re: Memphis Grizzlies reportedly backing off their all-in stance on Ja Morant

Seems like posturing. Doubt anything has happened with the combine to change anyone’s mind on players they liked before. This is just opening up trade talks for Memphis to explore.

Lavar basically shite on the possibility of Lavar playing anywhere which wasn’t California or Phoenix.

The choicest line of the stupidity was claiming he didn’t want him in New Orleans walking through the snow to practice.


Lonzo himself didn’t outright balk at New Orleans but started making a lot of noise that seemed to be done with the idea of making himself untradeable, period.

Which is where interviews and workouts come into play.

I don’t want to see him trying to score in a practice, I would like to see how he can defend, if he can take directions, and if he can learn quickly.

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There are few sure things in any draft. After I reported a couple of weeks ago from the combine that the Memphis Grizzlies informed interested parties that they intend to select Murray State's Ja Morant at No. 2, Memphis has been sending out some mixed messages. The Grizzlies' ownership group is still telling people around the league that the team is locked in on Morant, but the front office has requested to have Barrett in for a private workout -- something he has declined but might revisit over the next three weeks, sources told ESPN.

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-Givony

There's the quote they are citing from that article.

It’s pretty freaking obvious why Lonzo “doesn’t want to come here” and it has nothing to do with the Pelicans or Lonzo’s best chance at maximizing his talent.

So PHX is the destination. Wonder why that could be? Maybe it’s because it’s less than 500 miles from LA and the closest destination that would trade for him?

LAC has SGA/Shamet/Beverly
GSW has Curry
SAC has Fox

Who’s that leave? Lavar is such a piece of shite, he wants to keep his son as close to him as possible at the expense of his future...again

I’d almost want to gamble on Lonzo and see if success and Jrue can separate him from Lavar’s influence.

There are three people that I think people are really sleeping on in trade scenarios.

One is Lonzo

Two is Hunter from Virginia. I’ve seen it mentioned numerous times that Virginia’s grind it out game stifled his offensive ability, and here is way more there than we’ve seen.

Three is Mitchell Robinson. People talk about Harrell and Jarrett Allen. Robinson is on a better deal than both by a mile, had a historic rookie season on a terrible team, and could be the perfect C next to Zion.

I prefer both the Lakers and Knicks packages over both the Nets and the Clippers, assuming we get a similar haul that was offered back in Feb from the Lakers.

If Morant is able to be had at three, the Knicks instantly vault to the top of my list of trade candidates.

I still like Boston just as much if not more than all of them, but it’s seeming more and more they’re gonna day screw it.

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That really does seem like much ado about nothing. Front Offices do due dilligence interviews and workouts all the time.

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I agree, I mean the Pels interviewed Morant and no one thinks they are drafting him over Zion. Did the Pels ever interview Barrett? Also in the article Givony mentions that he'd draft Barrett over Morant, and Schmitz disagrees.

Here's another part of the article where Schmitz talks about the possibility of adding Barrett to the Pels with a Knicks/AD trade:

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Schmitz: If the Knicks were to flip Barrett and young players/assets to the Pelicans for Anthony Davis, Barrett would reunite with Williamson (the presumed No. 1 pick) and immediately become a future building block for New Orleans. A young core of Barrett, Zion, Kevin Knox and Mitchell Robinson would be strong so long as the Pelicans could use other assets from a Davis trade to add shooting to help Barrett avoid the same problem he faced at Duke. Although on a different timeline than that group at almost 29 years old, Jrue Holiday is an intriguing fit alongside Barrett, as he's capable of operating as a lead guard for stretches but might actually be at his best sliding off the ball, allowing Barrett to shoulder some of the shot-creation duties. He's one of the league's premier perimeter defenders, as well, an area in which Barrett has room to grow. That would put Knox in a much more realistic role as an off-ball threat. Robinson and Williamson would make for a dominant defensive front-court and an interesting 4/5 pick-and-roll combo, although I do wonder if Barrett would have enough spacing offensively next to that pairing. With Zion being able to slide up to the 5 for stretches, that could certainly open things up.

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Two things...

1. It is called due diligence. Teams are supposed to investigate all of their draft/trade options so that they can make the most informed decisions possible.

2. Their options potentially increase if other teams aren't sure who they are drafting. Let's say that there is a team that is absolute love with Barrett or Garland, and willing to give up the farm to trade up. You never even get that phone call if teams know you are taking Morant.

Just saw something similar to this in the NFL draft. Kingsbury essentially announced that they were going to take Murray early on. Once the Cards realized that they had foolishly taken a blowtorch to Josh Rosen's trade value in the process, they backpedalled off of their love of Murray to try to create some ambiguity.

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If that's the case when will we hear about the Pelicans looking for options on Zion and the first pick

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Zion is much more of a lock at 1 than Murray was. Every team would draft Zion number 1 in this draft. I don't think that was the case with Arizona and Murray. That being said, the Pels did interview Morant.

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. He's also a turnover machine and averaged over 5 per game.

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He also averaged 10 assists a game, and 24 points a game, which is not something you see done in college.

Lillard averaged 3.5 assists in his 4 years, never having over 4 in a single season, and only averaged over 20 points in his senior year.
McCollum was near the same, with slightly less assists and slightly more points in his 4 years than Lillard.
I use those two b/c they played at similar small schools and were combo guards coming into the draft.

That being said, i completely agree with this:

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I think Morant makes great highlights, but is he a great player remains to be seen.

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I put no stock into this report, or the multitude of others similar to this we will see over the next 2-3 weeks.

I don't love Morant, am I the only one?