Revealed in the eyes of the basketball world by his breathtaking match against France during the last Olympics with 29 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists (but the fault was on Matthew Strazel's 3+1 which cost Japan the victory), the japanese leader Yuki Kawamura was invited to attend the Grizzlies training camp.
To see the images of the training open to the public on Sunday, the Japanese player is doing his best to live the experience to the fullest! The session which took place at the FedEx Forum allowed the public to meet his team, including its leader Ja Morant. It also allowed rookies Cam Spencer, Jaylen Wells and Zach Edey to introduce themselves, with a traditional “hazing” taking the form of a dance in the middle of the field.
The darling of the public
That's when the fans started chanting “Yuki” to encourage Yuki Kawamura to introduce himself. The 1m72 leader then did so by reprising the “Griddy Dance” from Ja Morant, who then joined him for a moment of sharing that the fans visibly appreciated. “I think Yuki clearly stole the show today. He's quite a character.”slipped his teammate Jake LaRavia.
Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins also appreciated the attitude of what could be called a “20th man”, as he will have little chance of finishing in the final group for 2024/25, but who brings with his enthusiasm and his want to do well when preparing for the season.
“He’s a guy who’s full of energy. He has an outgoing personality. I'm happy he was able to show it today in front of the fans.”, he declared.
First test against the Mavericks
Attitude counts, but so do basketball skills, and Yuki Kawamura also stood out on this point, not hesitating to go up against Zach Edey who nevertheless makes him more than 50 centimeters tall! The leader also said he was ready to contribute to the rookie's progress by combining with him when the two players are associated.
“I used to play with Kai Sotto, who is the tallest player in Japanese basketball today. He must be the same height as Zach Edey (2m21). I love playing with big pivots. I'm very excited to play with him.”, explained the person concerned.
The model teammate will now have to show himself in preseason games, a task that promises to be far from easy given the competition for the point guard position in Tennessee. The Grizzlies' first preseason match will be a good test this evening on the Mavericks floor for the Doncic/Irving pair.
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Party | Pts |
| Ja Morant | 9 | 35.3 | 47.1 | 27.5 | 81.3 | 0.7 | 4.9 | 5.6 | 8.1 | 3.0 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 2.1 | 25.1 |
| Desmond Bane | 42 | 34.4 | 46.4 | 38.1 | 87.0 | 0.9 | 3.5 | 4.4 | 5.5 | 2.7 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 2.9 | 23.7 |
| Jaren Jackson, Jr. | 66 | 32.2 | 44.4 | 32.0 | 80.8 | 1.3 | 4.2 | 5.5 | 2.3 | 2.4 | 1.2 | 1.6 | 3.6 | 22.5 |
| Gg Jackson | 48 | 25.7 | 42.8 | 35.7 | 75.2 | 1.1 | 3.0 | 4.1 | 1.2 | 1.4 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 1.3 | 14.6 |
| Marcus Smart | 20 | 30.2 | 43.0 | 31.3 | 76.8 | 0.3 | 2.4 | 2.7 | 4.3 | 3.1 | 2.1 | 0.3 | 2.7 | 14.5 |
| Scotty Pippen, Jr. | 21 | 25.1 | 49.3 | 41.7 | 74.5 | 1.0 | 2.1 | 3.2 | 4.7 | 2.7 | 1.7 | 0.5 | 2.9 | 12.9 |
| Lamar Stevens | 19 | 23.0 | 44.6 | 28.9 | 79.1 | 1.3 | 3.8 | 5.1 | 1.1 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 1.6 | 11.5 |
| Brandon Clarke | 6 | 22.4 | 55.9 | 16.7 | 14.3 | 2.2 | 3.2 | 5.3 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 11.3 |
| Luke Kennard | 39 | 25.6 | 44.8 | 45.0 | 88.9 | 0.3 | 2.6 | 2.9 | 3.5 | 1.4 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 11.0 |
| Jake Laravia | 35 | 23.0 | 38.9 | 34.0 | 82.6 | 1.5 | 2.2 | 3.7 | 1.7 | 1.3 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 2.0 | 10.8 |
| Santi Aldama | 61 | 26.5 | 43.5 | 34.9 | 62.1 | 1.2 | 4.6 | 5.8 | 2.3 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 1.5 | 10.7 |
| Vincent Williams, Jr. | 52 | 27.6 | 44.6 | 37.8 | 80.0 | 1.1 | 4.4 | 5.6 | 3.4 | 1.8 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 2.6 | 10.0 |
| Jordan Goodwin | 17 | 29.3 | 34.9 | 31.1 | 63.3 | 2.8 | 5.2 | 8.0 | 4.5 | 1.6 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 1.9 | 10.0 |
| David Roddy | 48 | 23.2 | 40.2 | 30.1 | 68.7 | 1.1 | 3.1 | 4.2 | 1.6 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 1.4 | 8.4 |
| Ziaire Williams | 51 | 20.3 | 39.7 | 30.7 | 82.7 | 0.7 | 2.8 | 3.5 | 1.5 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 1.7 | 8.2 |
| Derrick Rose | 24 | 16.6 | 46.1 | 36.6 | 88.9 | 0.3 | 1.6 | 1.9 | 3.3 | 1.3 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 8.0 |
| Trey Jemison | 23 | 24.9 | 55.1 | 0.0 | 84.0 | 2.8 | 3.0 | 5.8 | 1.2 | 1.4 | 0.5 | 1.2 | 3.0 | 7.4 |
| Maozinha Pereira | 7 | 17.4 | 51.4 | 38.5 | 70.0 | 1.6 | 3.7 | 5.3 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 1.4 | 6.9 |
| Xavier Tillman, Sr. | 34 | 20.6 | 40.8 | 22.6 | 41.9 | 1.6 | 3.0 | 4.6 | 1.7 | 0.9 | 1.2 | 1.0 | 1.8 | 6.0 |
| Zavier Simpson | 7 | 23.1 | 31.5 | 29.4 | 75.0 | 0.6 | 2.3 | 2.9 | 3.6 | 1.4 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 1.6 | 6.0 |
| Jaylen Nowell | 9 | 17.4 | 40.0 | 17.4 | 100.0 | 0.3 | 1.2 | 1.6 | 1.8 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 1.4 | 5.7 |
| Bismack Biyombo | 30 | 23.9 | 56.3 | 0.0 | 47.8 | 1.9 | 4.5 | 6.4 | 1.7 | 1.3 | 0.3 | 1.1 | 2.7 | 5.2 |
| Dejon Jarreau | 9 | 16.6 | 34.0 | 30.8 | 45.5 | 0.9 | 4.0 | 4.9 | 2.9 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 1.6 | 4.8 |
| Jacob Gilyard | 37 | 17.7 | 41.7 | 42.5 | 100.0 | 0.2 | 0.9 | 1.2 | 3.5 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 4.7 |
| John Konchar | 55 | 21.3 | 42.3 | 31.7 | 84.0 | 1.3 | 3.4 | 4.7 | 2.0 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 1.4 | 4.3 |
| Matthew Hurt | 8 | 14.2 | 35.3 | 25.0 | 100.0 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 2.0 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 1.0 | 4.0 |
| Wenyen Gabriel | 5 | 16.2 | 36.4 | 16.7 | 0.0 | 1.4 | 3.6 | 5.0 | 0.6 | 1.6 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 2.0 | 3.4 |
| Kenny Lofton, Jr. | 15 | 6.6 | 37.8 | 30.0 | 53.3 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 1.0 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 1.0 | 2.6 |
| Yuta Watanabe | 5 | 16.4 | 31.6 | 10.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.8 | 1.8 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 2.6 |
| Tommy Allen | 5 | 25.1 | 26.1 | 0.0 | 50.0 | 0.8 | 2.6 | 3.4 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 3.6 | 2.6 |
| Tosan Evbuomwan | 4 | 18.5 | 26.7 | 25.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 1.5 | 3.5 | 1.5 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 2.5 |
| Jack White | 4 | 15.9 | 12.5 | 20.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 0.8 | 1.5 |
| Shaquille Harrison | 3 | 2.0 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.7 |
