Coward should be NBA Rookie of the Year frontrunner – will Grizzlies Morant and Jackson Jr. help?
Memphis Grizzlies rookie Cedric Coward is off to a hot start to his NBA career. Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr. are looking to catch up. Host Joe Mullinax discusses Coward’s early Rookie of the Year case, how to get Ja and Jaren going, and why the NBA Cup stinks on this episode of Locked on Grizzlies!
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29 Comments
The only encouraging thing about Ja’s shooting slump is that the shots he and the team are creating for him are open enough and very makeable for a guard of his skillset. However, it’s still very concerning because I don’t see it coming good any time soon and in games like this and most other games where our roles players will outplay the opponents role players, we need our stars to at worst match what the opponents stars are giving us. And today we lost because Shai got on a heater in the 2nd half and Ja and Jaren couldn’t match his buckets. So they need to step up for sure
The only way this team can win is for Ja to be fine, and he's obviously far from fine for reasons I can only attribute to his state of mind. Wondering if he's getting proper psychological support from the franchise.
Ja is in a very bad slump that will get better. Kobe had slumps curry scored two points on us just last year. We would have won tonight if Ja and Jaren were half their normal self. That’s a very good sign especially when Edey gets back both of their jobs will get easier. And Cedric is a beast and his ceiling is ridiculously high. Scotty and Jerome and Edey and Clarke are gonna bring us out of the slump.
Jaren 17-7-2
1 turnover
37%
Ja 11-3-8
3 turnovers
16%
Coward 13-10-4
0 turnovers
33%
Ja is one of the worst players as far as scoring goes on the team.
I know he runs the offense but damn he can’t shoot. His shooting lost them the game. A 1 and done possession might as well be a turnover. He was missing bunnies. Either something is off with him or he peaked his third season in the NBA.
Ja , you definitely wasn’t cooking MJ
next year this is going to be coward and edeys team…if GG can reach his potential we will have a contending core…ja,coward,gg.jjj,edey
I agree. Coward has been the Grizzlies best player (good for the future but not good for this season). Although Morant is still the most important player. His playmaking is helping even though his FG has been horrible
Your "stars" can't score 20 points consistently is a huge problem. Like someone said, "great players will be great players whether the coach is bad or not." Ja & Jaren are NOT great. Very good at times, but not great at all.
I'm convinced that something was not right with the left hoop, OKC wasn't doing too hot on it in the first half either. Like when Steph curry noticed the hoop was slightly too high a couple years ago.
Defense is what gets teams though bad shooting slumps, OKC was practically walking the ball to the basket and laying it in there untouched.
Coward and Knueppel are my ROY favorites rn
I’ve seen Ja win us so many games. I don’t know if i’ve ever seen him lose us one. He was the primary reason we lost that game against OKC
I'm so ready to trade Ja.
FBI needs to investigate JJJ for fixing games too. He is inexplicably bad and taking awful shots.
Do anyone knows what a slump means i see y'all don't ja was never a 3 point shooter so how is he in a slump this MF 7 for 45 in 11 games for 3's . Joe Y is the coach letting ja shoot all this 3"s. Not only is coward gonna be Rookies of the year but the new face of the Grizzly
Jaren is the problem not ja's jumper. If jaren had Cedric's heart…. He be a problem for anybody.
Clarke can go. Big man position being wasted with him collecting checks for 3 years on the bench
I think Cam Spencer has stepped up alot too. I think he has earned a role coming off the bench
Dnt really care about the cup but I do like the courts 😅
Great point tho about fixing things from a game standpoint. Officiating is a huge problem
For your stars to be this far into their careers and be the undeveloped is asinine
Umm… what the games actually show more often that not is that Jaren drives towards the paint on purpose to draw the double teams and pass the ball out to his teammates. It's as if TI is telling him to do that & get experience passing out of double teams. It's not his fault the guys to whom he's been passing the ball aren't making shots. One could argue one of the primary problems is that Jaren is not getting enough iso opportunities as he is one of the best iso scorers in the NBA. Stats show that a Jaren iso is far more efficient & productive than a Ja iso.
Cedric coward is so good as a rookie, I hope he keeps improving… ROTY surely
Something mental is going on with Ja…ya think
I am not from Memphis and the reason I started watching NBA is Ja from 2021 season and now that Ja has been playing not too well NBA is a lot less interesting.
I always saw that Jordanesque quality in him and that he can take on anyone without a fear.
However, last season and especially this season seems like Ja has lost what made him great in the first place.
He might miss shots and not have a best game and that happens. But I feel like I don't see the same hunger in him and he doesn't want to prove anything to himself, fans, league and his peers. He has lost his fearlessness. Pretty much every game I see Ja hesitating and overthinking his every move as if he doesn't trust his instincts anymore.
His shooting has always been on and off but he would make up for it with impossible lay-ups etc.
I hope he can rediscover it somehow. But I feel that Ja needs some massive change to do that whether it's something on a personal level or change of a team. But most likely, he needs to rediscover what made him tick in his 3rd season.
The Grizzlies have a bright future. Congratulations to the team management who has been drafting amazing players. Why are the Grizzlies so good at drafting?
A superficial take, but I think that Ja not being at his best has something to do this his current hairstyle, that he has had since 2023 suspension. I know that to many it seems like a superficial thing but I think that Ja is quite an emotional player and such things can matter. Because Ja had his best season and all his best games with the other specific hairstyle. With that hairstyle he moves differently and looks like an entirely different player.
No way you looking at the games cause Jaren is literally passing out of the double this a dumb take.
I think Ja should trim his hair. It’s throwing off his balance