This season's All-Star season has come to an end, and the league's teams will also take a three-day break. In the remaining regular season showdowns, those teams that have basically locked up their playoff tickets will further count those teams that are still on the edge of the playoffs. For example, the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers in the West this season are not in a very good situation at this stage, and they can only struggle on the edge of the playoffs. Not to mention becoming a veritable championship favourite, they have a lot of difficulties even making it to the playoffs.
According to the league's latest release of the team's combat value list, the Phoenix Suns are at the top of the list, followed by the Grizzlies. To be sure, as the biggest dark horse team in the West this season, the rise of the Grizzlies is really unexpected. The core player in their team who can get a hand is just the leader-eye Morant, a rookie player who has only entered the third year of the league. However, the Grizzlies soared under Morant's leadership and are expected to become the biggest roadblock for the Western Conference champions to break out of the West.
No doubt. Morant, who averaged 26.8 points, 5.8 rebounds and 6.9 assists per game, played the technical level of MVP. According to statistics, in the history of the NBA, only 5 players can get at least 25 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists in a single season before the age of 23. Obviously, if Morant can continue to maintain his high form in the next competition, he is likely to become the 6th player in history to achieve this achievement. When we see the success of the list show Morant, we have to pay attention to the same year's top pick, Zion.
When he was first drafted by the New Orleans Pelicans, people from all walks of life in the league praised Zion, once calling him James' successor. In fact, the highly anticipated Zion also averaged 22.5 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game when playing in 24 games in the NBA debut season, showing the value of his debut. But unfortunately, after creating the glory of debut and peak, Zion was plagued by injuries and could not guarantee the attendance of the season. Last season, despite playing in 61 regular-season games for the team and handing over a comprehensive statistic of 27 points, 72 rebounds and 3.7 assists, it still failed to lead the team back to the playoff stage.
So far, Zion has only played 85 games for the team, and the attendance rate is really inefficient. In contrast, Morant, who constantly cashed in on his talent, is exceptionally good, and it is understandable that he can lead the team to play results. Perhaps, in the case of absolute health, Zion's talent definitely belongs to the historical level. But we have to admit that injuries are also part of the game, and Zion's physical fitness can't carry the exploding basketball talent. Yes, Zion has not been able to control his weight well, and he cannot guarantee his health on the field.
Some say he'll be the next Auden. But personally, I think things are far less bad than we think, Zion's right foot injury is not only far less serious than Auden's original kneecap injury, but also his current performance is much higher than that of Auden. According to the current statistics of small sample quantification, Zion's performance in the past two years is still rising. In the past, Embiid also delayed the NBA for a year due to injury, and then achieved the honor of the first center in the East. Talent may be late, but definitely not absent, and we need to give Zion more time.