To take the ball up the court for an NBA team takes confidence. When Grizzlies point guard Ja Morant told Shaquille O’Neal on Inside the NBA that he was one of the five best at his position back in early May, he definitely was not lacking confidence.
It takes a lot more than just confidence to rank that high, though.
Morant’s sophomore year will live to see another day after the Grizzlies won in an overtime thriller Friday night against the Warriors and one of, if not the, best point guards of all time, Stephen Curry who scored 39 points in the loss. In the 117-112 victory to send Memphis to the playoffs, Morant shined, sinking two floaters in the final minute of the extra period to stave off a valiant comeback effort. It was a reminder of the heights Morant can reach, however, he still has a way to go to be mentioned in the same breath as the best in the game.
Morant followed up his 20-6-6 performance against the Spurs with a stellar 35-6-6 night in the Bay Area. He showed flashes from the go, starting 3/3 with eight points, including two three-pointers in the first three-and-a-half minutes of the game. And the flashes continued from there.
Morant’s flashes are the same ones that made the Grizzlies select him second overall in the 2019 NBA draft. After recording only the 9th triple-double in NCAA Tournament history, basketball fans saw the potential of what Morant could become: an ultra-athletic point guard, reminiscent of the triple-double king himself, Russell Westbrook. The hope now, for Morant and the Grizzlies, is that the rising star can turn those bright moments into consistent domination on the court.
Morant is getting better, there is no doubt about that. He stepped his game up in year two, scoring more points, dishing out more assists, grabbing more rebounds and getting to the free-throw line more often than he did in his Rookie of the Year campaign in 2019-2020. But the gains are not nearly eye-popping enough to enter top-five territory.
First and foremost, he’s not an All-Star. At the position (in no order), Curry, Luka Doncic, Damian Lillard, Chris Paul, Ben Simmons, Mike Conley as an alternate and whoever you consider the point guard for the Nets between Kyrie Irving and James Harden were all voted as such. It is hard to make an argument that Morant is better than any of them.
There also seems to be another tier of floor generals ahead of Morant. Westbrook, De’Aaron Fox, Trae Young and even Jamal Murray, who was possibly on the verge of breaking out before a season-ending ACL injury, all score more points per game and have a higher PER than Morant. Jrue Holiday is also a step above, even though his numbers have dipped on a star-studded team in Milwaukee.
That is not to say that Morant is just an average player, something that he once again proved to the world against the Warriors.
It is just hard to put him in the conversation of one of the five best as of now, yet, it is not entirely his fault. The log jam at point guard in the NBA is, in a way, spectacular. In no other era of basketball could you name 13 point guards who are legitimate stars. Fans of basketball are witnessing some of the best point guards to ever do it reinvent the position right in front of our eyes. Not to mention that “positionless basketball” leads to even more players entering the conversation, like LeBron James, Zion Williamson and, to a lesser extent, point-center Nikola Jokic, who is on the verge of winning his first MVP award. All those players push Morant down the list even further.
While it may just be a waiting game for some of the older point guards like Chris Paul (36) and Curry (33) to slow down or retire, something neither of them seems like they will do anytime soon, Morant still has plenty he can do to crawl up the list in the meantime.
Most importantly, if Morant wants to be considered one of the best he needs to shoot like it, especially from beyond the arc. While some top point guards lack superb outside shooting – looking at you Westbrook and Simmons – the best way to climb up the rankings is to shoot lights out. This past season, Morant shot like the lights were out. Out of 37 qualifying point guards, the Grizzlies star ranked a grisly 37th in terms of three-point shooting percentage, per ESPN.
Yet, Morant excels in the other duties of a point guard. This past season, he ranked sixth in the league in both assists and double-doubles at the position and top-10 in points and in free throw attempts among players who appeared in 70% of their games.
Regardless of where Morant ranks, his performance against the Warriors is a reminder of where he can go from here. However, this game does not automatically propel him into the next tier of point guards either. People will be quick to forget that he missed two close-range shots in the final two minutes of regulation before sinking two similar shots in the final minute of overtime. The elite point guards will not miss those shots.
The best-case scenario for Memphis and their fans is that this is the start of the NBA’s “Ja Morant show” as he usurped Curry. Yet, the far more likely, and realistic, message, is that this is another promising sign of growth. Overall, people should be excited that Morant is starting to take the next step.
The only thing we can do now is sit back and enjoy the show that Ja Morant will put on in his first NBA Playoffs.
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