All in for Morant

[Lipoli390]

I'm no Memphis Grizzlies expert... or Ja Morant expert. But the 1,000-mile view is that Morant has issues and is the problem. And his on-court game is deteriorating.

And then I listen to Justin Vernon on the Zach Lowe podcast and he swears the guy is NOT a knucklehead or one of "those guys."

To be fair, I didn't hear the entire podcast.

Yeah Chris Vernon is a fan for sure. I was listening with my kids it was kind of funny. My daughter summed it up best she said, "Im not sure he's a bad guy, but he sure acts like one"

His fall might be the most significant I can remember if he never regains any sort of all star level play.

If he looks, acts and talks like a duck, he’s a duck even if a pundit keeps telling you he’s an eagle.

[Lipoli390]

He had his best season statistically his age-22 year, his 3rd in the NBA. He has been gradually getting worse every season ever since. That by itself is a red flag, as most players keep improving and hit their peak production in their mid to late 20s.

Panning back a bit, I think we've talked about this before as it relates to Dillingham's future. Small-ish point guards that are high-usage scorers almost never find a ton of playoff success in the post-2000 NBA. Ja Morant, Kemba Walker, and Darius Garland are just a few examples. Their offensive efficiency tends to go down in the playoffs and they get relentlessly targeted on defense. Just not a good combination.

Good points about Morant’s declining stats and the problems with smallish PGs who are high-usage scorers. I suspect that’s why Finch and the Wolves organization are pushing Dilly so hard to focus on facilitating at the expense of his shooting. The last thing we should worry about at this point in Dilly’s development is him not taking threes. Mike Conley is a good example of a smallish PG who is NOT a high-volume scorer. That’s the model for Dilly in my view. Steph Curry is a smallish PG who is also a very high-volume scorer but he’s a highly efficient scorer because he’s so incredibly accurate from beyond the arc.

I actually like what we’ve seen lately from Dilly defensively. A small PG can be good enough defensively with effort and using his quickness if he’s surrounded by several really good defenders. I also like that he’s focusing on his playmaking. He’s made some mistakes (dumb jump passes) but overall he’s limited his turnovers and done a nice job running the offense while scoring opportunistically in the paint. If you go back and watch the last few games again as I’ve done this week, you’ll see that Dilly has had a lot of nice hockey assists that don’t show up in the box score. It’s fortuitous for Dilly that he has the opportunity to learn directly from Mike Conley who I consider the perfect model for him if he’s going to be successful.

[Q-is-here]

He had his best season statistically his age-22 year, his 3rd in the NBA. He has been gradually getting worse every season ever since. That by itself is a red flag, as most players keep improving and hit their peak production in their mid to late 20s.

Panning back a bit, I think we've talked about this before as it relates to Dillingham's future. Small-ish point guards that are high-usage scorers almost never find a ton of playoff success in the post-2000 NBA. Ja Morant, Kemba Walker, and Darius Garland are just a few examples. Their offensive efficiency tends to go down in the playoffs and they get relentlessly targeted on defense. Just not a good combination.

Good points about Morant’s declining stats and the problems with smallish PGs who are high-usage scorers. I suspect that’s why Finch and the Wolves organization are pushing Dilly so hard to focus on facilitating at the expense of his shooting. The last thing we should worry about at this point in Dilly’s development is him not taking threes. Mike Conley is a good example of a smallish PG who is NOT a high-volume scorer. That’s the model for Dilly in my view. Steph Curry is a smallish PG who is also a very high-volume scorer but he’s a highly efficient scorer because he’s so incredibly accurate from beyond the arc.

I actually like what we’ve seen lately from Dilly defensively. A small PG can be good enough defensively with effort and using his quickness if he’s surrounded by several really good defenders. I also like that he’s focusing on his playmaking. He’s made some mistakes (dumb jump passes) but overall he’s limited his turnovers and done a nice job running the offense while scoring opportunistically in the paint. If you go back and watch the last few games again as I’ve done this week, you’ll see that Dilly has had a lot of nice hockey assists that don’t show up in the box score. It’s fortuitous for Dilly that he has the opportunity to learn directly from Mike Conley who I consider the perfect model for him if he’s going to be successful.

I agree that trying to develop Dilly into a facilitator first and foremost and then let his scoring come more organically as he grows in confidence and the roster evolves makes sense. He should never be a #1 or #2 scoring option on a playoff-caliber team. Still, he has a long ways to go.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Dillingham's assist/TO ratio is 12/9.

Per 36 minutes, it's 6.6 assists to 5.0 TOs.

That's really bad... ESPECIALLY for a caretaker PG, or facilitator, who has not made a single three pointer... a skill almost every player needs in 2026, and an essential skill for undersized guards. He's literally doing nothing above average (tangibly) on the court. Obviously, it's not all his fault... but Peterson mentioned the coaching staff is keenly aware of +/- when it comes to Dillingham. Heck, even in the one game where it was positive (+4)... it was -11 in his first shift in the 1st half. Kudos for Dillingham for being part of +15 in the 2nd half. It even led to him getting a couple of minutes in the 4th quarter.

The big rub... it's a very small sample size. So small that it can be argued it's irrelevant. And he's still young. He's learning a lot right now. And he should get A LOT better.

Maybe he pans out. Maybe he becomes a serviceable player. Or a really good player. Or, even a borderline star player. But so far this season... he's been a negative when on the court and there's no sugarcoating it. Looking forward (and hoping) for more positive glimmers tonight as the Wolves find ways to help his learning curve without costing themselves wins.

[FNG]

Wolves are reportedly “monitoring” the morant situation. God help us…

[rapsuperstar31]

One positive of Morant when he's healthy, he is extremely clutch when you need a 2pt shot. No one can stop him from getting to the hoop or hitting his floater in the final seconds of a game. We would also have the return of the Towns and Ja dads rivalry in the stands.

[Wolvesfan21]

Wolves are reportedly “monitoring” the morant situation. God help us…

We're all monitoring it, doesn't mean anything.

Would you even trade an aging (potentially declining) Rudy for him? I don't really like the idea of trading any of our guys! Rudys probably our MVP thus far this year, we've been terrible with him off the court (no defense).

I could see Morant being better with a center like KAT. He needs a shooting big to open up the lanes to drive since he can't shoot himself.

I just see no fit here unless we really overhaul the roster.

[60WinTim]

Buy low, baby!!!

I don't see something work out. I wouldn't want to give Rudy up, and I can think of no reason Memphis would want Rudy.

But if TC thought they could make Morant work, I'm sure he has some assets that might make it work...

[Phenom]

Buy low, baby!!!

I don't see something work out. I wouldn't want to give Rudy up, and I can think of no reason Memphis would want Rudy.

But if TC thought they could make Morant work, I'm sure he has some assets that might make it work...

Naz, Donte, Rob and Lenny for Ja, Jock Landale and one of their minimum guys for roster crunch purposes works and gives the Grizzlies win now pieces that make a lot of sense for their roster.

[Coolbreeze44]

It's been a long time since the Wolves have pushed all their chips to the middle of the table. Probably the year of our first conference finals appearance. I have no idea if this is a move they should try, but it would sure be nice for some Minnesota team to go for it for once.