Star point guard Ja Morant suggested he and the Grizzlies need to come back with more focus next season.
“I’ve just got to be better with my decision-making,” Morant said, via Tim MacMahon of ESPN. “That’s pretty much it. Off-the-court issues affected us as an organization pretty much. Just [need] more discipline.”
Morant, of course, was suspended for eight games during the regular season for an Instagram post in which he brandished a firearm inside a nightclub.
“I feel like mine is more off the court and on the court — just being disciplined both sides,” Morant said, via MacMahon. “Off the court, making better decisions. On the court, being locked in even more. Being a leader of this team, it pretty much starts with me. So however I attack any situation, I know my guys will follow. I’ve just got to be better in that area.”
Coach Taylor Jenkins added that the Grizzlies’ 40-point loss to the Lakers in the season-finale can serve as a lesson for next season.
“I think we have a great culture, and your culture’s going to get tested,” Jenkins said, via MacMahon. “I mean, there’s going to be opportunities that are going to see how strong you are, how together you are, how resilient you are, how disciplined you are. And then are you really building something day in and day out to ultimately try to win a championship. It doesn’t happen overnight. Nothing is going to be a straight line.
“In my opinion, this is probably that moment in time that’s going to be the ultimate wake-up call. Are we going to really understand that it’s the preparation and the offseason, the preparation in the season? It’s what you do at work, off the court — clearly, there are things that we’ve got to control and just embrace it together. How are we going to support each other throughout all this stuff? This is a journey that you go through from the start of the season to the end of the season, and it’s not supposed to be easy, any of it. So are we going to take it lightly and take it for granted or we going to take a real hard look at the mirror?”
- Grizzlies forward Dillon Brooks did not speak to reporters and exited the locker room after the Game 6 loss, MacMahon noted.
- Brooks is an unrestricted free agent this summer, leading some to believe his days with Memphis may have come to an end. Other insiders have suggested he will be back.
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