Has Ja Morant reached Superstar Status already?

[Triple7]

The guy is playing his 2nd playoff series in his career. It’s premature to call him a superstar. He needs to prove he can win consistently in the PO’s first, else he’ll just be a really good, exciting player.

[DaddyCool19]

He got 1-2 superstar calls for sure.

[tsherkin]

Superstar status. Mmm, seems premature. Single season of note at anything like that level. Young, tons of time and potential to keep doing it of course. This is certainly a breakout season. Not that he was bad before, but this is definitely a tier above anything he did in his first two seasons, so it's definitely the time to start asking questions like this.

What is a superstar? That's the question. A single season, at least IMHO, isn't enough to really label a player such, and most certainly before the playoffs are done (although of course, he's started out very well there, too, and he liked good against Utah before as well).

He's definitely getting there. He's exciting, he's certainly produced at that level this year. If he has another nice playoff series or two this year and then does it again next year, then we've certainly got something to talk about.

[cupcakesnake]

Superstar status. Mmm, seems premature. Single season of note at anything like that level. Young, tons of time and potential to keep doing it of course. This is certainly a breakout season. Not that he was bad before, but this is definitely a tier above anything he did in his first two seasons, so it's definitely the time to start asking questions like this.

What is a superstar? That's the question. A single season, at least IMHO, isn't enough to really label a player such, and most certainly before the playoffs are done (although of course, he's started out very well there, too, and he liked good against Utah before as well).

He's definitely getting there. He's exciting, he's certainly produced at that level this year. If he has another nice playoff series or two this year and then does it again next year, then we've certainly got something to talk about.

No doubt we need a larger sample size than a season of play. I was just listening to some game reaction on a Ringer podcasts (J Kyle Mann on Wos' podcast), and Wos was giving his definition of superstar as someone who can get heaps of free throws in the playoffs. Obviously that's a dumb/reductive definition, since there are plenty of superstars who were not monster free throw getters in any kind of way in the playoffs (Bird, Nash etc.) But for Ja, I think it is a bit of a measuring stick for how serious his impact is. Since his primary value is as a rim pressure guard, his ability to physically overwhelm playoff defenses is what I was going into these playoffs looking for. He passed the test in game 1 with a whopping 20 FTA, and easily shredded the Wolves defense all night.

Now his secondary value (or synergistic 1b value) is the decision making and passing he does in response to how defenses react to his rim pressure. Last night he had 8 assists and 3 turnovers as the Wolves tried to wall him up high. This sounds good, but it wasn't a great game for assessing his decision making or the impact of his passing because... well, the T-Wolves did not offer enough resistance to force him to making decisions beyond: dunk or layup?

But if Memphis advances and faces tougher defenses, will we see something from defenses like the Giannis wall (adapted for a guard) or some kind of more specific "stop Ja at all cost" defense. That will give us a clearer indication of Ja's superstar potential imo.

[tsherkin]

No doubt we need a larger sample size than a season of play. I was just listening to some game reaction on a Ringer podcasts (J Kyle Mann on Wos' podcast), and Wos was giving his definition of superstar as someone who can get heaps of free throws in the playoffs. Obviously that's a dumb/reductive definition, since there are plenty of superstars who were not monster free throw getters in any kind of way in the playoffs (Bird, Nash etc.) But for Ja, I think it is a bit of a measuring stick for how serious his impact is. Since his primary value is as a rim pressure guard, his ability to physically overwhelm playoff defenses is what I was going into these playoffs looking for. He passed the test in game 1 with a whopping 20 FTA, and easily shredded the Wolves defense all night.

Ref respect, even though it's a BS thing for refs to do, is certainly an indication of player reputation in a given season, for sure.

But if Memphis advances and faces tougher defenses, will we see something from defenses like the Giannis wall (adapted for a guard) or some kind of more specific "stop Ja at all cost" defense. That will give us a clearer indication of Ja's superstar potential imo.

It will be very much interesting to see how he reacts if/when they advance. Honestly, I don't think it's "superstardom" per se where you start to see defenses keying in on a given player so much as "how much does going after the single point of failure describe your opponent's offensive strategy?" Memphis has 4 different guys scoring 16+ ppg, or at least they did in the RS, right (though obviously Brooks and games played, la la la)? And a lot of high-volume 3pt shooting. At some point, you have to wonder if a defense will ride on variance and yeah, just chuck bodies at Ja and see what happens. The Grizz go hard in transition, too, so you have to wonder if a team with better offensive rebounding (hurr, because also Memphis is the best offensive rebounding team in the league) and scoring efficiency might cause them some grief in terms of shutting down some of their easier points. Of course, I'm basically describing Memphis, because even if they really aren't impressive from an eFG%, they are a very good possession-control team despite their tempo.

Interesting thought, though. You get a primary ball-handler and you go after him, for sure, to try and shut down the point of attack, and watching how Ja handles that if/when he runs into it will be quite intriguing.

[Phish Tank]

he's getting there, but still TBD to me. He's bound to tear his ACL at some point, so we have to wonder how he can adapt to a more restrained style of basketball. Will need to develop a semblance of a midrange game first.

[tsherkin]

he's getting there, but still TBD to me. He's bound to tear his ACL at some point, so we have to wonder how he can adapt to a more restrained style of basketball. Will need to develop a semblance of a midrange game first.

"Bound to tear his ACL at some point," you say? Pretty sweet crystal ball you have there.

The remark about his mid-range game is fair, but I wonder why you're so confident he's going to dust his knee?

[Phish Tank]

he's getting there, but still TBD to me. He's bound to tear his ACL at some point, so we have to wonder how he can adapt to a more restrained style of basketball. Will need to develop a semblance of a midrange game first.

"Bound to tear his ACL at some point," you say? Pretty sweet crystal ball you have there.

The remark about his mid-range game is fair, but I wonder why you're so confident he's going to dust his knee?

his biomechanics and landing mechanisms. You'll see he almost always lands on one leg almost awkwardly because he's trying to yoke dudes all the time or go for these acrobatic layup attempts to break NBA Twitter and get his friends in NBA Media (Taylor Rooks and others) mad excited.

D-Rose & Porzingis had this same problem. Rose eventually fixed the biomechanics at a cost. KP really didn't but he's really a three point shooter now anyways.

[tsherkin]

his biomechanics and landing mechanisms. You'll see he almost always lands on one leg almost awkwardly because he's trying to yoke dudes all the time or go for these acrobatic layup attempts to break NBA Twitter and get his friends in NBA Media (Taylor Rooks and others) mad excited.

Okay, that's actually a far better answer than I was expecting, to be fair. My bad. That kind of take is usually a "man, I hate this player and need a reason to grief him" move, but I can definitely see where you're coming from. I hope you're wrong, but I was being hasty and now at least I see what you mean.

[life_saver]

if he can get a reliable jumper, then yes.

[MrGoat]

This one might need a bump. What he did in the 4th quarter of game 5 is exactly what he needed to ascend to a superstar status, assuming they finish the job

[MrBigShot]

Sure looked like a superstar tonight

[old skool]

I think Trae Young was comparably effective in last year's playoffs. Now people are a lot less enthusiastic about him.

I think we are too quick to build up and too quick to tear down.

[asero]

He was impressive right?

[HotRocks34]

Yes he has

[Raps in 4]

He reached it today.

[BAMAFREAK]

Been there.

[Homer38]

Read on Twitter

[MalonesElbows]

Without a doubt

[Rubio9Guy]

The officials definitely think so

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