The new-look Grizzlies

The NBA officially released the 2023-2024 schedule recently and Memphis will be without their star point guard (and Dillon Brooks) for their first 25 games of the season due to a league imposed suspension for twice displaying a gun in IG videos.

Ja Morant will be eligible to play on December 19 yet (December 20, PH time) against fellow 2019 top pick Zion Williamson and the New Orleans Pelicans, of course, assuming that both players will see action.

Another key player will potentially be out for the rest of the season after undergoing a second procedure on his left Achilles tendon this off season, which he injured last march.  He would have been on Team Canada for the FIBA Worlds had he not been injured.

27-year old big man Brandon Clarke is the chief reliever to Steven Adams, who himself had a knee injury in January.   In less than 20 minutes of play last season, Clarke had averaged an impactful 10 points and 5 rebounds.  Adams meanwhile, had been cleared by the team for the season and started the other day in their preseason game against the Indiana Pacers.

Also notable in his absence was new transplant Marcus Smart, who had some abdominal soreness, probably panuhot in our local dialect of which the remedy is a simple utot..  It won't cause him to miss a few regular season games.

Mainly on the reserves, new addition Derrick Rose started in that preseason game and played 13 minutes in the first half, had 13 points in 6-for-8 shooting.  When Smart and Morant gets back and Rose maintains that shiftiness he showed, Memphis will have a deep point guard rotation.

The 35-year old playmaker was signed by the Grizzlies to a 2-year deal for his presence not too much on the hardcourt but to guide and lead the often misguided but extremely talented.  The youngest league MVP at 22 was hampered by injuries and has slowly reinvented himself as the league's best bench veteran.

After signing with Memphis, Rose said he did not join the Grizzlies to babysit Morant.  "It's my job to push him and let him know in times whenever he is being reckless, to calm down."

The new-look Memphis Grizzlies will be in a grind for the early part of the season but they just have that someone who could to steer them away from complications.