Ja Morant has taken a leap forward this season, and he has been an early candidate for the Most Improved Player award. As of now, Ja Morant is averaging 26.0 PPG, 6.3 RPG, and 7.1 APG, and he is playing at an All-Star level.
A large portion of Ja Morant’s buckets come from the interior, right at the rim. Morant is an athletic point guard with the speed to blow by defenders, and he lives in the paint. In fact, a recent chart shared by Kirk Goldsberry shows that Ja Morant is the league-leading scorer in the paint. The leading scorers for each zone were determined by the players who made the most field goals in that given zone.
Leading Scorers By Zone pic.twitter.com/mmEj1Lls1v
— Kirk Goldsberry (@kirkgoldsberry) November 19, 2021
Ja Morant reacted to the chart, and stated that when he was coming out of college, people thought that he was “too small” to “finish at the rim vs. the bigs in the NBA”. It is obviously not the case, and he joked that he was “doing just fine”.
coming out of college they were saying" i was too small & wouldn't be able to finish at the rim vs the bigs in the NBA. "
looks like i'm doing just fine 🥲 https://t.co/aRTIo2eh3l
— Ja Morant (@JaMorant) November 19, 2021
Coming out of college they were saying” i was too small & wouldn’t be able to finish at the rim vs the bigs in the NBA. ”
Looks like i’m doing just fine.
Some of the players that Ja Morant was compared to are Kyrie Irving and Russell Westbrook, and it is quite easy to see why. He can dunk it like Russell Westbrook, but also has crafty finishes near the rim like Kyrie Irving. Ja Morant is a great talent, and he could get even better.
While interior finishing is one of Ja Morant’s strengths as shown, he’s also an adept playmaker. His shooting has also drastically improved this year, and he’s shooting 4.9 3PT shots per game at 38.4%. That is a solid mark for a player who was widely considered a non-shooter last year.
The Memphis Grizzlies are currently 7th in the Western Conference with an 8-7 record. Hopefully, they are able to improve their position, and Ja Morant continuing to play at a high level will be key in achieving that goal.
