Terrence Morris was on the verge of being a top 5 pick in his sophmore season in College; had he come out of the draft, he would have been. After his junior season, Rudy T said that had Terrence Morris been in the draft, the Rockets would have plucked him with their number 9 pick (hence, maybe forever altering the Griffin deal, since the extra pick aquire in the Collier deal helped get us Griffin). And in the Griffin draft, the Rockets traded a future number 1 pick for the 2nd rounder Terrence Morris. Morris always comes to play. Last year he played good defense, passed the ball well, ran the floor well, blocked a lot of shots, and got rebounds when he was on the floor. But he just couldn't buy a shot the whole season. And, it is because of his bad shooting that I think a lot of people jumped off the Morris bandwagon. I did too, until his game against the Grizzley's. Francis said it best last year, when he said that Morris was the SF of the future. Geez, if Morris can get his shot down, he will be the SF of next year. Morris vs. Nachbar for the Rockets future SF. The battle's already begun. And could Francis be picking side by not passing the ball to Nachbar?
Wait tell the season starts, he had just one good pre-season game so far. He was a very solid, but not great college player. I think he will be the same type of player in the NBA. Mobley and Thomas where great late gems in the draft, lets hope Morris is the next one.
1. If Morris shoots well, he makes everything very interesting. 2. You said, Grizzley's. LOL 3. Don't start bashing Steve Francis about passing, because you will start a big conspiracy theory. (Which we don't want to hear)
Please, let's not start this again. Nachbar is a ROOKIE, coming from overseas, which in some respects is tougher to do than college. We've had a single preseason game, in which T-Mo was hitting shots, and Nachbar played all of what, 6 minutes? It's WAY too early to call it "not passing the ball to Nachbar". The whole other issue is Steve just may not have Kidd-like court awareness He missed a wide open Morris on the left wing on a 3 on 2, electing to go to a coveredGriffin on the right in an effort to reward him.
If Morris can shoot the ball all season like he did the other night then its no contest. Morris has a complete game and Boki is a rookie. We will just have to wait and see if TMo can keep it up. Up to this point there is not much to indicate that he will but I am more than willing to give him a shot. I don't think Boki has any real chance of starting this year unless he becomes the only SF option not to be an offensive liability to the team. I just don't think Rudy wants more than one rookie on the floor at a time if he can help it and Yao Ming will start.
All of this Morris v. Boki for starting role talk is nice, but we have to remember the job is Rice's to lose first. I hope he has a good year, it would be really nice for the Rockets to have a veteran presence on the floor if we are really to make a run for the 6th seed as predicted. On the other end of the spectrum, I am really excited to see both Boki and Morris mature. I think that they could complement each other really well, Boki hopefully developing into the pure shooter we expect, and Morris offering that athletic, versatile, active type of three. If all goes well, we could have a pretty good tandum at the three.
I agree that I rather have a Boki and Morris discussion than Morris vs Boki. Its good to see Morris make an impression, but its only one preseason game (remember what we did with Cato after three pre=-season games in 1999!!). I think the 3 role is really for Rice to lose. Boki will probably have the nose in the door. If Morris keeps his current form over a sustained period then he will also have half his nose there!!! However, if Morris doesn't keep his form, he is really on the bubble this year as I see........
I think Morris has done nothing to warrant the assumption that he can continue this level of play. We'll just have to wait until mid-season to determine if he's progressed as a player.
How do the Small Forward rankings go? My guess is... 1. Kenny Thomas 2. Glen Rice 3. Terence Morris 4. Bostjan Nachbar 5. Eddie Griffin (super-emergency) The top two can be flipped, it just depends on peoples opinion. IMO, I think Kenny would give us more of an all-around contribution at the 3 spot. Just my $0.02.
I wonder if Rudy will really go into the season with four SFs like that. It would be odd to carry so many, especially if they all deserve playing time. I think thats why there is so much trade speculation involving KT.
As much as I support Morris, it's really difficult to see him cracking the starting 5. There's no doubt about his desire and work ethic, he tries hard oncourt cos he knows his minutes are limited. His shot has certainly improved, but as mentioned, it's only been 1 preseaon game.. so it's too early to say if it's changed to becoming a consistent shot. But... it's a start I guess. I can't compare Boki and Morris because I haven't seen Boki in action, but Morris would certainly get more time than Boki just because Boki is a rookie. That could certainly change if Boki just morphs into a stud. Anyway, with Rice and KT around, we still won't be seeing either of them be getting much time. It'll be interesting if Rudy decides to go 2-3, ie. Griffin, Yao Ming, and 3 runners, Steve, Mobley and Morris/Boki. I would like to see how teams handle that..
I disagree...i think that kenny will get significant minutes as the back-up at the 3 and 4. However, Rice is the #1 guy until he proves otherwise. I think Rice is the number one guy not just in Rudy's mind. IF he plays the way we expect him to, he will actually be the man. In other words, he has to show us he can't do it anymore for kenny to have a chance to start at the 3.
I would want the best player to have the job. I think with all the other things Morris brings to the table, if he could be a more consistent shooter, there's no reason why he shouldn't have the starting job eventually. It all depends on the direction of the team and the developement of both players. With Steve, Cat, and Ming we have 3 guys who could avg 20ppg someday. Morris would be the guy to do the little things. He can defend, pass, rebound and block shots pretty well for a rookie SF. Imagine what some seasoning would do for him. If he never developes his shot then it's no contest with Boki. I can imagine Boki as the 6th man, instant offense off the bench and I can also see him as a succesful starting SF. It's too early to tell and it probably won't be sorted out for 2 or 3 seasons.
Great points. I think its very hard to guess where Rice ultimately ends up with this team. At his age, does Rudy really think hell be around long enough to contribute when/if we become a championship contender? Im not saying Rice doesnt have game left, but if you look at the majority of the players on this team, Rice doesnt fit the mold in my eyes. Regardless, we have a logjam at the 3, especially if Morris keeps developing and showing the game he has showed so far in the pre-season. Rice/Thomas/Nachbar/Morris all on the same team??? Thats alot of talent potentially.
