LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - JULY 14: Ja Morant (L) of the Memphis Grizzlies and Zion Williamson #1 of the New Orleans Pelicans shoot during warmups before a semifinal game of the 2019 NBA Summer League at the Thomas & Mack Center on July 14, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Memphis Grizzlies point guard, Ja Morant is playing exciting basketball.
Morant is averaging 17.6 points, 3.5 rebounds and 6.9 assists for a Grizzlies team that currently sits in 8th place in the NBA’s Western Conference.
Morant’s father, Tee Morant appeared on today’s episode of the Scoop B Radio Podcast.
While on the show, I asked the eldest Morant to clear something up.
Last March, he stated why his son should be the No.1 overall pick in last year’s NBA Draft.
“Is there anything before one,” he said.
“Yeah, zero. Let him go zero.”
Million Dollar Quetion: Was Tee Morant misquoted?
“No,” Tee Morant told me today on Scoop B Radio.
“I was not misquoted. Not knocking my homeboy Zion. Zion is my guy but I didn’t think nobody in college was better than #12 at all. And that’s non biased. But I would never tell him that because my thing is tough love. I hate when kids get these numbers beside them and they get complacent and think that okay I done made it. No…I don’t care if you’re number #1 in the nation in high school. You got to go to college and you’re going to meet up against the number #2’s and number #3’s and they’re going to kill you. Why? Because you think that you’re that deal.”
Zion Williamson went No.1 to the New Orleans Pelicans by way of Duke University and Ja Morant went No. 2 to the Memphis Grizzlies.
Tee Morant thinks the world of Ja Morant. “My thing was never giving Ja that nudge as far as – like, Ja could score 30; and I’d be like, ‘Aye. Why did you have six turnovers? You trash!’…that’s just me. Why? Because I don’t want these kids to get fooled that they can drop 30 and you’re automatically in the NBA,” he said.
“No! So me and Ja did film study forever. So when I said that what’s better than Draft pick number #1 number zero, I was definitely serious talking about my son. He was the best player in college. Period. Non biased speaking because I look at basketball and I know that he was going to impact whoever he came to and you see it at Memphis. I get emotional sometimes because the dude is…man you talk about putting people in the seats, cut it out man. The dude makes EVERYBODY better. He really doesn’t need anybody to make him better. He got a switch and I don’t know how he got it or where he got from. He didn’t get it from me [laughs]. He got a switch to know when to take over and when he flips that switch, he takes over. Go back and look at the film. Film don’t lie…the boy go!”
The NBA season resumes this evening at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida after the coronavirus pandemic halted NBA basketball on March 11.
22 NBA Teams will compete to fill the league’s 16-NBA playoff spots in both the NBA’s Eastern and Western Conferences with the NBA Finals expected to finish no later than October 13.