Grizzlies face a Ja problem, Bulls surprise everyone, Mavs falling flat

Welcome to From The Logo, a collection of opinions, analysis, and locker room insights from theScore's lead NBA reporter, Joseph Casciaro.

Is Ja Morant even worth the trouble?

Morant's fall from grace has been one of the most unfortunate stories of recent years. Once projected as a future face of the league, the high-flying Grizzlies guard is now viewed as damaged goods. Morant's immaturity, regression, and unavailability have sunk the franchise just as quickly as his breathtaking play once revived it.

What should concern Memphis and prospective trade partners the most is that Morant appears to have learned nothing while railroading his own career, displaying a stunning lack of self-awareness and accountability.

Morant was suspended twice following incidents involving firearms on social media and appeared genuinely perplexed as to why he faced criticism. He then debuted a gun-mimicking celebration and eventually replaced it with a grenade-launching gesture after being warned about the former. He was also reportedly unhappy last season with the Grizzlies' new offensive system, which offered less structure and featured fewer pick-and-roll plays. Now back in a pick-heavy offense, Morant is seemingly dissatisfied with new head coach Tuomas Iisalo's substitution patterns and willingness to call out his poor efforts.

A draft-pick rich return for Desmond Bane gave Memphis a path to a potential rebuild, which is why Morant's recent suspension and his admitted loss of basketball joy have fueled trade speculation. Under normal circumstances, the prospects of a 26-year-old star with nearly three years of team control left at 25% of the cap would be highly valued on the trade market. But don't expect a bidding war for this version of Morant. His jumper looks worse than ever, his rim frequency has declined, and his defensive upside is limited. All of that explains why the Grizzlies are losing during Morant's minutes for the first time since his rookie year.

The only thing Morant's next team can be sure of is that they'd be acquiring a fading star who refuses to believe any of it is his own fault.

Are the Bulls for real?

Reader Michael Freeman emailed me this question, and it's one we dug into on this week's studio show.

I don't think Chicago can challenge for the top spot in the East, where the Bulls reside after a stunning 6-1 start. However, I think there's reason for optimism in the Windy City.

First and foremost, Josh Giddey looks like a genuine building block on what might be the league's biggest bargain of a contract - a declining deal worth less than 14% of the cap three years from now. Giddey has the size to defend wings, playmaking vision to run an offense, and has improved as a shooter. Whether his shooting holds up will shape the 23-year-old's ceiling, but at the very least, he's cemented himself as a solid young player on a team-friendly deal. That's something the Bulls haven't had enough of as they've trudged toward mediocrity year after year.

Give head coach Billy Donovan his flowers, too. The guy runs a great offense and is finally being rewarded. Chicago has the most efficient shot profile for the second consecutive campaign, per Cleaning The Glass. But Giddey is helping the Bulls turn expectations into reality, with an eighth-ranked offense that dwarfs last season's 20th-ranked attack. All this, despite Coby White yet to play a single minute as the young guard recovers from a calf strain.

This is the type of team that could make a play-in run while still invigorating a fan base, instead of the ill-fitting, veteran cores that aimlessly dragged Chicago there in recent years. It's a start!

Should Dallas be panicking?

This question came from Daniel in Bavaria, who noticed the slumping Mavericks weren't on my opening-week panic meter.

The short answer is no. In Cooper Flagg, the 2-6 Mavs have the foundational piece most franchises spend years searching for. Between his rookie-scale contract and first extension, Flagg should be under team control for eight-to-nine seasons. I'd also argue that even if Dallas completely flops this campaign, it could be for the best, as 2026 is the last year the team controls its own first-round draft pick until 2031. Imagine adding Darryn Peterson, AJ Dybantsa, or fellow Blue Devil Cameron Boozer as Flagg's running mate for the foreseeable future.

The real time to panic would be if Dallas ends up a middle-of-the-pack team or strikes out in the lottery, leaving it in a precarious team-building situation around Flagg. That's where the ramifications of the Luka Doncic trade would rear their ugly head again, as general manager Nico Harrison somehow came away from trading a 25-year-old superstar still owing more picks than his club is owed.

In the short term, we're seeing the effects of Kyrie Irving's absence. As great as Flagg projects to be, there are obvious limitations when your best options to run the offense are an 18-year-old point forward or D'Angelo Russell. The Mavs currently own the least efficient offense the NBA has seen in five years. Anthony Davis has been great in the handful of games he's played, but he's not an initiator. Dallas desperately needs Irving in the lineup - and needs to pray that Davis is healthy when he returns - if it's going to compete at the level Harrison believed it could over the next couple of years.

It all gets back to the irony of the Doncic trade. Harrison was reportedly so concerned with the Slovenian star's conditioning and durability (among other things, like his defense) that he traded Doncic to bet it all on a pair of much older, injury-prone stars. Great work all around.

Inside the locker room

What I'm hearing from players and people around the Association.

The good kind of panicking: Getting a pro athlete to admit they or their team is concerned about an early-season slump is nearly impossible. They'll usually deflect, pointing out that it's too early to panic and that the sample size is too small to draw any conclusions. That's what I expected from the Raptors, who followed an impressive season-opening win in Atlanta with four straight losses fueled by wretched defense. However, after a rebuilding year in which positivity was in greater supply than wins, sophomore Jamal Shead told me it's time for Toronto to compete and that there's such a thing as good panicking.

"I would say we were panicking. We didn't want to lose. Everybody here knows what we bring to the table and what we can do," Shead said after a recent practice. "I wouldn't say panicking in a bad way. I think we were panicking in a good way, because we felt we shouldn't have lost those games. We were two or three possessions from winning or overtime or whatever it was in every single game. All of us have a sense of 'We want to win now' and not wait until it's time for us to move on from here."

The Raptors have responded with three straight wins to climb back to .500. Shorthanded and fatigued opponents aided that run, but you can only beat who's in front of you. Additionally, Toronto's defense has steadily improved to complement what's been an impressive (seventh-ranked) offense. For his part, Shead has been far more impactful than his modest numbers off the bench (6.9 points, 5.4 assists) would indicate.

Player of the Week

Nikola Jokic: 29.3 PPG, 76.0 TS%, 12.0 RPG, 13.0 APG, 4.0 STL + BLK, 2-1 record

All due respect to Luka Doncic, Donovan Mitchell, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Devin Booker, but "The Joker" couldn't be denied in this category (which includes all games played since last Friday). Jokic's journey to a fourth MVP award may have begun in earnest this week, averaging a 29-point triple-double on unfathomable efficiency while continuing to anchor what's been a top-five defense. His worst shooting performance of the week came when he went 14-of-22 from the field.

We want to hear from you!

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