I’ll be honest. I’ve never read Dante’s Inferno. I read the Wikipedia article about it once, though, so I know a little bit. One thing I know is that there are circles. Each circle is more hell than the last.
Now, I’m not one to say this is like some one true representation of the afterlife, but I do bring it up to say that that is a characterization of hell that exists. Some people think of hell as one big bad place that’s hot and Hitler is there. Some people see it as the absence of god’s light. There are many, many other characterizations in books, and TV shows, and movies. Probably on YouTube, too. I’m not going to look.
I really don’t know if I believe in the afterlife, so the characterization I made up one that kind of revels in agnosticism. Have you ever noticed that, generally, the people who do good things are markedly happier than the people who do bad things? Like, the people who seem to actually believe in and act upon the most basic lessons of pretty much all major religions and moral codes seem to usually be a more whole, coherent, and potentially joyful person than the people who intentionally do the opposite?
It’s not in every case, but I’ve seen the pattern that those who act like an a**hole in some form or fashion generally seem pretty miserable in their day-to-day lives. And the people who act with gratitude, generosity, and honesty seem a whole lot happier in comparison.
So basically, I believe people who act with premeditated bad intentions bring their hell upon themselves. Right here. In the world we live in. Now. They bring that hell to them. They bring that hell with them. They spread it. It would be really scary if there were people like that in positions of power, huh?
In contrast, people who do good things, who share joy, and love, and hope, and cringey stuff like that, they can find something pretty close to heaven right here too. Because they can find others like them and reciprocate these positive intentions. And as you find your place, you settle down and notice more. You’re grateful for more. You can appreciate the world we have for just how beautiful it is. Have you ever noticed just how awesome trees are?
The problem is so many people don’t get a chance to realize just how amazing right here is because of mounting obligations or financial troubles or various -isms and phobias that people are really getting into these days. Or wars. Or disease. Or lack of food. Or poor education. Or because their innate good intentions were slowly stomped out over time.
But yeah. Hell circles. That’s another one. That one fits here. The hell circles one.
Stop saying “hell circles”
Okay fine. Let’s take a look at the Memphis Grizzlies. We thought they were in one of those more basic, all-in-one hells last year with all the losses and the injuries. That seemed like it was going to be the low point. So many players out, so many different starters throughout the season … it was just a mess. They fell into the lottery.
But there was hope still! GG Jackson and Vince Williams Jr. showed more than flashes of NBA talent, they looked like potential rotation pieces. Also, who knows what they could do with the pick? More shooting around Ja? A backup point guard so as to not rely on Scottie Pippen Jr? They’re probably going to pick up a big in free agency, so that’s good. Plus, Brandon Clarke looked okay to finish off the year, and Jaren got a lot of practice as a primary creator.
Oh boy! A new and exciting staff under Taylor Jenkins. That one coach had a cool offense in D3. That other guy designed a style of play in Paris that the more obsequious hooligans on Twitter pretended to know everything about and adore. You know how there are select group of people that when they talk about food they were talking about sex? That was what it was like with Tuomas Iisalo’s offensive schemes. Either you’re pretending to like it that much, which is weird, or you actually do like it that much, which is weirder.
Whatever. The 2024-25 season was bound to be better.
And for a while it was! Their offense blindsided people. They were blowing out the teams they were supposed to beat, leading to a fairly remarkable point differential for much of the year. They even were up to the two-seed at one point!
Sure, there were some pain points. Relying on two rookies was probably not a great strategy. Even if the game was slowing down for Wells and Edey, it was going to go up to another level they wouldn’t be prepared for in the finals. And, still, there were injuries. There were wins despite them, but there were injuries. Ja, at times, looked out of sorts in the new offense.
But the trade deadline was coming up! They could bolster the ranks then.
The Grizzlies made a mistake by trading Marcus Smart
They sure didn’t! They salary dumped Marcus Smart along with this year’s first round pick to the Wizards. In return they got two second round picks, Johnny Davis, and Marvin Bagley III. The Wizards got the best player and the best asset in the deal. The Grizzlies got to … not pay Marcus Smart anymore.
This is awful for two reasons.
1. Ja is injured now. Even if you don’t want Marcus Smart as your primary creator, assuming he’s healthy, he could be a big help right now. He is no longer there. Credit to Bagley for at least showing a little something, but not enough to hold back Thunder roaring to a comeback.
2. THEY JUST KEEP DOING THIS
Let’s back it up a little bit. So they lost a first round pick to bring in Marcus Smart. They gave up two first round picks to bring him in, losing Tyus Jones in the process. Marcus Smart played 39 games for the Grizzlies.
But Marcus Smart was brought in to replace two guys in Kyle Anderson (a great defender after none of their draft picks from the previous year seemed to quite pan out and Kyle left) and Tyus Jones (a capable guard). The thought was he’d bring playoff experience and energy and stuff too, but it was believed he alone could fill that gap.
Oh! They traded D’Anthony Melton because [???], and decided to go in big on youth, even though Melton was very young. Something they really, really like to do. To the Grizzlies credit, so much of the Grizzlies team is either a Grizzlies pick or signed off of a two-way contract. But yeah, as Ja, Jaren, and Desmond matured into (hopefully) a real championship core, they never seemed to add experience. Just more young dudes. Young dudes and hope.
The full erosion of the chest of assets has been chronicled elsewhere. It’s baffling looking at the situation they were in the year Zach Kleiman won his big general manager of the year award compared to now. It was up for debate a couple years ago whether you wanted to be in Oklahoma City’s position or Memphis’ position. That’s not a debate anymore.
The disastrous decision of this season was just another bad decision in a series of bad decisions. It’s almost a mystery how things could go so wrong.
Unfortunately, there is one thing all of these decisions have in common. They are the cheaper thing to do.
Marcus Smart was paid less than the contracts they sent out. Rookie scale deals are cheaper than deals for veterans. Signing people to the Mid-Level Exception means voluntarily paying more money than the salary cap. It is a fantastic way to bring in a good player for teams stuck at the cap. The only person it hurts is the owner. They haven’t done it in five years.
They don’t go over the salary cap either! Contending teams go over the salary cap! The Grizzlies repeatedly say that they will do so once they have the right team in place. I guess the two seed isn’t a good enough indication of having that team. Salary dumping Marcus Smart in the middle of the season instead of trying to get reinforcements.
There have been a lot of really unfortunate GM things happening lately. Be grateful if your franchise doesn’t smell like smoke.