With Zion Williamson back and playing, the guy who had been crowned ROTY of the Year practically back in his junior year of high school, Ja Morant has to keep his eyes on the prize to make sure that the prize isn’t snatched out of his grip. If we knew that the voters for ROTY of the Year had a minimum required number of brain cells, the award going to Williamson wouldn’t be a concern, but there is no such brain cell requirement to be a voter. There’s not even a requirement to be a basketball fan. So it’s very possible that Morant could miss out on the award despite being the best rookie in the NBA for the longest amount of time.
If Morant wants to REALLY ensure that the award is his, he has a couple of options:
Guaranteed ROTY of the Year Option 1: Average 30/10 on 50% shooting for the rest of the season.
Guaranteed ROTY of the Year Option 2: “Intentional injury” isn’t a good way to put it, but let’s just say, some “Targeted Sabotage of Crucial Lower-Body Joints” aimed at a certain rookie in New Orleans might be in order. And I’m not talking about Nickeil Alexander-Walker here.
Guaranteed ROTY of the Year Option 3: Hack the NBA servers so that all votes are cast by a shadowy unknown figure who lives in Wisconsin and goes by the indecipherable pseudonym “Mr. DownToBuck”.
Guaranteed ROTY of the Year Option 4: Lead the Grizzlies to a championship while being the #1 scoring option. This means not letting Dillon Brooks be the #1 scoring option. It also means that the Grizzlies have to be at least the eighth seed in the West by season’s end.
As I said before, these steps wouldn’t be necessary if the ROTY of the Year voters could be counted on to vote rationally. But Ja Morant is going to find out rather soon that nobody who holds sway over any of these awards knows a pick and roll from picking their nose.