Memphis Grizzlies general manager Zach Kleiman spoke at a news conference on Friday for the first time since the preseason, just a day after a busy NBA trade deadline for the Grizzlies.

Memphis traded Steven Adams, Xavier Tillman Sr. and David Roddy in separate deals, getting back Lamar Stevens, Yuta Watanabe and draft compensation. The Grizzlies also acquired and then waived Victor Oladipo and Chimezie Metu.

The open roster spot was filled by signing GG Jackson to a standard contract. Jackson had been on a two-way deal, so the Grizzlies signed center Trey Jemison to a two-way deal Friday morning. He had been with the team on a 10-day contract.

Kleiman spoke about the team's future, focusing on development during an injury-riddled season and his priorities moving forward. Here's everything he said.

What's the message for the fans after these moves?

“Taking a step back, zooming out before getting to the exact moves, obviously this season has been this season. There’s been a lot of things from a health standpoint, in particular, that haven’t gone our way, and what we’re doing is being very intentional about what we see as a championship window that has opened. We care deeply about every single game that we play, and that’s going to remain the rest of the season. I think (coach) Taylor (Jenkins) and the group are doing a good job focusing on developing the right habits, competing at a high level – I think we saw that again last night – and seeing what else we can find from a roster-building standpoint the rest of the way. But we are, in terms of what we’re certainly focused on, and I would think, I imagine the fans care about it as well, is how are we putting the team in position to go and compete at the highest level in the NBA next year and beyond with this young core that we have, with Ja (Morant), Jaren (Jackson Jr.), Des (Bane).

“We’ve been really intrigued with Marcus Smart’s fit on court and off court so far. I think he’s been a driver elevating the group’s approach as well. The emergence of Vince Williams, GG Jackson – excited that he’s now with us definitively, multiyear, as well. We’re focused on, we believe, have real conviction that with, especially with some of the guys who have broken out recently, that this team – there’s more work to be done. We’re looking forward to this offseason, and this offseason was definitely a major driver of this trade deadline. How do we put ourselves in position to be able to have some more flexibility, to capitalize on, you know, whether we’re picking 15th, 10th, 7th, or first, wherever that pick might land, we want to be in a position where we have flexibility, whether it’s draft or trade, to put this team in a position to go out and really compete at the highest level. Again, I think it’s a window of contention that the age of our key guys, beginning to enter their prime, we’re excited to do everything we can to capitalize on it.”

The Steven Adams trade and what's next at center

“On a human level, this was a trade deadline where there were three guys really, in Steven, Xavier Tillman and Dvaid Roddy, who I think were drivers in the locker room. They all brought different things in their approach, but truly wonderful individuals who are going to be missed and difficult decisions in each of those cases. Steven, obviously, we’ve missed him on the court this year as well. I think he’s going to be back and I think he’s going to be Steven Adams in Houston. But for us, really taking a step back and being intentional, we have this unique opportunity at this draft. Again, wherever that pick might be, we want to be in a position where we’re able to kind of navigate and steer that different directions to have optionality. We certainly have not solved, at this point, probably for, Jaren is certainly one of the long term bigs. And I think there’s an open question about who do we pursue, be it by trade, draft, free agency. Is there another addition we look to make to optimize Jaren, to optimize our front court, and to generally position the team to be successful? There’s work to be done there, definitely.”

Will the team be limited by the luxury tax?

“There’s not a budget that we have to operate from. There’s not a place where we need to be relative to any marker or luxury tax – first apron or second apron or otherwise. Under the new CBA, there’s basketball limitations at each of those thresholds and as we think about on the court, how do we assemble, manage, continue to build a roster that has a chance to compete and continue to compete at the highest level. Those are all things we’ll have to weigh from a team-building standpoint. We’re fortunate Robert (Pera) is an incredible owner both financially, tactfully we are fortunate to operate in a way where we don’t have to operate from reaching a certain end. But it is something from a basketball team-building standpoint, especially under the new CBA, that you have to be mindful of.”

So being into the tax has not been ruled out?

“Correct.”

Brandon Clarke's recovery process

“I think Brandon is a significant part of the big equation moving forward. Brandon is doing really well in his recovery. I think there’s a – we’ll make a determination when we get a little bit closer – but Brandon has not been ruled out for the season. I think if things, if it’s advisable – regardless of record or anything like that – a little cameo at the end of the season just to build momentum going into next season, I think that’s something that’s still potentially on the table for Brandon Clarke. And, obviously, we’ve missed Brandon among all the guys that we’ve missed this season. But Brandon, historically, has been an excellent pairing with Jaren on the court, and others. Again, I think there’s additions we’re going to look to make to the roster as well, but we do see Brandon as someone who can be a significant part of this group moving forward.”

Jaren Jackson Jr.’s role in light of these moves

“First off, credit to Jaren for a second there. Jaren is out there, my God, what he has developed into on court, off court, he is still – again, the record is what it is right now. But what Jaren is doing, it’s absolutely incredible and could not give more credit to him and his approach and how steady I think he’s been day to day. I think the beauty of Jaren’s game on both ends of the floor is there’s always this dialogue of, ‘Is Jaren a 4 or is Jaren a 5?’ Yes. Right? He can be both. Right? Sometimes when you talk about players, you talk about tweeners and they’re neither. That’s the problem. There’s some major deficiency at both positions that doesn’t allow them to be effective terribly at either. I think, again, the beauty of Jaren’s skill set and size and everything that he brings to the table, we’ve now seen over multiple years with many different big combinations, that Jaren can be really effective both as a 5 as well as a 4 with a more traditional big – and probably selling Steven Adams short, but a big of Steven’s ilk, if you will. As we’re thinking about optimizing this team in the context of playoff basketball, which continues to be a focus. That’s very much, when we’re thinking about bringing in (players), all those things, how do we put the team in position to win four playoff series in a row? There’s different bigs we have to go up against. There’s different teams we have to get through, and I think Jaren’s ability to effectively play both the four and the five – he’s playing more five right now – and I think that’s excellent for his development. He probably played a little bit more at the four last year, but I think that we’ve seen in the playoffs teams trend a little more towards small ball, and Jaren being able to be an effective five in that context, I think, is critical. But at the same time, being able to be an effective four and being able to play off of a more traditional big, and roam and be disruptive defensively, I think it’s more valuable than most bigs because he can play both.”

Signing GG Jackson, what does he add to franchise?

“Yeah, very excited about GG’s growth even just over the course of the season. When GG came in pre-draft, the summer league, early days of his time with us – obviously a lot of time with the Hustle – we’ve thrown a lot at him. And from the first time we sat down with him, GG has proven to be very, very, open, very receptive, very coachable. GG wants to be great and he wants to be a team player and we’ve given him a lot of feedback – constructive feedback – over the course of the year, and he just keeps soaking it up. I don’t need to tell you guys about the potential and, more than flashes. This isn’t just, ‘Oh, he’s doing something impressive here and there.’ GG is stringing together, in a meaningful way, impacting winning basketball in large part. With that, with the frame that he has, that’s the mold of a wing we haven’t really had recently and very excited. He has more work to do, most definitely, but we believe in him. I think he’s going to keep putting in the work and we’re going to do our part to help him realize that potential.”

Returns from injury for Desmond Bane and Marcus Smart

"On the health front, Des and Marcus in particular, they're both doing well. They're attacking their rehab. Taking it day to day, but I think they're making good progress. There's not a set timeline, though, at this point."

The importance of second-round picks

"In terms of the draft capital, yeah. This is maybe not the most exciting deadline in that there's not a significant starting-caliber player addition maybe that we've added. Although we're excited about Yuta coming back, Lamar Stevens is going to join the group as well. We prioritize flexibility and generating some draft assets. We're in a position where we still have all of our firsts with some upside. We had that going in, we've added a little more upside to one of our firsts. We were down to two seconds. We now have many. Off the top of my head, I don't even know exactly, how many we have now. As we're getting into this draft, we have trades that we could look at involving the first-round pick. Moving up, moving down, moving around, adding a pick and a player. There's a lot of ways we can play it that are now — avenues that I think are going to be open to us now that might not otherwise have been, which — when we're talking about an asset as significant as what could be a high-end first-round pick, we're focusing on that. That's kind of the driver -- if there's a decision tree, if you will -- of what comes next, it's, 'Let's see where that pick lands, and then we can decide.' We're not going to be locked into a position. We want to see where that is, what players stand out at that point of the draft, and what trade possibilities there are. And then from there, we'll figure out the next step. It's a unique asset for a team that has the talent that we already have to potentially have a pick that is in that range of the draft."

Building with players on max contracts

"They're all at a more than deserving place at this point with where they're at contractually. That does take up a more significant chunk under the salary cap rules, under any CBA. I think a lot of the philosophy still applies, where we're trying to find guys who might be undervalued, guys who might be under the radar, guys who fit, most importantly, at the end of the day, to be able to help us in the context of playoff basketball. We have some more roster spots going forward, as well, or potential roster spots, at least. That's something that we have coming out of this deadline that we actually haven't had, in some time. Being intentional with those roster spots to both add experienced players, they might not be at an enormous financial commitment, but are there some guys who, on the margins, could fit and could help the group? And at the same time, still being able to identify in the draft — certainly in the last couple of years, GG Jackson, Vince Williams — we can hopefully continue to find guys who can emerge and help us. We're not going to foreclose any avenue to adding guys that we think can help. We're very open-minded at this point and going to be intentional about the fact that the competitive window is open and we want to pursue moves that are going to give the group the chance to compete next year and beyond."

Development of Jake LaRavia and Ziaire Williams

"The way that we're viewing the rest of the season for Jake, for Ziaire and for the rest of the group is: These games are incredibly important for your development, for the group. We're taking them all very seriously. And I think there's an opportunity the rest of the way where — obviously we're down several guys. And some of them aren't coming back, potentially, this season. No delusions about that. But relative to early on in the season -- where some of the opportunity came for those guys, positionally, I'm not sure — we had so many wings on the roster to start the year. And our injuries were to point guard and big. So a lot of guys were forced to play up out of position, forced to play down out of position. I think one of the things that we can do the rest of the way, even if some of the guys at those spots, they're younger. They're more developmental projects, if you will. But I think we can probably better surround them the rest of the way with guys who can potentially put them in positions to be successful. So, we're excited to see what those guys can make of those opportunities. I think everyone is going to have opportunities the rest of the way. So, we're excited. We take every single game that we play seriously. We learn from every single game that we play. I'm excited to see what transpires the rest of the way."

Future of LaRavia and Williams with the Grizzlies

"We're in a spot where we have a lot of young players. Nothing has been ruled out, let me say that. Everyone at the very least has shown that in stretches, there's a lot to be encouraged by, what they bring to the table. What we're focused on right now is giving those guys opportunities and chances to be successful, and it wouldn't surprise me if there are some guys who emerge and maybe surprise people."

Future of Luke Kennard

"Having not touched on X, if I can just digress on that one for a second. Touched on Steven before, but Xavier Tillman, unbelievable part of this group for four years. Someone who really fits our DNA, certainly, of what we've been about. Him and his family have poured in to this group and what we've been about, and very much going to miss X and even over a shorter year and half, David Roddy as well. One of the hardest workers on the team, I think he's going to be successful and we're wishing all those guys the best going forward. Luke is someone that we value. Luke has proven, I think, to be a unique and impactful on-court fit, including in the context of playoff basketball. We go back to that Lakers series, don't know the numbers off the top of my head, but we played really well when Luke was on the court. We played really well when Luke and Des were on the court together. Obviously we hold a team option on Luke going into next season, but Luke is someone that we think has been a great fit so far, and it wasn't someone we were looking to move. Luke is someone we feel strongly about as part of this group."

Record affecting injury returns?

"The record, that never plays a role in availability. I think we'll be smart. We want to make sure that our guys are going to be in a position to be fully helpful, and obviously we want the group to be able to hit the ground running next season. But we'll take those a day at a time, a week at a time. We'll be smart with the decisions, but decisions won't be made based on the record."

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Everything Grizzlies GM Zach Kleiman said after NBA trade deadline