Q&A with Keith Parish of Fastbreak Breakfast
We discuss the Nxt-Gen Grizz, the 2020 NBA playoffs, FBB's origins, Nashville's NBA scene, and much more!
Welcome to the Music City Sports Report.
The NXT-Gen Memphis Grizzlies bowed out of the NBA’s Orlando bubble after failing to take down the Blazers in a thrilling eight-seed play-in game on Saturday. It was the end to an exciting, expectation-thrashing season from the young and free-wheeling Grizzlies.
Just in time to put a final statement on the Grizzlies’ season, I interviewed Keith Parish of Fastbreak Breakfast, one of my favorite podcasts and Twitter accounts. Fastbreak Breakfast is a salve to die-hard NBA fans in an NBA-less town.
I asked Keith about Grizzlies, Ja Morant, Nashville’s Grizz contingent, being an NBA die-hard in an NBA-less town, and much more!
Q: The Grizzlies were way ahead of schedule based off of most people's preseason expectations, which helps take some of the sting out of losing the eight-seed race. What were your overall thoughts on the year?
KP: I was pleased and surprised. The Grizzlies look to have a bright future. When you're rebuilding, it's good to have players you can identify as being a part of what can be a core that can compete in the playoffs. I think with Jaren Jackson Jr., Ja Morant, and Brandon Clarke, they have that. For them to go ahead and show in year one that they can be competitive and almost make the playoffs was very encouraging.
Q: Ja Morant looked like a future superstar as a rookie this year. After watching him this season, what exactly do you think his ceiling is?
KP: I think he projects to probably be a multi-time All Star. I don't know if he has an MVP ceiling, but he looks like he could easily be someone like Kevin Johnson or maybe a more consistent Steve Francis. He looks like the kind of guy who can definitely lead a team and you can build around. So I don't know, is that peak like Damian Lillard, a guy who ends up being fifth or sixth in the MVP race some years? I think you could conceivably say he can get there, based on his first year.
LB: I think one of the key things is that he’s not just a skilled player on the court, but he's also a pretty infectious player that makes the players around him better.. He seems like the right kind of guy you want leading your team.
KP: He does seem to be a national leader, and I think that can be good not just for the players on the Grizzlies, where it's important to have a player to rally around. If your point guard has the ball in his hands, sometimes that helps the team flow a little bit better. But, he also seems to be popular nationally and popular among players. He's already the biggest star the Grizzlies have ever had as far as national interest. I think it's Grizzlies fans, the hope is: maybe other players will want to come to the Grizzlies and play with Ja Morant. He can be the biggest draw for free agents the Grizzlies have ever had.
Q: Ja Morant, Jaren Jackson, Brandon Clarke really proved to be future building blocks this season. After those three guys, who do you think is the most important in the pecking order moving forward?
KP: I think you would probably include Justise Winslow in that group. He’s the next most important, but his health remains a big question. He's had four straight years missing a lot of games, but he's young. If he can be another starter, and you have another starter you can depend on, that’s something you can build with.
Q: Which lineup are you most looking forward to seeing more of next season for the Grizzlies?
KP: Not knowing who's going to be on the team, I think the lineup most people are looking forward to is anything with Justise Winslow. Ja Morant, De’Anthony Melton, Justise Winslow, Brandon Clarke, and Jaren Jackson Jr. was the lineup I wanted to see the most in the bubble games, and we didn't get that. Providing all those guys are on the team next year, I'd be very excited to see that lineup play. It might be a little offensively challenged, but it has guys who can get up and down the court and guard anybody. I think it'd be very fun to watch.
Q: In your experience, how strong is the Grizzlies contingent in Nashville?
KP: I think there are a lot of NBA fans in Nashville. As far as how many of them support the Grizzlies? I do think there's a fair number. We do the Grizzlies Nashville watch parties, and we see a lot of different people come out. There are plenty of Memphis transplants and other people like me who are basically from Nashville and we're just big NBA fans that started cheering for the Grizzlies when they moved to Memphis. I think there's a lot of fans here, and then there's a lot of general NBA fans who, when the Grizzlies are good, are going to come out and show their support.
Q: What's it like being NBA die-hards in a town without an NBA team and can sometimes even be anti-NBA?
A: With League Pass and just with the Internet, it's not hard at all. I feel like I keep running into people who are big NBA fans. When I tell people I have a basketball podcast, they’re like “oh, I'm a huge NBA fan. That's great. I'm going to listen.” So it seems like I always run into people who are big NBA fans. I haven't experienced any anti-NBA hostility, but maybe that's because I don't follow college sports as closely as I used to. I used to go to all Vanderbilt college basketball games and watch a lot of college football, but I don't do that as much anymore. So I can't say I've experienced people who are opposed or just not fans at all. That's probably because I'm hiding in my own little bubble.
LB: There are segments I’ve run into where, if you even start talking about the NBA, they're just like “well, they don't play defense” and they always clearly don't even watch the games.
KP: That common saying like “ I can't watch the NBA because they don't play defense.” I'm always stunned when I watch college basketball at how awful all the defense is. There's something where people see effort and missed shots and equate that to being good at defense. If these teams ran the basic NBA plays, they’d get a layup every time. You have coaches like John Calipari and Mike Krzyzewski, who are deified as the greatest college coaches, and they're not running anything. In the NBA you see players who can score so easily, and for me, that’s a sign of the skill in the NBA. Players where there's nothing you can do about it. And I think some of it, too, is the presentation of the NBA games, where the announcers and the color commentators don't spell out how many good plays are run. There's a lot of freelancing, but a lot of it is based off simple actions that you can understand. You're like “the reason that was a dunk is because they ran this screen and this guy popped out here and they had to guard the shooter and this guy slipped the screen and that's why he was open under the goal.” It's not a lack of defense; it was a very well-executed play. I love that about the NBA.
Q: I know that Chuck (Anderson) and Jon’s (Burr, the other two hosts of Fastbreak Breakfast) text conversations about LeBron’s return to Cleveland sparked the idea for the podcast, but what exactly are the podcast’s origins?
KP: Chuck and John were friends. Chuck is a big Miami Heat fan, and John had been taunting him for a while that LeBron James was going to leave Miami and go back to Cleveland. Before it happened, he was taunting him. When we started the podcast, it was the first year after LeBron James had left the Heat and gone back to the Cavaliers. So the first couple of years of the podcast, there was a lot of Chuck as the scorned lover Heat fan who is just devastated that LeBron James had left him. That was definitely an element that they brought together when we formed up in 201 to start the show.
Q: The three of you pump out podcasts pretty regularly, especially considering all the different endeavors each of you have. Do you have to map out content each week with an ever-changing NBA landscape?
KP: We really don't. We started off just kind of meeting and knowing we wanted to have a couple of segments. We settled on the segments pretty quickly, just to be able to focus ourselves. We wanted to have our best thing and our worst thing, which is very generic and not that creative, but using those to pivot into other things. Then we decided we like starting the show with the Breakfast in Bed Apologies. I really love statistics and statistical outliers. I like bad statistics. So, I've always been amused by guys with terrible shooting games. I believe it was the NBA Tonight on ESPN used to have the Iron Unkind where they would list the worst shooting performance and I was really into that, so we started the International Stackhouse of Pancakes. We don't really map out the content. Now we're comfortable with the format of the show, and basically right before we start recording, we just double check that we have an apology, a best and the worst, and then we just talk. We just have fun talking about whatever else is in our heads. It can be related to the NBA or not, but just based around the NBA.
Q: So how did Grits and Grinds get started as the spin-off Grizzlies podcast.
KP: I feel like a lot of podcasting has become specialization. We used to have a thing called the Grizzlies Epilogue on Fastbreak Breakfast where we talk about the Grizzlies, but some of that was just wanting to be able to cover the Grizzlies specifically. And with the name, keeping it breakfast-themed was sort of on purpose; we thought it was funny. But also, I just wanted a way to keep talking about the Grizzlies all the time that didn't detract from Fastbreak Breakfast because it’s a national show where we cover the entire league. Instead of being too hung up on the Grizzlies, Grits and Grinds is for people who only want to hear about Grizzlies because there is that demand.
Q: Heading into the playoffs, if you had to pick one team you’re most looking forward to watching, who would that team be?
KP: I'm a Marc Gasol fan from his time on the Grizzlies, and the way the Raptors have built their team, I love it. I love all their players. They're so fun to watch. I love their development and how they can have basically anyone show up and perform for them. Last year they were kind of depending on Kawhi, but they just have so many options, and they haven't missed a beat without him. They depend on defense and spreading the ball, and there's something about that and the way Marc Gasol fits with that that I still find very enjoyable. When the Grizzlies are out of it, it's fun to have another team that's good that you cheer for.
LB: I like to think of Kyle Lowry and Marc Gasol as the NBA litmus test players. When someone says “Lowry sucks or Marc Gasol sucks” because they don’t score 20 points per game or whatever, they’re not watching the games.
KP: Right. It's weird how some Grizzlies fans thought Marc Gasol was moody and inconsistent and maybe he was moody, but Gasol wasn't inconsistent. He played well all the time. He's not gonna sport 20 points every night, but you see on the Raptors that he scores nine points a game and they win 80% of the times that he plays. They always win when he plays, and he's just playing in the right spot. He's moving the ball. He's doing what's needed of him. Don’t be enamored by the points per game. That's my feeling on almost all NBA players.
Q: Do you have an official Finals pick?
KP: I've been oscillating. I think the Raptors are going to win the East. I don't believe in the Bucks, even though they had a historically good regular season. I'm not sure they're built for the playoffs. In the West, I've been saying Lakers, so I guess I'll just stick with that. I'm basically even on the Lakers or Clippers. I don't believe in any of the other teams. Maybe we'll see something weird in Orlando, but I think it's going to be the Raptors against probably the Lakers, I guess. And If I have to pick a winner, I guess I'll go with LeBron James adding to his legacy with another title.
Q: I fashioned an NBA team out of players only from the Nashville area. I included both players who grew up here and went to college here. I’m going to tell you the lineup and you're going to tell me how many games they would win in an NBA season. We're having to play super small:
5 - Robert Covington
4 - DeMarre Carroll
3 - Corey Brewer
2 - JJ Redick
1- Darius Garland
Bench: Garrison Mathews, Damian Jones, Luke Kornet, Jordan Bone, Dylan Windler
Deep Bench: Ian Clark, Brandan Wright, John Jenkins, Jodie Meeks
KP: Incredible. Coached by Ron Mercer? I would say that team, in a non strike-shortened season, wins 12 games.
LB: I was going to set the over/under at 10 wins, so there we go.
KP: It's hard to win fewer than 10, but they could be the 9-73 Bobcats.
Links
Nashville SC returned to the pitch for the first time in five months with a pair of matches in Texas vs FC Dallas. They came away with four points, taking the first game 1-0 and drawing round two 0-0 as their top-notch defense continues to shine.
It was a busy week for NSC. They re-signed Walker Zimmerman, traded for NY Red Bull Alex Muyl, and signed USMYNT GK Brady Scott. And in perhaps the biggest news for a dual soccer and journalism nerd, Speedway Soccer announced the launch of the Nashville Soccer Show on 104.5 the Zone.
That wasn’t the only news coming from 104.5 the Zone this week. Longtime Nashville media staples Mark Howard and Kevin Ingram were let go from the station.
And in other local sports media news, Russell Vannozzi is taking over as the editor of Main Street Preps. Here is a thread detailing the publication’s expanded coverage.
The best thing I read this week: The Ringer’s Rob Mahoney on TSU’s Robert Covington being In the Middle of a Revolution.
I usually don’t post recruiting stuff in here, but these are two cool pieces of news: Kennedy Chandler, the top point guard in the class of 2021, committed to UT and Brentwood Academy star Skyy Clark listed TSU as one of his final eight choices.
The ASUN and the OVC postponed all fall sports until spring, affecting volleyball, men’s and women’s soccer, and men’s and women’s cross country, among others, at Lipscomb, Belmont, TSU, Austin Peay, and UT Martin.
Following their bubble playoff exit, the Preds have already made some coaching staff changes.
Several Vanderbilt football players, including star linebacker Dimitri Moore, are opting out of the 2020 season.