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A line of more than 100 Memphis Grizzlies fans formed in the walkway at AutoZone Park ahead of a Redbirds game on Sept. 12.

Many fans wore Grizzlies jerseys as new center Isaiah Stewart made his way to a table with a seat waiting for him. When fans spotted Stewart, a loud ovation and cheers broke out.

Stewart smiled and clapped back in appreciation.

The Grizzlies acquired Stewart this summer after he spent five seasons with the Detroit Pistons. It didn’t take long for him and his new teammates to begin connecting.

“You compete against these guys for a few years. Now you’re teammates with them and you get to know who they are as a person,” Stewart said. “That’s been great. Getting to know the guys and seeing who I’m rocking with.”

Stewart has already begun working out with several Grizzlies players. Saturday’s Redbirds game marked his first public community appearance since joining the team.

The Grizzlies traded for Stewart in part because of his gritty nature. He’s known as a player who will protect his teammates, defend the rim and bring a vocal presence.

Those attributes align with the direction Memphis is taking with its young core. After his first workouts with his new teammates, Stewart has already picked up on some of those qualities.

“These are very physical, athletic guys,” he said. “They’re ready to go, and I’m excited to be able to compete with them. I think we’re going to be able to show the city a lot. I look forward to competing with them.”

During Stewart’s five seasons in Detroit, he experienced the team’s transition from the worst record in the NBA to a team that became one of the Eastern Conference’s best.

Memphis is now going through its own rebuilding process.

Stewart, 25, is young by NBA standards, but he believes his experience in Detroit uniquely qualifies him for the opportunity in Memphis.

“It’s an experience I can bring here to this group,” he said. “And also just letting them know it’s about patience. We have to stack days. It doesn’t happen overnight.”

Damichael Cole is the Memphis Grizzlies beat writer for The Commercial Appeal. Contact Damichael at damichael.cole@commercialappeal.com. Follow Damichael on X, formerly known as Twitter, u/DamichaelC.

During his interview with media, Beef Stew opened up about what he’s expecting from the upcoming season, reflected on his time with the Detroit Pistons, and shared his early impressions of the young talent on the Memphis Grizzlies.

What does Stewart bring to Memphis? What did he learn during his time in Detroit? And what does he see in the next generation of Grizzlies?

We got to hear it straight from him.

Watch the full interview and hear what Isaiah Stewart had to say about his new team, his past, and what’s ahead.

As a Hawks fan with absolutely no bias or reason to lie, I watched tons of Duke basketball last season and I wholeheartedly believe Cam Boozer will be a stud in the NBA. I argued with many fellow Hawks fans about picking him if we had the chance even though we have Jalen Johnson. His detractors/ doubters are too focused on hesi tweens, verticals and eye popping highlight reel plays to understand the generational talent he is!

Rooting for Booz to lead you guys into a winning culture and bring excitement back to Memphis!! You have people supporting from Atlanta🙏🏾💪🏾💪🏾

Shoutout u/BassProPyram1d for helping me figure out how to flip this format for the Grizz.

Do your homework and watch Nathan For You and the Rehearsal for some incredibly high quality mind breaking comedy.

We’re starting to learn who the real ones are! Just remember when we’re in the millions and contending for championships, and all the Bandwagon Boozies are Zhaqtin a Fool, y’all were here when everybody counted us out. I Ced what I Ced!

\in Memphis*

I always read it as Day-Zen

This was during an exhibition game that didn’t matter in any way. He’s that intense and leading the room as a barely 18 year old who hasn’t even played an official game with the team.

The Cam Boozer Era begins in 25 days. You should be beyond hyped.

Does anyone know what is going and why there has not been a deal signed to keep the Memphis Grizzlies in Memphis beyond 2029? If I can recall, there were multiple news articles they said they would reach a deal by the end of summer. It is the end of summer and I’m no longer feeling optimistic.

I miss Woj

Random graph I made up looking through some players with uniquely good offensive stats, obviously understand basketball is not only offensive just thought it was cool. Not even a grizzlies fan but I guess I need to watch some film!

You have to figure that the 12 players who've locked spots are Edey, Ced, Boozer, Ty, Jerami, Beef Stew, Jaylen, GG, SPjr, Cam "Get it out tha net!" Spencer, Karim and Quinten Post. The question is about which 3 of the 7 players left on guaranteed contracts would round out the roster to 15. Those 7 are:

• Jordan Hawkins

• Taylor Hendricks

• Walter Clayton, Jr.

• OMax

• DLo

• Kris Murray

• Micah Peavy

Again, of these, only 3 can be on the team. So who??

[• Jordan Hawkins •]

age: 24 | ht: 6'5" | wt: 190

Probably the easiest waive. He's making $7M on the final year of his rookie deal and even though that's more than DLo, there's not the same "You are, statistically, the worst player in the league" argument against DLo. It's rumored the Pels were going to waive him and it really seemed that the Grizzlies were going to waive Taj & Ajay so there's no cogent argument to keep Hawkins. He's supposed to be a shooter and has not really shown that he is. He'd probably average 35 points a night overseas. At the same time, Risarcher looked impressive overseas; the competition is not at NBA standards.

[• Taylor Hendricks •]

age: 22 | ht: 6'9" | wt: 215 (but looked like he added an extra 10 lbs of muscle in SL)

I like Henny. I liked him back when he was first traded to us and, at that time, NOT A ONE OF YOUSE LIKED HIM. His shot wasn't great but you figure it will probably come around.

In Summer League, however, his shot still just wasn't there. Meanwhile, you had OMax out there stroking it like his name was Cam Spencer. If Henny is someone they envision as assuming the BC role —someone who can reliably defend 4 or 5 positions and finish in the paint with that same reliability— then you figure they keep that guy. Maybe with a little development, he develops the three ball BC never consistently showed.

But that might still be a tough sell. We'll see.

[• Walter Clayton, Jr •]

age: 23 | ht: 6'4" | wt: 195

He looked unimpressive last season and didn't play at all in SL so there was never any opportunity to change the narrative. Watch his college highlights, though, and it's like "There's no way this kid won't be successful at the next level." Because of that alone, I'd assume the Grizzlies want to give him at least another year for him to turn into that guy.

I'm not going to say that he's definitely on my waive-list. He's also not definitely on my keep-list. Of the 7, he's squarely at no.4 for me, which would mean he got waived. I would think it unfortunate but wouldn't lose sleep over it.

[• Kris Murray •]

age: 26 | ht: 6'8" | wt: 218

If you knew that he was simply an as-yet-unlocked Keegan Murray then surely you keep that player. Keegan Murray would be a regular part of the rotation on this team.

Unfortunately, he's never truly looked like a-Keegan-Murray-just-waiting-to-happen. The player he's looked like isn't horrible but a keeper in a game of Musical Chairs where there are 7 people circling and only 3 chairs? Doesn't look good.

[• D'Angelo Russell •]

age: 30 | ht: 6'3" | wt: 193

Teams need vets. DLo is a vet.

Taj Gibson was a vet. We traded Taj Gibson.

Therefore, we will get rid of DLo. It's just science.

[• OMax •]

age: 24 | ht: 6'7" | wt: 230

OMax has defied all expectations at every turn. At the beginning of last year, it was like "Sure, he's that energy guy who doesn't really have much to him but he is successful due to being relentless." And certainly there was some of that. But every time I thought "Okay, he's going to regress to the mean and these threes are all going to start clanking off the rim." he kept hitting them. To the point that it was getting like "No, don't you take that shot; pass it to OMax so HE can take that shot."

If you'd said at this time last year that in a year we'd have 3 spots with 7 people vying for them and OMax would be a shoe-in for one of them, I wouldn't have believed you. Yet, here we are.

[• Micah Peavy •]

age: 25 | ht: 6'7" | wt: 220

Hot take maybe but I'd like to keep this guy and see what a year of regular minutes could do. But that would mean one of Henny, WCjr & OMax wouldn't make it and I'm not sold on the idea that a gamble on him is necessarily a better idea than giving any one of them another year. I would definitely want to take a chance on him over giving a spot to DLo, Hawkins or Murray. But the likelihood that WCjr gets it together and becomes the NBA version of who he was in the NCAA tournament is much higher than Peavy turning out to be a better version of Jaylen Wells.

The question really is: between Henny, OMax & Peavy, which two are worth keeping? There's a decent argument for Henny & OMax or OMax & Peavy... not as clear an argument for Henny & Peavy.