Everyone’s happy the NBA preseason has shrunk. Not long ago, eight games was the norm. Now every team plays between four and six. The result is fewer games that don’t count, padded out by players who won’t be on regular season rosters; more air into an 82-game real season that needed extra rest time. Win-win, right?

The American Athletic Conference coaches predicted Monday that the Memphis Tigers will finish fourth this season.

There are different levels of NBA fandom. Some care about their team and some care about the entire league. There’s no right or wrong way to be a fan, but the following NBA-wide deep dive is for the latter kind.

Orlando Magic guard D.J. Augustin was cruising toward the basket for a right-handed layup. That’s when from the left corner 6-foot-11 Jaren Jackson Jr. flew to the other side of the rim and blocked Augustin’s shot.

Finishing up the final lap of the preseason, the Memphis Grizzlies showed more of a regular-season rotation early. The Houston Rockets showed midseason form on their 3-point shooting. The Rockets unloaded their 3-point arsenal, all the way down to a Chris Paul 30-footer in the first half, building a 27-point lead en route to a 121-103 victory over the Grizzlies on Friday night in the preseason finale for both teams.

When the Memphis Grizzlies open the regular season on Oct. 17 at Indiana, they will have played just five preseason games and the Pacers will have played only four.

Former Memphis Tigers standout D.J. Stephens has been signed to a two-way contract by the Memphis Grizzlies, the team announced Monday evening.

During the decade-long Mike Conley and Marc Gasol era, a dearth of three-point shooting elsewhere on the roster has consistently plagued the Grizzlies. Only once in this stretch have the Grizzlies finished in the Top 20 in three-point attempts and only twice in three-point percentage, never higher than 17th on the accuracy front.

A night after relying on veterans for a home preseason win, the Memphis Grizzlies yielded to their youth.

Score one for the grown folks.

A tale of two Media Day scrums: Jaren Jackson Jr. sat encircled, with microphones, recorders, and TV cameras surrounding Castle Jackson like an impenetrable moat. He held court with a big smile, talking about rap albums and Netflix shows, essaying the locker-room generation gap for which he’s the poster manchild in a manner that tiptoed the line between guileless and knowing.

The Grizzlies preseason just started, and by Sunday morning it will be more than half over.

The Grizzlies made their preseason debut Tuesday night in Birmingham with a 131-115 loss to the Houston Rockets. Scores don’t really matter in the preseason, but here’s a chain of thoughts on things that might:

On Oct. 19 at FedExForum, the Memphis Grizzlies will tip off a new season against the Atlanta Hawks. At that moment, with ball and anticipation in the air, last season’s 22-60 debacle officially moves off-stage.

Editor’s Note: This is the third of a five-part series previewing the Grizzlies roster.

The final dance contestant was Yuta Watanabe.

Editor’s Note: This is the second of a five-part series previewing the Grizzlies roster.

Marc Gasol in the kitchen. Mike Conley making Christmas mischief. Jaren Jackson Jr. in motion. A title around your waist.

The best moment of your rookie season and the worst? This is the question before the Grizzlies’ Dillon Brooks and he goes straight to his personal tire fire.

Editor's Note: This is the first in a series of five Grizzlies roster previews. Other stories will appear in the coming days.

After talk comes action. On Monday morning, the Grizzlies assembled in the Don Poier Media Center near the eastern edge of FedExForum for an audience of Memphis (and Japanese) media. On Tuesday morning, suited and high-top-sneaker booted, they migrated west to the Forum practice court to assemble for their head coach.

Pinnacle Financial Partners, the official bank of the Memphis Grizzlies and FedExForum, has signed a representation deal with the Grizzlies’ top draft pick, Jaren Jackson Jr.

From time to time throughout this season, The Daily Memphian will convene a quartet of our writers, veteran Grizzlies watchers all, to bat around the questions of the moment. We’re calling it Turn Four, in tribute to the play call -- translation: get Z-Bo the bleeping ball -- that Lionel Hollins or Dave Joerger would call out whenever the Grizzlies needed to settle down and get a bucket.

Chandler Parsons’ most recent trip out of the country was not to Cancun, Mexico. Remember that hot-take social media moment, Parsons and his crew sporting “Chancun” caps for their All-Star break vacation and Grizzlies fans losing their minds?

Jaren Jackson Jr. was hanging out in the Grizzlies locker room. This was not long ago, before an informal workout. Marc Gasol walked in, looking sharp.