re: Ja Morant is ridiculous

beauty of it is the multiple teams involved. we are sitting pretty right now. not trading AD before the deadline will probably be the best decision the franchise will ever make. even if it's the most obvious

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In fact, I think DeAaron Fox is a really good NBA comparison for Ja.

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It's probably the closest you can get. I don't think Fox can make half of those passes that Morant made yesterday, whether it's Morant's vision or coordination being able to pass off both hands. In all fairness, I don't think Fox would commit half of those dumb turnovers either.

I also don't think Morant can match Fox's straight line speed.

I like Fox, but if Fox is the comp to Morant, Morant isn't even in the discussion with Zion.

I think what you'd hope you'd be getting if you landed Morant would be De'aaron Fox imbued with the court vision and coordination of Ben Simmons.

I think it can be argued that Morant has a higher floor, but I can't see the debate over ceiling. As good as Morant is, I don't see any world where he could be the best player in the league or an MVP. I could see that world for Zion. Pretty easily, in fact.

I would say the worst case scenario I see for Zion is Ben Simmons - where he puts up great stats but he is easy to game plan for in a playoff series. But I would still take Zion at #1 all day. It's okay to have two studs at the top of the draft and say one is slightly better than the other. You don't have to knock one to elevate the other

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I don't see any world where he could be the best player in the league or an MVP. I could see that world for Zion. Pretty easily, in fact.

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let me know when Zion notches a triple double

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Elfrid Payton has tons of them and I don't even see him as a real NBA starter, so the triple double means jack shite to me

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This isn't the NBA. There's a reason there hasn't been one in the tourney in 7 years.

If you applied NBA pace to yesterday's game, Morant would have at least had a 20/15/20 game. It was a dominant performance, and certainly the most COMPLETE offensive display I've seen in the tourney. He completely dissected Marquette and greatly elevated the play of everyone around him while being guarded by 2-3 guys most of the afternoon. I don't even think the stats do him justice, he was that good. I did have to remind myself how special he'd been when he had some dumbass And-1 mixtape type turnovers, but letting him go out there and be himself with no consequences probably was a big key to his performance.

Zion is the #1 pick, but man that was fun as hell to watch yesterday.

ETA: that stepback 3 at the end of the first half was savage. Marquette was pushing back on that first half lead, and Morant just demoralized them going into the break. His 17 points on 5/9 shooting is another example that shows just how in control of the game he was.

It's definitely going to be interesting to see what happens if NY ends up with the #2 pick. Do the Pels like Morant and his potential more than they like Tatum? How do they judge Smart and the picks vs. DSJ, Knox, and the other picks they have?

The only thing I don't like in the comparison is Morant is much less selfish.

He definitely has the CP3 mentality of getting everyone involved first. Whereas Wall is the type of player that is going to shot his 15-20 shots a game regardless.

I love how this has become a debate on his NBA comparison


Regardless, I think he'll have a very large impact on whatever NBA team drafts him. In a league that has moved to combo guards & 'primary ball handlers,' true PGs that have solid overall games are a rarity.