Ja Morant was the talk of the season last year with all of the immature and childish antics that he was up to.
Now that Adam Silver has given Morant plenty of time to think about his actions, the Memphis Grizzlies are bringing in Derrick Rose to possibly help guide and mentor the young star.
Derrick Rose Won’t Be Babysitting Ja Morant
For Rose, that mentoring doesn’t mean babysitting, but pushing Morant — something Rose talked about on media day when he spoke about what he said to Morant after they linked up.
“I’m not here to babysit you. I’m not here to follow you around. I’m not here to cheerlead,” he told reporters at the Grizzlies’ media day when recounting the conversation, according to Bleacher Report. He added that he’s “here to push you.”
Rose isn’t taking any crap, and while he’s not shying away from that mentor role that is normally expected of a 35-year-old former superstar, he isn’t here to chaperone any of these guys either.
HoopsHype quoted Rose as saying “I’m not here to babysit, micromanage, or anything. I’m not here to be a plant, a plant in the locker room, any of that. I’m here to help guys win.”
Hopefully, Ja Morant has the same mindset that Rose has. The 2019 NBA Rookie of the Year was suspended for 25 games by Adam Silver after he was spotted on social media brandishing a lighter that looked like a handgun.
But the reason that he was suspended was because he already had a prior incident involving a gun earlier that season, along with a few other incidents involving some of his personal peers and their actions.
Ja Morant’s missing 25 games already disqualifies him from being voted to any All-NBA team as a part of the new award rule. Hopefully, that will inspire Morant to focus on winning and rebuilding his reputation.
Memphis Needs To Take The Next Step Forward
The Memphis Grizzlies finished last year as the third seed in the West, but lost in the first round in six games to the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Grizzlies are a young team that lacked discipline and much playoff experience to that point, but bringing on Derrick Rose shows that Memphis is trying to take a step further by bringing some experience to the locker room.
Not only does Rose add some wisdom and experience to this Grizzlies team, but he’s also a viable option as a backup point guard.
Rose averaged 5.4 points, and 1.7 assists per game last year in 27 games but looks to play a bunch for Memphis this year and we should see more production from him.
Hopefully, Rose’s calm demeanor, championship mentality and motivation to be better rub off on Ja Morant as he looks to bounce back from a controversial season and start making headlines for his performance on the court.
