They said it’d be 3-5 weeks before Steven Adams could return from his knee strain. The All Star break fell at roughly the four week mark but he wasn’t quite ready to go at the end of it. The fifth week also went by without any formal update from the Memphis Grizzlies. Then a sixth and then a seventh. It was an unnerving silence... yet all the while steady progress appeared to be happening behind the scenes as he ramped up his practice involvements. Adams was back in 5v5 practice by the end of February. Surely a return was imminent, right?

Alas, no. Despite no mention of any setbacks along the way, the ongoing caution that the Grizzlies were handling him with was never a good sign and now we know why they did so. Turns out that, upon re-evaluation, it’s going to be another month before he’s even considered again. Bro’s had a stem cell injection in his knee to aid the recovery. Four more weeks on top of the seven that we’ve already slogged through.

Please, if you need, take a second to exhume those repressed feelings from the depth of your being. Release those curses and expletives. Maybe crack into the punching bag for a few minutes and let it all loose. Don’t hurt yourself though.

Another month doesn’t mean his season is over but it probably means his regular season is over. Ironically for a bloke that found himself benched in round one of the last playoffs (before he returned with a vengeance mid-round two after a covid stint in between) it’s the first round of the playoffs when we’ll likely next see him. Even then, it’s not a sure bet. That PR statement didn’t say he’d be back in four weeks, it only said he’d be ‘re-evaluated’ again in four weeks.

Knee injuries can be absolute bastards, even strains. Pretty hard to completely rest your knee – there’s almost nothing in your daily life that doesn’t involve using your knees in some way. Sitting bends it. Standing straightens it. Walking does both. Even rolling over in your sleep could slow down recovery. Obviously Adams is gonna have some of the best medical assistance in the world... although there probably does need to be a question about the Grizzlies medical proficiency considering how all their major players have suffered extended injuries in the last two seasons.

That bloody posterior cruciate ligament may have prevented a few NBA records from tumbling. We’re now past the point where Adams has dropped out of contention for league leader-boards due to the amount of games he’s played. And yet, incredibly, despite not having played a game since 22 January, it was only on 11 March that Clint Capela finally surpassed Adams for total offensive rebounds this term. But the offensive rebounds, the screen assists, the box outs, the offensive ratings... they’ll just have to be parked until next season.

Unfortunately all hell appears to be breaking loose around the Grizzlies organisation lately. For starters they’ve plummeted in performance without Steven Adams to tie things together. The last Kiwi Steve article went into specifics on how they’ve suffered without him, how they’ve struggled to replace his production in so many areas.... that was written with the impression that he should be back after the All Stars. Or by the end of that fifth week at the latest. Instead we’ve had another fortnight of watching these dudes being incapable of rebounding properly, with another month to follow, and it’s not exactly been pretty.

There was a lovely three-game win streak that seemed to suggest they’d finally found a balance but then the losses returned as a fresh road trip emerged on the calendar. Brandon Clarke, their best backup big, tore his achilles tendon and has been ruled out for the rest of the season. Dillon Brooks had to sit out a game away to the LA Lakers after getting his 16th technical foul of the term already. That Lakers game ended up being a bit of a travesty as Anthony Davis bagged 30 points and 22 rebounds with LAL finishing on a 24-9 run to win by nine points. Steve-o and AD shared a few words after the final buzzer, can’t help but wonder what that conversation was about...

Helpfully they did smoke Golden State in their next game. An encounter that was most notable for the Dillon Brooks vs Draymond Green beef after those two had each (dis)respectively risen to each other’s bait in the media. So that was fun. And they’ve also since beaten up a weakened Dallas team a couple times. They were 31-15 when Adams went down. They’re 10-11 since, albeit on a three-game winning streak. Crazy thing about all that is they’re still a game clear in second place of the Western Conference with fifteen more dates remaining.

But this is all burying the lede because even the Steven Adams injury setback is small-time news compared to what’s been going on with this Ja Morant situation. The Grizz’s best player is currently suspended indefinitely after brandishing a gun at a nightclub in an Instagram Live video. The incident was investigated by Colorado police (although they later dismissed it due to a lack of any other evidence/witnesses) and Morant chucked up a social media apology promising to take some time away and sort himself out. Then he deleted all his social media, presumably in pursuit of that same cause. It was a dumb thing to do in the first place, even dumber to flaunt it online, and consequences are now being paid.

Ja Morant: “I’m sorry to my family, teammates, coaches, fans, partners, the city of Memphis and the entire Grizzlies organization for letting you down. I’m going to take some time away to get help and work on learning better methods of dealing with stress and my overall well-being.”

The club have stood him down and will keep him stood down until the trip to San Antonio on Saturday 18 March NZT at the very soonest. Plus there’s no guarantee he plays as soon as he’s back with the team. Boy’s got some amendments to make first. It has been reported that he’s begun some form of counselling which is a positive step. Right now everyone on the team is just kinda giving him the space he needs right now.

Flashing a piece at the strippies isn’t a great look for Morant, but the bigger issue is that this follows several other reported incidents that he’s at least been peripheral to, if not the main culprit. Not all of these are corroborated, they could be taken out of context or only be presented from only one perspective, and some have been flatly denied. But there was the drama after a game against the Pacers where a red laser was focused at some of the Pacers players from a car in which Morant was travelling. There was a story about him getting into a fight with a 17yo during an offseason pick-up game. As well as the one about a kerfuffle at a gym. Plus when he allegedly threatened a security guard at a shopping centre.

Again, some of these things may not be true at all or they might be one-sided views but reputations are dangerous things and as an NBA player, let alone as an All Star and the current face of a franchise, you do have a certain responsibility not to put yourself in situations where you’re attracting unwanted attention. Be that by the folks you associate with or your own behaviour. Yes, he’s been unfairly treated at times. The wider Grizzlies team seems to rub a lot of folks the wrong way (being young and confident often will). But he’s also undeniably made some bad decisions.

Don’t pretend this was an out of the blue situation either. We only see the tip of the iceberg whereas the inner sanctum of the team sees everything. So while we’re probably not talking about serious criminal activity or anything here, dumb little things along the way can make a big difference in a team’s performance... and it seems like the Grizzlies being as poor on the road as they have been may not be entirely coincidental. In fact old mate Shams threw up a yarn the other day which claimed that Steven Adams himself had done the veteran thing and tried to speak in intervention ahead of the strip club gun occurrence.

Shams Charania: “What’s more, I’m told that there was a Player’s Only meeting recently where Steven Adams, their veteran centre, spoke out about how the team needs to show better discipline on the road, how they need to stay away from going out when they’re on the road. This team is 12-20 on the road this year. They’re stellar at home but that’s a poor road record. And I’m told those in the room, when Steven Adams spoke out, knew exactly who he was directing this to.”

Aside from the point of a journalist having access to what went down in a ‘Players Only’ meeting (players talk, agents talk, people who players and agents talk to also talk... it happens), that’s a strong senior player move from Adams. Say what needs to be said. Set that example.

Worth reiterating that Adams is again the oldest players on this roster since Danny Green was traded and by a wide two and a half year berth too. Dillon Brooks is second oldest, surprisingly enough. Adams also has two years more NBA experience than any other Grizzly. He is by far the most experienced in the playoffs too, with only the recently-acquired Luke Kennard ever having played in the Conference Finals before (2021 with the Clippers, losing 4-2 to the Phoenix Suns). Actually, Tyus Jones is the only other current Grizzlies player, along with those two, who has even been to the playoffs with another team. They’ve even got a coach in his first head role.

Sadly Steve-o’s advice went in one ear and out the other because hours after a road loss to the Denver Nuggets, there was Ja Morant at ‘Gentleman Willie’s’ toting a weapon and live streaming. There’s no dramas with a bloke frequenting a strip club. The gun thing got investigated by police and nothing more (although the NBA’s own integrity unit are still having a looksee). But it doesn’t have to be criminal behaviour to be detrimental to the team and this smells pungently like a lack of professionalism. Morant will learn and return, no doubt. But this whole thing just feels like it was so avoidable. Honestly, if Steven Adams speaks and you don’t listen then bruh that’s on you.

Another irony: Ja Morant often refers to Steven Adams as his bodyguard on the court. But apparently off the court he needs to carry a firearm instead.

Ah well, the rest of the crew are just gonna have to hold down the fort in the meantime and hope that by the time the NBA playoffs begin both Adams and Morant are back in business. If the team can maintain a home-court seeding, which they probably will if they can simply break even the rest of the way, then even better. It’s a commonly said thing that too many NBA players and teams devalue the regular season – well, the Memphis Grizzlies don’t have a choice... but if they can get healthy again (both mentally and physically) by playoffs time then suddenly things get very interesting again.

SLAM DUNKS

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