Camden wrote:Q12543 wrote:Camden wrote:This thread is embarrassing. Ja Morant is significantly better than Tyus Jones in an individual and team setting. The supporting cast in Memphis performed brilliantly in a way that was never sustainable while Morant was out. Kudos should be given to Jones for stepping up and keeping the ship afloat, but that's all there is to this.
The facts haven't borne out that he's better for the team than Tyus. Certainly he's a better individual talent.
The "facts" in this case being misleading plus-minus based metrics that ignore context. Here we go again.
Seven of the 12 games Memphis played without Ja Morant were against opponents currently below a .500 record. If you're going to lose your best player for a stretch, it certainly helps when it comes during a soft spot in the schedule.
Desmond Banes and Jaren Jackson Jr. deserve the most credit -- certainly more than Tyus Jones -- for keeping the Grizzlies high in the standings. Consider that Banes shot a blistering 45.6-percent from three on 6.6 attempts per game over that stretch -- compared to his 37.4-percent on 6.5 attempts in the first 19 games with Morant. Seems like he got hot from the perimeter at just the right time. Jackson Jr. stepped up on offense significantly by scoring 19.1 PPG on .594 TS% versus his 14.8 PPG on .527 TS% before Morant went down.
Once again, Jones deserves
some credit for stepping up and providing competent point guard play in Morant's absence, but this narrative that the Grizzlies are better without Morant is nonsense. The team ran through below .500 competition on the backs of their second and third best players. That's all there is to this. Can we not throw away our comprehensive understanding of the game to follow what a couple flawed statistics tell us?
This thread should have been put to an end after the first page.
And yet here we are on page 4! One of the things I like about this forum is the varying opinions and the provocative topics brought up here...it's a smart forum, and wonderful that there are many topics on which there is a big difference in opinion. A thread entitled "LeBron James is a good basketball player" won't attract much attention, because we all agree! But threads with a true difference of opinion, like this one, are the ones I enjoy the most and seem to get the most attention.
I agree that the additional context you provide has merit...it's clear that many Memphis players have really stepped up their games in the last 3 weeks. The stats don't lie. But is that merely coincidental, or did replacing a 22 year old star with a great future with a more experienced 7-year veteran have something to do with the resurgence in many of the role-playing Griz players? We can argue about cause and effect, but Tim McCarver might say: "Tyus Jones is the luckiest on/off player in the association...he's always on the court when his teammates are playing their best ball!"
All that said, Memphis's schedule was indeed relatively soft during Ja's absence, and that has to account for some of the remarkable turnaround. It would be disingenuous of me to argue that the Wolves' near .500 record is due in part to playing one of the softest schedules in the league, without also saying the Memphis schedule was a big factor in them winning 10 out of 11. They got to play a hapless OkC team with Ja out, and they beat them by 73 points! Of course we'll ignore the fact that they lost to that same hapless OkC team last week with Tyus out and Ja in (mostly kidding here because 2 games in an absurd sample size. And yet...)
Regardless of whether one thinks Memphis has played more cohesively and effectively at both ends of the court in the last three weeks or not, the turnaround in Memphis's season is one of the more intriguing stories in the NBA right now in my opinion. And since they are one of our main rivals for a playoff spot, it has to be interesting for Wolves fans whether they can continue to win so often now that Ja is back. I think they will be just fine, but we can at least hope that they return to the mediocrity they displayed the first quarter of the season.
