Holy shit this offseason has been sensational and last season’s only been put to bed just about two weeks ago.
Giannis is in Miami with Bam and seemingly only Bam. The potentially generational draft provided as expected. And now, with free agency set to begin on 30th June, it has been rumours, trades and extensions galore.
I won’t lie, I was certain we’d end up with the Greek Freak. We have the young assets and the picks – their own picks – which I really believed we’d leverage into making a deal.
Instead, it seemed we focused on sorting out getting a head coach who is happy being severely underpaid – a conversation for another day.
But now that is sorted and we’ve made our first major move – but is it Ja the piece we really need?
Ja for fodder is nice and all I guess…
Ja’s trade value was unsurprisingly quite low. Only 79 games played in the last 3 seasons thanks to injuries and the consequences of his off-court actions.
On the surface, he doesn’t look desirable. But what we gave up in return for a 2-time All-Star to me makes it worth it.
I liked Jerami Grant. Decent, reliable scoring veteran who knew and understood his role. But he didn’t really do much of anything else. 3.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists last season was uninspired, and defensively he added virtually nothing. But that’s not really a surprise for us.
As for Kris Murray, our 23rd pick in the 2023 draft, he’s not really shown any advancement in his three years in the league. At 25 years old, he could play a better role in a side that has more to offer.
I’m sad to see Grant go, as is most of Rip City, but he may end up a worthy sacrifice – but only if Ja is willing to make it work.
How might he work
Should Morant want to play ball, I think he could fit in very nicely. If he can adapt and play a different role to the one he has played essentially ever since entering the league, he and we can succeed.
19.5 points and 8.1 assists least season is a very solid stat line. He has quality in scoring and playmaking and I think if he is capable of being corralled, the role he can play is exactly the sort of piece we need to challenge better in the west next year.
Deni is obviously our primary scorer and star man. Sharpe is a reliable secondary with tremendous upside and potential. Jrue and Dame will share the role of primary playmaker, the latter also adding high-level 3-point scoring of course.
As far as Morant goes, I see his role as the on-ball facilitator with Dame being the off-ball but being the bigger focal point. Let me explain my vision.
Dame’s obviously older now and coming off a major injury that hinders even younger players’ careers, let alone a 35-year-old who just missed a full season.
His worth will be in the catch-and-shoot. Defenders have to mark him up at all times, which opens up all the options for Ja with the ball, who can either drive and finish or kick it to Deni or Shae, which will always be the better option since Ja isn’t a great scorer anymore while those 2 certainly are.
What this creates is a nightmare for defenders, because there are too many ways in which we can score now – other than in the post, unless Clingan decided he can score down there with ease.
Am I worried, though? Of course
All this said, I do have my concerns, and they’re likely the same ones other teams had about trading for Ja.
Like I’ve already mentioned, he’s played on 79 games over the last 3 years, with all sorts of reasons attributing to that.
His off-court antics are worrying to say the least and makes him a large liability. We’ve already been through the Jail Blazers era, we don’t need it again.
But it’s on the court as well that has me very worried, because where’s the defence?!
We were already weak in that department. Now, if we’re to start Dame and Ja in the backcourt, plus Deni not contributing on that side of the ball, it would be dire. No matter how much he’d try, Camara simply couldn’t do the work for everyone.
Then there’s how we’d line up. Originally, in my head I imagined Ja slotting in at the 2 with Shae and Deni moving up one position to the 3 and 4 respectively.
But then I factored in the need for Camara and his defence and now I don’t know who get’s dropped.
Shae is developing finely and shouldn’t be coming off the bench. Deni obviously isn’t, and we really can’t afford to not have Camara out there often to be the defensive anchor.
So does that mean Ja has to come off the bench? Absolutely not. That’s a straight road to pissing him off and getting the full Morant experience.
The short answer is, I have no idea how we make it work. It’ll be the first major decision and challenge for new head coach Micah Nori to make, and I pray for him and the nights sleep he’ll be losing trying to make it.
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