About a month ago, I created a post that talked about why the Grizzlies were doing so well without Ja Morant while he was in COVID protocols, and in the post I was really questioning if Ja was actually holding them back because of his defensive liabilities within a solid defensive system in Memphis.

Yeah, I was… a little wrong there. Whoopsies.

Since November 28th of last year, the Grizzlies have gone 20-4, the best record in the league over that time frame. In that stretch of games, Memphis has been absolutely dominating the paint both on offense and defense. Since Nov 28th, Memphis is…

1st in total rebounding (#1 ORBS)

1st in blocks

1st in steals

1st in DRTG

1st in points in the paint

1st in 2nd chance points

1st in deflections

1st in loose balls recovered

3rd in opponent points in the paint

3rd in opponent 2nd chance points

… and Ja Morant since he’s gotten back to playing has been looking like an MVP candidate, averaging 26-5-6 a game on 59% true shooting and hitting 43% of his 3s as well. Memphis has also gotten a lot of quality wins against good opponents, within this current 10 game win streak alone they’ve beaten Golden State, Brooklyn, Phoenix, the Clippers, and the Lakers twice, and over the course of the season they’re 19-7 against teams that are within the top 8 of their conference as of today.

So, obviously this brings up questions:

Is Memphis a legit title contender? 

Where do you put Ja in your own MVP power rankings?

Should Taylor Jenkins get COTY for creating a system that can be elite both with and without his star player?

How indicative is Memphis’ stellar record against playoff teams of their playoff success down the road?

Would love to hear your thoughts about all of this below.