David Thorpe: Marcus Morris can play (the three) !

Guys, just ask yourself one question: if you had money on the line and you had a choice for either Morris or C-Bud to guard LeDouche, who would you pick? I can almost guarantee that the vast majority of us Clutch fans would pick Morris, despite not knowing his game very well. OTOH, we know C-Bud stinks as a defender, where routinely his counterpart s/f transforms into an all-star player.

Defense is the reason C-Bud will never be a starting s/f in the NBA.

 

When he was first selected by the Rockets I was like 'huh? wtf?' Then I realised that Morey never drafts the one we expect. We are always left scratching our head and then months later we realise how good a pick it was.

I would like to see MM take Budinger's starting position from day 1. If he can defend and work well with Lowry and Martin then it is his! We need the extra defense on the wing there. Budinger can go back to being a scorer off the bench working with Dragic and Lee.

It seems to me that we are now 2 deep at every position except for center which we are 0 deep (not counting out Yao yet but not optimistic either).

I love the fact that MM can bring a post game to the 3 spot. I can just imaging him playing in the 2nd group with PPat and D-Mo and posting up his player. PPat sitting out waiting for the 17 footer and D-Mo out on the 3 point line giving MM as much space as he wants. If he gets the time on the court to develop we could have an all-star in waiting. I am very optimistic for him as long as the Rockets aren't all WIN-NOW mode which could compromise his development.

 

Thats exactly why the pick makes sense. Budinger gets pushed around by Small forwards that are bigger than him. This guy at the very least wont have that problem at all.

 

Agreed. While I understand the position is for C-Bud to lose, I think it will be clear to the f/o who should the starting s/f. Initially, Morris will burn some s/f and he will get burned. That's fine. It is all part of the learning process in the NBA.

This guy has a good work ethic and if you believe in David Thorpe, Morris is always trying to improve to be the best. With that kind of mental and physical makeup, I trust Morris will eventually become a very good starting s/f for us.

 

If Ric was still the coach of this team I would say it was Chase's position to loose.

But Rick is not the coach Kevin is.

He wants a better defensive team, and with out blowing chemistry Chase is prime target to loose his spot in the starting line-up in a attempt to improve defense.


Barring Morris being a complete bust I don't see Chase logging more the 30 minutes a game whether he starts or comes off the bench.

Lee and Bud have good chemistry together off the bench so I don't see much of a downside of him going there.

 

thank god! :grin:

 

LOL. This is honestly the 1st time I have ever heard a white guy call someone "cat". That's something I only hear black guys over 50 say.

 

That's encouraging. I've got a lot of respect for Thorpe's opinion.

 

I'm excited!

 

The more I read about this kid the more I think he is exactly what we need. Maybe even more than Derrick Williams and that is the guy I really wanted to walk away with.

Of course I am not saying he's as talented but the difference isn't as great as I thought. In actuality I didn't even think to compare. After Derrick Williams my next pick was Leonard as a SF. After a Big rim protecting center I wanted a big SF and Leonard was next on my list. I hadn't even considered because every scouting report I read was PF. And I never watched any lengthy footage of Marcus Morris. Half the time I wasn't even sure the difference between he and his brother. When I watched them I thought one was too short to play center and the other was too short to play PF. But Marcus is a great size to play SF and if thorpe says he can defend threes than that's all I need to hear. H e has more offensive skills than Battier so if he can play defence almost as good that I think we walked with exactly the kind of player we need.

 

I'm a 39 yo white cat, that uses the phrase often

 

I think C-Bud is better used as a bench player. He doesn't seem to have the drive or ambition to be great, so using him as a solid backup seems ideal. A backcourt of Lowry,KM and MM seems almost textbook perfect, all we really need is that Tyson CHandler-like dude on the paint and we're guaranteed contenders.

 

IN MOREY WE TRUST!!!

 

if he doesnt do well at the 3, we're in trouble

 

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Him^^

 

One of my favorite interviews of Morris was this one I saw a couple of days ago where Marcus talks about himself and his skills before the NBA Draft combine. At the very beginning, he's pretty adamant about the fact that he's a 3 who can play the 4. He said he played the 4 because he was called to do so, but he's a natural 3.

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I am pumped about seeing this dude in Rocket Red! Honestly, even more excited than last year with Patterson or when we got Cbud, that garbage Andersen, and Jhill and such. I'll admit that I have not watched Morris while playing at KU but just by watching his highlights, I can tell this kid can ball. Most of his highlights consist of him shooting contested shots, fadeaways, triple threat jab steps, 3's, 20ft J's, popping at the elbows with a defender all over him, driving to the hoop and finishing regardless of his slow first step. I mean this guy can flat out score. He doesn't rely on wide open three's, assist in the paint, put backs, wide open jams, and screens to make a hoop.

His highlights speaks a lot about his game and ability to create seperation, create a bucket going iso and not relying on a pg to assist. Any player can look good on youtube showing them hit wide open three's, shooting around screens, wide open dunks, easy put backs etc. On the other hand, Morris game looked very polished.

 

After Grover's proclamations with regards to McGrady and arenas, I've become quite wary of evaluations from trainers. That being said, Thorpe was on point when he talked about Martin's improvement.