Where do Santi Aldama, Ziaire Williams and John Konchar stand in the Grizzlies’ future?

Where do Santi Aldama, Ziaire Williams and John Konchar stand in the Grizzlies’ future?

reasons we haven’t spent a lot of this offseason talking about Santi Al is it because everyone’s assuming that he’s goingon to be a member of the rotation is it because he’s just not a super big Ultra personality on this team or he’s not someone who’s going to be projected to start because you know jiren Jackson Jr is is in front of him whatever it is we haven’t talked much about Santi but we’re about to today because I do not believe that Santi Al dama spot on this roster is 100% a g let’s talk about it right here coming up on lock on Grizzlies you are locked on Grizzlies your daily Memphis Grizzlies podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day what’s going on everyone and welcome back to locked on on Grizzlies I am your host today demichel Cole beat writer for the Commercial Appeal right here in Memphis Tennessee uh going solo today Joe mull getting a welld deserved day off on today’s show we got a lot to talk about we’re gonna actually talk about a lot of the current Grizzles we spent a lot of time talking about trade stuff and you know draft things and all that but we gota we gotta Circle back to actually what’s here what’s on this team right now because I think there are a couple interesting things uh to point out uh one is we haven’t talked about certain guys on this roster because we spent a lot of time talking about J Dez jiren and we even talked about the bottom of the roster you know the the status of guys like Scotti Pippen you know Junior going for it we even talked about the GG Jacksons and the Vince Williams the guys who emerged but what about those guys who kind of fit in between uh all of that you know we we talked about luk Canard a lot because of the team option and everything that’s on the line with him this off season but there are so many players who I consider you know tweeners at this point in off season for the Grizzlies because uh they could be traded they could be out of the rotation they could be in the rotation like you just don’t know you know what’s next for a lot of these guys and and we’re going to talk about a few of those guys in today’s episode of Locked on Grizzlies but before we get to that this episode is brought to you by FanDuel make every moment more right now new customers get $150 in bonus Bets with any winning $5 bet that’s 150 bucks with any winning $5 bet all you got to do is visit fanduel.com lockon to get started uh speaking to get started we’re g to start Today’s Show we’re talking about a guy who is kind of you know solidified himself as a rotation member in each of the past two seasons but what does that mean going forward as the Grizzlies Go a different direction and and a lot of things changes around the team and that’s Santi Alama we haven’t talked about Santi a lot this off season you know and and the question that I have and the question that I’m going to address here is where does he stand in the midst of all this now in a nutshell you look at it you say oh J you know he’s jiren Jackson Jr’s backup and I’ve talked about the reason the Grizzlies like sunti after they you know they they picked him late in first round and everything the Grizzlies had an opportunity where they could have said hey you know Kyle Anderson he spent some uh valuable years here we’re going to bring him back but no a w to go in a different direction Kyle Anderson went to Minnesota and we say he’s playing valuable playoff minutes there now but uh the decision in going with Santi over Kyle Anderson wasn’t any like oh he’s a better player or anything it’s more about fit his shooting uh was something to team value you remember when jiren Jackson Jr was hurt uh before uh the start of last season not this season last season when he had the offseason foot procedure and whatnot Santio D was the guy who took that opportunity and won the starting job over several other players you know there were rookies I mean Jia David Rody all those guys were involved there was talk of the Grizzlies potentially going small you know playing Dylan Brooks you know at the four summer whatever the case may be but uh in in that situation we saw San Al dama came one starting starting uh spot at power forward and played well played decently well in that stretch but here’s why we got to have this conversation yes Santi is a very capable floor stretcher and all these things but I haven’t seen enough improvement from San Alama to say that yeah he’s a member of this rotation without a doubt uh going into next season and I’m going to get into a couple reasons of why this is a a a conversation that’s worthwhile you know when we’re going to talk a little bit you know about the contract you know about the roster de both of those things but just before we get to those things we got to talk about Santi as a player himself remember the key reason Santi Alama was placed in this rotation was because of his ability as a guy who can stretch the floor as a shooter uh last season averaged nine points a game this season averaged 10.7 points a game last last season played 77 games this year he played 61 games uh decently available for the most part but here’s where the problems come in let’s go to uh last season which was second year in the NBA his first year in the NBA didn’t really play uh much with the Grizzlies 32 games spent a lot of time with the Memphis hustle and all that good stuff but uh he shot 35% from three-point range that year and shot 47% from the field overall if you remember before this season Santi was talking about oh how he’s you know changed his diet was eating I think up to five six times a day uh getting stronger was a huge key for him and all of that but if you watch Grizzlies this season you didn’t see a stronger Santio dump you just didn’t you you saw a guy who still kind of looked incapable of uh taking advantage of those smaller matchups so much to the point where the Grizzlies you know played him at small forward uh for some stretches this past season and and quite frankly he didn’t look too out of position you know it wasn’t a huge out ofos thing to me because uh from a physical standpoint that’s kind of where he is uh but you would see you know like we saw it in feas a little bit and and I always I always make real good note of like what players former teammates do to attack them because those guys know them very well and when I watched FAS uh last year and we saw that Canada versus spank and Dylan Brooks just kept going straight into the chest of Santi Al D to me that was that was telling that was Dylan Brooks saying hey yeah I play I played with this guy a couple years and I know he’s not strong I know he doesn’t have strength I’m going to drive right into his chest and I’m going to continually continually continually pound his chest until he proves he can stop it us like at the end of the day for sunti it’s it’s going to be about the the strength and we didn’t see enough Improvement you know over the course of the season in that area uh then there’s the shooting right uh you look at the past two seasons uh 35.3% a couple seasons ago 34.9% this past season so you’re talking about a guy who’s around 35% 35% as a 3 shooter is is is not enough it’s it’s not enough for the Grizzlies uh not from a guy you depending on to be your stretch big for career he’s a 33.3% three-point shooter and uh for a guy who takes a lot of three-pointers you know as you if you talk about the last couple Seasons Santi this year five three-point attempts per game two seasons ago 3.5 three-point attempts per game we talked about it in recent episodes like shooting is a huge need for this team just as much as this whole big man conversation shooting is just as important and is a guy that the Grizzlies have relied on and depended on to help them in that area quite frankly he hasn’t been good enough like if you’re a stretch big uh you gotta be a stretch big he’s he’s playing the role of a stretch pig from a volume standpoint but the efficiency has not uh matched you know at that level so then you get into the contract situation and things like that uh with the contract Santi Al dama this year uh he’s extension eligible this is the first time he will be rookie extension you know eligible and of course you know this is something we’ll follow all the way up pretty much until the beginning of the Season we’ve seen in the past whether it was Brandon Clark John Morant Desmond Bane jiren Jackson Jr uh John conar uh the Grizzlies have extended these guys uh that they feel like fit into the long-term core of this team is Santi Alama someone who’s going to get extended I quite frankly don’t think so uh the Grizzlies do have the option of him playing out this upcoming season or playing out next season and then after that he’ll be a restricted free agent going into next summer and they they could you know send him a qualifying offer and match any offer that he gets or whatever but basically if the gri want to they have they have another year of contractual control if he doesn’t get any other worthy offers to the table but this is a this is a huge year for Santi which also brings me back to you know why are we even having this conversation amongst the productivity things amongst the contract things the Grizzlies roster just has depth now and when you look at the four spot there’s not a lot of natural depth at the four like this is a position that I think you know probably will get addressed when you talk about adding fors adding you know bigger power forward type guys guys who can play the four and the five even with Santi you I think that’s another problem so to speak with him is he can play the four but we saw uh I thought it was very telling in the second half of the season when you had uh three bigs available when it was Trey Jimerson Jaren Jackson Jr and Santi Alama and The Grizzlies still weren’t playing Santi at the five unless they just absolutely had to you could tell that they really don’t want to put him at the five and I think in today’s NBA you you would much rather have a guy who’s very capable of playing the four and the five a little bit more than Santi has shown up to this point of his career but from a roster depth standpoint we know about the starters we know J Jackson Jr Desmond B John Mor uh probably Marcus Smart or whatever the case may be and we know they’re going to probably address the CER spot if you go to the bench you got luk Canard and all those guys but I want to more so point out the fact that like if Marcus SM is in your starting lineup like let’s just say that for now we’re gonna talk more about him and whatnot later but you got Vince Williams and GG Jackson and Luke Canard coming off the bench Luke canard’s gonna be a backup guard for you uh Vince Williams is going to be a backup wing for you he’s going to play GG Jackson has to play somewhere and GG Jackson if if you’re playing Luke Canard as the backup to you’re playing Vince Williams as the backup three GG Jackson makes sense as your backup four right if you don’t put GG Jackson as your backup four you’re putting Santi Alama as your backup four because Brandon Clark is your backup five so if you’re putting Santi as your backup four where does GG Jackson go so it’s very simple to me this comes down to how much do the Grizzlies value GG Jackson I think every indication that I’ve seen every indication that you’ve seen with your I show that this guy is a pivotal part of the future of this team which brings into question the stability and the potential long-term outlook on Santi Alam I think there are teams that would love to get a guy who’s you know 610 611 can handle the ball has some playmaking ability to him and has some shooting ability that quite frankly I think at any at any point he can he can unload a 38% three-point shooting uh type of season it hasn’t happened yet but he’s very much capable I’ve seen him shoot the ball in practice a lot and San Al dama is there he’s taking five three-pointers a game because he makes a lot of them in practice and he’s uh he has that type of green light but the point is when you combine all these factors the productivity from his second season to his third season that’s when a player like him was supposed to take a big jump it didn’t happen he didn’t get stronger uh the shooting efficiency wasn’t better his two-point field goal percentage went down uh as in fact then you look at the contract situation this is a year if the Grizzlies wanted to move him this would be the time they would a able to I’m sure there would be some type of interest in a guy like Santi Alama and then the roster dep standpoint like I said if you look at the way the rosters outlined right now it’s gonna come down to GG Jackson and San Al this that’s that’s a solidified spot Vince Williams I think he’s solidified is and even if you flip Markus smart and Vince Williams or however you want to do it like those guys are solidified so uh Brandon Clark solidified that four spot needs to be addressed you would think oh has solidified that but GG Jackson’s emergence has kind of brought into question uh you know that idea so I think at the end of the day you’re choosing GG Jackson over Santi and if you don’t have Santi in a rotation some somebody out there will value that type of player and that’s why we’re having this conversation right now there are a couple other Grizzlies players we should be having this conversation about as well who else isn’t really just all that safe on this grizzly Ro so we’re g to talk about that here in a second but before we get to that today’s episode is also brought to you by our friends over at FanDuel FanDuel is where you go to make every moment more because here’s the thing so new customers right now you get $150 in bonus bet with any winning $5 bet that’s $150 in bonus bets to spread on spreads money lines uh player props and much more all you got to do is visit fanduel.com loged on right now and make every playoff shot count FanDuel is America’s number one sports book so make sure you visit fanduel.com and take advantage of these great opportunities that is available over there right now go look at the NBA Playoff games right now uh how about those those temper wolves they’re hanging around I think last I checked they were around plus 400 to come back and win that Series against the MTH so that’s another opportunity that you could potentially take advantage of but fanduel.com lockon is where you’ll go to take advantage and to make any opportunity more coming up next here on locked on Grizzlies we G to talk about some other players on the grizzly we talked about Santi Al dama now we gotta talk about some other guys let’s see where they stand as well so stay tuned for [Music] that welcome back to locked on Grizzlies everyone to Michael Cole beat rider for Commercial Appeal here in Memphis Tennessee we just talked about Santi all where he stands on the Grizzlies but then there are a couple other guys as well quite frankly I am you I’m of the opinion that this is a big summer of for the Grizzlies and we know that they have limited roster spots right uh we talked about the idea of that right now you know you lose Lamarcus Stevens uh UD wab is gone and now you’re gonna have to address this team option with Luke Canard but they’re just aren’t a lot of roster spots to go around to just go out in free agency and just add whoever you want because you got first round pick that’s one guaranteed contract and then you’ll technically only have one more roster spot but uh there is way to create some flexibility here based on what you do with a lot of these guys on the roster who I mean for lack of better words who could be considered just you know a over redundance of what you already have on the roster you know the Grizzlies have kind of doubled down uh to a certain degree in the past on drafting certain type of of arch types and uh for the guys who haven’t panned out you know it’s it’s just not a lot of time left uh for a team that’s trying to compete for championships really soon but two guys I want to talk about real quick uh one is zire Williams and I I’ll start with zire Williams simply because of the fact that you know we talked about this a lot like personally I’ve said this you know yes you you could talk about the talent you know this this the talent with him he has not lived up to the standing of a guy who was once a five-star recruit uh you know coming out of high school went to Stanford and all that but at the same time I do think there’s somewhat of a it’s coaching too in my opinion because I I’ve seen Z really uh I’ve seen the strengths of his game and when you watch him play you don’t see the strengths of his game being the main parts of his games uh Z Williams is a terrific mid-range shooter you don’t see him taking a lot of mid-range shots you see him shooting a lot of three-pointers he’s a poor three-point shoter he’s below League average why is someone taking so many shots in area they’re below League average as opposed to the area where they are above League average that’s that’s the case wh Z Williams somebody that has to be coaching because as a coach I think you should notice the fact that hey look zier stop taking so many threes you you are one of the better mid-range guys and Z has told me himself that mid-range that’s my bread and butter he’s been working on that since he was a little kid that’s his shot that’s where his confidence is that’s where he likes uh to get on the floor take advantage of that use that a little bit more now with all that being said he has not progressed to the level uh that you would want him to at this point I said before last season you you hoped that you know during Dylan Brooks last season that Z Williams would kind of take a lead uh and whatnot and then after Dylan Brooks left he would claim the St small forward spot and then everything just ho home goes on but that’s not what happened and now we’re talking about Z Williams from the standpoint of uh he’s a key player who could be traded this off seon uh he’s making over $6 million per year uh well he’s making over six million this season so size decent sizable contract or whatever and I think he is one that’s definitely in that position because uh right now it’s all about complimenting the star player and you to compliment John Mor to compliment Desmond bang uh you need guys who can shoot the basketball spot up Shooters the Grizzlies tried to play zy Williams and pick and rolls and things like that a little bit more but it hasn’t worked out to me you know Taylor Jenkins compliments him sometimes you know in front of the media but look I use my eyes too I’m not just going to go off everything that Taylor Jenkins says when he’s talking about you know uh Z Williams being a good secondary playmaker and things like that I don’t see a good secondary playmaker when I see Z Williams at this point I see someone who C who’s capable who who can who can slip off of a screen and then you know dump a bounce pass off to Brandon Clark whoever the case may be and and make some plays but I also see a guy who struggled in that role since he was in summer league you know a couple years ago and whatever the case may be but at the end of the day he has to be on the list if you say hey uh the Grizzlies need to move some of these players on the current roster they are overloaded on the wing right now they have more Wings on the on the roster at than any point of the last two seasons Z Williams is a main candidate who could be moved in that option and another guy that I would look at is John Contra and we know the contract situation is different for him you talking about a guy who has who is under contractual control for the next four years uh in John conar but at the same time it’s a different situation because it’s one he’s not making you know it’s not a super sizable contract that contract could become a valuable contract where certain teams would look at that and say Hey you tell us we can get a guy who could be a three and D player at his best quality rebounder a solid Defender and we would take that I I’m pretty sure there are some teams that would see that John Contra contract and say okay we we we can take that on but uh in Memphis I don’t know and John Kar gets the same look as as as you see you know with Z Williams and as I said with Santi Adama as well uh the big thing for me with all these guys even John conar is the fact that they all had opportunity this past season to elevate their games to another level uh after it was very clear what each of them needed to work on uh last off season but it didn’t happen I didn’t see zy Williams game go to another level I didn’t see San’s game go to another level I did not see John kar’s game go to another level John conar this past season uh if you we talked to him before the season we talked to him at the end of last season and all he kept saying was I just got to shoot the ball boy I just gotta shoot the ball boy I just got to shoot the Baltimore last season John Contra took 2.5 three-point attempts per game this season down to 2.2 not only that he shot a career low 31.7% from three-point range and of course I I contribute that to the fact that he was playing with guys and he was getting different shots uh John KRA when he’s on the floor with John morand Desmond ban those three-point shots are gonna be wide open when he’s on the floor with with all due respect to Jordan Goodwin and U you know uh some of those guys that he was on the floor with teams aren’t going to respect them as much as shooter so they’re going to stay attached to John Kar and he’s not going to get that many shots and as a result you get a guy who’s shooting below 32% from three-point range I still think there’s value in John Kar I do I I I love the defense Taylor Jenkins thinks there Val him I I like the ability to play the two to play the three or to play the four even in stretches and the rebounding like the Grizzlies need good wing bounders and we talked about how Vince Williams has helped to elevate the team in that area because when Jar’s playing at the five or even sometimes when Jar’s at the floor you’re going to need that extra guy that’s going to come crashing down and just like Vince Williams proved he can be that guy John Kar has definitely done that but uh again just like Z Williams this would be a great time if the Grizzlies say hey this thing isn’t working out like we wanted to uh and I think that that that the idea of moving John contar in a trade uh with a decent contract uh makes sense for the Memphis chriz so you’re you’re following along I just gave Santio d z Williams joh contract that’s pretty much three players who the Grizzlies have currently on the roster but that’s why the whole you know I’ve talked about how yeah there is some some roster limitations to what the Grizzles can do in offseason but there is the possibility where they can they can possibly create more roster flexibility with those three names in particular those are the names that stand out above any of them Santi Al Z Williams John Contra if the Grizz are to create more roster spots or whatever the case may be look no no further than Beyond those three guys that’s where the move that’s where the movement could potentially happen in Memphis for the Memphis Grizzlies are you watching Fox sports ESPN on your TV all day and you have to turn down the volume with all that shouting we’ll just make the switch over to locked on sports today a free 247 sports streaming Channel program for you every day to bring you the biggest stories without all that screaming that you get over there on ESPN and Fox Sports lockone sports today brings you the C Miss analysis opinionist and news streaming 247 on YouTube or the free Amazon Fire TV channels app part of the locked on podcast Network your team each and every single day coming up next on locked on Grizzlies talk about the current players enough like that’s enough for one episode now we got to switch back to bread and butter right now and that’s some draft stuff draft workouts are underway in Memphis I’m going to tell you what I’ve heard up to this point and what you need to know coming up here next on locked on Grizzlies welcome back to locked on Grizzlies everyone I am demichel Cole beat rer here the Commercial Appeal in Memphis Tennessee appreciate you guys for tuning in uh with us on today make sure you continue to like rate comment review subscribe uh to lock on Grizzles and continue to stay tuned in with us throughout the offseason we got a lot of fun stuff to talk about in June but we’re going to have draft experts and everything else coming on the show to break down everything that’s going on so make sure you stay tuned for all that and of course we’re always welcome to your suggestions let us know what you want to see on the show what do you like in all of those good things but now let’s switch to tones we talked about Santi zier and John Kar we got switch tones a little bit back to the draft uh just want to say that draft workouts are very much well underway here in Memphis the Grizzlies are here man and when I say the Grizzlies are here I mean literally like uh the front office and everyone is they’re buckling down it’s it’s time uh they’ve already worked out a few players as well and they’re going to be some names that come in next week as I learned some of those names of course we will talk about them you know on the show as well uh so uh some names are starting to come into Memphis as draft workouts start to get underway here and some of you may say well what are the importance of draft forecast well this is the bread and butter uh to me when you talk about what prospects like like the draft combine that stuff cool and whatnot but when the prospects come to Memphis one there’s interest there’s the Grizzlies saying hey we want that guy to come to Memphis work out and we want to see what he’s capable of uh that’s a starting point but then you get the conversations right you talk to Zack kimman you talk to taan Prince you talk to Rich show you talked to other members of the Grizzlies front office Taylor Jenkins uh and again I talked about how Taylor Jenkins during this sign of the Season he’s basically like a de facto front office member he’s very heavily involved in conversations whips climbing and he’s going to be involved in watching these guys they’re going to watch these players really close and as as more players continue to come in we’re going to have you covered here on locked on Grizzlies with everything that’s going on on that end so make sure you stay tuned for that as draft workouts get under way in Memphis at FedEx form uh look I know uh there’s some other things going on in Memphis this weekend as well Mega stallion concert on today but after that uh the the Grizzlies draft workouts will be a heavy part of what goes on here next week of course me and Joe MOX what we learned we will cover here on lock on chras and we’ll break that down because there’s a couple prospects in particular I want to see the centers I want to see who comes out GNA check check to talk to people see how those guys even perform in those sors and see what we can learn uh from those opportunities but no show on tomorrow by the way um me and Joe M getting a three-day weekend so we’ll be back with you on Monday uh for that show as well but thank you guys again for tuning in to loged on Grizzlies as always and remember logged on Grizzlies is free and available wherever you get your podcast until next time I’m demichael Cole and we’ll see you on lock on Grizzlies

Santi Aldama and Ziaire Williams are entering big seasons ahead of restricted free agency next summer. In this episode, host Damichael Cole discusses their status with the Grizzlies, John Konchar and Grizzlies draft workouts.

Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Make Every Moment More. Right now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning FIVE DOLLAR BET! ! That’s A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS – with any winning FIVE DOLLAR BET!! Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started.

Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!
eBay Motors
From brakes to exhaust kits and beyond, eBay Motors has over 122 million parts to keep your ride-or-die alive. With all the parts you need at the prices you want, it’s easy to bring home that big win. Keep your ride-or-die alive at EbayMotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers.
PrizePicks
Go to https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNBA and use code lockedonnba for a first deposit match up to $100!

Gametime
Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.

FanDuel
FanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook. Right now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning GUARANTEED That’s A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS – with any winning FIVE DOLLAR BET! Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started.

FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)

Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…
🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOGrizzlies?sid=YouTube

Locked On NBA League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft, WNBA & More
🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNBA

#MemphisGrizzlies #JaMorant #Grizzlies #NBA