By T.A. October 15, 2022
” I would have cooked Michael Jordan in the 90’s ” -Ja Morant.
What in Heavens will give Ja Morant the guts to make this rather derogatory comment? Ja Morant hasn’t even won a chip. The limits of Ja Morant’s greatest comparison is prime Derrick Rose. Ja Morant still has a lot to show the league and how dominant he can be although to reach his full potential he has to completely escape the shadows of “The Chicago Bulls’ Derrick Rose. “
Can Ja Morant ever fill prime Derrick Rose’s shoes?
The truth is that a game between Prime Derrick Rose and Ja Morant can never be materialized in recent history.
However, a hypothetical comparison can still be made between prime D Rose and Ja Morant considering several stats and factors.
MVP INTEGRITY
Derrick Rose at the age of 22 became the youngest player ever to win MVP in the NBA. Ja Morant surely had those dreams in 2021/2022, only he forgot guys like Nikola Jokic and Giannis exist in the league today. However, the MVP selection can seem quite ecstatic sometimes. In fact in Derrick Rose’s MVP season, Rose still had a Player Efficiency rating lower than Lebron James and Kevin Durant. Why did Rose still win the MVP? …… Well, let us take a look at some regular season stats.
The Chicago Bulls dominated the regular season with a 62-20 record. The competition was fierce in the East with Miami bringing all the heat and Dwight Howard playing the best basketball of his life for the Orlando Magic. Players like Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen were teammates on the same team. Derrick Rose was like a reincarnated Micheal Jordan- he carried the Bulls on his shoulders compared to guys like Lebron( terrific player, terrific Team). The Western Conference of the 2021/2022 NBA season is still less competitive when compared to the Eastern Conference of 2010. Ja Morant made a terrific season, notwithstanding he didn’t match up with the 2010 Chicago Bulls iconic roster. Ja had a great player efficiency rating last season of 25.1. But JA winning the MVP would have been more questionable with guys like Jokic and Dallas’s Luka Doncic carrying their teams on their backs.
The Phoenix Suns still dominated the league in the regular season of the 2021/2012 NBA. Chris Paul was the best regular season point guard in the west even with the presence of a Ja Morant in the same league.
The regular season may not be a great way to judge a team, considering teams like the Phoenix Suns who dominated the regular season and ended up crashing out during the playoffs. Comparing the playoffs run of Prime Derrick Rose and Ja Morant. Prime Derrick Rose is still favored!
Ja Morant has never made it to the conference finals in his two playoff runs.
Prime Derrick Rose still had a greater playoff run than Ja Morant in a more competitive league. The only team that could beat the Chicago Bulls in the East of 2010/2011 was the Miami Heat. Fans anticipated a Chicago Bulls -Miami Heat rematch in the conference finals of the 2011/2012 season although Derrick’s injury against Philadelphia never gave fans the chance to witness it.
Derrick Rose was the most valuable player in the league because he led his quite dysfunctional team to a very high pedestal in the playoffs. The Memphis Grizzlies were impressive last season without Ja Morant. The game-win percentage of the Chicago Bulls without Derrick Rose was 66.6%. The Game win percentage of the Memphis Grizzlies without Ja Morant in the 2021/22 NBA season was a whopping 80%. The Memphis Grizzlies without Ja isn’t so bad after all.
Shooting.
| Season | Player | FG% | 3P% |
| 2010/2011 | Derrick Rose | 44.5 | 33.2 |
| 2021/2022 | Ja Morant | 49.3 | 34.4 |
“There can never be another Derrick Rose”- Ja Morant.
Ja Morant is statistically better than Prime Derrick Rose in shooting based on field goal percentage(FG%). Nevertheless, there is an argument to be made that prime Derrick Rose would have been a terrific shooter in 2021. A lot has changed since Stephen Curry(The three-point innovator) won his first ring with the Golden State Warriors in 2015). The current NBA is based more on 3-point shooting. D Rose would have easily adapted and had better space to make terrific shots. In the 2010s the big man ideology was still kind of a thing in Basketball. The greatest compensation for the poor shooting was knowing how to work your way to the rim.
Defense
Let’s forget about the crazy once-in-a-blue-moon defensive highlights (blocks) that Ja Morant puts up, Derrick Rose was still a slightly better defensive player than Ja Morant.
Based on Defense these two facts are being considered; Steals and blocks.
| Season | Player | Steals | Blocks |
| 2010/2011 | Derrick Rose | 1.0 | 0.6 |
| 2021/2022 | Ja Morant | 1.2 | 0.4 |
Ja Morant is so terrible on defense that when without him last season his team became the 1st in defensive rating in the west, and when JA came back to the team from injury, the team plummeted back to the bottom to become the 15th rated defensive team of the league. In 2012 Derrick Rose was present in only 39 games out of 66 due to injury. During this period, the Chicago bulls’ Defense was literally the same with or without D Rose -They only had problems making shots.
Nevertheless, we can actually say the two players'(JA and D Rose) primes are having similar trajectories. Although no one wants JA to end up like D Rose. If Ja ever tears his ACL- his gameplay will literally be disfigured for life. Just ask Derrick Rose!
Injury Bound
Fans were terrified when Ja Morant had to leave last season’s playoffs against Golden State due to his knee injury. It’s sad to admit but Ja Morant is also in great danger of encountering a career destabilizing injury.
Ja Morant and D Rose are both loved for the crazy stunts they pull during dunks. While dunks can be great for highlights, the position in which they land after making such dunks is however injury compelling- especially for guys with such a lightweight (<200lbs). The bitter truth about Derrick Rose is that his injury was imminent, it was only a matter of time. If JA continues making such dunks, he may not last long in the league without experiencing a major injury. The last thing fans want is another tragic Derrick Rose storyline. JA needs to adapt to more healthy play-making styles.
A wise man once said -“Only the healthy can make new stats…” Therefore, as long as Ja Morant is still fully healthy, he can surpass the shadows of Prime D Rose. But what can really make Morant stand out?
Winning a Championship as a Point Guard.
All Ja Morant needs to do to stop the comparison between him and D Rose is to win a championship. Well, the 2022/2023 season is giving him an opportunity to achieve that feat with the Grizzlies (as long as Ja remains healthy). Although, the odds of the Grizzlies even coming out from the west are low this season. With Zion Williamson playing at an elite level and the Golden State’s mysterious playoff game spirit winning the western conference just keeps getting slimmer. If Memphis wins a championship in the next couple of years the debate between Ja and D Rose will be undoubtedly over! Can JA really pull this off this season? That’s why we love the NBA!!
