Stephen A.'s DISAPPOINTMENT in Ja Morant 🗣️ 'He WAS ascending to superstar status' | First Take

The disappointment for me is probably the Milwaukee Bucks. I know that they are down and they have their problems, but when I looked at them on paper in the beginning of the season, I wouldn't have been able to tell you that they'd be this bad. Having a workhorse like they got, they got a couple of guys that are talented that just haven't done their jobs, I feel like this year.

Yeah, I did not expect to look at them and not care if they're matched up with somebody.

Wendy?

Shea, I, in the preseason, I thought the LA Clippers were gonna be a real challenge in the Western Conference, and I cannot believe how their season has gone. And them starting 6 and 21, I was, I questioned whatever I knew about basketball because I watched him in the preseason. I, you know, I didn't, I think their roster was a bit of a gamble with how old they were. I can't explain it. And then the thing that I really can't explain, Stephen A, they finally start playing like I think they can. They go 17 and 4. Kawhi Leonard is playing his best basketball. It might be the best he's played in the regular season in his career.

I know he's got a couple of finals MVPs, so that standard isn't fair to compare him to. It's definitely the best he's played as a clipper. There have been multiple years where if Kawhi played like this for the Clippers, they might have been in the finals. They finally are getting that Kawhi Leonard. He is playing spectacularly. He did with all these guys falling by the wayside with games missed. He might end up on the back

end of the MVP ballot the way he's playing. I'm not even kidding. Okay, and that's when they decide to pull the plug. And it was hard and related. Obviously, James Harden wanted to be taken care of, and they weren't willing to commit to that. Gone with Harden, gone with Zubac, and now they're in sort of a quasi-rebuild where they don't control their pick with Kawhi playing this way. Like, a completely unexpected season.

And if I was a Clipper fan, I'd be really devastated. Because watching Kawhi Leonard play this way, guys, he's never scored like this in his career. He's on the edge of a 50, 40, 90 season. I don't know if he's gonna get there, but he's never had one of those either,

and he's on the edge of it. And yet I have no hope for this team going anywhere this year.

S.A.?

For me personally, it's the Memphis Grizzlies. I mean, the Bucks are up there and what have you, but the Memphis Grizzlies, 13 games under 500, you know, and I'm looking at John Moran. And here's what I want to say about John Moran. You know what, he's made some mistakes in the past, but it was a bad rap to the point where, you know, it was a bit too excessive, the criticism that was aimed in his direction. You got people talking about his family, his friends.

Leave those people alone. Here's where, it's not about them. All right? Decent folks, I'm sure. Everybody's not perfect. You get moved into the spotlight, or you move yourself into the spotlight.

Sometimes you handle things differently than they should be handled. Everybody is human. You make mistakes from time to time. All the best to him and his family and his friends and everybody like that. Here's my issue with John Moran. John Moran was ascending to superstar status.

Tell me I'm lying, fellas. He was ascending to superstar status. And when I watch him now, he's just a good player. He's a good player. But you find yourself aching like, where's that dude? Where's that dude that you walked through the turnstiles to see? Where's that dude that was box office? Where's that dude that was like a damn modern day version of Allen Iverson. Where's that with more hops?

Okay, with more athleticism, his ability to play above the rim. Where's that guy? When I watch him, Iman and Wendy, I see a dude that can play. He's not a scrub,

but I expected his star to ascend. I mean, you look at him from his physicality to his J. At one point, I don't know, I didn't look it up, Wendy, but as of last week, I said he was shooting like 23% from the,

from three-point range. You can't be a god in today's NBA games with the ball in your hands that much, shooting 23% from three-point range. And then you look at him, yo, Iman, you play,

you know how physical the game is, you know how big these brothers are, how strong they are. Have you seen an ounce? I mean, anything, I'm not talking about

like, he's real thin or whatever. I'm saying, you see no growth. You see nothing about his game that says, I'm working on my game. I'm working on, I've been working on my game.

I've been working on my condition. I can, that's what I'm saying. I've been working on my game. I've been working on my physicality. I've been working on my J-boy. You see nothing that says he's grown.

And I just, I expected more from the face of the franchise

of the Memphis Grizzlies. I expected more. You know, he hasn't gained any weight as far as the physicality. He didn't change his game much. He's not shooting it as well. But I understand being a player in this league, all this stuff around the mind and now you're talking about his family, we're talking about this, we're talking about his maturity. Basketball just started suffering, in my opinion. It just started to really hit him this year, where the two don't match.

Last year, he's a knucklehead, but when he gets back on the court, we're going to see what we came to see. So in that regard, I get it. But please, everybody around the league, everybody around the world, make no mistake, Ja Morant can still be a rock star, superstar, franchise.

He can be all the above, and he's supposed to be all the above.

That's the only reason we sitting here

talking about it.

He is supposed to be everything that we want him to be.

When I told him.

When he said...

When he said...

He has no value, Shump. One at a time, guys. One at a time, guys.

One at a time, guys. Go ahead, Wendy. Shump couldn't believe it when I said nobody wants to trade for him. He, he thought, he thought I was, he just couldn't believe it. And I, I get it. I'm just telling you, Shump, his value, I'm not talking about him as a person or a player, but his value with his contract, there's no demand for it.

None.

Right.

That's unfortunate. Listen, listen, here's what needs to be said. I want to be one of the main people on the air saying, leave that man alone when it come to his family, his friends, I mean, come on, man. I mean, leave him alone.

That's not about the, Now, now, Jah don't help it because he's quick to have attitude about things when you see him talking to the press or other people. Man, everybody done let that go. That's not the issue anymore. That was a couple of years ago.

The real issue is his play. He does not look like somebody who has worked on his game. He does not look like somebody who has worked on his game. He has a game,

you know he can play. He can explode at any given moment and give you 40 or 50, but he doesn't look like somebody that the young kid that you saw committed on a night in night out basis

of making noise.

The whole quote unquote loyalty thing is, it's overrated. You know, I think this is a business at the end of the day and it's a lot of money involved and a lot of decisions that has to be made. You know what I mean?

So for me, it's always about, like I don't lose focus of, you know, trying to compete for a championship and then financially making sure that my family is taken care of. This is a business at the end of the day.

So I feel like players should ultimately do what's best for them and front office does what's best for them and their owner and their organization. So it's two sides of a story.

Amon, what did you think about Harden's comments?

Um.

I agree with James and I understand where he's coming

from.

I think the loyalty it does get thrown in your face these days as if you can't get traded. I think a lot of the guys that

have gone through this in the NBA where you love that first jersey, that first team you've been with for so long and you know contract time comes up and you could get thrown in trade rooms and get traded. You could not get re-signed and have to go elsewhere to figure out where you're gonna get paid and you know

sometimes it could break your heart. It could do a lot of different things to you but as you get older and as you mature, you start understanding exactly what James said and saying, this is a business, and what I have to do has to be best for me. I also think that, I just like that James

went up there on the podium, he looked everybody in the eye and he's owning it. He knows he left another team,

and he's saying I'm worth it as a player. SA? I completely agree with Iman. I don't think that, I think two things can be true, however. I think every word that came out of James Harden's mouth was absolutely correct. We got owners, we've got executives, we've got teams that wouldn't hesitate to move on from a player, regardless of how beloved they are, if they deemed it better for the organization.

They ain't thinking about loyalty then. And so he's pointing out the reality that it's a two-way street. Organizations don't exercise loyalty to a player in a lot of situations. So why should players be compelled to do

what organizations don't do? Organizations make business decisions, the players should be allowed as well. The flip side to it, however, when I say two things could be true, there's a time and a place for certain truths

to be articulated. We're entering All-Star weekend where noise is being made about apathy on the part of players. Was that the right time to say that? You know, a guy like James Harden, one could easily argue, one of the biggest reasons he wanted out of the Clippers

is because they wouldn't extend them. And then on top of it all, there's going to be an LA All-Star Weekend and Kawhi Leonard was picked for the team as opposed to himself. We can't ignore that. He just has to look at certain things and just understand that there's certain times that certain things don't need to be said even though they're

obviously correct. And he didn't lie to anybody. And Iman's right, he did look in the camera and own it and applaud him for that. And not only that, he goes out there and plays for whatever organization he's representing, but in the same breath, just chill with the noise sometimes. Because sometimes he brings the noise and then gets upset at the reaction to the noise he instigated by his willingness to articulate certain things.

And you can't have it both ways sometimes.

Right.

When James Harden is done, we know he's done. When James Harden is done, we know he's done. However, the Cavs are unbeaten since he joined their squad.