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Young stars bring headaches. It's inevitable. But the list of accusations and transgressions against Ja has to be worrisome for the franchise and fanbase. Accusations of beating up a teenager, flashing a gun at opposing players and something about threatening a shoe store employee...


What are you guys thoughts?

It is concerning, but also very overblown. The incident with the 17y.o was investigated and no charges came of it, the mom has a history of filing lawsuits for money, and Ja has historically tried to help high school and college kids with basketball (especially local kids) so having kids over makes sense. It seems highly likely this is nothing more than a money grab. Still, Ja needs to get his house in order so to speak. He has so much future money right there for the taking as long as he doesn't mess it up. So many kids look up to him, and he does a lot of good in the Memphis community, but things like this are such a bad look.

Noted.

And after years of watching the NBA, I've come tyo the conclusion that giving millions of dollars to teenagers and hitching your franchises entire future to theirs is...not ideal.

Only LeBron and Giannis have come through in recent years from teenage phenoms to franchise stalwarts unscathed.

...and LeBron had plenty of bumps along the way.

Ja’s behaviour doesn’t concern me at all. What is concerning to me is that Ja is under mob attacks, resulting in stupid breaking news and dumb people following them.

This incident took place back in the summer with the kid in question. No mention of a gun was mentioned at all. Now that his partnership with the Powerade group was announced on yesterday, this news drops. My thoughts is that it's an overblown news story. Ja has been in some circumstances that has been deemed troublesome in recent months. It's easier to associate him under those circumstances without looking at the alleged stories with complete evidence. That said, Ja needs to evaluate his circumstances to whom he needs to hang around with and be careful of the circumstances he finds himself in. Just as it's hard to earn hard work, it's easy to lose everything faster after some major hits come one's way.

Given the troubling aspects of each account have not been corroborated, these stories tend to be viewed through one's preconceived notion of Ja. If you like him and the Grizz, you generally dismiss them; and if you dislike him and the Grizz, you accept every bit of them as true. Oftentimes the truth is usually somewhere in between two accounts, and my hope is that Ja starts to figure out that he has too much to lose and simply cannot afford to put himself in these situations to begin with.

Two of the alleged incidents occurred last summer, when Ja was still 22 years old. I think everyone would admit that they didn't make the best choices when they were 22 (or in their late teens through early 20s). Hopefully, the end result of the uncorroborated allegations coming out will be some insight on Ja's part coupled with growth and maturity to simply avoid these types of situations going forward.

Another incident involving Ja. It might be time to move on from Ja while his trade value is still high. Honestly, it might save his life and the franchise some serious heartburn…

Jamaaliver wrote:Another incident involving Ja. It might be time to move on from Ja while his trade value is still high. Honestly, it might save his life and the franchise some serious heartburn…

Not time to trade him but the concern level is significantly increased. The other stuff was somewhat behind closed doors. This is brazenly public and a whole new level of immaturity/lack of self awareness.

Our championship hopes are tied to Ja. Even with a solid return, our team's window would be effectively closed. I genuinely hope Ja gets a suspension and fine and someone finds a way to get through to him. Maybe we can get a vet this offseason to beat it into him. But for better or worse, our team goes as Ja goes.

VCfor3 wrote:Not time to trade him but the concern level is significantly increased. But for better or worse, our team goes as Ja goes.

IDK, man. There's a ton of red flags on this kid. And your roster is soooo good, you can still contend with another comparable talent swapped in.

This...isn't a good look for the face of your franchise.

Jamaaliver wrote:

VCfor3 wrote:Not time to trade him but the concern level is significantly increased. But for better or worse, our team goes as Ja goes.

IDK, man. There's a ton of red flags on this kid. And your roster is soooo good, you can still contend with another comparable talent swapped in.

This...isn't a good look for the face of your franchise.

Spoiler:

I just don't see a comparable talent that would realistically be available to swap for him is the problem. I don't see why OKC would want to move SGA and he is the one guy I'd really have in that realm.

The recent controversy practically ended our season— and likely, this version of the Grizzlies. That’s sad because this is the year when the playoff race is wide open


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We need to regroup/refocus. We could use a Barkley like persona on the team to clown some of these media guys and keep the rest of the team focused on the prize. I hate to say it, but I would welcome PatBev at this point.

People nowadays become so dramatic and overreactive to news and social media trends. Pathetic.

I love the current ‘badass” image of our young fellows.

esvl wrote:People nowadays become so dramatic and overreactive to news and social media trends. Pathetic.

I love the current ‘badass” image of our young fellows.

Do you also like that he will probably have to miss the playoffs due to Jas bad ass image lol

jman3134 wrote:We need to regroup/refocus. We could use a Barkley like persona on the team to clown some of these media guys and keep the rest of the team focused on the prize. I hate to say it, but I would welcome PatBev at this point.

This is something even Tracy McGrady previously mentioned about some months ago about the Grizzlies need a season vet on this team.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/g_zJyksXn3I


The team did have Jae Crowder and Solomon Hill during the early stages of rebuilding when the guys were in their first and second years into the league. Fast forward to three years later, The Grizzlies have become the newly hated team of the NBA in spite of the wins. Nearly running afoul some players and teams around the league. Sometimes pride will come before the fall. In this case, this maybe where Ja is right now. It's taking the Grizzlies along with him. The Grizzlies to me are a special case. At the early onset of the rebuild, they had those vets to rely upon for guidance and the nuances to how to conduct themselves and win in the league. As such, the young Grizzlies learned and starting winning earlier than most rebuilding franchises. The problem comes in they grow more confident and cocky at times over the last couple of seasons. One thing is certain, I'm sure that critics of the Grizzlies were hoping that the team needs to be humbled. This latest incident with Ja granted the critics what they wanted. Albeit this latest news is on Ja himself, he's getting dragged and meme around the social media landscape.

If the results turns into a longer suspension, then Ja will have to face this deal. Just take time to reflect on his actions. Take the opportunity to look into who he wants to be in this life. The man who has the potential to become a Hall of Famer or the man who chose to throw it all away for a few minutes of street life. He will get the support he needs from the organization and even us the fans. What Ja has to do is focus on himself and refocus on repairing his image as a NBA player and a man.

Adams even had a team meeting recently to try and address some of this apparently. There is that vet calling him out that people wanted.

It's not hard to believe that a young 22yo black man would be enticed with all the power and respect that gangsta imagery has obtain in this world. The violence that has been glamorized by Hollywood and the music industry, add in the obscene amount of money Ja has at his disposal, it's not surprising of his current attitudes and arrogant behaviors.

VCfor3 wrote:Adams even had a team meeting recently to try and address some of this apparently. There is that vet calling him out that people wanted.

Read on Twitter

I prefer to hear directly from Adams than from this corporate piece of …

Mob rules nowadays. Quick on judgement and cancellation. Garbage-people. No real beliefs, no respect, no values. Jump immediately on any stupid news presented another day.

I'm team Ja Morant until the end. If he is going through something atm, he will get past it. Can't have these distractions if he hopes to win. But, end of the day, this is Ja's team and I do not believe he is a bad person. Some of this is manufactured from years ago, but the gun situation is undeniably a bad look.