Ja Morant was named the NBA’s Most Improved Player last season, which says a lot considering he already was one of the game’s brightest young stars over his first two years in the league.
The Knicks and their new point guard, Jalen Brunson, will face one of the NBA’s toughest challenges to kick off their 2022-23 campaign Wednesday night in the dynamic Morant and the Grizzlies in Memphis.
“He’s special. He just does so many things well,” Brunson, who will be making his Knicks debut, said Tuesday. “I think the main takeaway I get from him is how he has kind of embraced the role that he has as a leader and how he kind of gets everyone on the same page.
“You see that team is always having fun, always doing things; they’re just always together. And so, when you have a guy in your locker room like that, it’s definitely easy to play for him. No matter what he can do on the court, as a leader, he’s special and he’s brought that team together.”
The Grizzlies finished last season 56-26, second-best in the West, before losing to the Warriors in the second round of the playoffs. Morant led the way with 27.4 points and 6.7 assists per game, finishing seventh in league MVP voting.
“We know how talented they are, they’re fast, they’ve got a well-balanced team, strong on both sides of the ball. Morant poses all kinds of problems, but you can’t overlook all their other guys,” Tom Thibodeau said. “I think [his improvement] is just experience, but his speed is special.
“The impact that he has on the game, to get into the paint, he puts enormous pressure on you at all times. Attacks the rim. They play fast because of him. He’s really a one-man break. But they get up and they fly and they play off him extremely well.”
Asked for the toughest aspect of guarding the 23-year-old Morant, Brunson added: “He’s incredibly fast. He does a lot of things downhill. But he can make plays. He’s nowhere near one-dimensional. He can do so many things. He has a lot of just ‘wow’ moments.
“As a fan of basketball, whenever you turn on the TV, you see a Ja Morant highlight. So, he’s special. He can do incredible things. It’s gonna be a tough task, but we’re up for it.”
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