Interesting stat from the Grizzlies commentator (who I don’t remember the name of, the one who exclaims “BANGO!” every time his team makes a three, faithfully honoring the Bucks mascot): Ja Morant is second only to Giannis Antetokounmpo in made finger-rolls this season.
I didn’t even know the NBA kept track of finger-roll stats.
But you know who else did a ton of finger-rolls? Besides George Gervin, I mean. Wilt. Wilt Chamberlain did tons of them (shout out to that Wilt Chamberlain Archive dude on YouTube for allowing me to see at least some footage of this guy), even if it probably hurt his efficiency because he should have just been dunking it every time. This leads to my theory that Morant is actually one of Wilt’s many illegitimate and unclaimed children. The timelines barely match up here, so it’s possible. Him and Otto Porter, actually half-brothers.
For real though, there’s a reason finger-rolls don’t get done very often: they’re just not a good shot. Even if you practice them a ton, as Morant probably does, you lose a lot of control trying to slide the ball off your fingertips and into the rim. Like Wilt, he should probably try to convert those shots into dunks.
He should also try to convert his threes into his dunks, but that will take a little more effort and probably some sort of mechanical implants in his legs.