New Memphis Grizzlies playoff slogan is truly awful

The Memphis Grizzlies have officially concluded their 2021-22 regular season play, finishing with a record of 56-26.

The team has officially tied the 2012-13 Memphis Grizzlies for the most wins ever by a Grizzlies team. No team in Memphis (or Vancouver for that matter) has ever won more than 56 games in a single regular season.

The team now turns its attention to the postseason, in which Memphis looks to improve upon last year’s finish of 1-4.

To get Grind City and the entire fan base engaged, excited, and ready to celebrate one of the best seasons in franchise history, the creative team for the Grizzlies sadly dropped the ball. Big time.

New Memphis Grizzlies slogan for playoffs is very cringe

The new slogan, unveiled on banners around town and on social media, uses the term MEMTHIS as the focal point for the marketing campaign.

Yes, “Mem this.”

What?

Meme this? Memphis? What is that supposed to invoke?

This is seriously one of the laziest and least inspiring creative endeavors I’ve ever seen from a franchise that has given us  some all-time great slogans like “Grit & Grind” and “Memphis vs Errrrybody” and “We Don’t Bluff” and “Believe Memphis.”

How did we go from that to “MEMTHIS?”

This has literally been the most historic season in franchise history and the best the creative team could come up with was to take the word Memphis and switch out one letter?

Nothing to remind fans about the myriad records that were broken this season or the inclusion of one of the most electrifying and popular superstars in the entire league?

No use of a player sound bite, tweet, or quote to inspire a slogan as in years past? Lord knows Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr. have given plenty of gems throughout the season.

“Ain’t no running in the M. We run up the chimney, we ain’t ducking no smoke,” Morant said in one post-game interview this season.

We ran a poll on Twitter and nearly two-thirds of the vote said they hate the new slogan. Fans have flooded the hashtag with their displeasure, too.

It’s a shame to see such an uninspiring slogan. It’s not like the team making the playoffs is a surprise.

It seems like the Grizzlies creative team should have had several weeks or even a few months to create a well-thought, home-run of a slogan to roll out and celebrate arguably the biggest moment in franchise history— earning a No. 2 seed and having home-court advantage.

The Memphis Grizzlies will play either the Minnesota Timberwolves or the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round of the 2022 NBA Playoffs beginning April 16.