Since 2019, the Memphis Grizzlies have embraced a main core of Jaren Jackson Jr. and Ja Morant, hoping the duo could eventually push the franchise to championship contention.
Initially, optimism was justified. After all, Jackson developed into one of the best defenders in the league, and Morant became devastatingly effective at pressuring the rim, which made for highly intriguing starting points for both of them.
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Unfortunately, with the partnership in its seventh season, only some things have changed and certainly not enough for Memphis to continue building around its current core. Jackson and Morant have combined to win one playoff series in their time together, and things certainly don’t seem to be improving.
The Jackson conundrum
While Jackson has evolved into a high-volume scorer (22.2 points in 29.8 minutes last season), the big man remains one of the worst rebounders in basketball.
Despite standing 6-foot-10, sporting a 7-5 wingspan and being one of the better pure athletes in the league, Jackson simply does not attack the glass.
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This is Year 8 for the former Michigan State standout, and over the course of 400-plus games, and almost 12,000 minutes, he’s yet to crack 2,500 rebounds for his career. Heck, he’s yet to crack 2,300!
Jackson is grabbing 5.5 per game for his career, a number comparable to most traditionally sized shooting guards and wings.
And despite his experience, the former Defensive Player of the Year still fouls too much, averaging 4.4 this season in 28.3 minutes per game.
(As you can imagine, those two stats go hand-in-hand.)
The Ja Morant-Jaren Jackson Jr. partnership may have run its course. (Photo by Wes Hale/Getty Images)
(Wes Hale via Getty Images)
This trend is also a factor in the postseason, when he often disappears.
In 27 career playoff games, Jackson is connecting on just 39.6% of his shots and 33.1% of his 3-pointers. His scoring evolution in the regular season appears to dissipate in the playoffs, as he’s averaged 17.2 points the past two postseasons.
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It’s generally a problem if your primary big man doesn’t rebound, fouls too much and develops the power of invisibility when games matter most.
That’s why the decision from Memphis’ side to renegotiate his deal and attach an extension on top of it was curious.
The two sides agreed to a five-year deal, which will ultimately pay him $240 million — a number that seems quite extreme given the above concerns.
The Morant conundrum
The situation is equally frustrating with Morant, but due to different factors.
We all know about his history with firearms on social media that led to suspensions.
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We also know about his injury history, which has caused him to miss significant time over the course of his career.
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Despite entering his seventh season, Morant has played just 313 games in his career, making his lack of availability a major concern.
Then there are the shooting issues.
Morant simply isn’t a good floor-spacer. He’s hit 31.2% of his 3-pointers since arriving in the league in 2019, and nothing indicates that he’s likely to turn that trend around anytime soon, as he’s shooting 15.6% on 5.3 3s per game this season.
The 6-3 point guard is also, at best, a shaky defender who will disengage mentally if he isn’t satisfied with calls, touches or something else entirely during the course of a game.
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Having a point guard who can’t shoot and doesn’t affect the game defensively on a consistent basis, and who misses a ton of games — the latest via a one-game suspension by his own team — is not only a difficult player to build around, he’s an unreliable one as well.
What’s the broader idea?
It’s not as if everything is wrong in Memphis. Historically speaking, the Grizzlies draft well, especially later in the draft. Rookie Cedric Coward, taken 11th overall, seems to be the latest example of that.
The organization also embraces an analytical approach to basketball, which is objectively a good thing within the world of sports — although it’s certainly a choice to double-down on two players who can’t seem to overcome their own shortcomings.
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Despite data and history suggesting it’s suboptimal to have a big man who can’t stay in games and a point guard who misses them entirely, the Grizzlies seem to keep believing in their star duo for … reasons?
The organization does have assets, especially on the heels of trading Desmond Bane to the Orlando Magic in a deal in which it acquired four first-round draft picks.
What the Grizzlies end up doing with that haul remains to be seen, but unless they somehow acquire a clear-cut franchise player who is better than both Morant and Jackson, this team is reminiscent of the Orlando Magic when they trotted out Nikola Vučević, Aaron Gordon and Evan Fourier for six years, with very little to show for it.
That’s not exactly the team you want to mirror.
Perhaps the time for major change is now.
