Herrington: Evaluating Zach Kleiman’s Grizzlies draft record
Grizzlies general manager Zach Kleiman speaks to the media Sept. 29, 2025. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian file)
Chris Herrington
Chris Herrington has covered the Memphis Grizzlies, in one way or another, since the franchise’s second season in Memphis, while also writing about music, movies, food and civic life. As far as he knows, he’s the only member of the Professional Basketball Writers Association who is also a member of a film critics group and has also voted in national music critic polls for Rolling Stone and the Village Voice (RIP). He now splits his time between Minneapolis-St. Paul, where his wife works, and Memphis.
While work remains to complete the transition, the Memphis Grizzlies are moving from one era to another. They are “pivoting to a younger build,” as lead basketball executive Zach Kleiman said after the Feb. 5 NBA trade deadline. They are “moving forward,” as the team wrote in a subsequent letter to season-ticket holders.
Some fans have asked whether the front-office leadership that managed this Grizzlies era to an underperforming one playoff series win should be entrusted with building the next one.
While I’ve argued what derailed the recent era was primarily injuries and Ja Morant’s inability to be a consistent All-Star-level presence, there were mistakes and miscalculations made along the way.
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