Grizzlies

“The way I feel now, physically and mentally, now I think it’s time to let me rock,” Parsons said. “I hated to come to practice (last year). I hated asking (the trainers) how many minutes I had or what’s my rotation. Asking J.B. (Bickerstaff ) when am I coming in? Am I starting? Knowing I wasn’t going to play at the end of the game, that sucked. So the lift off my shoulders of not having those restrictions, not feeling nearly as much pain in both knees as last year, is very assuring and promising for this season.”

Parsons and Conley were part of the team’s minicamp in Los Angeles in August, along with virtually every other player on the roster. The camp, it turns out, was organized by Marc Gasol, just days after returning from helping to save a drowning refugee in the Mediterranean.

“We needed it,” Gasol said. “We needed to see each other in the summer. I talked to Mike and asked him to call a couple of guys, and we all met in L.A. It was great.”

“We saw that everybody showed up, and everybody was committed, and now it’s time to do more,” Gasol said. “That was a test, and obviously it was passed. Now what are we going to do today and tomorrow for the team?”

Never one to shy away from self-examination, Gasol thought a camp – something he’d never done before – was needed for himself and for the team after a miserable time last year.

“You always try to analyze the things you need to do better, and you’ve got to be brutally honest with yourself to do that – and you’ve got to be OK with the answers that you find,” Gasol said.

Grizzlies coach J.B. Bickerstaff talked at length about the character he wants his team to have this season.

“When you put together a team, you want to put together people who are, one, high character, and two, understand they’re not the center of the universe,” Bickerstaff said. “I think those are the type of people we have here.”

The calm, knowing demeanor of veterans like Conley, Parsons and Gasol contrasted wildly with the bubbly enthusiasm of rookie Jaren Jackson Jr., who spent a long portion of his media day interview time talking about the Netflix show Ozark, at one point actually getting his phone out to play scenes from the show.

Still, player after player raved about Jackson’s unique blend of length and speed.

Conley said Jackson blocked several of his step-back 3-point attempts during pick-up games and claimed Jackson could defend him on the perimeter. Gasol said he thinks Jackson and the other young players on the roster have the right approach.

“They want to get better, and that’s huge,” Gasol said. “We need to mold them into the players they can be, because they have a lot of tools, tools that maybe I never had.”

Jackson’s playful demeanor and ever-present smile belie a strong competitive instinct. Asked whether he expected to start or play certain positions, Jackson sounded like a veteran.

“I want to do whatever it takes to win, whatever that may be, whatever position Coach (Bickerstaff) wants to put me in, whatever I find out my role is I’ll do and try to be a star in my role,” Jackson said.

That role will be one to watch, as one of the key training camp stories will revolve around whether Jackson will start.

Training camp itself begins Tuesday morning at FedExForum, with two sessions Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, and one session on Thursday. The team will hold its annual open practice on Saturday at FedExForum, with fans getting an opportunity to watch the team work for the first time.

The only downside to the proceedings on Monday came from Parsons, who joked: “I haven’t done two-a-days in four years, so talk to me if I’m on a stretcher by Thursday.”