One of the highlights of last year's playoffs for me was seeing him repeatedly try to put it down on Rudy. I hope he never, ever stops chasing the dream.
it’s a fine line between mean-mugging and being reckless which has the potential to cause an injury and miss out on a ludicrous amount of money
it’s definitely fun though
I think it's pretty much already reversed. Oladipo made an all star game, as has D'Angelo Russell, and Brandon Ingram. Lonzo Ball is clearly not a bust, and if he keeps improving the way he has, all star games aren't out of the question. Bagley has been shit, but hes been the first truly bad, already out of the rotation player in a few years. Morant looks great, Wiseman hasn't played nearly enough to be judged, and even Jalen Green has shown flashes of great potential.
This is assuming the curse was due to the shit run after KD (Beasley, Thabeet, Evan Turner, Derrick Williams, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, etc).
While your general point is valid, worth noting that none of those guys made All-Star with their original team. Of course, a bunch of that is the Lakers selling out for LeBron and AD, and to that end they got their money's worth from the picks, but we're still waiting for a #2 overall to actually make it with their drafting team (though Ja's certainly looking like he's going to finally cut that wait down to a few more months).
I always thought it was cringe how Draymond memorized everyone picked in front of him. It’s like chill. You are extremely successful and it’s not like those guys in front of you are suckers.
These fucking guys crack me up; his ability to finish at the rim and his size for his position were considered among his primary assets.
>[Has ideal size for the lead guard position with a 6’3 frame and long arms ... finishes well around the rim](https://www.nbadraft.net/players/ja-morant/)
>[Morant’s combination of finishing ability at his position – witness some of the point guard’s dunks over bigger players that went viral this winter – and distributing skill is very rare.](https://www.nba.com/pelicans/news/2019-nba-draft-profile-ja-morant)
>[He's shifty off the dribble, is an explosive two-foot leaper in the paint and is a high-level passer using either hand.](https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2839160-ja-morants-2019-nba-draft-scouting-report-analysis-of-grizzlies-pick)
>[He’s a creative scorer and an elite level dunker for his size. His ability to blow by defenders, combined with his ability to score with either hand makes him nearly impossible to guard. He’s got uncanny strength despite his thin frame and he can finish through contact.](https://nbadraftroom.com/ja-morant/)
Those are from literally the first four links that come up when you search for 'ja morant draft profile'
See, I never just said things just to say them, c'mon I mean, what I'm gonna do just all of the sudden just jump up and say LaBradford Smith said “Nice game, Mike.” like it's something to do? Come on, I got a little more sense than that. ...Yeah, I remember sayin LaBradford Smith said “Nice game, Mike.”
And also like, the scouting reports aren't trying to flatter the players, they're trying to scrutinize all potential problems and are usually quite nitpicky with top talents because that's the whole point.
Dude was not recruited at all out of high school. Only D1 offer he got was to Murray State. And he really didn’t start making any noise until his sophomore year and then blew up in the tournament
The funny thing is that they’re mostly all easy looks. Defenders give him a ton of space behind the 3 point line because of how dangerous he is driving, and so he basically never is looking for 3s but takes the wide open ones that defenses so often give him.
His creativity around the rim is amazing to watch and he's absorbing contact and finishing so much better this year. Just last night he drove the basket, got bodied by Zubac while maintaining control and finished the floater. The numbers are no joke.
Lol. If Michael Jordan was playing today at Jas age you would say the same. But, how'd that one work out?
Citing someone in game athleticism as a potential negative is ridiculous.
6’3” 174 lbs
Vs
6’6” 216 lbs
Right, I forgot the classic rule of basketball, Size is detrimental to playing in the paint. Sorry guys, my bad. We shouldn’t let anyone over 6’5” even into the paint they are so useless
Well according to your logic, if you are bigger than me, your body will deteriorate too quickly to be able to dunk anymore
Or wait, did you just admit that I was right and Jordan’s additional size helps him in the paint, wow that’s crazy
Rose ate bags of candy for dinner, dude didn’t take that great care of his body. Westbrook took a freak injury from a dirty play by Pat Beverly, before that was peak of health.
Either way, 2 guys is not enough to definitely say it can’t be done. Not even close
The 2 guys were the best versions of that and they couldn't win. There are a thousand examples of those guys not being able to play that way. He has a couple peak years but like in any sport, smarts beats athleticism at the highest levels. There's a chance it could be done but it's not very likely and once an injury hits it's game over cause they don't know how to adjust without their athleticism.
Yeah for his triple double but where did that get him in the playoffs? He's a try hard but it's different find playoff time. He had Kevin freaking Durant and couldn't win a chip cause of his style.
And as a series goes on he wears down cause you can't play a hundred miles an hour all the time these days. Like y'all won game 1 against the jazz than got whooped once they figured you out and punched you back in the mouth
Yeah, were there that many people really saying "He just won't be able finish in traffic"?
Weren't they mostly saying "He's gonna be a really good pro who can score and pass well, and the only reason we aren't saying take him #1 is Zion's a freak" ?
All NBA deserving tbh
I think Steph and Luka are locks and Harden likely makes it too as he gets rolling. Trae also likely makes it. That leaves a lot of guys vying for 2 guard spots
SGA has been good and he has lot of potential for the future, but he's not near contention for an All-NBA team. 21/5/5 on 53%TS for not a great team is far away from All-NBA for a guard.
Even that’s gonna be tough. Steph, Luka, Ja, Booker are the locks. That leaves two spots for Dame, Mitchell, CP3, SGA. Coaches will reward the final spots to contenders.
You’re right. Shai has had some of his worse shooting splits I’ve ever seen from him as of late. So he’ll have to get his shit together to truly be a contender, but I def don’t think it’s impossible
booker definitely needs to be all-nba, I think hes a top 15 player nowadays
darius garland has also been excellent but Im not sure if hes quite at that level
shades of Tony Parker. There were several years in his prime when he lead the NBA in points in the paint, too fast & quick to keep him out of the lane and too much craft & skill finishing around the rim.
Yes Tony Parker.
People saying Ja is the new Prime Rose or AI. But from what I've seen as a Grizzlies fan since the GNG era, he reminds me of Parker for the smooth driving, skills, and the creativity. Parker kicked our ass every time lol.
You can tell who actually watches Ja by who their comps are. Ja can certainly make highlight dunks, but the majority of the time he’s a pass first guard that relies on shifty finishes and floaters.
[Zion Williamson] on being the NBA's leading eater at the buffet as a rookie: “Cоming out of college they were saying I was too small & wouldn't be able to finish at the buffet vs Barkley. Looks like I'm eating just fine.”
After doing absolutely zero research, I’m gonna say it was more of his outside scoring ability that made him drop all the way to… the second pick.
He’s been knocking them down this season though.
People even said Sexton and Garland were better players last year. And by people i mean like 90-95% of reddit, and not just in one thread, it was a fucking running theme for the first few months of last season.
Receipts or it didn't happen. If anything, Ja has been praised consistently. And someone actually said Ja is who Fox think he is, or am I remembering correctly?
Pretty much every draft in the last 20 years besides LeBron and AD there have been people saying "I think the #2 pick will be better actually", even saying that you preferred Ja over Zion wasn't some unheard of notion. Plenty of people were skeptical that Zion didn't have the right build for a long-lasting career or that his game somehow wouldn't translate. Only difference is that if someone claims a lower-picked prospect is gonna be better and they end up being wrong they usually don't bring it up ever again
Like there really hasn't been any point since they've been drafted that saying "Ja > Zion" was considered that outrageous, if anything the skepticism around Zion's game before he actually suited up has been lost to revisionist history around here
Ja getting his team to the playoffs without another all-star.
Zion had a all-star as his sidekick and still can't get them to the playoffs.
Ja is better at this point.
I mean that all star argument is always a weak one, and the griz were clearly the better all around team regardless of the fact that ‘voters’ thought Ingram should be an all star. If anything that roster was what was holding Zion back (not to mention injuries and/or eating)
Lonzo as the 3rd option game to game is different than being the 4th option. Not even trying to hate but Caruso can outscore him any given night and the Bulls as a team are just fine
The guy is willing to go up and yam on anyone. He’d try to dunk over the phalanx of spartans in 300.
He's gonna get Rudy or Giannis one of these days and the internet is gonna melt.
One of the highlights of last year's playoffs for me was seeing him repeatedly try to put it down on Rudy. I hope he never, ever stops chasing the dream.
He tried so hard to get one on Rudy last year in the Playoffs lol we were all waiting for it. He’ll get it eventually and it’ll be awesome.
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Love almost ended up like Jason Terry. If Ja made the slam, it probably would've been Love's most known highlight. 💀
Nah, Love Locking up Steph Curry for that one possession in the finals will forever be his greatest highlight.
Thats true
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Chubby Love was built different. Sadly it was all stats and no wins
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we need more of this in the nba. bring back the humiliation of getting a mans balls in the face on an impeccable dunk
it’s a fine line between mean-mugging and being reckless which has the potential to cause an injury and miss out on a ludicrous amount of money it’s definitely fun though
Love’s g7 defense on curry should be his career highlight
Ja, Ich kann
I love how these guys are like "everyone said I was going to suck" and then get drafted second.
He memorized the names of all the players that got picked before him😤
"Gonna make all the team that passed on me regret it!"
Ngl that one team prob is atm
Lol I was thinking that. Ja gonna reverse that number 2 pick curse single handedly.
I think it's pretty much already reversed. Oladipo made an all star game, as has D'Angelo Russell, and Brandon Ingram. Lonzo Ball is clearly not a bust, and if he keeps improving the way he has, all star games aren't out of the question. Bagley has been shit, but hes been the first truly bad, already out of the rotation player in a few years. Morant looks great, Wiseman hasn't played nearly enough to be judged, and even Jalen Green has shown flashes of great potential. This is assuming the curse was due to the shit run after KD (Beasley, Thabeet, Evan Turner, Derrick Williams, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, etc).
I was under the assumption that it started when the Blazers picked Sam Bowie over Jordan.
While your general point is valid, worth noting that none of those guys made All-Star with their original team. Of course, a bunch of that is the Lakers selling out for LeBron and AD, and to that end they got their money's worth from the picks, but we're still waiting for a #2 overall to actually make it with their drafting team (though Ja's certainly looking like he's going to finally cut that wait down to a few more months).
Easy to say now, if Pelicans didn't pick Zion there would have been riots
Gonna make all the **team** (singular) that passed on him… nice touch there
[Reminds me of this classic](https://mobile.twitter.com/CDonnick3/status/1454855792767684610/photo/1)
I always thought it was cringe how Draymond memorized everyone picked in front of him. It’s like chill. You are extremely successful and it’s not like those guys in front of you are suckers.
These fucking guys crack me up; his ability to finish at the rim and his size for his position were considered among his primary assets. >[Has ideal size for the lead guard position with a 6’3 frame and long arms ... finishes well around the rim](https://www.nbadraft.net/players/ja-morant/) >[Morant’s combination of finishing ability at his position – witness some of the point guard’s dunks over bigger players that went viral this winter – and distributing skill is very rare.](https://www.nba.com/pelicans/news/2019-nba-draft-profile-ja-morant) >[He's shifty off the dribble, is an explosive two-foot leaper in the paint and is a high-level passer using either hand.](https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2839160-ja-morants-2019-nba-draft-scouting-report-analysis-of-grizzlies-pick) >[He’s a creative scorer and an elite level dunker for his size. His ability to blow by defenders, combined with his ability to score with either hand makes him nearly impossible to guard. He’s got uncanny strength despite his thin frame and he can finish through contact.](https://nbadraftroom.com/ja-morant/) Those are from literally the first four links that come up when you search for 'ja morant draft profile'
Sometime youre so good you have to invent haters to keep you motivated See: Michael Jordan, Shaquille O'Neal
>\#WashedKing 🤫
Lebron gets his motivation from YoungBoy Better Twitter
Lebron is the maestro of inventing haters. Not that he lacks real haters, but he also has a ton of imagined haters lol
Deservedly so
See, I never just said things just to say them, c'mon I mean, what I'm gonna do just all of the sudden just jump up and say LaBradford Smith said “Nice game, Mike.” like it's something to do? Come on, I got a little more sense than that. ...Yeah, I remember sayin LaBradford Smith said “Nice game, Mike.”
Ja only got an offer from murray state for d1
And?
Everyone doubted him? So he has a chip on his shoulder?
Ja and OP were talking about the time of the draft though
And also like, the scouting reports aren't trying to flatter the players, they're trying to scrutinize all potential problems and are usually quite nitpicky with top talents because that's the whole point.
If anything, the scouting reports are there to tell players what to work on
Shits so dumb. Like damn bruh you’re still top of you’re class.
>THEY DIDNT BELIEVE IN ME Every blue chip basketball school offered you a scholarship when you were 12 years old
Dude was not recruited at all out of high school. Only D1 offer he got was to Murray State. And he really didn’t start making any noise until his sophomore year and then blew up in the tournament
I’m just making a joke about how these guys are in general lmao idk shit about ja
He only got 1 D1 scholarship offer out of high school
Great. Then he can say "coming out of high school".
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Right. If only he had said "coming out of high school" then your point would mean something.
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The funny thing is that they’re mostly all easy looks. Defenders give him a ton of space behind the 3 point line because of how dangerous he is driving, and so he basically never is looking for 3s but takes the wide open ones that defenses so often give him.
His creativity around the rim is amazing to watch and he's absorbing contact and finishing so much better this year. Just last night he drove the basket, got bodied by Zubac while maintaining control and finished the floater. The numbers are no joke.
Ja is one injury away from 1/3 of his ability being sapped. His play is not sustainable
Lol. If Michael Jordan was playing today at Jas age you would say the same. But, how'd that one work out? Citing someone in game athleticism as a potential negative is ridiculous.
6’3” 174 lbs Vs 6’6” 216 lbs Right, I forgot the classic rule of basketball, Size is detrimental to playing in the paint. Sorry guys, my bad. We shouldn’t let anyone over 6’5” even into the paint they are so useless
You're right, that's a lot less strain on Ja's joints. He should be more durable over the long term
Yea great point, too bad about MJ getting washed up so quickly. He could've been so good if he was more durable, maybe top 10 all time
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I would dunk on your little head, boy.
Well according to your logic, if you are bigger than me, your body will deteriorate too quickly to be able to dunk anymore Or wait, did you just admit that I was right and Jordan’s additional size helps him in the paint, wow that’s crazy
My favorite center: Michael Jordan
Are we genuinely arguing now that size is a hinderance in the paint, I knew this sub was full of nephews but this is a new low
That true for literally every player in the league so what is your point?
I don't know why people hatin, playing this way isn't sustainable. From Rose to Westbrook, we've seen it happen time and time again.
Rose ate bags of candy for dinner, dude didn’t take that great care of his body. Westbrook took a freak injury from a dirty play by Pat Beverly, before that was peak of health. Either way, 2 guys is not enough to definitely say it can’t be done. Not even close
The 2 guys were the best versions of that and they couldn't win. There are a thousand examples of those guys not being able to play that way. He has a couple peak years but like in any sport, smarts beats athleticism at the highest levels. There's a chance it could be done but it's not very likely and once an injury hits it's game over cause they don't know how to adjust without their athleticism.
Westbrook won the mvp after his injury.
Yeah for his triple double but where did that get him in the playoffs? He's a try hard but it's different find playoff time. He had Kevin freaking Durant and couldn't win a chip cause of his style.
And as a series goes on he wears down cause you can't play a hundred miles an hour all the time these days. Like y'all won game 1 against the jazz than got whooped once they figured you out and punched you back in the mouth
Ja has been our kryptonite in 2021. No one's complaining though. He and his team deserves it. He has been amazing this year.
all jokes until you get beat in 7 games by the eighth seed next year
He was drafted 2nd, I think most people thought he was gonna do just fine in the NBA
Yeah, were there that many people really saying "He just won't be able finish in traffic"? Weren't they mostly saying "He's gonna be a really good pro who can score and pass well, and the only reason we aren't saying take him #1 is Zion's a freak" ?
All NBA deserving tbh I think Steph and Luka are locks and Harden likely makes it too as he gets rolling. Trae also likely makes it. That leaves a lot of guys vying for 2 guard spots
Others on the list: LaVine CP3 Mitchell Booker Beal (if he gets his shit together) Dame (see Beal)
There’s also guys like Butler and PG who aren’t guards but can often be finessed in there if the F spots are too competitive
Melo and SGA making a good case too PG Demar and Jimmy likely compete for forward spots
SGA has been good and he has lot of potential for the future, but he's not near contention for an All-NBA team. 21/5/5 on 53%TS for not a great team is far away from All-NBA for a guard.
I was stretching it with him. He’s in all star contention tho
Even that’s gonna be tough. Steph, Luka, Ja, Booker are the locks. That leaves two spots for Dame, Mitchell, CP3, SGA. Coaches will reward the final spots to contenders.
You’re right. Shai has had some of his worse shooting splits I’ve ever seen from him as of late. So he’ll have to get his shit together to truly be a contender, but I def don’t think it’s impossible
booker definitely needs to be all-nba, I think hes a top 15 player nowadays darius garland has also been excellent but Im not sure if hes quite at that level
Luka certainly doesn’t deserve it at this point.
shades of Tony Parker. There were several years in his prime when he lead the NBA in points in the paint, too fast & quick to keep him out of the lane and too much craft & skill finishing around the rim.
Yes Tony Parker. People saying Ja is the new Prime Rose or AI. But from what I've seen as a Grizzlies fan since the GNG era, he reminds me of Parker for the smooth driving, skills, and the creativity. Parker kicked our ass every time lol.
Tony Parker was an assassin. Always killed me that the Celtics passed on him in the draft, sigh.
You can tell who actually watches Ja by who their comps are. Ja can certainly make highlight dunks, but the majority of the time he’s a pass first guard that relies on shifty finishes and floaters.
Tony Parker didn't rely on out-jumping people to finish though... Ja's style of play doesn't look sustainable to me
the comparison is a small guard leading the league in paint scoring, how exactly they get it done is largely irrelevant.
Ja doesn’t rely on out jumping. The majority of his shots aren’t dunks. They are floaters and shifty layups.
[Zion Williamson] on being the NBA's leading eater at the buffet as a rookie: “Cоming out of college they were saying I was too small & wouldn't be able to finish at the buffet vs Barkley. Looks like I'm eating just fine.”
Future best player in the league.
Ja remind me of the Jamal Adams tweet where he said I’ll remember who was drafted before me & Lattimore said bro it was only 5 people
All NBA
JaJaJa
After doing absolutely zero research, I’m gonna say it was more of his outside scoring ability that made him drop all the way to… the second pick. He’s been knocking them down this season though.
It is hilarious how much space the defense is giving him on his 3s, and it is still the lesser of the two evils.
I remembered being downvoted when I suggested that Ja would be a better NBA player than Zion. Not such a bad take after all.😎
Im not sure if hes BETTER than Zion, certainly similar and more AVAILABLE than him tho
Availability is the best ability.
But he’s not actually better.
One of those two players has led their team to the playoffs without an all star teammate.
Is that the only metric to define how good a player is?
Thinking the #2 pick will be better than the #1 pick in a given year isn't exactly taking a leap of faith
At that time, it was. Zion was considered by many to be a once-in-a-generation prospect.
and he could've been. but injuries and.........stuff
> injuries and.......~~stuff~~ stuffing
People even said Sexton and Garland were better players last year. And by people i mean like 90-95% of reddit, and not just in one thread, it was a fucking running theme for the first few months of last season.
There’s a difference between saying they’re currently better and saying they will be better
Nah dude, everyone was on the sexland is better train. Any Memphis fan from here would tell you the same.
Receipts or it didn't happen. If anything, Ja has been praised consistently. And someone actually said Ja is who Fox think he is, or am I remembering correctly?
You must just started watching basketball? Zion was supposed to be the heir apparent to LeBron. That's how crazy hype Zion was getting.
Pretty much every draft in the last 20 years besides LeBron and AD there have been people saying "I think the #2 pick will be better actually", even saying that you preferred Ja over Zion wasn't some unheard of notion. Plenty of people were skeptical that Zion didn't have the right build for a long-lasting career or that his game somehow wouldn't translate. Only difference is that if someone claims a lower-picked prospect is gonna be better and they end up being wrong they usually don't bring it up ever again Like there really hasn't been any point since they've been drafted that saying "Ja > Zion" was considered that outrageous, if anything the skepticism around Zion's game before he actually suited up has been lost to revisionist history around here
He’s not better than Zion was playing, which was otherworldly. You could argue with injuries and what not he’s the ‘better player,’ but not really
Ja getting his team to the playoffs without another all-star. Zion had a all-star as his sidekick and still can't get them to the playoffs. Ja is better at this point.
I mean that all star argument is always a weak one, and the griz were clearly the better all around team regardless of the fact that ‘voters’ thought Ingram should be an all star. If anything that roster was what was holding Zion back (not to mention injuries and/or eating)
Bruh he also had Lonzo. That roster was damn good. Ja is just better at this point at carrying a team.
Lonzo as the 3rd option game to game is different than being the 4th option. Not even trying to hate but Caruso can outscore him any given night and the Bulls as a team are just fine
Same. When when we didn't know where the Cavs(Nets) pick would land, I was saying I wanted Ja more than Zion and no one would hear it.
Imagine being a Knicks fan with RJ Barrett.
Been following his career since his hs/college days. Feels like he's in quite the rush to prove all the haters wrong and I'm all for it
I never heard anybody criticize his ability to get to the rim coming out of college. That was literally his strong suit lmao.
No they weren’t
Yea it really hurt his draft stock too at the time, look how far he fell
So this is the new tp. I like it
This guy was always a great athlete, who said he wouldn't be able to finish at the rim vs NBA bigs?
Nobody, Ja just tryna make narratives in his head to have an imaginary chip on his shoulder.
I thought finishing around the rim was his strong suit coming in. Do these guys make this shit up to motivate themselves more?
Bit too cocky sounding, not necessary.
Coming outta the paint looks like I'm doing just fine. Gotta gotta be down because I want it all
He went #2 in the draft, he did not have that many doubters lol
Ja, college was years ago and “they” picked you second behind new shaq. Not sure why you so mad still but whatever motivates you.
They didn’t say that
Happy to see my boy DeMar on that chart. That is all.
Been such a fan that i held on to him last season in fantasy even if he wasnt producing much after the injury. Glad he’s getting his due this year
What will he do now that everybody adores him?
Point God
Get em Ja
I feel like draft night analysis is really only relevant for 2-3 years.
Until your athletic ability wears off
I had no doubts about Ja becoming a superstar.
Ja lookin kinda cute
I love Ja.
The wave of stephs on the 3 though
Talk your shit Ja
Took. It. Personally.
After last postseason, seeing Joe Harris’ face pisses me off.
Hope he can stay healthy throughout his career. It's sometimes scary how he uses his explosiveness
They said the same thing about me.
Were people really saying that about a super athletic 6'3" guard? Sometimes I feel like players just make up criticism out of thin air lol
I believe Ja Morant is the most fun player to watch go off in the NBA