“I Built The Machine, I Cannot Control It”: When Tee Morant Spoke About Instilling A Cyborg Mentality In Ja Morant

Ja Morant, for the uninitiated, is the second coming of the athletic point guard of yore (read Derrick Rose). The kid in his first game against Kyrie Irving was daring enough to defend him in the dying seconds to get a game-winning block. That should be enough to explain what kind of mind that boy had.

It all started when he was a young kid, when his father, Tee Morant, taught him the nuances of basketball. Ja wasn’t picked up by any big college, but the effort was always dialed to the max. We all know that if it hadn’t been for that one coach who wanted his chips, we wouldn’t have seen an explosive PG smashing opponents, hitting the “griddy” on their defeated souls.

Morant Sr taught his son not to bask in the glory—there are times when you have to be critical too. Too much excitement during the supportive moments also brings up a soft boy, and Morant is anything but that. Despite his frail frame, Morant doesn’t look at the people in front of him; he only treats them as a springboard for his dunks.

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Ja Morant has spent countless hours in the film room

To call Ja Morant an “Instagram” basketball player is lunacy. Yes, he does generate the most views with his flashy plays, but that is not his entire game. How he manages to get into positions that allow him to perform highlight-worthy dunks is a skill in itself.

His training regimen is extremely strict and tailored to his playing style. And apart from the gym room, Morant is always spending every minute he can in the film room, studying highlight reels. Not just his good bits, according to his father. As he taught him, he also watches his lowlights closely to understand what he can do better.

He’s always learning, which makes him one of the most dedicated people off the court. Not just his misplaced passes, but he studies his body language down to the positioning of his feet on missed shots. That is what makes Morant the player he is.

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Tee Morant Likens his son to a Cyborg – He is flabbergasted at what his son can pull off on the court

From what he has seen, Tee Morant is extremely proud of his son. However, he doesn’t let that show too much, because then he would get too complacent. Even when he does great, Morant Sr. wouldn’t be jumping up and down the court. He’d be good-naturedly ribbing him about what he could have done better.

But off camera and while speaking to others about him, the father is genuinely stunned by his son’s capabilities. What more can a father ask from his progeny when he’s pulling off swashbuckling dunks over 7-foot-tall mountains?

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