Memphis guard Ja Morant proved the anticipation over his return to the Grizzlies was justified in the season opener on Wednesday.
Morant lost 73 games last season to suspension and injury last season but it was hard to tell he’d been away with 22 points, 10 assists and five rebounds in a 126-124 road win over the Utah Jazz.
Yet the production from forward Santi Aldama was equally noteworthy. Starting in the stead of Jaren Jackson Jr. (hamstring), Aldama poured in 27 points – one shy of his career high – and five rebounds to help Morant steer a balanced offensive attack for the Grizzlies, who will remain on the road when facing the Houston Rockets on Friday.
Aldama emerged last season as a starter in 35 games for the injury-plagued Grizzlies and averaged 10.7 points with 5.8 rebounds. His perimeter shooting is valuable for Memphis, given Morant and his penchant to get downhill with the ball in pursuit of spectacular rim attacks. Aldama hit five 3-pointers against the Jazz in a preview of how potent the pairing could be.
“He’s got a lot of potential going into his fourth year,” Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins said of Aldama. “He’s grown a lot. He’s played a lot of different roles for us: he’s come off the bench, he’s been a starter, he’s played in super big lineups, sometimes he had to play at the five. Hopefully, when we’re fully healthy I still think he can make an extreme impact at a lot of different positions.
“Going into his fourth year I think he’s learned a lot and he understands the impact he can have. We’re going to keep challenging him to do that.”
Jenkins used an 11-man rotation at Utah — all 11 recorded double digits in minutes. The Grizzlies’ depth is a development worth noting, particularly given that Morant can serve as a singular force and any support to his offensive workload could prove especially beneficial.
“I haven’t played 11 guys probably in my time in Memphis,” Jenkins said. “I thought all 11 guys contributed in different forms or fashions, different stages of the game.
“Overall, bench guys set the tone. These guys are taking advantage of the opportunity. We’ll see what we do moving forward, how deep we play it, but that’s got to be a strength of ours moving forward, our bench.”
While the Rockets opened this season touting their depth, it didn’t exactly come to fruition in their 110-105 home loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday. Houston coughed up an 18-point, first-half lead in the setback with only one reserve, Amen Thompson, scoring in double figures.
Thompson finished with 13 points and four rebounds in 21 minutes while the four other reserves who participated totaled 15 points on 7-for-16 shooting. Cam Whitmore was the only reserve to post a positive plus/minus at plus-4.
“We have a rotation that we look at (and) like, and depending on how guys play those minutes can get extended,” Rockets coach Ime Udoka said. “I didn’t love our end of third, start of fourth, so I went back with the starters there. We do have depth and I think the first time the bench came in the first half they extended (the lead). You kind of roll with them and let guys play it through and see what happens. But it’s going to be a good problem to have all year.”
