Away from microphones and cameras, the players, coaches and executives in the league believe that the recent ire over tanking is completely tied to gambling. It’s hard to argue against that:
27.02.2026 06:26 — 👍 123 🔁 42 💬 5 📌 15
Aday Mara has found his footing at Michigan and has become one of the best centers in the country. Can Mara join the infusion of impactful giants in the modern NBA?
Why the giant big man is so back, his strengths and weaknesses, and the skill that sets him apart open.substack.com/pub/subtsaka...
😞
24.02.2026 20:34 — 👍 4 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0I mean Rupert is on a 10-day contract
24.02.2026 03:21 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0Going to write more on it -- and this theme -- this week, but one of the things I'm wanting to see out of the Grizzlies for the rest of the season is to see what Taylor Hendricks is and can become
24.02.2026 02:44 — 👍 5 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
late to posting (moved to Mississippi and haven't gotten around to the age check) but...
ran part 2 of the mailbag with focus on grizzlies -- if ja will play as a grizzly again, iisalo as a coach, roster construction around the draft and edey's health
subtsakalidis.substack.com/p/mailbag-wi...
see i like the idea of telling teams "hey if you tank, i'm giving a ping pong ball to the team with the best record!"
18.02.2026 14:52 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Part 1 of the mailbag — thank you to all who contributed.
Started with NBA Draft — the heavy conversations around this PG class and the “small guard” archetype, skills that will translate, potential risers and steals from the second round, and more.
open.substack.com/pub/subtsaka...
That or make it simplistic
Top 1-4
Lottery protected
Top 20
No top-8 or top-6 or top-10
One more thing: fans like direction. They don’t mind “tanking” because it means direction — rebuilding gets confused with “tanking.” Some teams won’t win as much as others! I think it won’t be as loud in more normal draft classes
18.02.2026 04:18 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0The main thing about tanking should be about punishment. Freeze teams from jumping for tanking. Strip lottery balls away and give it to different teams for tanking. It comes down to setting an example to prevent teams from being egregious
18.02.2026 03:42 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Maybe you fix the lottery in some capacity. Imperfect ideas but the main ones:
1. Prevent teams that get #1 to not be eligible for lottery jumps into T4 until they make the postseason
2. No jumping into T4 if you’re lottery for 3+ consecutive years
3. No play-in teams!
Not perfect but a start
A tournament for the pick? Wouldn’t 9/10 teams just tank to play for it instead of a chance to get stomped in the playoffs? What players would sign off on playing to have someone else take their spot, minutes, and place within the franchise?
18.02.2026 03:42 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0Abolish the draft? What’s stopping salary cap circumventing to send top-flight prospects to big markets? Also will TV partners sign off on cutting off the draft as a TV broadcast? How do you disperse talent evenly here?
18.02.2026 03:42 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 2 📌 0Freeze the standings at a certain point? Teams could just tank within a certain range of dates.. what difference would it really make?
18.02.2026 03:42 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
TANKING THREAD
The whole tanking conversation is wild and complex, and the ideas don’t seem that perfect to counter tanking while helping small market teams. A lot of it comes down to punishing teams for being OBVIOUS on it.
Film roundup! I didn’t get to post clips on socials, but got them all here. Players covered:
GG Jackson
Taylor Hendricks
Lawson Lovering
AJ Dybantsa
Tounde Yessoufou
Blue Cain
Trent Perry
Mikel Brown Jr.
open.substack.com/pub/subtsaka...
A good pro-Boozer case: open.substack.com/pub/subtsaka...
17.02.2026 14:37 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
You’re the man 💯
I will say with Boozer, he’s arguably one of the best playmakers in the entire class, regardless of position. I feel like frontcourt playmaking is something that can unlock a dimension with this offense — if he’s on the board
We throw around words like abomination but that’s what this is
17.02.2026 01:56 — 👍 19 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0If anything Boozer should make you feel the most comfortable. He’s a basketball supercomputer
17.02.2026 05:36 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 2 📌 0Happy Sunday! Doing one last roundup here for this week's mailbag -- doing questions specific to the Grizzlies and NBA Draft/scouting
15.02.2026 18:06 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0He’s just had a multitude of issues though. And this team has significantly regressed to middle of the road in this conference they’re trying to get out of. If I was him, I’d move into a GM role and allow someone else to take an X’s and O’s role
15.02.2026 02:26 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
It might be time for a regime change for the Memphis Tigers bball program
15.02.2026 01:11 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
As the Grizzlies will embark on a rebuild, I put together a study guide/crash course of sorts to assess the state of the roster, the young core, and vets. I also talk about the utility of traded player exceptions and picks, and of course... this draft class
open.substack.com/pub/subtsaka...
With Ty and Pippen under contract is drafting a reliably healthy big a bigger need than a ball dominant guard, which seems to be the strength of this draft? Edey is a 300lb mammoth that keeps having lower leg/foot issues and our best defensive big got traded
12.02.2026 02:52 — 👍 1 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0How big of a difference do you think there is between Kingston Flemings and (pick a guard in the 10-15 range) Acuff or Stirtz?
12.02.2026 02:18 — 👍 0 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Do you think Tuomas Iisalo will be a successful NBA coach in Memphis?
Which players do you anticipate falling into the second round that could be eventual quality role players?
Who are small forwards and power forwards to watch as potentially falling in our draft range?
12.02.2026 03:13 — 👍 0 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0