Why Ja Morant SHOULD BE traded from Memphis Grizzlies | Colin Cowherd NBA

Why Ja Morant SHOULD BE traded from Memphis Grizzlies | Colin Cowherd NBA

john Moran on the other hand gonna be 26 years old at the start of next season how are like I want to hear your take on the John Mar situation okay so I’m I feel vindicated so I have this has been one of my strongest NBA takes forever which is if you’re under 6’4 in this league and have the ball in your hands a lot if you cannot shoot John Wall you know Westbrook Derek Rose John Morant you’re going to have to drive to the basket against bigger players and you’re going to get hurt more often if you’re Steve Nash or Steph Curry and can shoot it can prolong your career you can do a you know you you don’t have to drive you get a lot of no contact looks and my take on John Morant was yes i I always said I thought he was a poor man’s Derrick Rose he’s about 15 pounds less than Derrick Rose and the you know I understand the NBA media he’s a highlight player um forget the maturity for a second which is I I’m never too hard on guys about maturity i’m much tougher on football players because they they’re 23 and 24 years old you bring 22 year old you bring 18 19 year old guys into the NBA okay they’re going to screw up like first couple years just just build in a really bad decision now with Jaw it was worse than that but for me it wasn’t the the maturity stuff because he’s a kid it was okay he’s wildly um he’s wildly entertaining he’s an incredible highlight player but he’s not an effective shooter and by the way the last several years it’s gotten worse and he’s hurt more so he has aged very quickly so I’ve never been a fan of hyper athletic guards that aren’t particularly good shooters now Westbrook was so athletic uh that he could be a poor shooter and you know he’s bouncing around the league now but he there’s just not a lot of Westbrooks historically and Westbrook mostly is healthy he’s a sturdy he’s a running back jaw’s not I mean what’s Jaw 180 you know 178 so he’s spindly so I just It’s not that I wasn’t a fan he was a spectacular talent but I think everybody in the league thought Zion and Jaw were going to take it over and it’s going to be a it’s going to be Bancer and SGA and these players i mean it’s just it’s just interesting how much maturity and hard work matters you know JDub SGA Hongren i mean it’s just like really focused driven aspirational players and I think it was just too much too soon for him and he got banged up and I think Memphis by the trade is telling you we’re going to start over we’re gonna And it’s the right move they they can’t compete we we knew it this year it’s the right move by Memphis i actually like what Memphis did it’s just they won’t be very good for a couple years yeah you know it we were talking about power earlier and the one example of a guy who succeeded despite a lack of power is Steph and Steph is both a great shooter and someone who has been consistently available to his team he’s been healthy and and the tricky thing with like Jaw’s going to be 26 years old at the start of next season and he’s just straight up not as good as he was three years ago like not as good he’s just not not as good as at basketball and like this is the age 26 27 is typically the age when players peak like Tatum best season of his career right at this age this is the age when everyone seems to kind of figure it out it’s where it’s kind of where like the the meeting point of the mental part of the game and the physical part of the game and from this point forward it’s kind of like a trade-off you get a little smarter a little more skilled but you get a little less athletic and this is the peak right and instead like his scoring volume has like in 2022 takes his team to within two wins of the conference finals he’s going headto-head with Steph talking to him having such a great breakout playoff run and ever since then his scoring volume has dropped every season since that year his efficiency has gone down he just posted his two lowest games played totals of his career in the last two seasons he’s played fewer games in the last two years than he did three years ago combined like it’s a it’s been a downward trajectory and so if you’re Memphis and you’re looking at it you just got four unprotected first round picks from Orlando there still is some young exciting talent on the roster some guys like GI Jackson that are interesting zack Edy that’s interesting they have guys in house that they can continue to develop and be fun but they can bring in a massive trove of draft picks by trading Morant and Bane and just doing a full pivot not to mention Jiren Jackson who I think carries a great deal of value somewhere around the league and so I look at it as like a basically it’s a turning point for John Morant you either got to commit to him or you’ve got to get off the ship and the trade is a clear sign that they’re going to get off the ship not to mention like they they might look to trade KCP i wouldn’t be surprised if KCP gets moved to a contender at some point in the next season i think it’s just Memphis looking at their situation and going like we’re sick of being in this business it’s so jaw is such a cautionary tale when you look at at big stars that explode and then and then fall off and don’t eventually uh rise to the level it’s always kind of a maturity thing it’s almost always that like you just couldn’t handle a spot like like Zion couldn’t handle his weight um wasn’t a terribly focused player zion I thought was a tremendously just massive torque there’s just nothing like him i thought Jaw was spectacular but I think it it’s it’s one of the reasons I like NIL is kids are going to stay in college and they’re going to be surrounded by non- basketball players and they’re going to be coached hard and they’ll go to class and it’s like it’s a it’s a big broad life beyond just basketball and a GLeague so I think and I’ and I’ve talked about this multiple times i think NIL is really going to help the NBA and college basketball and you’re going to get more guys the Auburn player who Jay- Mack loves Auburn’s got a guard that’s explosive he’s coming back to Auburn he could play in the NBA it’ll make him a better NBA player and a great college player so and some of these European guys now are coming over to college basketball so I think the coaching in college basketball’s always been excellent um sometimes almost too dogmatic right like it’s just so coachoriented but I I look at Jaw and I think the story of Jaw is a little too much too soon and just wasn’t quite ready for the stage i mean there was a moment in time where you thought for about a year maybe two you’re like “Oh he’s going to be the face of the league.” I mean that that was about three years ago and then it all just unraveled and um I don’t think we need a face of the league i thought he for a while looked like it he just wasn’t ready for it it’s it’s a lot to ask and he wasn’t ready for it sorry to interrupt this great video but please remember to like and subscribe thank you now back to the video yeah you know what happens in this league it’s success is so short-lived because people are coming for you you know like Giannis looks like he climbs the mountaintop in 2021 looks like he’s going to launch this new Nope here comes Jokic and he’s he’s the problem it’s like Jaw looks like he’s about to climb the mountain top in 2022 sheay and Ant have both lapped him since they’ve kind of reached their uh their collective ceilings and like I think you know I do believe in John Morant i do he has a supreme athletic trait in the ability to get downhill he actually is an underrated shot maker close to the rim in terms of like his floater and like little short stuff i do think there’s somebody that should probably consider taking a bet on him a chance on him as I look around you know we’re going to talk about KD here in a second and KD is we’re going to talk about it in more detail here in a second but The Athletic is reporting that KD is preferring the Spurs which we’ll get to in a minute but like Houston if Houston can’t get KD like would they consider a guy like John Morant is there a team out there that has the that’s in a tough position that can afford to take that kind of risk maybe a Sacramento a team that’s been kind of stuck in in mediocrity like is there a team out there that is willing to take a risk on a guy like him because I do think the upside is there Colin i I’ve seen a lot of stuff over the last couple days ranking him at various points in the league and I do think when he’s healthy he’s still like right around the 14th or 15th best player in the NBA because no one can keep him in front he is an extremely talented player that’s the frustrating part is that it hasn’t come together but I do think that there’s some somebody out there that’s going to take a chance on him but ultimately whether or not it works out is going to be whether or not Jaw actually makes the changes that he needs to like you got to improve like you you have to develop as a jump shooter to take it easier on your legs the if if he develops as a jump shooter it will make his downhill drives more dynamic and less frequent which will help him stay healthier and available to his team there is a real upside there he just hasn’t been able to capitalize on it [Music]

Colin Cowherd and Jason Timpf react to the Desmond Bane for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope trade between the Memphis Grizzlies and Orlando Magic. They share their takes on Ja Morant and the issues that make him not worth keeping for the Grizzlies.

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