that most will only find in veteran NBA players. Though Smith is relatively inexperienced in the NBA, his style of play brings a breath of fresh air to the Grizzlies’ stagnant list of upandcomers. Grizzlies fans should be well aware of Jordan Adams by now. Especially since the Grizzlies just picked up his third year contract option. Adams’ summer league results also proved that he is worthy of representing the Grizzlies during pre and regular season. Adams averaged 16 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 2.25 steals.
The best thing that happened over the offseason for the Memphis Grizzlies was resigning one of the franchise icon Marc Gasol. Gasol’s max contract of $110 million ensures that there will be at least four more years of the Spanish Center. The contract allows Gasol to opt out of his contract to become a free agent after his fourth year. To say that the city of Memphis rejoiced is well beyond an understatement. Gasol’s high basketball IQ, ferocity, and excellent leaderships skills make him the Grizzlies’ most valuable asset. Resigning Marc Gasol gave the city of Memphis a reaffirmed hope in the Memphis Grizzlies. Considering the loss of the terrific back-up center Kosta Koufos, the addendum of Brandan Wright was met by Grizzlies enthusiasts with much delight. Not only is Wright a Tennessee native, but his three-year $18 million contract ensures that the Grizzlies are getting a high quality player for a beyond reasonable amount of money. Wright is the perfect big man to back up Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph. His ability to play both power forward and center means that he should get a sizable chunk of minutes, but Grizzlies fans should be excited to see his display of athleticism he will add to the Grizzlies all-muscle style of play.
The weirdest acquisition made by the Grizzlies was that of Matt Barnes during the, “Let’s trade Luke Ridnour until he’s sick of being traded” thing. Grizzlies fans could have never liked Matt Barnes unless he played with the Memphis Grizzlies. Why? He has played his last three seasons with the Los Angeles Clippers. You know, that team the Grizzlies made flip-flops for? Anyway, Barnes was actually drafted by the Memphis Grizzlies in 2002 during the second round, which makes his odd NBA trip seem to come full circle. Grizzlies fans will enjoy watching Matt Barnes because he was the only player on the Clippers’ team who was not a fake tough guy. You can believe wholeheartedly that if someone gets in Barnes’ face, there will most likely be a conflict. His size gives the Grizzlies’ bench the muscle it needed to truly reach schoolyard bully status.
Basketball writers and analysts continue to scratch their heads as the Memphis Grizzlies become only more defensive in a league of sharpshooters and lightning quick pace. NBA fans should expect to see more low scoring games with high defensive efficiency from the Grizzlies. Preseason for the Grizzlies was pretty unattractive from the modern NBA’s standards, even though they only lost one game. Matt Barnes shot 2 of 18 from beyond the arc over the entire preseason, which leads many to think Courtney Lee might be the only wing who can shoot. If Lee is as hot and cold as he was last season, there could be some substantial blunders down the road for the Grizzlies. The 70th NBA season needs to be the season of the Memphis Grizzlies, but the only way this can be possible is by making improvements. Hopefully, the Grizzlies’ perimeter shooting will improve, but do not bank on it. Bank on the Grizzlies coming to play very physical basketball every night. Teams will continue to feel the Grizzlies well after they play against them. Expect grit and grind because that is more than likely what you will get.
Bo Kitzman is a senior at the University of Memphis' Lambuth Campus. Bo likes music and sports, but playing music is his favorite. You should buy Bo burritos. Bo loves burritos.
A cage is not a place of comfort. It is a place that confines and holds and traps living things. Its steel is unforgiving; the metal shaped to imprison. In professional and amateur fighting such as mixed martial arts or kickboxing, cages are used symbolically. Two men enter as equals, but one leaves a winner and one leaves defeated. Though cages made for fighting do not hold anyone against their will, they can be just as uncomfortable and unforgiving to the people fighting inside.
We’ve all been there: that moment when we realize we’ve taken our local government for granted and quite frankly have no clue who to call. No matter how vigorously our local leaders keep watch over our city, there will always be the occasional pothole, confusing terms, and roadkill in your driveway to put a damper on your day. But dealing with those issues and a dozen other shouldn’t be a hassle. That’s why we’ve created this “Who’s Who?” guide to twelve of our city’s most important departments.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year, y’all! Jackson has so much family fun for you this holiday season, so check out these five favorite events happening this December.
It is one of the most tense places in the world. A tightly packed geographic meeting of three major religions and a nervous geopolitical flashpoint, the area sits within the inner circle of major foreign policy decisions for most countries. Needless to say, the Old City of Jerusalem does not regularly serve as an exhibition stage for fringe outdoor sports. On May 2, 2016, however, visitors to the Tower of David on the western edge of the Old City saw something unique.
There is something so freeing about riding a bicycle, whether with adrenaline pumping for a race or a nice, relaxing ride down country roads. With the weather warming up, many of you may consider adding cycling to your exercise routine, and Jackson has a gem of a local business to help you get started. Hub City Bicycle Co. opened in March 2011 when owner Adrian Parchman saw a need in Jackson for a shop offering high-end bikes and repair services.
With Mother's Day, Cinco de Mayo, and Memorial Day all on the horizon, we've got plenty of ways to celebrate in this perfect spring weather. From farms to food trucks, hot air balloons to how-to's, we've got your May weekends covered.
A 1994 Jackson Central-Merry graduate and basketball standout, Dion Thornton attended Union University on scholarship. She helped the Bulldogs reach the NAIA finals in 1996 and 1997 and was named to the TransSouth All-Conference team twice. She transferred to Kennesaw State in Georgia and was named the top woman’s basketball player in Georgia. After college, she played semi-professional women’s basketball and had two offers to play overseas in professional leagues.
The air hovers thick. It’s almost too heavy with moisture to breathe in. The field is still green with summer’s gift of abundant rain and sunshine, but the leaves on the nearby trees are starting to shrink up, dry out, turn brown. Fall is coming soon, bringing with it the growing anticipation of a new cross country season.The year is 2009, and I’m in high school at Trinity Christian Academy. It’s another oppressively hot August, but most people don’t notice too much since they’re properly air conditioned.
I am convinced that every young person dreams of leaving their hometown, going to a larger city, and making it “big.” That was definitely a dream of mine. Born in Memphis, I moved to Jackson with my family at the age of four. Jackson is my mother’s hometown. This is when my understanding of what made living in Jackson special began.My siblings and I were in a childcare program, and Jackson Parks and Recreation’s summer program is where I met many friends.
The year was 1968. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, Jackson City Hall had separate drinking fountains for "colored" people and "white" people, and Union University and Lane College were still neighbors downtown.It was a crisp fall night in the middle of basketball season. Camille Long was one of only four African-Americans in the bleachers of the Union University gym, including the fellow Lane College student she'd dragged with her.
It’s the Wednesday after Labor Day, and Jerry Mercer, senior director of Mercer Brothers Funeral Home, assures me his desk doesn’t always look like this. “But getting ready for the appreciation [day]…” he says, shuffling through the stacks of papers and documents in manila file folders and opened envelopes on his desk. The fax machine emits a whiny cry that reminds me of time spent in the 1990s waiting on dial up Internet, and the office phone rings continuously.
2017 is not even a week old yet. The taste of black eyed peas and turnip greens may still linger in your mouth. The ink on that list of “resolutions” is barely dry. Thoughts of a future dance in your head as you sneak that last bit of Christmas candy from the aluminum foil-wrapped plate from your in-laws’ house. Maybe you’re not a candy person but a leftovers kind of guy. I mean, who wants to waste food, right?
As I pulled up to Alamo Pride Cut & Sew Factory in March of 2014, I had to focus on the bold colors associated with spring that had taken hold across the Mid-South. The air was clean, and the morning dew blanketed fresh azalea and dogwood blossoms. I needed to focus on the beauty around me to keep from crying and mourning the life in Hong Kong I had left behind. “This is what the South is,” I said to myself as we drove past farmlands and well-manicured lawns heading into town.
I was never a baller. I wanted to be one, though. The grace and fluidity with which truly great basketball players move is unparalleled in any other sport. I was jealous. I’m tall and used to be pretty thin, but I never had the grace the true athletic players seemed to have. Gravity appeared to have a stronger hold on me than it did my teammates and my opponents. Sure, I was able to dunk a ball for a period of time in my 20’s and early 30’s, but it was off one foot and more of a “rim grazer” than a true “flush.”
On Sunday afternoons during the months of September through January, odds are, someone you know is watching football. In fact, in the fall of 2015, twenty-six of the twenty-seven most-watched shows on television were football games. The one exception was the Republican primary, which was the thirteenth most-watched show over that time span. Football is, unquestionably, the king of all sports in America right now. One could argue that it is the most popular form of viewing entertainment, period.
In the middle of what to some could be considered poetic chaos, there is a disarray of hotel bookings, bus scheduling, vendor organization, food and beverage orders, and official players rosters yet to be released. All those are made by one man. I sat down with Jason Compton, General Manager of the Jackson Generals, who is now in his seventeenth season with the team. The Major League Baseball season has already begun, but the Generals begin on April 7.
I still remember my last day of high school. I remember leaving the parking lot and listening to the Dave Matthews song “Number 41,” and I still remember the lyrics that were blaring from the speakers of my Nissan Maxima. “I will go in this way, and I’ll find my own way out. . . .” They seemed poignant at the time, though I’m not sure in what way exactly. As a matter of fact, I’m not really sure that I even liked Dave Matthews. I think I wanted to like Dave Matthews because all my friends liked Dave Matthews.
People hate to exercise because they don’t have fun doing it. The idea of exercise being fun may sound so morbid to you that you laughed as soon as you saw "exercise" and "fun" in the same sentence. Let’s face it: if you live a sedentary lifestyle (e.g. you have been compared to the likes of a potato, Netflix asks you more questions than real people do, or your family has put you on a soda budget), you could be at risk for a chronic disease that’s easily preventable.
Caleb Hall, a student and basketball player for the JCM Cougars, won the Lane College Slam Dunk Contest at the Oman Arena Tuesday during a break between the sixteen different high schools battling in out in Area Relief Ministries’ third annual HUB Classic Basketball Tournament. JCM joined teams from North Side, Liberty, Trinity, and Madison from Jackson.
Much to the chagrin of all Grizzlies fans, the first West Coast trip of the season has arrived, and of course the Grizzlies will be playing the Warriors the first game of the trip. Other than having to stay up late to watch the whole game, the game itself should set the precedent for how well the road trip’s going to go. Steph Curry is as hot behind the three-point line as he has ever been.
Summer league is a solid indicator of which free agents, development league players, or rookies have the best chance of getting a bench spot during preseason or even regular season. This summer’s MVP for the Grizzlies was easily point guard Russ Smith, but Jordan Adams also performed extremely well. The Grizzlies won the 2015 Orlando Pro Summer League Championship against the Orlando Magic on an offbalance shot by Russ Smith during the second overtime of the final game.
Somewhere in my house there is a large photo album. Real, physical pictures fit into narrow plastic sleeves, telling my family’s story. If you look at one of the earlier pictures, you can see a small boy at a football game, wearing a much-too-big t-shirt and an oversized ball cap. It's Friday night, the lights are out. The boy stands at the rail, midfield, taking in the scope of the scene. His father stands beside him.
When most people in the south, let alone Tennessee, hear the word “football,” suddenly there’s raving excitement and chants of “Roll Tide,” “VFL,” or anything SEC- or college football-related. Yet for others the term “football” will more than likely resonate with a different pastime from across the pond. Futbol, or soccer as we predominately call it in the States, has been a rising entity throughout the years and has rapidly been reaching its peak in popularity.
There’s something to be said for being below the Mason-Dixon line while the college football season plays out. Yes, you can try and find the Manhattan affiliate grill & bar of your favorite team to watch the game in. Maybe you’re even lucky enough to have some people from your original hometown that live around you and you can have viewing parties with each other. These sorts of things I’ve somewhat figured out in my previous years of living in NYC.
Connections in life are kind of a funny thing. When I think of the people who have influenced me in my past and whose teachings and values I subconsciously carry with me to this day, the difference in each of those people is quite striking. There are few common denominators between them. They range from passive to aggressive, from strong type A personalities to passive type B personalities, from men to women, and any other clichéd opposite I could choose to put in this description.
There’s a quote about nostalgia from one of my favorite television shows, Mad Men. In the scene, Don Draper, the creative director at a Manhattan advertising firm, is trying to sell his pitch to Kodak. He invokes the word nostalgia and explains it like this: “Nostalgia—it’s delicate, but potent. In Greek, ‘nostalgia’ literally means ‘the pain from an old wound’. It’s a twinge in your heart far more powerful than memory alone.” We all have memories from our childhood.
There is a very special place in my heart for the schools in Jackson, Tennessee. From elementary school at Andrew Jackson to middle school at Tigrett and high school and college at Jackson Central-Merry and Union University, I am fully a product of the Jackson-Madison County public school system and West Tennessee higher education.
We live in a critical society. Social media is mostly to blame for that, along with twenty-four-hour “news” networks and talk radio. Everyone has a voice whether they have anything worth saying or not. If you have a bad experience at a restaurant, Tweet about it. If your hotel bed isn’t as comfortable as you think it should be, grab your phone and give it two stars on Google. I don’t exempt myself from taking part in the reactionary culture in which we find ourselves.