Jenkins praises 'phenomenal' Morant on return from injury

Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins praised Ja Morant's commitment to the game following his return

Transcript

00:00Taylor, Jaw has come back from absences before, and he never seems to ease his way back into

00:05anything.

00:06I mean, what is it about him that allows him to just get back to peak performance so quickly?

00:08Well, I mean, he works his tail off, you know, throughout the return to play process.

00:12He loves this game.

00:13He misses being out there, but I think I said it to someone before the game.

00:17Just his engagement, even when he's out, you know, you all get to see the work that he's

00:20putting in.

00:21I mean, this past week was some of the best work I'd seen, you know, from him in a return

00:25to play process.

00:26I mean, because he wants to be out there so badly.

00:28His engagement with his teammates, his voice in the locker room, in the film sessions,

00:32on the sidelines.

00:34He was chomping at the bit to get out there, and then he and I were talking on the side

00:36of, okay, what's this going to look like in two weeks from now?

00:38I mean, we were talking two weeks ago about the things he was doing well, what he can

00:41correct, what he can get better at, where the team's headspace is at, you know, what

00:45we got to do better just as a team.

00:47He was, you know, translating that to the guys, you know, throughout the game.

00:50So he was just locked in, you know, the last, you know, three-ish weeks.

00:53So he loves the game.

00:54He put in the work, and this is no shock, you know, him coming out first game back,

00:57the impact he made with the pace of play.

00:58I thought he did a phenomenal job on Simons defensively, held him to five points.

01:02His point of attack defense definitely set a tone for us as well tonight.