Cedric Coward on Ja Morant: “If you want to say all the negative connotations about him, you’re dead wrong and you need to keep your thoughts to yourself. Ja is one of the best people I’ve ever met. One of the best people to be around.”
+10 to team chemistry
-500 fans
500 fans seems like a stretch
501 including me amigo
I think he was saying there aren’t even 500 fans to lose 😂
Yeah and I’m saying there is 501 to lose
That’s like the equivalent of the total number of actual Clippers fans in LA..
Never met a Clippers fan
You saying to say there can’t be any real fans that go watch their team play at the Federal Express Forum arena?
The Grizz about to put Coward into the Ja trade packages this summer.
That’s a rookie that standing up for his Vet and doesn’t want beef
Ja Morant got more backlash for having a gun in America than the Grizzlies owner did for violating sanctions and selling drones to Russia that were used to kill Ukranian civilians.
When u put it like that
Thank you for saying this. We have conservative politicians and their families posing with firearms every year on Christmas cards and I don’t see them referred to as thugs or wannabe gangsters.
Good point. The behaviour of Morant was bad, but the owner is clearly wayyy worse.
War criminal billionaires are a much worse threat to humanity than a young Black man who likes to pretend he’s tough.
Morant deserved his suspension, but Pera should be in prison for aiding and abetting crimes against humanity.
Also abusers in the league still
The issue isn’t Ja owning a gun, lots of players own guns. The issue is being a dumbass with a gun à la Plaxico Burress. Kids aren’t buying the (war criminal) owner’s jersey and trying to be like him.
“Having a gun in America”
Didn’t he/his friends point laser sights at Pacers personnel from inside a car?
That’s disingenuous framing. owning a gun wasnt the issue, it was glorifying things the nba does not want to associate with, like gun violence. Threatening gun violence online, gang gang shit
Also the owner didnt actually do that. He sold the Ubiquiti devices to retailers who then sold them to people that made them later end up in Russian militaries hands. The documents that Torres used to make the claim made it very obvious the grizzlies owner himself was not at fault and the legal investigation is focusing on the retailers who sold goods to individuals who took them to Russia. But that’s not an exciting story cause the reality has nothing to do with the NBA so Torres had to put a spin on it
Ain’t that something lmao this world is a depressing ass business. Earth LLC
This is a dumb point of view considering most of us are Americans who have been selling weapons that kill people to other countries for a hundred plus years. So every owner is complicit in our economic system that benefits themselves at the cost of civilian lives in other parts of the world.
Whataboutidm
Not drones. Networking equipment that supports the ability to use drones.
You don’t get it. Ja is doing and saying stupid shit and is always hurt and unavailable. The gun thing was him RECORDING himself doing dumb shit. It’s one thing if someone else does the recording but HE, HIM, by his lonesome did all that dumb shit to himself.
Unsubstantiated claim about Pera. For profit hedge fund did the reporting. Just because Pablo got Aspiration-Kawhi right doesn’t mean everything he airs on his show is gospel.
Both things can be true. Whataboutism is a plague…
Pointing out a societal double standard isn’t whataboutism
I mean. Isn’t it? If you’re pointing to the double standard to say “ease off on this guy, what that guy over there did is just as bad/worse”…isn’t that whataboutism?
Yes it is…
“Yeah, well what about when the Bears owner sold drones to Russia? Why aren’t we talking about that instead?”
Deflecting the topic to something else while insinuating that you’re the victim of a double standard for being questioned at all is an extremely common form of whataboutism, how many times have we heard Trump do that?
But in this case it’s specifically a third party that punished Morant. Pointing out that an athlete was punished more severely for a lesser offense than his owner is just straight forward pointing to hypocrisy.
Also, this isn’t even a response to a specific critique about Ja so it can’t be whataboutism, or else every time someone mentioned a double standard it would be.
You can tell it’s not whataboutism bc your comment “both things can be true” doesn’t even make sense as a reply to the comment you’re responding to
You are just wrong here. Nobody is defending a double standard here. You are defending Ja by saying… Whatabout the owner who did worse things?… That is the definition friend.
nobody is defending a double standard
That’s literally what’s happening! The original comment was “Ja was punished for X, while the owner was not punished for Y (which is more deserving of punishment than X)”. Thats like a textbook example of a double standard; the original post doesn’t even necessarily state that Ja shouldnt have been punished, just that the owner should have been punished more
I think he’s just pointing out that the criticism directed at Ja is overblown, which I would agree with. The comparison was made just as an example to support his argument.
I didn’t say “both things can be true”, you’re replying to the wrong person. Also that statement does make sense as a response.
Do you even know what whataboutism is? Saying that Morant is being unfairly targeted because “what about this billionaire though” is an attempt to paint Morant as being the victim of a smear campaign through a false equivalence (backlash against well known athlete vs a billionaire whose name he doesn’t even know).
It can be whataboutism because that’s how whataboutism is defined. You’d know that if you cared to look it up instead of arguing based on your vibe of what it should mean.
My bad, didn’t realize you were a different person.
And yes, I do. You’re twisting the message of the original comment; the original comment simply pointed out that Morant was punished more severely than the owner, despite doing something most people would say is less reprehensible. There’s no implication of a smear campaign or anything like that; you’re just projecting.
Let’s look at a definition, since you want to be condescending.
technique or practice of responding to an accusation or difficult question by making a counteraccusation or raising a different issue.
Would you look at that. “Responding to an accusation or difficult question”. Or, maybe in other words, “responding to a specific critique,” which was my exact phrasing. It’s almost like I was using the definition of the term in order to make my argument, crazy.
So … your claim is that there haven’t been accusations against Ja? Or just that the accusations have to have been made at that exact moment or they don’t count?
Neither of those is correct, but just to get some clarification on what you’re actually arguing at this point.
My claim is that whataboutism definitionally has to be a response to a specific accusation yes. Those accusations can be implicit (People say the president does X, but they fail to consider that his opponent does Y), but that’s just not what’s happening here.
Kids aren’t watching the Grizzlies owner play ball every season for one of the biggest professional sports team in Tennessee
Billionaires like Pera have much greater influence over society than Ja Morant.
If anyone is a threat to kids’ futures, it’s war criminal plutocrats profiting from death and destruction, not a jackass basketball player.
Why does America have this obsession of “Won’t somebody think of the kids?!” mentality. Don’t kids in America have parents to teach them not to wave guns in public just because a basketball player did it?
It’s always think of the kids, then when the kids get older they get shit on. No smoke for the parent that raised/didn’t raise them.
Bro American kids have to do school shooting drills, if a player gets punished for waving a gun on social media because it’s a brand risk then owners should be held accountable for doing war crimes.
Kids can’t commit war crimes.
loud incorrect buzzer
You apparently don’t know about e.g. civil war in Liberia.
You’re getting downvoted by the “kids CAN consent” crowd.
ja being able to jump high means he should be held more accountable than a billionaire funding war crimes? i’m reading this correctly?
this could be rephrased as “The grizzlies owner got backlash for supplying internet to other countries while Ja Morant assaulted people including minors and violated his own contract multiple times”. stop the whataboutism lmfao both are bad
Ah, a teenager can throw a basketball at your face in your house, and you will let it go. Good to learn you are a pussy. There is no whataboutitsm when Ja wasn’t charged with anything and got punished for “violating a contract” more than players with domestic assault charges. He still gets closeted racists running around screaming “how about the kids?”while the owner of the basketball team is helping drone attacks in foreign country. Good to see.
You would pull a stick for that? Coward ngl.
And they have an outdoor court, why we talking like it was inside his house w furniture and shit.
Jumping a teen for that is crazy work too
This has the “trying to convince the manager to hire or not fire your homie” vibes
Or, if this dude gets traded I better get his value up so I’m not playing with Omax and Hendricks for another year
Hey man. He’s not a star but Omax puts in 100% effort all the time and he’s doing better about shot selection lately. Shooting near 42% from three (2 attemps per game, 5 per 36min). Could do a lot worse for a teammate. I’m hoping he gets a full roster spot as a plug and play bench guy.
Same. I don’t see Ced playing with the bench too much tho. I’m just really talking about finding his starter running mates.
Omax blossoming would be amazing for us
You need to get around better people my guy
We drafted this guy & traded him for…a project. Let’s hope it pans out bc dude is a stud on the court & clearly a great teammate.
Once again you were never selecting coward, Do people not know how the draft works holy fuck, Coward most likely wasn’t even on the top of their big board
These types of comments make you realize how little people know/understand and that you can ignore most of the opinions online.
I saw Celtics fans moaning about “drafting” Desmond Bane and trading him to the grizzlies for whoever for years it drives me crazy.
I swear to god if I ever have to here about how the hornets “traded away” Kobe when they already agreed to trade the pick before draft night.
The NFL definitely does it better by just trading the draft pick completely
This is how it should be done. NBA is just lazy and cares about tradition and semantics too much.
It’s not about laziness. The NBA draft takes place before the new league year begins, so a lot of draft trades that happen have to wait before being official, especially if they involve a player or would cause a team to violate the Stepien rules.
The NFL draft takes place after free agency and there are no restrictions for trading picks.
Every other league does it better
There wasn’t anyone was the issue.
We started with the 20th pick in 2019 (Matisse Thybulle), but we traded down for #24 (Ty Jerome) and #33 (Carsen Edwards).
We told Aron Baynes to pick up his player option and then literally a month or two later we gave up the #24 pick to salary dump him and also got a protected Milwaukee pick in the process.
Then in 2020 that protected pick conveyed at #30 (Desmond Bane). We used that pick to salary dump Enes Kanter/Freedom and got back 2 future 2nds in the process.
It’s hard to track which 2nd round picks they were, but I think it’s the 2023 #50 and the 2025 #50.
And that was the real issue. We had 2 straight years of spending draft assets to salary dump very cheap big men who were only on the books because of short-sighted decision making.
We shouldn’t have told Baynes to pick up that PO, and Kanter’s/Freedom’s 2nd year should have been a team option.
And the reason we flipped our opinion on Baynes was because we made a last-minute decision to chase Kemba Walker in FA. We would then give up our 2021 #16 pick (Alperen Sengun) to salary dump Kemba and swap him out for Al Horford.
It all ultimately worked out in the end, with Horford helping us win a championship…
But we had 3 separate occasions in a very short period of time where we gave up a 1st round pick to salary dump someone within 1-2 seasons of signing them. Poor FA decisions were costing the team.
That was ainge right?
Mostly.
The Kemba/Horford swap happened during the handover IIRC. So Brad was GM but Ainge was an advisor.
They weren’t the worst trades ever made, and didn’t cripple the franchise, but it was just a bad sequence from an otherwise very capable FO.
Do you think you guys would have still won a ring without those moves?
If not, then it was probably worth it
It’s hard to say.
We can’t really complain because of the outcome, but we also can’t say for sure whether the outcome would have been better or worse if things had played out differently.
Horford was key to us winning, but we were expected to target a big man in that draft and Sengun could have been key as well.
Same as people saying the Hornets traded Shai and Kobe
At first I thought u were overreacting & then I saw ur flair lol, I get it.
He had a blazers hat on on draft night & was my preferred pick @ that position. We did draft him & he was immediately traded….u might be right but if we’re really getting pedantic, I’m technically not wrong.
Good to see ur hornets balling, wish we played them more this year so I could watch more of their games.
You didn’t “trade him” you made the pick for Memphis come on man.
Made zero sense to back Clingan with another rookie center. You guys also passed on the Pelicans offer that the Hawks took. That’s gotta sting more.
Is Bob Myers drafting for you guys or something?
I say this as someone who loves Yang Hansen (how could you not?!), but still feels questionable at best about the trade - 1. Mike Schmitz has a pretty solid track record on spotting underlooked guys and 2. Apparently, MIN was pretty high on Yang at 17 so Schmitz and Cronin must have seen something that told them the upside of the Yang pick was worth more than the Pel’s offer. Will they be right? Only time will tell, and I hope they are, but right now with where that Pels pick might fall it’s not looking good…
The question is how can you unless you are ethnically Chinese which makes sense. He is more underdeveloped than Jokic and Giannis when they entered the league with way lower potential. Most of the time when he subs in, Blazers start bleeding like crazy until he gets taken out. His screening is bad, rebounding is bad, boxing out is bad, and no touch around the rim.
I will say, he had some pretty solid flashes in Summer league and has continued to have some flashes in the G league so there’s definitely something there, but we’ll see if it translates to the NBA level. There have been plenty of guys who look incredible against lower competition level but can’t put it together in the big leagues. I also have to imagine the blazers FO didn’t expect Deni to pop off at the level he did and felt comfortable taking more of a project guy with high risk high reward.
He just doesn’t have the physicality or speed in a position that hinges on him being physical in a league that has pushed the pace of the game to the extreme.
I think he’s a very likely off season trade while you guys try and sweep up one of the veteran centers whose contracts are expiring this summer.
Regardless of how he develops, you’ll always have summer league 2025.
I know we got a pick pack but Coward would have been a great fit with scoot too. This one honestly stung more for me personally bc Coward was who I had my eye on the whole time. That Pels pick would’ve been masterful but at least I can gaslight myself into thinking it’s just a rumor they shopped it to everyone else.
Put your tin foil hat on with me for this next part: I think we’re trying to make like the mavs & do the league a favor by drafting someone with Yang’s following so high in exchange for a premium pick next year despite our seeding. With all the anti tanking talk already out in the air, Silver is setting it up quite nicely.
And he went to Willamette (Salem, or)
Ja’s probably a cool dude fr. I’m not worried about a stupid kids when there’s literal abusers still in the league
Still crazy the league feels like Ja flipping a legal instrument is more “detrimental” than havin guys like Jax Hayes and Miles Bridges running around boxing up gyal and the owner of my team being cordial with known PDFs.
Yea its kinda hilarious that Ja gets shit on and was punished by the league meanwhile his teams owner is committing war crimes and many players are promoting gambling which has ruined the lives of so many young men
If Ja gets traded to any semi big market, his image will do a complete 180 and people will shit on Memphis like always.
I think most of the criticism is that he cant shoot or play defense tho
I honestly think that video of Mile’s ex trying to break into his house saved his ass.
bro hanging with dudes taht point guns at the other teams bus ain’t it, in the club waving a gun around ain’t it, he isn’t some innocent he is a dangerous dumbass
In fairness isn’t there that report of Ja punching or beating up a 16 year old or something lol? Not saying he’s Miles Bridges but if that and the mall incident are true he sort of is an abuser himself
L take. Ja waving guns around, pointing them at people (other teams), doing other dumbass hoodrat shit is dangerous and is an issue.
Wasn’t he fist fighting teenagers or something?
Fighting teenagers, retail workers, mall security guards, people attending his sister’s game and etc.
Yeah but he quotes movies and stuff
Don’t forget his crew aiming lasers at Pacers players
Sounds lovely.
No. Kid wanted attention and money, started a fight and lied about it. Judge dismissed the case because the kid was “not credible.”
He threw the ball at his face then came at him chest to chest with his fists balled up.
He threatened to shoot Pacers personnel
Track record checks out.
Exactly
[deleted]
Who really is Temetrius jamal morant after all
He hasn’t done shit since the gun stuff which was literally almost 2 years ago
It was longer than that, actually. And you’re right. He has completely imploded since then. The pressure was too much for him. He’s a sweetheart, but he ain’t “him.”
Full disclosure: I’m a Grizzlies fan, so I’m gonna go cry in the shower for fifteen minutes.
I’m sure Ja is a decent teammate. Just don’t work at Footlocker near him.
Also I don’t hear anyone saying Ja isn’t a quitter. I don’t hear anything to suggest he even understands how big a fuck up any of his suspensions were and especially the most recent one was.
Why do you all want Ja to be a terrible person so bad ?
The gun stuff is not recent and has been a few years at this point and people act like he did this before the season.
What has he done RECENTLY to show that he’s the same person that he was when he did the stupid shit he did ?
his biggest controversy the past couple years has been doing a finger gun celebration lol
Talking so bad about the org that he gets suspended and then throws the Lakers game on purpose.
Track record is 90% narrative and media takes and internet shit talk. Miserable mfrs.
Racist on here pressed they can’t call Ja a thug and spam 8 mile jokes lmaooo
Charles Barkley once said The people we all love in the public eye are usually the assholes and the ones who we hate in the public eye typically are the best people so I’m not surprised fr.
Is this why Tatum gets clapping techs? Because good guy Foster knows Tatum is actually an asshole?
It’s funny how fans will claim Cedric is wrong or delusional despite the fact he’s in the locker and practice and games with Ja EVRRYDAY. Issa funny dichotomy imo.
Or…Cedric needs better role models and be around better people to have a comparison.
He had to say that; Jah had finger guns pointed at Cedric’s head.
Ok!
Never antagonise the gunman
inb4 “Ja is a good guy with a gun”
Wasn’t there some meme with a person holding a gun and the focus person off camera?
“if you dont like ja just shut up ok”
Should fix that public image then. Even Capone was a good guy to people close to him.
Ja is probably a troubled young athlete…but c’mon, dude doesn’t have a DV or rape charge or anything. I feel as though the punishment is harsh on the man.
Yup, he’s young and he made some dumb mistakes that have been punished rightfully, but the way ppl refuse to allow young black men to grow is ridiculous.
Team chemistry + 25. Why would you piss off your coworker who has an active impact on your performance? Ja is the main ball handler 😭
Yea but he didint have to say all that could have just called him a good guy and kept it pushing
Wish I had his hairline
“We quote movies” man I miss being young 😂
Okay, man
Ja’s an idiot lol
He doesn’t want to catch a bullet.
Ja is spreading the Moronism.
Who cares
This mf probly the same way
No
Whatever, let’s see what Cedric Hero has to say about Ja
Okay Coward
Sure thing buddy
The ultimate zag
Of course Cedric Coward would stand up for his teammate, but let’s not act like Ja isn’t a dumbass for waving guns around or getting into shit with teenagers or creating dumb beef with Klay Thompson while not playing (and not elevating his game when he does play). There’s a reason nobody wanted to trade for Ja and why the Grizzlies were definitely trying to get rid of him.
There’s other bad guys in the league too, by the way. But none of this excuses Ja. Kind of sick of this “you don’t know him like we do” narrative that sometimes comes from Ja defenders.
After the interview:
Cedric Coward: Okay Ja I said want you wanted me to say, can you put down the gun now?
“Ja gives me stuff and is nice to me, so he is a good person.”
Cedric is trying to say that Ja is a straight shooter.
That’s called bias kid
I find it hilarious how scapegoated Ja became. The media saw an opportunity to characterize a young black man with a gun a certain way and took it to the farthest it probably could’ve gotten. If you all heard what he has had to say about the situation, especially the nba fining and banning his celebrations, and other nba players for decades now being able to “shoot” or “prime their arrow” etc etc after shots going it but ja is made an example of.
Ja owning a firearm and being immature with it is truly so low on the list of things people should be upset with the nba about. It’s just another media circus distraction but it doesn’t do anything pointing it out. It’s already ran it’s course and is way too far gone at this point.
I like this guy. He’s the future for Memphis
I’m going to start not keeping my thoughts to myself even harder.
how much of Boondock Saints you think Ja knows by heart
Saying Ja Morant is an idiot is not dead wrong tho
He could be the nicest guy off the court but if he still underperforms, who cares?
Umm…Who?
What murdaaaa
Guess he never met him on IG live
I believe it
Is anyone even talking about Ja anymore? I don’t think he’s been relevant for a year or two.
Ja needs to just stop pretending to be from the streets and focus on being the good guy Cedric says he is. Nothing more goofy than coming from a good home and being in your 20’s then acting like you’re from the streets. He should listen to Ingleweird and reflect on himself.
Shots fired
It’s not contradictory to say Ja as a teammate is a great guy to be around and him being a total liability. In college we had one guy in our fraternity who absolutely bleed being a brother. He would defend you to the death, participate in everything and cared. But he was also a loose cannon who would start fights at events (flag football, bars, etc) and had zero chill. So on one end, he was a great friend but on the other end he kept causing shit that put all of us at risk.
Now you have Ja at a whole different level with the guns and gang affiliations being in a high-pressure profession. I absolutely see why Memphis would want to trade him to remove the liability but him also be a good short-term teammate
Sure, I’ll take the 22 year old’s word for it and not the long track record of Ja being a fucking moron
NBA players are such convincing public speakers. They really know how to address the issue head on without deflecting responsibility
Just don’t follow his training & nutrition plan
I swear I saw a red laser dot shining right on his forehead when the interview started.
It went away once Ced started the compliments.
THAT’S ALMOST MAVERICK IF WE NOT JUMP INTO #1, CEDRIC COWARD!
keep my thoughts to myself , but rookie gets to gaslight an entire fanbase. Coward indeed. Clown shoes the lot of them.
I dont acquate brandishing a fire arm for no reason with someone being a good person.
Oh shit, he quotes movies all the time? I had this guy completely wrong.
My man, if Ja is one of the best people to be around you really need better people in your life Holy shit. Dude was out here waiving guns around, fighting teenagers doing all types of crazy bullshit.
Was
I’m sorry “is”.
The 180 people are doing on Ja in this thread is hilarious.
The dude is a scumbag and Coward would look stupid for defending his character if it wasn’t completely expected for any NBA player to defend any of their teammates for just about anything.
Negative reaction? Keep your comments to yourself. Positive comments? Keep em coming.
To me, that is an instant disqualifier for your opinions. People who say things like this are funny…and naive.
But ppl also do the opposite if they don’t like someone you see it on reddit all the time “positive comment” nah “negative comment” keep it coming! They too are naive and dumb and funny right?
Or don’t tell people how to voice or form their opinions. I don’t see many people saying “if you have positive comments, keep em to yourself” anywhere lol. If someone makes a comment that someone disagrees with, yeah, there will probably be a discussion or even argument. But no one is saying you shouldn’t be allowed to say those things. The climate you are expressing is distinctively different then the one I am.
If he’s one of the best people you ever met, maybe that says more about you than about Ja.
“Dead wrong”
Ja waves gun around in the background
No that’s actually the exact problem. Dude is more about his posse and acting unserious than he is basketball. That’s literally the problem, nobody gives a shit that he’s a nice guy lol
Ja had him on gunpoint behind the camera
Nothing faker than offering to buy someone groceries who signed a 26 million dollar deal.
Thats like the broke college kid going for his wallet out to dinner with his parents. Just for show.
your example doesnt even track and reeks of projection, call your parents and apologize for spitefully destroying their Toshiba widescreen TV back in 2006
Threatening minors with a gun to feel tuff is not a good person.
That never happened.
It was basically on video minus the actual visual of the weapon. Why was he suspended if it didn’t happen?
I’m not trying to be mean, but what in the world are you talking about? What video? He was suspended for posing with a gun in an Instagram livestream, and then for doing it again in his friend’s car. No guns were pointed at any minors.
https://gambonelaw.com/case-dismissed-against-nba-player-ja-morant-civil-liability-vs-criminal-culpability-self-defense/
Case was dismissed because one party had millionaire money for good lawyers, dont act like this didn’t happen.
First of all, that had nothing to do with his NBA suspension. I still don’t know what video you were referring to, either.
Second, that case was mostly dismissed because Joshua Holloway lied about several things in his initial police report that he eventually had to be truthful about in court. Even if Ja weren’t famous, that civil suit would’ve been dropped. Hell, the suit would’ve never even been filed in the first place if Ja weren’t famous. Holloway’s mom already had a history of filing frivolous lawsuits, and this was just another one.
He’s not a bad guy
Who among us wouldn’t point a gun at an opposing player?
Or pulled up on a clothing store in a mall, with several dudes to jump a cashier because his (Ja’s) mama was having a diva moment
He’s a real straight shooter.
Yeah, he sticks to his guns. That’s for sure.
I mean most players are good teammates. Look at Deshaun Watson.. his teammates love him. Reddit acts like doing bad things off the field/court translates to the locker room. You can tell 90% of reddit has never been on any type of sports team in their lives.
Edit: This isn’t a defense of anyone’s actions, I’m just calling out how naive you guys are in regards to teammates and locker room chemistry.
hahahah how stupid is this bruh
lmao people can say whatever they want about anyone, that’s the first amendment. also, i don’t care if he takes care of YOU, i care if he’s punk inside and outside of the court.
Just like they can he can it’s the first amendment
a use of comma would make your comment readable. also saying to keep negative connotations about someone to yourself is the antithesis of 1st amendment.
No it’s not.
He’s not the government.
He’s not saying he’s going to do anything to you if you don’t.
He’s just expressing his opinion just like you are
You understood my comment just fine without a comma