5 things which Ja Morant needs to do to become a top 5 player in the 2021-2022 NBA season
With 54.2 seconds remaining on the NBA's signature time clock, Ja Morant squares up against Steph Curry near the arc, opens his shoulders for a quick hesitation, then leans left and drives into Curry. By doing so, he creates just enough space near the paint to push off for a precise floater. The scorecard now reads 112-109 in the Memphis Grizzlies' favor.
Ja Morant again has possession. Only 14.1 seconds remain on the clock. The scorecard has, by all means, been frozen at 112-109 for 40-odd-seconds. Ja faces a much bigger and stronger Juan Toscano-Anderson near the logo. He goes left and dribbles the ball under his legs twice to straighten up, essentially lowering his center of gravity and pointing straight towards the ring.
From this position, Ja can either go left for a corner jumper, drive to the bucket for a rim finish, or feed the ball to the open Dilon Brooks or Kyle Anderson for a three-pointer attempt. Instead, he decides to drive to the basket at full speed, anchors his right foot, spins and hits another precise floater.
These two consecutive clutch shots by Ja Morant eliminated the Golden State Warriors from the 2021 play-in tournament and cemented Memphis's place in the playoffs. They would of course be knocked out of the tournament by the Utah Jazz, but that's not the point. Not yet, at least.
The reason for describing these two plays from the May 22nd game is to show Ja Morant's ability to stay calm and confident in high stakes situations, and make tough shots that count.
Five things Ja Morant needs to do to become a top five player in the current NBA league
For some strange reason, whenever an exceptional player comes into the league, fans and analysts alike cannot help but compare him with veterans or legends. Ja Morant also suffers from the same fate.
"Ja Morant is a young Westbrook. He is a taller Allen Iverson. He is a prime Derrick Rose."
Well, he is a Ja Morant that is continuously working and growing to become a better himself than anybody else. We believe that comparing Ja with a veteran or legend would be disrespectful to both. Instead, he should only be compared to himself and all that he can be in the young star's promising future.
All that being said, there is no denying from any party that Morant is exceptional. Exceptional enough to win the Rookie of the year award. Exceptional enough that fans can't help but associate his electrifying plays with their favorites.
But just how good is Ja Morant? Is he good enough to be the MVP next year? No, that might be taking speculation and expectations too far. Is he among the top 5 current players in the league? No, definitely not! Can he be one of the top 5 players in the 2021-22 season? Yes, certainly!
There is a lot to admire about Morant's high-energy plays but at the same time there are enough regions of his game that need to be worked upon. For obvious reasons, other brilliant players in the league too acknowledge the potential greatness of the player who is the center of our argument. Even Kyrie crowned him with the title of Young King.
Young being the word to notice here. If Morant wants to be a top 5 player, he needs to acknowledge his weaknesses and as far as we know, Morant doesn't shy away from criticism. On the contrary, he welcomes it.
So today, we will seek to point out 5 things Ja Morant must do to be a top 5 player in the 2021-22 NBA season.
#1 Improve his two-point shooting
Ja Morant has been an unreliable shooter until now. His ability to score far from the basket is erratic and often comes with bursts of accuracy followed by stretches where he can't even land an open two-point jumper.
It is understandable that with his explosiveness and speed, he prefers to attack the rim. Who wouldn't dunk or jelly around players if they could. That's what all the great highlight reels are made of. But greatness is not defined by highlight reels or dunks. Greatness is defined by consistent and decisive plays.
Morant needs to work on him jump shot inside the arc for more than one reason. He is not a terrible shooter but he certainly needs to work on his two-point shooting. Ja Morant, who in the 2020-21 season attempted an average of 5.4 shots from the restricted area, had a 60.4% RA conversion rate.
In comparison, he attempted 4.7 shots from the non-restricted paint area and 0.9 shots from mid-range. Ja Morant's conversion rate was 38.2% and 42.9% from the two regions respectively. However, if you convert the made shots from non-restricted paint area and mid-range to points, it only amounts to 3.6 and 0.8 points respectively.
These numbers are underwhelming. In addition, he only had 0.1 2-point catch-and-shoot attempts per game. Morant desperately needs to up his attempts. If he doesn't, he will only limit himself and become predictable in the longer run.
#2 Improve free throw Percentage
Free throws are a bonus scoring move in the NBA. They are unstoppable, meaning no one can block them. They do not register on the clock, meaning you score points without spending any time, a great tactical weapon in bridging score gaps with limited time. They can easily be turned into three or four-point plays depending on the region the shot was attempted from.
Ja Morant averaged 72.8% free throws made in the 2020-21 regular season. Again, these are not bad numbers but they are certainly not praise worthy numbers. In contrast, James Harden averaged 86.1% and Chris Paul averaged 93.4% free throws in the same regular season.
Morant should train to increase his free throw percentage. If he can take it to over 80%, he'll blossom into an even better scorer than he already has been in his two seasons.
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