Not a Great Start to the NBA Season for the Grizzlies

The Memphis Grizzlies are having a very rough start to the 2023-24 NBA season. They are currently the only winless team in the NBA. The Rockets have a win. The Pistons have two. The Trailblazers, tonight's opponent, have two.The Spurs have three. Even the Wizards have a single win. But the Grizzlies have that big goose egg. They are 0-5 and they have looked bad in almost every game so far this year.

I think a lot has caused this to happen. First off, missing out on Ja Morant, who deserved his suspension, has been very clearly an issue. The Grizzlies cannot generate much at the rim. The guards are not getting to the basket. There is no one to suck the defense into the lane and open up the outside. These are the things that Morants excels at as a basketball player. They are clearly missin Tyus Jones as well. He was the best backup point guard in the NBA and he helped to stabilize this team when Morant would miss games here and there. He was a vet the entire team trusted. I do like that they went out and traded for Marcus Smart, and I do think that it will work in the long run. But right now he has not had any impact. The Grizzlies were also dealt a blow when Steven Adams went down before the season with surgery. Losing Adams the whole year is going to make it difficult to scrounge out some wins due to his toughness. They cannot rebound the basketball without him in the lineup it feels, and him being gone has caused way more of a problem than I ever imagined it would. Brandon Clarke has not recovered from his torn achilles yet either. These two guys are crucial to their front court and it is showing how important they are without them playing. The Grizzlies are so thin in the front court that they went out and gave Bysmack Biyombo five million to finish out the season there. That is a desperate move in my eyes.

With Morant being suspended for 20 more games, with Adams done for the year, with Clarke not being ready until well after the all star break, I do not know how they recover from this bad of a start. I don't know how they are going to salvage the season. Smart has been average since the trade. His defense is still very good, but his shot looks bad. Jaren Jackson Jr is still fouling far too much. He is the reigning DPOY, but if he cannot stay on the floor it doesn't matter how good he is on that end. Desmond Bane is being asked to do way, way too much. The dude can score, but the number one option is not a suit that fits him well. He is so much better when he is not the focal point of the opponent's defense. Luke Kennard has been a total zero. I fear Kenny Lofton Jr was a nice story last season but is now being exposed. David Roddy doesn't play defense. Jake LaRavia can't get minutes. Ziaire Williams has been below average. Xavier Tillman has not progressed. Derrick Rose is older and hurt. Sant Aldama looks like he has taken a step back. The Grizzlies have a myriad of and it has shown in the first 5 games. The offense is stagnant. The defense is slow and fouling too much. Taylor Jenkins is a good coach. He should be able to fix this. But whatever his game plan is right now, he needs to change some stuff up. I know he didn't expect to see Morant suspended for 25 games to start the year, but they have won without him before. I know he was hoping one of Brandon Clarke or Steven Adams would be on the floor to start the year, but he found a way to stay the 2 seed last season when they both got hurt. I know he wants to trust some of the younger guys, but they haven't proven trustworthy. I feel like they can get out of this funk, but it needs to happen very fast. Being 0-5 in the Western Conference, and I fully realize it is very early in the season, can be a death blow to your playoff chances if they don't start stringing together some wins right now. I still have faith, but it is dwindling with each passing day. Hopefully they right the ship. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

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The NBA Went Easy on Ja Morant

The NBA has suspended Ja Morant for the first 25 games of next season. While this is a large punishment, I figured it was going to be much larger. I also felt it deserved to be much larger.

What Morant did, twice this season, was wrong. He shouldn't be acting the way he is acting on Instagram. That is foul and out of pocket. There is no reason he should be brandishing weapons, real or fake, on Instagram live. When will he learn his lesson? He got in trouble for this once this season, missed some games, went to some fake therapy and still did it again.

I don't get the appeal of owning guns. I'm terrified of them. They are much too powerful. I have never held one and never plan on holding one. I think they are dangerous and useless. In Morant's case, being as famous as he is, I guess he has them for protection. But the way he is just showing them to everyone on the internet is foul. He should have a security team if he is scared enough to buy multiple guns. He should surround himself with people who make him feel safe. He should have the right protocols in place to not have the need to ever use a gun. But he has some weird fetish with them, and that is how I see all this. I guess he thinks they make me feel powerful and strong.

This is the wrong message to put out to his fans, the Grizzlies, his teammates and the NBA. This is wrong on so many levels. I wish he was going about this smarter and in more control. The fact that he went out and did this a second time on Instagram was so wrong. And you could see him and whoever was filming realizing what they did because they tried to hide it real quick. But the damage was done. I feel like having to have a constant presence on the internet is only making it that much harder on him. People do not have to be constantly showing what they are doing every minute of everyday to their fans and followers. That is narcissistic. Most people's personal lives are boring anyway. So why do you have to be showing it over and over again on the internet? That is as scary as owning a gun.

But, the NBA decided 25 games was enough. The Grizz have played without him much longer just a few seasons ago, and they did just fine. I don't feel like 25 games is enough for what he did, then lied, and did it again. I was thinking he was going to get a minimum of 41 games. I was preparing myself for a full season. I felt like the NBA was going to send a strong message. I thought they were going to lay the hammer down on him. They gave him a pretty severe suspension, but in hindsight, others got worse. Jermaine O'Neal, Stephen Jackson and Metta World Peace got much more for defending themselves. I don't blame them fully for the Malice in the Palace. Gilbert Arenas got a hefty suspension for bringing guns in the locker room, but no one looks at him like most do with Morant. There are plenty of other players who did far less and dealt with a firmer suspension.

Ja Morant needs to seek out real therapy. He needs to talk to a very good doctor about this because it is a real problem that could evolve into something much more horrifying. Time will tell if he truly finds some kind of healing process from all this, but who knows. I hope he gets better, I hope he seeks treatment and I hope he realizes how foolish and childish all this has become. He needs a real wakeup call. Maybe 25 games will do that, but I am not so sure. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

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Ja Morant Needs Some Help

While checking sports stories on the internet the other day I came across a Ja Morant video. Now, all of you know about the incident that happened earlier this season. He had a gun, flashed it on Instagram Live and was suspended. The Grizzlies stumbled from there. They finished the year with a whimper and they lost in six games to the Lakers in round 1. After the season Ja Morant gave an interview. During this interview he said that he was a distraction, that his actions hurt the team, that he was going to get help and get better. I believed him. I think a lot of us did. I figured he had learned his lesson and he was going to try as hard as he could to make some changes. He also missed out on nearly 40 million dollars by missing out on making an All NBA team, which his Instagram Live caused.

He clearly hasn't learned his lesson. The video that I saw on Instagram this time was him listening to music with some friends and he appeared to show a gun, yet again. He was dancing and singing along and got caught up in the moment and flashed a gun. It looked like the people he was with, and himself, realized what he was doing and tried to stop it right away. But the damage had been done. The picture had been captured and shared around the world. I saw it on Bleacher Report that afternoon. By the evening it was the headlining story on most sports networks, it was all over social media and it was a total mess. The whole thing had blown up so much that the Grizzlies suspended him indefinitely.

This has got to stop. There needs to be a lesson in all of this. Something has to change and the team, and the NBA, need to come down very hard on him. I don't care if it was a fake gun, some people are positing this as a theory which I don't believe at all. Fake or not, Ja needs to feel this suspension in his pockets and on the floor. I usually do not agree with anything Chandler Parsons says, but I do agree that Morant should be suspended for all of next season. That should be the least of his worries. Not only should he be suspended, there needs to be a heavy, heavy fine. I'd go with a good portion of his salary left unpaid during the suspension. The NBA also needs to look in on his inner circle of friends and see what the hell is going on with them. I do not want to see his dad at any more games. The league and the Grizzlies need to come down extremely hard on him. This cannot keep happening. It is clear that he meant none of what he said at his end of the season interview. He was just saying cliche things and hoping people would forget. That frustrates me so much. He also needs to get the hell off of Instagram. I know getting off all social media is not viable in this day and age, but he needs to have limits on what content he posts. He also needs to have a person control all of that. He also needs to rid himself of weapons. He clearly does not know how to use and store them. I do not like guns, and do not own any. One of the main reasons, they are too powerful and can hurt others very badly. The way Morant is out here brandishing his guns, that is so unsafe. He also needs therapy. He is clearly out here being a poser. He is not this person that he is portraying on social media. He is not a criminal. He is not some gun toting bad guy. He is a good kid making some terrible choices and hanging out with people who do not have his best interest at hand. He needs to fix a whole lot of things, but none of that will happen unless he realizes he has a problem.

I want him to get better. I want him to figure out what is going on mentally. I want him to surround himself with good people. But none of that will happen until he admits he has a problem and gets a proper punishment. The hammer needs to come down and he needs to get help. I hope he does. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

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The Grizzlies are a Mess

The time has come for me to talk about my favorite NBA team, the Memphis Grizzlies. A lot of stuff is going on there lately and it is not good.

First off, since they had an early twelve game win streak, they have been wildly inconsistent. They cannot keep late leads or they fall behind by far too much to make a full comeback. They have also been talking a ton of shit, and lately they cannot back it up. I already mentioned the lack of keeping leads or falling behind, but they have not been as good on defense as of late. They may still rank near the top statistically but the eye test is not passing for me as a fan. They are allowing too many open looks. They are getting back cut too much. They are not offensive rebounding like they did to start the season. They are too busy talking shit to fans and other teams. It is becoming frustrating. Steven Adams is supposedly coming back soon, and that will help immensely. But he will not cure all their woes. Add on the fact that Brandon Clarke tore his ACL and is out for a full year, that makes the return of Adams not as impactful. Clarke was a perfect Swiss Army Knife for this team. He has a great floater. He can rebound and defend multiple positions. He was great at running the floor with the guards. And he brought calmness to this team that needs it a lot more than other teams. Clarke is going to be missed and that really bums me out. Jaren Jackson Jr is having a very good season, and since missing some time to start the season, he has been more available than not. But he fouls too much and sometimes has trouble staying on the court. They are going to need him desperately in the playoffs. They need his excellent rim protection and ability to switch on defense. He needs to stay on the court. Dillon Brooks is as good a perimeter defender as there is in the league but he is starting to get on my nerves. He takes bad shots. He gets too many techs. He talks far too much and is having trouble backing it up. Earlier in the season he was mentioned in trade talks and I did not want him gone. Now I kind of wished they had traded him. I would much rather have a guy like Mikail Bridges or OG Anunoby right now. That would be ideal for me. Luke Kennard has not been shooting the three like I hoped he would when they acquired him. I want David Roddy to play more. Santi Aldama is a fun regular season player, but I do not see him getting real run in the playoffs. Tyus Jones has been exactly what I expected, and that is very good for a reason I'm about to get to. As for Desmond Bane, he has been great and he should get a good deal this offseason. I have no qualms with him.

Right now for the biggest issue this team has going on right now is Ja Morant. Morant is my favorite NBA player. When the Grizzlies got the second pick in his draft I was thrilled. I knew that he was the pick and I couldn't wait until they drafted him. I rated him ahead of Zion Williamson in my pre draft write up. And he has more than lived up to the hype. He is a superstar. He does incredible things that I have never seen on a basketball court. He is outrageously athletic and a total blast to watch play. By all accounts he is a great teammate too. Guys like him and like playing the game with him. He watches film and talks with coaches about stuff they can do to help on the court. As a basketball player he is everything anyone of us, fans, teammates and the Grizzlies front office, could have dreamed of. But his off-court life is becoming troublesome. He is away from the team right now due to an Instagram video that surfaced of him flashing a gun at a nightclub. This is worrisome. It terrifies me. I despise guns and to see something like this, it really irks me. And it was not like it was a hidden phone or someone trying to catch Morant doing something wrong, this was on his own phone on his very own Instagram account. That is troubling. Add on the fact that there is the laser pointer incident in Indianapolis earlier this season and the stories coming out about a possible assault during a pickup game in the summer. And we have the whole Shannon Sharpe thing. When it happens once it is an accident. The fact that this keeps happening, that is the problem. And I have no idea if it is the people he hangs with or him trying to be tough. Either way, things need to change and change in a hurry. Jalen Rose and Dez Bryant have come out recently and spoke to him via TV and Twitter, and what they have said makes all the sense in the world to me, and I hope Morant is listening. I truly do hope he is getting the help he needs like he said he was going to get. I think he needs to get a fairly hefty suspension. I know the Grizzlies never actually suspended him but they did say he was out "indefinitely". The NBA is also currently investigating the multiple accusations. This is going to take some time and will most likely derail the rest of the season and playoffs for the Grizzlies. And that is fine if he gets the help he needs. I have been thinking about this a lot the past couple of days and I want Morant to have a long and successful and rewarding career. I want him to be talked about like people talk about Damian Lillard or Chris Paul. I do not want him to be thought of like I think about Gilbert Arenas or Robert Swift. That would be awful.

As a fan I am disappointed by their play lately and disturbed by the off court stuff with Morant. But if he gets help and the team gets humbled a bit, I'm fine with them throwing in the towel this season and coming back even stronger next year. Above all though I want Ja Morant to be thought of as the great, great basketball player he is. That would be ideal. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

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Ja Morant Deserves Some NBA MVP Love

I need to talk about the awesomeness Ja Morant.

Draymond Green said it first. Then I saw him play live. Then he went for 41 last night in a win over the Spurs. He is the second leading vote getter in the West for the all star game. He is the leader for the current 3rd seed in the West, and the team with the third best overall record in the NBA. I think it is high time that Ja Morant starts getting some love in the MVP chat.

I do not know what else he has to do to get higher in the race. I was looking at NBA.com's MVP ladder last night and Ja was in 10th place. He was behind guys like Rudy Gobert, Luka Doncic, Chris Paul and DeMar DeRozan. All of these guys are great players, but I do not think that they are currently better than Morant. I just saw Morant and DeRozan go head to head. DeRozan was great, probably the only Bull that showed up. He had 24 points and led that team from start to finish. But in the very same game Morant also had 24 points. He also had 3 assists, 4 rebounds, a 360 layup, an even better hand switch layup and a win. He led the Grizzlies to a very convincing win. Gobert is great defensively, but he is not the offensive threat he once was, and now he has COVID and missed a ton of previous games with an injury.

I know that every single analytic, nerd, white NBA writer wants to put Doncic on some kind of rooftop. They all want to give him the MVP so bad they will look past all of his screw ups. Morant has simply been a better player and teammate this year. Doncic came in out of shape, Morant looks as good as ever. Doncic has missed multiple games due to injury and COVID. Yes, Morant did miss time with an injury, but since he is in shape, he was back to full speed much faster than Doncic. I'd also much rather have Morant right now.

Chris Paul might be the best modern day guard, but he is nowhere near as athletic and fast as Ja. Sure the Suns have the best record in basketball, but CP3 has guys like Devin Booker, Mikail Bridges and Deandre Ayton, not to forget Jae Crowder and Cam Johnson at his disposal. Ja has good teammates, guys like Jaren Jackson Jr and Desmond Bane, but they are not on the level of CP3's teammates. Not yet at least. And I can see why Joel Embiid is ahead of Ja right now. Embiid is established and he is having one of the best seasons ever for a big man. I also get why Nikola Jokic, who I cannot stand by the way, and Giannis are ahead of him. They are putting up better stats right now. But Ja should only be behind those three right now. Hell, I might push him ahead of Jokic due to team record and only have Giannis and Embiid ahead of him.

Here are the facts, where we sit right now Ja is averaging nearly 26 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists a game. He is shooting 49 percent from the field and 36 percent from three. He also gets 1 steal a game. His points per game average is good enough for 10th in the league. He's 14th in assists and 60th in rebounding(he is only 6'3 and weighs 175 lbs). He also has the 8th best PER in the league, which is basically a stat that shows how crucial you are being on the floor and your team winning. Ja Morant is making that leap from young star to future face of the league. Morant is more fun than Doncic, less whiny too. He is more athletic than DeRozan, and younger. He is probably the best teammate in all of the league. And he seems to love playing in Memphis, a small market team.

I already adore Ja Morant and I think he will be a future MVP. I just want the rest of the NBA audience to appreciate his greatness like I do. I'm glad he is on the Kia Ladder, he just needs to be much higher than 10th. Ja Morant is a stud, and he is more than backing that up with his play this year.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

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Some Love for My Memphis Grizzlies

I want to talk about another team that I am a fan of today.

I love the NBA as you all know. When I was a kid I was a big time Seattle SuperSonics fan. Kemp and Payton were my guys. I loved that team as much as I loved the Fab Five. The Sonics were a blast to watch, they were good and Kemp was the man. He is the best in game dunker ever. End of conversation. When they unexpectedly, and unfairly, moved to OKC, I followed them there. They had drafted KD, they weren’t great but had potential and I just wanted to stay put. They then got awesome. They drafted James Harden and Russell Westbrook. They made a push to the Finals. They looked like the team of the future. Then they traded Harden. Then KD left. I was done. I still rooted for Russ because I liked his game, and when they traded for Paul George I thought they was a tremendous move. But in the meantime I needed a new team. The Sonics didn’t exist, the Thunder were down to bare bones and I was in no man’s land as an NBA fan.

I looked around the teams and kept checking teams off I didn’t want to root for. No Texas teams because I don’t like teams from there. No LA teams because that’s just front running. The same could be said about the Celtics. Golden State was a no go to because they were the ones that lured away KD. I kicked around Toronto, but they were too bland for me. I decided to go with Phoenix because I liked Devin Booker, but I abandoned them pretty quick. It came down to two teams due to location. I live in Saint Louis, and the two closest teams are Chicago and Memphis. It was an easy choice for Memphis because I had been to a few games there, I like the city and they had just drafted Ja Morant, who I adored coming out of college. So three years ago I decided to ride with the Grizzlies.

Since drafting Ja, Memphis been on an upward trajectory. They weren’t very good his rookie year, but you could see the potential. You have Ja, Jaren Jackson Jr and Dillon Brooks. That’s a star, a stretch big and a great perimeter defender. They also had/have a great, and deep bench. I was excited to be a fan of an up and coming young team. Then last season they burst onto the scene. They made the play in. They beat Golden State in Golden State to make the playoffs. They took a game off the Jazz in round one. I was pumped. I expected, and still do, bigger and better things this year. They started slower than I hoped, but Ja didn’t. He came out of the gates on fire. He was doing it all and finally getting some much due credit. But then he got hurt. I was bummed. The Grizz sat at 9-10 when he got hurt, and I was nervous. Ja has missed a week already, with about 2-4 more before he gets back. I figured that this season may be a wash now. Without their star I just assume they’d struggle to keep afloat.

Well that hasn’t happened. The Grizzlies are currently on a five game win streak. They have pushed their record to 14-10. They have played remarkable defense and have been dynamite on offense. All of this without Ja. I was pleasantly stunned by this. I still am. But I saw a stat last night after they beat Miami that blew me away. During this win streak, again without Ja, and Kyle Anderson I should also add, the Grizzlies have not trailed for one second. All of the past five games, no team has held a lead against Memphis. That is unheard of. I mean, I’d expect a team to lead 4-2 or 2-0. Hell, I wouldn’t have been surprised if a team held a lead in the second half. But no team has. I was astounding. I was baffled. But most of all, I was so happy. My team has not only survived an injury to their star player, they’ve thrived. They’ve won five in a row. One of those wins was by 73 points. That’s the biggest margin of victory in NBA history. I was watching that game on my phone amazed. I assumed the Heat were going to beat them last night, but it was a wire to wire 15 point win. I know this will end, most likely soon, but it’s been so awesome to see my favorite NBA team do what they’ve done this past week. This is an accomplishment. This is a big deal. And it’s shown me that I cannot count this team out no matter what. They have a very good squad, with lots of depth and they are well coached.

I cannot wait to see, in person, the Grizzlies play next month. I can’t wait until Ja comes back. And I can’t wait to see how they finish up the season. I’m fully back on them as a top 6 seed in the West, and I could see them winning a round. I’m glad I went with the Grizz three years ago, and this win streak has more than paid off on my newfound fandom. Go Grizz, and let’s keep this win streak as long as we can.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

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The Future is Bright for the Memphis Grizzlies

The Memphis Grizzlies were ousted out of the playoffs last night. Their season is now over. Let’s talk about it.

The Grizzlies took a game from Utah, game one, but then Donovan Mitchell came back and the more talented team won. The Grizzlies, with last night’s game being the lone exception, kept all the games close. They didn’t get run off the court. They stayed in the games until the very end. Ja looked every bit the star I hoped he would become when they drafted him. Dillon Brooks proved he should get a big payday. And Taylor Jenkins looks to be the right coach for this team. I was a little down on this Grizzlies team going into the season because they played so over their expectations last year. They earned their trip to the bubble. They were very close to getting the eighth seed last year. Ja was the rightful rookie of the year. Then they fizzled in the bubble. I assumed that would spill over to this year. And it looked that way at the start. They dealt with COVID, injuries and poor play. They got off to a bad start. Then Ja hurt his ankle. I was ready to give up then and there. But this team put together a run, won the games they were supposed to, some they maybe had no business winning, Ja came back and they firmly put themselves in the play in picture. With a pretty much full roster, that’s when Jaren Jackson Jr finally came back. The team was full. They had the players they needed, and they played very well. They finished the regular season six games over .500 in the West. They had the nine spot in the play in. They went on to hold on and beat the Spurs, she then they went to Golden State, stifled Steph enough, and won to secure the 8 seed. Then off that high, they beat Utah in game one.

I’m never going to claim a “moral victory”. I don’t care for that term. But I will say this season was a successful one for Memphis, and I’m more excited for the future today than I was when they got bounced from the bubble last season. This team has the look and feel and talent to be a perennial playoff team in the West. They’re shrewdly better than Golden State, San Antonio and the lower tier Western Conference teams. I think, depending on what they do this off-season, they’re better than Portland. I think they’re as good as the Mavericks. If CP3 leaves Phoenix, I’d take the Grizzlies over the Suns. This season has me believing in them. It has me feeling like they’re, at the lowest, a perennial 4 or 5 seed as long as this core stays together. Ja is an absolute star. I am fully on board with my decision two years ago to rank him ahead of Zion Williamson as the best prospect. He was awesome in the playoffs, and when he hones his jumper, watch out. He’s going to be great for a long time. They need to re sign Dillon Brooks. He is a great defender, he’s a great shooter and he’s the perfect menace to have on your favorite team. If JJJ can stay healthy, he adds outside shooting from the front court, and he’s a strong rebounder. Xavier Tillman proved to be a great second round pick. He’s such a strong rebounder and defender, and he can hit the outside shot. Desmond Bane was well worth trading into the first round. He was a delight to watch this season. Jonas Valenciunas is an old school big man, but I like the way he plays rough, and he’s a good low post scorer and rebounder. And guys like Grayson Allen and DeAnthony Melton are great bench guys that know their role. Hell, they can keep Justice Winslow and Brandon Clarke and turn them into defensive specialist. I’d love that. I think this team is going to be good for a good, long time. They will lose some guys, every team does. But if they can surround Ja with JJJ and Dillon Brooks, this team will continue to play hard and win. They also have Tillman and Bane on rookie deals. Some of these other guys seem to genuinely like Memphis too. Maybe they’ll just stay knowing that they’ll be in contention every year.

Today I’m pleased to be a Grizzlies fan. I’m also hopeful. I love this team, I love Ja and they now have a fan for life. Now let’s hope they continue to trend up. I feel like they’re more than capable.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

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Ja Morant is Must Watch NBA

I was going to do a big mid season NBA redo, like I do every year, but I want to wait for Monday to do that. I really want to pore over that, and really dig deep. When I do my redo's, I also like to really pore over each team. Take a real deep dive if you will. With that being said, I do want to talk about one player this year that has been very good very fast. That player you ask, it is Ja Morant.

Earlier this year, before the NBA season started, I decided to change my allegiance yet again, it has been so hard to stick with one team since the Sonics left Seattle. But I decided I was going to stand by the Memphis Grizzlies. I have, full stop, thrown my hat into their ring. They are my NBA team now, and there is a plethora of reasons. It is the closest city to Saint Louis with a pro basketball team. I love the city of Memphis. They have the best BBQ and music.

If you all remember my pre draft ranking, I had Morant as my number one overall prospect. I have believed in this kid from the first moment I saw him jam on some dudes while he was at Murray State. So, when the Grizzlies secured the second pick in the lottery, and Morant was the clear choice there, it made my decision to back the Grizzlies even easier. And watching this kid play half of this season has been an absolute wonder. He is a whiz with the basketball. He has very solid handles already, and runs that team like he has been in the league for five or six years already. His passing is insane. The other night I watched him on League Pass make two passes that reminded me of Magic Johnson. It is almost as if he has eyes in the back of his head. He found guys cutting to the basket that I think only he knew were open. Sure, Luka Doncic, rightfully so, gets a ton of hype and airtime for what he does, and Russ is a triple double machine and LeBron has been doing this for years, but there is something so enticing, for me, watching Morant do what he does. He has flair and an arrogance and a cockiness and a gravity that just draws me in. For example, the other night when he hit those threes on Harden, and said, sorry mom and dad, "tell that mother fucker about me", I grew to like him even more. He is not even close to Harden's level as a scorer, and may never get there. But, he wasn't going to let Harden punk him by playing no defense and giving him a WIDE open three. It shows that he is becoming more and more confident in his jump shot, the biggest knock on him pre draft, and that he is making them now. It also shows that he isn't scared of anyone in the league. He made it there, and he feels like he belongs, and he sure as hell does.

Above all though, it is his pure athleticism that makes him my favorite player in the league at the moment. I was a KD guy for awhile, I loved Shawn Kemp and Kevin Garnett growing up, and Charles Barkley is my favorite player of all time. But, Ja has me rethinking my whole past, of being a power/small forward guy, to being a point guard guy. Along with Ja, I enjoy watching Doncic and Devin Booker and Brad Beal and Eric Bledose and Jimmy Butler. Most of those guys, if not all, are guards. But none of them do to me what Morant does as a basketball fan. And when he went up to try and dunk on Kevin Love earlier this year, I mean, he didn't even make the dunk, but it was still a top highlight. The fact that a skinny, 6 foot something guard went to dunk on a 6 foot 10 inch center, you have to respect the moxie. I personally loved it. I mean, had he made the dunk, it would've been the highlight of the year, full stop. And still, he has already dunked on a ton of dudes in his half of a pro career at the moment, and that list is only going to continue to grow the older, and better he gets. Ja Morant has been everything I expected, and so, so much more. He is fun, easy to root for, clearly loves the game, and has shown that he is putting in the work to be a star in this league. I cannot wait to continue to watch him, to see him live and to pat myself on the back when he walks away with the Rookie of the Year award this season. Hell, he may be an All Star this year before the voting is all said and done.

Ja Morant is amazing, and I am so glad that he plays for my new, official favorite team in the NBA. He is a true wunderkind.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet. 

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Ja Morant is Must Watch TV

Yesterday Ja Morant introduced himself to the casual basketball fan. I know who he is, a ton of basketball writers know who he is, but now everyone they just tuned into the tournament saw what this kid can do.

I’m a big Morant fan. I saw a lot of his highlight tape from earlier this season. I love high flying, posterizing dunks, and this kid does those in waves. He reminds me so much of Russel Westbrook, and that is a humongous compliment. I love Westbrook, and now, I’m driving the Ja Morant bandwagon. This is the dude I’m going to be riding with, that doesn’t play for Michigan, the rest of the time his team is in the tournament.

How good is Morant? He recorded a triple double in Murray State’s win yesterday. Only 4 other college players have done that, one of which was Shaq. Morant needed to perform big on the big stage, and he did it. He proved why he’s so high on everyone’s mock drafts. I’m a newly minted Suns fan, and I really want them to take him. They need a true point guard, and he perfectly fits that mold. Add on the fact that he’s hyper athletic, can jump out of the gym and hit an open jumper is just icing on the cake. That was all on full display when Murray State throttled Marquette. He hit open floaters. He jammed on a poor Marquette defender that brought the arena to a roar. He hustled all game. He found the open guy. He soared for rebounds. He was 100 percent on. It was a joy to watch. I have been waiting to see a full game, Murray State is barely on national tv, and I watched every second of this game to just see him.

I really hope Murray State goes on a solid run because I want to see Morant as much as possible. I want to see him do this against even better competition. I bet he would still crush. This kid is going to be a very good to great pro. He proved that yesterday, and he will continue to in the tournament.

Like I said, outside of the Wolverines, Murray State and Ja Morant are my other team I’m rooting for. Morant rules, and I want everyone to try and watch while Murray State is still playing. He’s more than worth the 2 hours. He’s an amazing basketball player. I’m super impressed.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet. 

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.