Ja Morant Declares for the Draft

Lottery Pick Expected

(St. Louis, MO) – Ja Morant is heading to the NBA. After an historic season for the electrifying guard, he has declared for this June’s NBA draft. Many experts expect that he will be a lottery pick. Some say he will be drafted within the top three spots.

During our recent interview with Racer’s coach Matt McMahon he talked about the greatness of Morant in terms that are slightly different than the high-lights, the #SCTop10 dunks and triple doubles. McMahon told me about the simple things that speak to Morant’s greatness.

“He makes really hard plays look easy,” said McMahon. “He’s our most valuable player because he makes the most players valuable.”

Morant is receiving the accolades he truly deserves and will head to the NBA where he will make millions of dollars and we hope he will have a dynamic career, but it was those comments from McMahon that stood out to me. For while the spotlight was on the sophomore star, part of what made him great was his passion to win, make others around him better and not hogging that spotlight.

The Crazy Statistics

Morant became the first player since the NCAA made the assist an official stat in the 1983-84 season to average 20 points and 10 assists. He was the OVC Player of the Year and a consensus All-America selection. As the NCAA Final Four is played this weekend in Minneapolis, Morant is a finalist for all of the national individual awards including Wooden, Robertson, Naismith and Cousy (goracers.com).

He averaged TEN ASSISTS PER GAME! That means ten times a game someone else had to hit the shot. Often they hit those shots because Ja knew how to find his teammates in the right spot for THEM to be successful. Those alley-oop dunks and wide-open threes didn’t happen because he was selfish, it was because this young star knew what it took for his team to succeed.

Morant finished the season with 331 assists, the sixth-most in NCAA single-season history. His assists and 808 points are both Murray State single-season records and he set the MSU career assist record in only two seasons (goracers.com).

First Impressions

During the first third of Morant’s freshman season I saw him play at Saint Louis University. His stat line was impressive. Though he only made four of 12 shots, he finished with an understated double-double of ten points, 12 rebounds and six assists. Impressive yes, but he was playing ‘Robin’ to Jonathan Stark’s ‘Batman’. By-the-way, he committed one turnover. ONE! The freshman was willing to ‘do his job’, ‘wait his turn’ and serve the greater good.

Shortly after that game I wrote a story about how Morant would be the ‘Next Big Thing’ in the Ohio Valley Conference. He did not disappoint. While Racer fans and OVC enthusiasts would love to see Morant dazzle in the college game longer, everyone believes this is the right move for the South Carolina native.

Now he is being compared to Russell Westbrook and other NBA greats.

The first Racer to declare for the draft and leave Murray State early was Cameron Payne in 2015. Now you can add Morant to the list. Morant is set to become the Racers’ third NBA draft pick since 2013 when Isaiah Canaan was selected by the Houston Rockets. Payne was taken by the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2015. The Racers have had 22 total NBA draft picks since Bennie Purcell was the first taken in 1952 by Baltimore (goracers.com).

The NBA Draft is June 20 in Brooklyn, New York.

Now we are numbered amongst those that get to say, ‘I watched him play in college.’

Ja Morant is heading to the NBA.

Do Good, young man. Do Good