If there is a duan position in the counterattack, then Jia Morant is definitely the king, because you can't imagine how ordinary he was 5 years ago...
Although his parents were the main players in varsity basketball, Morant did not inherit much talent from them, although he also worked hard, from the time he was sensible, he practiced basketball in his backyard, and under the guidance of his father, began to receive systematic training, and successfully entered Crestwood High School in South Carolina, during which time Morant also briefly played for the amateur team South Carolina Hornets, where he met Zion Williamson, who would be entangled with him for the rest of his life.
However, at that time, Morant looked at Zion, completely looking up, don't look at the latter than Morant, but people just finished playing sophomore year of high school, they received 16 offers from the NCAA first-level league, while Morant, at the end of high school, did not get the attention of a university.
In the summer of 2017, when Zion verbally promised to join the prestigious Duke University, Morant, who was rated as a "0-star high school student", regrettably fell off the list, no university would give him a chance, and the disappointed Morant once doubted himself, and he always asked his father in a daze: "Am I bad?" In order not to let his son think wildly all day, the elder Morant encouraged him to go out more, and it was also an opportunity to go out, so that Morant's entire life changed.
At that time, Morant was playing in an alternate arena, and James Kane, who happened to be the assistant coach of Murray State University at the time, also came here, he was going to find friends to eat, but just as he was about to leave, Morant in the middle of the court attracted him, Kane immediately pulled up the phone, called the team manager Matt McMahon, begging the other party to come to the stadium, because he seemed that the child in front of him was really very special.
The invitation of Murray State University, like a shot in the arm, it not only allows Morant to regain self-confidence, but also allows Morant's family to see hope, and then in the next 2 years, Morant in addition to the team to fight and train, the old Morant also developed a set of strict training plans for his son, under the joint efforts of father and son, Morant soon ushered in a transformation, not only grew tall more than ten centimeters, bouncing, speed, ball control skills, all by leaps and bounds, especially in the sophomore season, Not only did he double his scoring to 24.5 points, but his assists also increased to 10.0, becoming the NCAA's first player to average 20+10 per game since assists were counted in 1980.
It is also the progress of this year that allows Morant to catch up with Zion, who once looked up at the stars to see, in the 2019 draft, Zion was elected as the champion, and Morant became the eye of the list, it is reasonable to say that it is not easy to counterattack to this extent, but in Morant's eyes, this is far from enough.
After entering the NBA, Morant stepped on the throttle directly to the end, jumping stepped for 3 consecutive years.
In his rookie season, Morant took the best rookie with an average of 17.8 points, 3.9 rebounds and 7.3 assists per game;
The following year, Morant not only brought the Grizzlies into the playoffs, but also handed over a report card that averaged 30.2 points, 4.8 rebounds and 8.2 assists per game;
In the third year, Morant is more fully evolved, the superstar nature is revealed, under his leadership, the Grizzlies played a 67.4% win rate, becoming a level of alliance power with the Warriors, Suns, and Jazz.
Especially in the period after his comeback, in just 15 days, Morant led his Grizzlies to defeat 4 consecutive championship favourites and cut down 5 MVP-level superstars.
On December 28, he beat Paul, the Sun led by Booker, and scored 33 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals;
On December 30, the Lakers, led by James and Wei Shao, scored 41 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks;
On January 4, the Nets led by Harden beat Durant and scored 36 points, 6 rebounds and 8 assists;
On January 12, the Warriors, who beat Curry and Klay Thompson, scored 29 points, five rebounds and eight assists.
Today's Morant, more comprehensive technology, more mature handling of the ball, will not blindly pursue the impact of the basket, after entering the box, he will choose to basket, throw, or pass according to the opponent's defensive changes, the basket shooting rate increased by nearly 6 percentage points compared with last season, and shooting, but also than last season's progress, such as jump shots, from 37.4% to 39.4%, and three-point shots, although the production is still not high, but the shooting rate has risen from 30% in the past to 37.9%.
Of course, this is not the main thing, a big heart of a superstar, is the biggest change in Morant this year, this season, he averaged 4.8 points per game at key moments, ranking second in the league, second only to Embiid, not only high production, not low efficiency, shooting 44.7%, three-point shooting rate of 50%, under the leadership of Morant, the Grizzlies won 10 of the 14 games, the winning rate is as high as 71%.
Morant, who has a tough performance, not only has countless fans, but also has been selected in the top ten of the MVP list many times, and has become one of the top stars in the league and the best among the new generation of players.