In the professional sports world, there are always young new forces in every era to conquer new and old fans with strength and attitude, and the NBA league is no exception. Referring to the recent hot new generation of players, the Grizzlies' ace Ja Morante can be called a very hot fan discussion
As of press time, third-year Morant has averaged 24.9 points, 6.7 assists, 5.7 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game this season, shooting 48.9% from the field and 37.9% from three-point range, both in terms of personal data and the temporary record of the Grizzlies he led this season.
Solid and gorgeous offensive skills, young and precocious leadership temperament, quite skillful change of direction and speed breakout, and a pair of spring legs like a helicopter, and the most attractive horse-like spirit of the fierce fighting spirit, it can be said that in Morant, old fans can see the shadow of Players such as Wei Shao, Iverson, Rose, etc., and clearly perceive that Morant is Morant, which is his attractive charm.
Any star has their own anecdotes or anecdotes, and Morant is no exception. In this article, I will sort out a little bit and take stock of ten anecdotes that Morant may not necessarily be widely known for fans who are interested in him to get to know him more fully. Of course, due to space limitations, if there is a lost pearl or a debatable choice, you are welcome to leave a message in the comment area to add.
First, Morant's father and Ray Allen were teammates
Looking back at Ja Morant's basketball journey in its infancy, his father, Tee Morant, was definitely a key figure and mentor for Little Morant to succeed and shine in the NBA league.
Ti Morant was also a basketball player, and the elder Morant in high school and former NBA all-time three-pointer Ray Allen were teammates. After college, Ti Morant failed to win the NBA Draft, and because of Morant's birth, he gave up the idea of going overseas to continue his dream of professional football, and turned to barber to support his family.
Since the birth of little Morant and the show of interest and talent in basketball, the elder Morant has a plan to train his son to become an NBA player, continue his uncompetited NBA dream to him, and train him from an early age to basketball devils, and then lead little Morant to success.
2. Morant is a 0-star high school student
In the demon-like North American basketball world, Morant in high school can be said to be a transparent person-like existence, on the one hand, the high school he attended is not very famous, on the other hand, Morant is a relatively late player in the body, high school is still relatively thin, physical strength and explosiveness have not yet risen.
Among the same high school students, Morant did not enter the peeping eye at all, and was directly ignored in the high school student rating, becoming a sporadic high school student. However, this former 0-star high school student has become the NBA's top show & Newcomer of the Year King, and now the league's point guard representative.
A packet of potato-flavored potato chips rewrote Morant's future
The book picked up, Morant was still an obscure basketball kid after graduating from high school, and he did not receive an invitation from any NCAA school, let alone a basketball scholarship.
From the obscurity of basketball to the ignorance of everyone, which requires the discovery of his own Bole at the right time, from this point of view, Morant is the representative of the harder he tries, the luckier he is, and the pack of potato chips rewrites his supposedly bleak NCAA journey.
Back in the summer of Morant's high school graduation, he didn't receive any offers from basketball schools, and the afternoon he met Kane, an assistant professor at Murray State University, was one of the best encounters of his basketball career. Murray State was a marginal and average team in the NCAA First Division, when assistant coach James Kane was driving to find a young player named Tween Brown (Tween Brown was a key target for Murray State to invite to the team).
While driving, a hungry Kane saw a commissary passing by a gymnasium and decided to stop and buy a bag of potato chips to fill his hunger, only to hear the sound of someone dribbling in the stadium, curiously walked in to see, only to be conquered by Morant's performance in 3v3, marveling at the child's talent.
After Morant rested, Kane talked and learned that Morant was a high school graduate, had not received basketball scholarships from any of the NCAA basketball schools, and was even a sporadic high school student, and he was shocked again, and quickly called the team's head coach Matt McMahon, saying that he had dug up the treasure and let him have time to come and see, and he had to give this player a basketball scholarship.
As a result, Murray State Was so lucky to get the best player in their varsity history, Morant, who jumped to the top of the country in two years. Incidentally, Twen Brown, who was going to visit Kane, ended up joining the team and teaming up with Morant, who was Morant's best teammate in the NCAA. Currently senior Teving Brown, who mainly plays the forward guard swingman, averaged 19.1 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game in the past senior season, shooting 47.3% from the field and 43.8% from three-point range, and is more likely to join the NBA next year and meet Morant again.
Morant is the first player ever in the NCAA to play a season of 20 points and 10 assists.
After Morant grew up practicing basketball, basketball skills were quite solid, and after his body grew up, explosiveness and speed, Morant grew up quickly in college.
In his first college season, Morant scored 12.5 points, 6.3 assists and 6.5 rebounds; in the second college season, Morant leapt forward, playing 24.6 points, 10.1 assists, 5.7 rebounds and 1.8 steals, leading the general Morrie State to the second round of the NCAA Championship, and personally winning the NCAA Bob Cusi Award (Point Guard of the Year).
NCAA scores have always been low, and since assist statistics were available in 1980, Morant became the first NCAA player to average 20 points and 10 assists per game in the season. After his sophomore season, Morant immediately moved the United States and became a super newcomer at the top three level, and then took the top spot for the Grizzlies in the 2019 draft.
Morant's first big expense after entering the NBA was to buy a car for his parents
As a draft pick, Morant's salary in his first year of rookie year was $8.73 million before tax. In the rookie season when players entered the NBA and began to receive a lot of money, Morant's first big expense was to return to his parents and buy a good car for his parents. Toward the end of the 19/20 season, Morant quietly bought his dad a Dodge Warhorse Hellcat, the Cargo SRT Hellcat, and then an Audi A8L for his mom.
GoAT choose Jordan or James?
Like many NBA players, Morant has been asked whether GOAT is Jordan or James. Unlike most NBA players' answers, Morant said he would choose James because Jordan appeared more in video footage and grew up watching James play, and James is the Jordan of his generation.
Morant became a father at the age of 19
There have always been many young players in the NBA league, and Morant is one of them. As early as 2019, his girlfriend KK Dixon, whom he met in college, gave birth to a daughter with whom he had a love affair.
At the original draft, his girlfriend KK also accompanied him to attend and wait for the draft results, and impressed the fans with a bright image. Unfortunately, there is a rift in the back of Morant's relationship with KK, and it seems that they have broken up at present. After this, Morant also added attention and likes to various Internet celebrity models on social media from time to time.
Morant took Yuta Watanabe's No. 12 jersey at that time
No. 12 is the jersey number that Morant has worn since he was a child, and after joining the Grizzlies as a leader,the No. 12 jersey at the time belonged to Japanese player Yuta Watanabe, who knowingly gave Morant the No. 12 jersey.
In addition to becoming the new owner of the No. 12, Morant is also very popular, thanking Yuta Watanabe on the social media and calling on his fans to pay more attention to teammate Yuta Watanabe.
Morant's arm is tattooed with a family training
Morant was a filial man, his father was very influential in his basketball path, and his mother was actually the same. On Morant's arm, he tattooed his mother's most frequent admonition and encouragement, "Beneath No One," which he personally regarded as a family discipline.
Ten, about Morant's basketball idol
Any teenager who loves basketball has his own basketball idol, and Morant is no exception. When asked who his basketball idol was since he became famous, Morant has said that he likes Iverson and Westbrook, and that he likes to combine extraordinary athleticism and aggressiveness on the field.
Enviable things, whether it is Iverson or Westbrook, these two Morant predecessors have expressed their appreciation and concern for Morant, Iverson has publicly said that Morant is a bit of a modern version of his own meaning, Wei Shao is more concerned and persuades Morant to play hard after the game, but to save himself and come to Japan.
By the way, although Morant did not directly say that his idol was Kobe, he once wrote in an interview with a draft reporter that year about "If you had the opportunity to have the spirit of a star in the history of the NBA, who would you be willing to choose?" In the question, he chose Kobe Bryant and said that he wanted to have the same Mamba spirit as Kobe, and he has always remembered Kobe's spirit. So, from this point of view, Morant is also a mamba disciple in a broad sense.
More interestingly, after gradually adapting to the NBA league and getting stronger, Morant once updated the answer about the basketball idol in the interview, saying that he is now his biggest basketball idol. Isn't it still called young people? There is no doubt that like Iverson and Wei Shao, Morant is also a point guard with an arrogant bone.