Ja Morant Highlights: Memphis Grizzlies Season - NBA Basketball

What's up everyone, it's Drew, we're back with another NBA video

The Memphis Grizzlies have suddenly become a big talking point in the NBA the last couple

weeks, the last couple days even, really ever since the Taylor Jenkins firing

They've had a very tumultuous season, a lot of ups, a lot of downs, well actually like

mostly downs even though they were peaking as the second seed in the Western Conference

this year, and they've had a lot of interesting storylines developed, but I think the main

thing that I want to talk about in this video is that the NBA seems very distressed about the state

of the Grizzlies, and I think that's like very, very unreasonable. So let's talk about this team

and why I think we as NBA fans need to just chill out about the Memphis Grizzlies. If you guys like

this video, make sure to like and subscribe. We're trying to hit a thousand subscribers at

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Discord. Links down below. Go follow those, and let's just get into this one. And I think the

first thing we gotta talk about if you're talking about the Grizzlies, it's gotta be Ja Morant

He's the main character of this team. He's, in my opinion, their most important player

and when he's on his game, their best player. He's the axis upon which this whole thing rotates

And, I mean, we can just call it what it is. Ja has not had a good season. He's had a good season

maybe compared to other starting point guards in the NBA. He's had a good season, maybe if you just

look at it completely objectively, but if you look at this from the perspective of what John Morant

has been doing the last few years versus this year, John Morant has really taken a dip this

year in a few major ways. His three-point shooting the last like couple years has stagnated pretty

heavily, and that trend has continued this year. He just looks a little bit less explosive, a little

less aggressive, just not as dominant or as like forceful as he has been in years past. Talked about

like not dunking this year, super weird. I don't really believe that that's going to be a thing

that he just stops doing. I think the main reason that he's sort of been not as good this year

though, is just like he's had a bunch of little injuries. I actually looked this up right before

this video. You look at like the injury report for John Morant this season. It's like hamstring

shoulder, knee, shoulder, illness, foot, AC joint, misses a few weeks with a back injury

The shoulder and the back injuries have really like hampered his ability this season

Back injuries like really zap your athleticism, so if that's going to be something that continues

that might be something to really note and like monitor with him. But assuming that's just like a minor thing, I really don't really have a lot of concern with John Morant

I think it's just sort of a down year for him. a weird year for the Grizzlies trying to implement this new offense where he's really not as involved

as much. Part of his lack of involvement in the offense has just been the fact that he's never

healthy. So they've needed Scottie Pippen to sort of like bolster the playmaking and the ball handling

duties on this team. Other than Ja, this team really doesn't have a ton of shot creation. Of

course, Desmond Bain can do it a little bit. But like Scottie Pippen is really the main, I guess

orchestrator of the offense when Jha is away. So I guess when Jha comes back and he only played 47 games this year so not only is he not eligible for awards he barely played like half the season So I guess implementing him with a secondary ball handler like Scottie Pippen it really difficult especially when Scottie had such a good season

Crazy discount bargain bin player, by the way. He literally came out of nowhere and this team basically stole him

So I think just all those factors have sort of led to this inevitable downfall that Ja was going to have this season

And fortunately, because the Grizzlies murdered Jailer Jenkins this week, and I'm pretty sure fired like half his coaching staff or something

I think the offense is going to go back to normal. Ja had a crazy good game in Miami last night where he went off in the second half

hit a game winner, had this crazy tip in late in the game. Like he just looked really electric, and the Grizzlies really deferred to him down the stretch

Even when he got double teamed, and he got double teamed a lot last night

Like he still was very, very effective at passing out of that and just still being very aggressive like through him through

So I think the Grizzlies might be able to turn a corner here with John Morant in the last like eight games of the season

Maybe they can make some noise in the playoffs. I'm not super certain about it

Now that they've got this new coach, they've got this new coach, Tomas Isalio

Tomas Isalio. So he is, I guess, going to sort of, you know, bring the Grizzlies back to where they were before

I think Taylor Jenkins had really lost John Morant and lost a lot of the locker room this season

So I think that was sort of also contributing to their downfall. And honestly, I think John Morant is due for a much better season next year

This is still one of the most explosive, talented guards in the NBA. I have no doubt that he's going to be awesome next year

I think it's just a matter of, like, how can they really build this team effectively around him

and can they get him some ball handling help? Because yes, I think the Scottie Pippen lineups actually work

I'd like to see a little bit more of just a better shot creator than Scottie Pippen next to jaw

Again, Desmond Bain definitely can do it, but Desmond Bain is also not super versatile

He's really more, I'd rather Desmond Bain be like my third option

than like a second option or like a 2A, 2B with Jaron Jackson

because that's pretty much how it looks right now to me because Jaron also really isn't a great shot creator either

He's just big and somewhat versatile and just, he's kind of a goober in a lot of ways

which I guess makes him very difficult to defend. If we want to talk about the rest of this team, though, Desmond Bain had a very poor

start to this season, but he has picked it up a lot in the second half of the year and

he's been pretty good. He is going to be eligible for awards. He's played a majority of the year, so his health hasn't really been an issue, which

is sort of bucking a trend from the last few years. Jaron Jackson's been awesome this year

Jaron Jackson's been a total badass. He's put up great numbers from start to finish

He's a strong DPOY candidate, which is a problem actually for this team, and we'll get to that

in a minute. But he's been a much more effective three-point shooter than pretty much any other time in

his career since his second season in the NBA. He's putting the ball on the deck more and creating shots off the dribble like he was

last year where he basically had to carry their offense Except this year the Grizzlies are still good in spite of that and he a DPOY candidate again even though he still like fouling like crazy like this is still

a problem. Jaron Jackson has never really cut down the fouling, which is probably going to be his

undoing in him not winning DPOY, but like still, he's had a very good season on the whole. He's

just looking more aggressive, more refined, and I think they understand how to utilize him a lot

better at this point in his career. So you look at the top three of this team and they've got a

really strong big three still, lacks a little bit of shot creation when Ja Morant's not on his game

and Ja is also sort of a difficult player to utilize off ball but I still think like the

ceiling of that big three, it's one of the best and also the youngest in the NBA. I'm pretty sure

all these guys are between 24 and 26. So like what's really the problem with this team? They're

one of the youngest, one of the five or six youngest teams in the NBA. They are super cheap

relatively speaking. They have a pretty low payroll, even though they're due to pay Jaron

Jackson in the next year, and he could be eligible for the biggest contract in NBA history if he wins

DPOY this season, which is a problem. Obviously, it'd be great if Jaron won, but, you know, that's

a lot of money to pay for a second or third option who's a fringe all-star. And this team is also

excellent at drafting. People are making it seem like the fact they traded or the fact that they

fired Taylor Jenkins, it's like Armageddon. Like this team is collapsing. John Morant's had such a

shitty year that like this team just like the foundation is completely cooked. But I don't

really think that's the case at all. I think they just, they're in a very confusing position with

how to utilize their big three. I think they're a team that's definitely due for a trade. They've

got a ton of expendable young players now. They literally just like found Jalen Wells in the draft

so I think that has sort of moved all their young players from last season like down a notch and I

think because of that a lot of players like a Gigi Jackson, a Vince Williams who's not even really

that young, maybe even a Zach Eadie, just all these young players they have plus all the draft picks

they have become movable. I think the player they need to be looking for is someone who can create

shots off the dribble who's sort of a matchup nightmare. I have sort of gone back and forth

about whether or not this team is a legit Kevin Durant's destination. Obviously, KD is gonna be moving this offseason

The Grizzlies definitely have the ammunition to make that trade happen. I honestly think they have a good shot of getting it done

without having to move Jaron Jackson or Desmond Bain. I'm pretty sure both of those guys having to be in the deal is a complete non-starter

as is the case with, like, any trade that this team would have to make, unless they're trading for, like, I don't know, Luka Doncic

And even if they don't make a trade this offseason, I have no doubt in my mind that the Grizzlies front office and their scouting team is going to continue to find good young players to put around Jaa

And it'll be inevitable that they'll have stockpiled enough players to where, like, they can make a pretty wide array of trades

This team is very similar to OKC in that regard, where they just sort of, like, find dudes who are, like, really good NBA players pretty much out of nowhere

In the same way that the Thunder just sort of found Isaiah Joe they sort of just found Aaron Wiggins and they made them into really good NBA players Lou Dort as well Just like every player on this OKC team was like scraps from some other

you know, remnants of another team. The Grizzlies have kind of done the same thing building this

team, and so I really don't think I would be worried about their construction. I think the

Taylor Jenkins firing was honestly not as surprising as people make it out to be. I think initially it

was very, very surprising just because this is a very bizarre time in the season to fire anybody

But honestly, now that I've sort of seen it through, it does make a little bit more sense

Obviously, Taylor Jenkins is still a very good coach, but I think just the combination of not

being able to have John Rant on the same page and just sort of the up and downs they've had this

season, this sort of looked like it was inevitable just probably in the offseason. And the structure

of this team, their ceiling for the next few years is still higher than just about every other team

in the Western Conference, they're really ahead of schedule when you compare them to

some of the other teams in their same age bracket. And in terms of teams that are at the top of the Western Conference, they don't have

either the payroll concerns immediately that like a Minnesota does, and they don't really

have like the injury or depth issues that you look at like a team like Denver might have

They have a number one option who's like a legitimate franchise player, in my opinion

which is something that Houston is sort of contending with right now

They're not really sure. Golden State and LA, these teams are pretty old. Now the Lakers, they literally have Luka Doncic

so they're probably going to be fine. But, like, I look at the Memphis Grizzlies

and I think they fit right into this Western Conference playoff picture. They've got a good chance to still contend for home court advantage in the playoffs this year

I'm really not worried about them at all. So, like, can we just chill about the Memphis Grizzlies

Oh, this is one thing I forgot to mention about Ja Morant. Stop doing gun things

he got a warning about it from the Lakers game like two nights ago and then last night he got

575 grand from the Heat game as two different like isolated incidents like how do you that up

twice in one week how does he do gun things twice in one week he's got to stop threatening people

with firearms but other than that like I'm really not that worried about this team and I think the

Memphis Grizzlies still have one of the brightest futures in the NBA they're a legitimate Kevin

Durant destination, in my opinion. I think he could elevate Ja Morant in a lot of ways, you know

forcing teams to not double team Ja as much. I think they have the assets to do it, and even if

they don't get Kevin Durant this offseason, I think they'll be able to re-sign everyone they

need to, you know, Santi Aldama, Jaron Jackson will get his extension, and I think this team is

going to be just fine. So, that's the Memphis Grizzlies. If you guys like this video, make sure

to like and subscribe. We're trying to get a thousand subscribers at some point, and I will

catch you guys in the next one. Cue that music