After the Grizzlies’ once-promising season came crashing down piece by piece earlier this year, it was hard not to look back on all the things that could have served as warning signs.
Yes, Memphis was incredibly talented, boasting not only explosive guard Ja Morant and sharpshooter Desmond Bane, but also eventual Defensive Player of the Year Jaren Jackson Jr. As late as mid-January, Memphis was tied with Denver, the eventual NBA champs, for the best mark in the Western Conference.
Behind the scenes, though, a lot was happening. Later that month, members of the Pacers’ traveling party said that someone in the SUV Morant was riding in trained a red laser on them shortly after a confrontation between that group and some of Morant’s acquaintances. (The NBA investigated the incident and corroborated the postgame confrontation but couldn’t substantiate anyone being threatened with a weapon.) Apart from that, there were allegations of Morant having directly or indirectly threatened both a mall security officer and a teenager following disagreements. The incidents all took place before separate instances of Morant flashing a gun on social media, which the Grizzlies and the NBA have made a point of suspending him for. Morant will miss 25 games this season for the latest offense.
Inside the locker room, there seemed to be a sense that things were uneven. Shortly before the incident where Morant appeared on Instagram Live in a Denver establishment holding a gun, center Steven Adams, the club’s elder statesman, had reportedly spoken up and implored teammates during a players-only meeting, saying everyone needed to show greater discipline when it came to road trips. Most in the meeting, per the Athletic report, understood the message was directed primarily at Morant.
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With those sorts of behavioral shortcomings—and the far less problematic but still self-inflicted wounds from Dillon Brooks’s hard fouls and trash-talking—the Grizzlies clearly needed not just a more levelheaded wing stopper, but also more structure and veteran seasoning.
That’s part of what makes this group, which adds veteran guards Marcus Smart and Derrick Rose, so compelling. Yes, Morant will miss a little less than a third of the season due to suspension. But he’s still eligible to practice and travel with the club. With that in mind, Morant should have ample opportunity to soak up wisdom from someone who viewed accountability as one of his biggest responsibilities in Boston, and to hear from a one-time league MVP who had the pressure of being drafted No. 1 by his hometown team.
To be clear: This isn’t to suggest that Rose and Smart only hold value because of whatever advice they can speak into the ear of Morant and his teammates. Smart is less than a year and a half removed from winning Defensive Player of the Year and will replace Brooks’s presence on that end of the floor. Plus with reliable backup floor general Tyus Jones being moved as part of the deal involving Smart and Kristaps Porziņģis, both Smart and Rose will likely need to handle the ball a decent amount as Morant serves his suspension. And Rose was quick to point out that he hardly played last season with the Knicks despite being healthy—the first time in his illustrious career that’s ever been the case. So he’s eager to show he can still play at a high level.
“I’m not here to babysit or micromanage. I’m not here to be a plant in the locker room. I’m here to help guys win,” Rose said.
It’s easy to forget how young Memphis is, given the club’s recent success. Even Adams, who had the message in the players-only meeting, was just 29 last season. At an average age of 24.4 years old, the Grizzlies were the NBA’s sixth-youngest squad last season—only Houston, Oklahoma City, Orlando, San Antonio and Detroit were younger. There wasn’t a ton of sage veteran advice to be dispensed.
It’s worth pointing out that, over the course of his career, Rose has also been in spots where he’s needed to respond to accusations. In 2009, shortly after his rookie season ended, an old photo of Rose flashing a gang sign emerged, prompting him to deny any gang affiliation and more broadly denounce gang violence. And in ’15, Rose and two of his friends were accused of gang rape in civil court—a case Rose chose to fight rather than settle—before ultimately being found not liable by a California jury the following year.
During media day, Rose spoke on the idea of mentorship within a team, saying young players generally won’t heed the advice of teammates who are too close in age to them. They need true veterans, he said, even though there are fewer of those guys around the NBA at this point.
“When I came in the league, they used to let guys go out more gracefully. You’d have a guy on the bench who’s strictly there for the locker room, like [Udonis Haslem] in Miami,” Rose said. “The last guys on the bench didn’t play much, but they were so you could see how a pro gets ready for a game. Learning professionalism. Learning a routine. Imagine if someone like Joakim [Noah] tries teaching me—he’s a year or two years older than me. I can take bits and pieces from him, but he can’t really teach me nothing, bro. We learning at the same pace. Matter of fact, I just became the leading scorer of the team, and I’m younger than you, so you can’t tell me nothing offensively. So what am I gonna learn that from?”
He then expanded further. “I played with guys like Richard Hamilton and Kirk Hinrich. I played with some vets that, the way they were so lathered up before the game, you would’ve thought they was going in the game. And they didn’t play none of the 82 games,” Rose said. “I’ve found myself in every position: From the top, to a journeyman, to not playing last year [despite] being healthy and trying to figure out how to cope with that. But now, being older, it’s my responsibility to let [teammates] know when s--- ain’t right. Because [otherwise] it’s just kids being kids.”
Playtime in Memphis has ended. And if Morant and the Grizzlies are ready to hold themselves accountable and get down to work, they could be back in the contending conversation sooner than many people think.
