I’ve been watching an unhealthy amount of basketball this season and kept an eye on Ja Morant because we’ve been told how great he is. He honestly just seems like younger smaller Russel Westbrook to me. Even with the superstar whistle he is still putting up some appalling numbers and stacking that on top of last year his team being vastly better without him in the lineup whereas Cleveland without Garland literally died.
If you don’t want to click the links its basically the last 30 games this season along with some fourth quarter stats for DG and Ja.
DG 23/8/3 on 65TS% vs Ja at 27/8/5 on 56TS%.
Where it gets much more interesting is their fourth quarter stats which caught my eye watching Ja this season.
Ja is at 5/1/1 on a disgusting 37/18/66 shooting split for a 44TS% -43 overall yikes.
DG meanwhile is 6/1/2 on 46/41/80 splits for a 60 TS% and a LEAGUE LEADING +166!
https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/darius-garland-in-the-fourth-quarter-this-season
https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/ja-morant-in-the-fourth-quarter-this-season
https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask?q=darius+garland+ts%25+last+30+games
https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask?q=ja+morant+ts%25+last+30+games
Our front office looks like geniuses picking DG with only 5 games of college tape despite us already having an undersized guard.
by Bzmode
22 Comments
I also like how Garland isn’t trying to be a thug … er, slug.
Times when law enforcement or team security has to get involved:
Ja: 4
DG: 0
If DG was Ja he would have shot up the Raptors after game 1.
There is a very good chance Garland is the best player from that draft.
With how comfortable opposing players are with hitting DG in the face, he may need to start carrying that blicky.
Morant is probably the most overrated star in the league right now. I remember last year people were claiming he was top 10.
I’d rather have DG than any other young PG.
I decided to glance through DG’s recent stats. In his last 23 games, he’s should 48 percent from 3.
I’m a few lines into reading this post and I can already tell you that you are wrong. Not about DG, but there is no such thing as watching too much basketball.
Just goes to show that when you pick that high you really want to take the best available player regardless of position.
But ja dunk good
Ja is more of an athletic freak. Ja is great, but like Westbrook, I believe athleticism is his greatest strength. He turns the corner and he’s by you. Darius is out here putting some of the best defenders IN A FUCKING BLENDER. Oladipo ain’t what he used to be but holy shit Darius was just toying with this man. The amount of space Darius creates is disgusting. Genuinely have not been this impressed with a handle since Kyrie was on the squad. Garland will make the MVP jump in the next couple years.
Imagine Porter Jr and Ja in the same locker room. Arenas and Crittenton volume 2.
I’ve also watched Ja a lot this year, and the only impressive part of his game is his explosiveness. DG is a much better shooter and facilitator
Ja is an extroverted performance artist/clown who is parasitic in nature like an undiscovered tapeworm, and DG is an introverted mastermind who orchestrates spectacular team basketball and breathes life into his similarly introverted teammates. They quietly dismantle and mentally toy with teams because of Mobley and Allen and the anxiety they force their opponents to play with to close games out. Emotional intelligence and composure isn’t a stat you can compare between them but it’s clear who has it and I think that’s what Kobe used to talk about when discussing greatness.
Cleveland without Darius garland opened the season on an 8 game win streak. Let’s not get too homer around here. It’s cringey.
Didn’t the Cavs go 8-0 without Garland at the beginning of the season?
Edit: Should clarify. We are NOT better without Garland. I just don’t think we die without him.
Usage.
How crazy is it that DG shoots 43% from 3 vs Ja’s 31.6%, yet DG only get off 1 more 3 pt attempt per game?
To put it into perspective:
Ja’s usage is 35.5
Donovan’s usage is 31.7
DG’s usage is 26.9
If the Cavs offense was designed to let DG cook his counting stats would be just as good (or better) than these other two. Some of his efficiency stats already are.
Also, Darius is a nice young man while Ja is immature as fuck
Ja just enamors people with his explosiveness to the rim. He generates more razzle-dazzle that gets him on SC Top 10 and thus gets more exposure to NBA fans. You can’t convince me he’s a better overall player than DG.
Does Far less stupider factor in?
But but Ja does cool dunks and makes tik toks