Ja Morant Unhappy with Grizzlies Coaching Staff; Appears to Have Quit on His Team Tonight; *UPDATE*: Ja Suspended 1 Game

[jbk1234]

The Grizzlies need to sit down with Ja and his agent and tell him to fake for 20-30 games so another team will take a chance on him.

[badpotato]

That’s why I’m happy aprons are a thing now - teams will think twice before giving the bag to unproven commodities, and in time, players will course-correct and adapt to the new reality, which will benefit fans, as we’ll simply see players giving more consistent effort and finally start caring about games in non-contract seasons too.

There will always be a class of players that get maxed no matter what, but it will be far less numerous than in years prior.

We’ve already seen this with Giddey, Kuminga, and Grimes extension talks this summer, and we’ll see it with Ja’s extension too.

[levon]

MIA and LAL are getting ready to offer Herro and Reaves package for Ja.

Is Memphis sending first rounders back?

[levon]

Horrible trend for a guy who's a poor outside shooter. Not sure many teams would be willing to give up a assets for this, especially when the player's a head-case who's owed $107M over the next 2 and a half years.

Read on Twitter

I mean it doesn't help when you're a non-shooting scoring guard playing with two bigs. Memphis didn't build a team around Ja.

[Dacost]

Someone will bite it always happens people saying he has 0 value or that Memphis is going to attach picks to get rid of him are bad takes.

A team will probably send Memphis a couple of picks and a big contract to match the salaries.

[ReggiesKnicks]

Horrible trend for a guy who's a poor outside shooter. Not sure many teams would be willing to give up a assets for this, especially when the player's a head-case who's owed $107M over the next 2 and a half years.

Read on Twitter

I mean it doesn't help when you're a non-shooting scoring guard playing with two bigs. Memphis didn't build a team around Ja.

Why would you build around Ja when he is getting suspended?

How good can a team be built around Ja?

[JujitsuFlip]

David Blatt situation all over again.

The key difference is Ja isn't LeBron or even Kyrie level.

[ItsDanger]

Not a winning player. Too immature and that style has a shelf life, he's 26 now. Running out of time. All teams should avoid at this point. Unfortunately, Memphis is stuck with him for another year maybe.

[robbie84]

This is the first part of a multi stage effort to get Ja to buy in. First comes the call out/confrontation in front of the team mates.
The player's ego is fractured and their pride can't handle the reality that they arent as super-dooper star as they thought they were.

Next, Issalo will ask veteran team mates/coaches that Ja respects (in front of Ja) to comment on his behavior/and call him out.
Then what will happen is that Issalo will sit down with Ja and go over the advanced stats with him and show him how poorly certain line ups are performing vs other line ups in the NBA and that no matter how good Ja thinks he is- one man cannot beat the best NBA players in the world- it must be a team effort.
This could take some time to sink in with Ja.

After a month or so, Ja will either realize he's being a selfish moron, and put the team first, or he'll continue to spit the dummy and sit out/get traded.

It's win/win for the Grizzlies. They either get their best player to buy in, or they get rid of him and start fresh and rebuild from there.
They already got solid assets for Bane. Ja is the next hurdle to fall. And soon he'll realize that the Grizzlies are putting Issalo and the future waaayy ahead of Ja's ego/pride on any list of importance.

[Ballings7]

Always something with Ja.. super talented and skilled when he just focuses on the game.

Be interesting to see where he ends up. I don't see him lasting in Memphis.

[robbie84]

Horrible trend for a guy who's a poor outside shooter. Not sure many teams would be willing to give up a assets for this, especially when the player's a head-case who's owed $107M over the next 2 and a half years.

Read on Twitter

I mean it doesn't help when you're a non-shooting scoring guard playing with two bigs. Memphis didn't build a team around Ja.

Dont the bigs shoot 35%+ from three? They are literally perfect bigs to put with a pick and roll/transition scorer like Ja. Space the floor and clear the paint so he can go to work.

[WillyJakkz]

Someone will bite it always happens people saying he has 0 value or that Memphis is going to attach picks to get rid of him are bad takes.

A team will probably send Memphis a couple of picks and a big contract to match the salaries.

Yeah that's delusion or a pipe dream they're having.

It's clear and I'd say going back to last season that he's checked out on MEM but not the thought of hooping in front of his friends and family. He lives that part of it.

He's gonna command a very good trade package.

NO should be all over this to pair him with Zion and send CJ to MEM.

[-Luke-]

Someone will bite it always happens people saying he has 0 value or that Memphis is going to attach picks to get rid of him are bad takes.

A team will probably send Memphis a couple of picks and a big contract to match the salaries.

Yeah that's delusion or a pipe dream they're having.

It's clear and I'd say going back to last season that he's checked out on MEM but not the thought of hooping in front of his friends and family. He lives that part of it.

He's gonna command a very good trade package.

NO should be all over this to pair him with Zion and send CJ to MEM.

CJ plays for the Wizards now.

[badpotato]

NO should be all over this to pair him with Zion and send CJ to MEM.
CJ plays for the Wizards now.

That's fine, send him regardless

[lambchop]

Horrible trend for a guy who's a poor outside shooter. Not sure many teams would be willing to give up a assets for this, especially when the player's a head-case who's owed $107M over the next 2 and a half years.

Read on Twitter

I mean it doesn't help when you're a non-shooting scoring guard playing with two bigs. Memphis didn't build a team around Ja.

Why would you build around Ja when he is getting suspended?

How good can a team be built around Ja?

The concerns started popping up when the Grizz didn't even lose a step with Ja out due to injury back when they were still making playoff runs with Tyus Jones running the show. However, the argument was that the team wouldn't be able to get quality looks in Ja's absence in an actual playoff setting.

[psman2]

This is the first part of a multi stage effort to get Ja to buy in. First comes the call out/confrontation in front of the team mates.
The player's ego is fractured and their pride can't handle the reality that they arent as super-dooper star as they thought they were.

Next, Issalo will ask veteran team mates/coaches that Ja respects (in front of Ja) to comment on his behavior/and call him out.
Then what will happen is that Issalo will sit down with Ja and go over the advanced stats with him and show him how poorly certain line ups are performing vs other line ups in the NBA and that no matter how good Ja thinks he is- one man cannot beat the best NBA players in the world- it must be a team effort.
This could take some time to sink in with Ja.

After a month or so, Ja will either realize he's being a selfish moron, and put the team first, or he'll continue to spit the dummy and sit out/get traded.

It's win/win for the Grizzlies. They either get their best player to buy in, or they get rid of him and start fresh and rebuild from there.
They already got solid assets for Bane. Ja is the next hurdle to fall. And soon he'll realize that the Grizzlies are putting Issalo and the future waaayy ahead of Ja's ego/pride on any list of importance.

This is a solid take. Ja needs tough love and unfortunately it has taken this long for him to get a doze of it. I don't think the sky is falling and some crappy trade is imminent. We are going to try to pry out a good version of Ja and if not these terrible trades offers will still be there. And if not we likely will be getting two lottery picks this offseason.

Memphis is missing 40% of it's rotation right now, odds are things will look a lot better in another month for our squad when we get Edey and Jerome back and later SPJ and Clarke.

[RingoKid]

He belongs at the Pelicans with Zion.

they would go 0-82 but lead sport center with the dunk of the day...lose by 30 but mean mug and dunk on the world...and make max money...

That sounds entertaining A.F!!!

I'd definitely watch that...

[Ssj16]

I can't see any GM in their right mind trading for this guy who is a head case, injury prone and a bad 3pt shooter who is owed about 127mil for the next 3 years.

Sacramento Kings have entered the chat.

[John Murdoch]

MIA and LAL are getting ready to offer Herro and Reaves package for Ja.

Is Memphis sending first rounders back?

Fersure there was a time where this was laughable but i think Austin has shown enough in high usage that hes the better player straight up

[Ssj16]

They traded away 2 legit starters in Bane and Brooks, two key components in them winning games. Those are unforced errors.

Ja is a maniac but a lot easier to trade when he's leading a 50+ win team vs some sub .500 junkpile.

I don't see the Bane trade as an error. They got a very good return for him. Bane isn't exactly lighting it up in ORL. But really the trade was a way to add draft capital, opening up a longer timeline to build around youth. The Grizz were not a championship contender with Bane. The trade was an acknowledgement of that. They sold high on Bane to a team that was desperate enough for outside shooting that it was willing to overpay. Good trade.

They won 50+ games with the intact team in an arguably better western conference.

Melting down the team to get picks to then hope to draft good enough players so they can win 44 games by 2028 seems silly to me.

Memphis with Bane and Brooks would not be serious contenders with the likes of OKC, Den, Houston and possibly Lakers and now the Spurs, imo. I think it's smart for the front office to think ahead rather than run on a treadmill where your ceiling is first round exit at best.