Somehow, Ja Morant still has something to prove

Memphis Grizzlies rookie Ja Morant has been the main breakout player this season; but somehow, he still seems to have something to prove.

January 14th, 2020. The Memphis Grizzlies are facing the Houston Rockets in their second regular season matchup. About halfway through the first quarter, rookie sensation Ja Morant brings the ball up towards the top of the key. He’s maybe 30 feet out from the hoop, and his defender–James Harden— is giving him about seven or so feet of space. Morant sees that, shoots a 3-pointer, and sinks it. That’s when those immortal words were uttered.

“Tell that (expletive) about me.”

To many in the league, this was Morant’s “coming out party”. This was the moment that people around the league really began appreciating Morant for who he is: a phenomenal rookie talent who could be one of the cornerstone talents in the league.

And yet…STILL, it seems that he has something to prove to people around the league.

This all started a few days ago when Zion Williamson went on the NBA together show with Ernie Johnson. While there, Williamson discussed the Rookie of the Year award:

"Ja has worked for it, he’s earned it. I give respect when it’s due. I always do. But you know, as a competitor …I want to win at everything, I’m not going to sit here and say I don’t want to win, I want to win at everything. So, my goal was if I could rally my team into the playoffs hopefully I could make a run for [ROY]. It’s just God’s plan at this point."

This was then taken as Zion “succeeding” or giving the ROY award to Ja, and not as a simple statement of fact. Yahoo! Sports even suggested that, had the season played out as it normally would, Zion still would have had a chance to beat Ja out for the award. That is, despite the fact that at the time of the league hiatus, Zion had only played 19 games while Ja had done 52 and had positioned the Grizzlies in a playoff spot.

But the battle for supremacy between Ja and Zion continued.

Earlier this week, ESPN released their annual executive poll–which, among other things, asks who is the star teams would most want to build around–and the results were almost too predictable.

Luka Doncic, to no surprise, came in first. The reigning Rookie of the Year, Doncic has taken massive leaps forward in his game, and it’s safe to say he’s outplayed anybody’s early expectations.

However, the number two option may come as a shock. It was Zion.

Yes, despite his team not being in the playoff race, and the fact we only have a 19 game sample size, Zion still easily beat out Ja for the number two player GM’s, coaches, and scouts would want to build a team around. So easily, Zion got 11 votes for second place, whereas Ja only got six. Ja also only barely beat out Zion for first place votes–though Ja had two and Zion had one.

Probably the most telling aspect of way Zion was rated to high in this survey is that first place vote. According to Tim Bontemps, the sole vote for Zion over everyone came from a coach. The interesting part about that: it was an Eastern Conference coach. Zion’s own coach wouldn’t even rank him number one. In fact, nobody in the New Orleans Pelicans organization who was surveyed would.

Zion is a good talent, don’t get me wrong, but Ja is just the safer choice to build a team around at this point. Ja doesn’t have any major injury problems, he will be able to have the ball in his hand and create his own shot, and frankly, Zion does need to drop a little more weight if he wants to be effective in the fast-paced, floor stretching style of the modern NBA.

Ja Morant is an exceptional talent, one of the best young players in the league. Any team would be lucky to build around him. It just so happens that the Memphis Grizzlies are fortunate enough to actually get to do that. Hopefully, Ja and the Grizzlies can show the league what so many Memphis fans already know.