You lose me here. If he truly has a superior skillset, he wouldn't have needed the D league after years of playing college ball for one of the top programs in the country with arguably the best coach in the country. He was ultimately beaten out of playing time by Chandler Parsons, who we took in the second round.
Different role my friend... They want Marcus to be a scorer, and to do that they might actually have to run plays for him on the post or iso him to let him take his man. Parsons was able to seamlessly fit into the lineup with his defense, and help the team miss the playoffs... Morris wouldve been worse on D, but is twice the scorer Parson's is and could have used this season to develop his game on both ends... Same reason Jordan Hill didn't play in New York (not that I'm comparing MM game to Hill's) but you can't develop guys the way you need to if your only gonna play the guys that fill a role. It all comes back to whether or not this team wants to rebuild or stay put. Parson's played a great role this season and that's what he will be is a role player. They didn't make time for a potential star scorer with MM which is what his game is geared for..
For the most part, I've halted any dialog with the too numerous Marcus Morris zealots. The facts just don't seem to matter. There is some embedded (and illogical) mindset that Morris (in spite of 4 years at KANSAS) has some unexplanable upside. And that is sprinkled with a belief that Morey is infallible. Too much fan-based optimism the facts don't support.
maybe what he means is: if the coach says your role is to play great D and get open for threes, it's easier to go in and do that on day one because it's a simple role. If he says, you must create offense, there is a bigger learning curve because that's a more complicated role. McHale asked both rookies to do their thing, but when parsons made fewer mistakes because his role was simpler McHale stuck with him. It's like the difference between lee and Martin. Lee, a defender/three guy was good enough to start for a championship team his rookie season, but hasn't gotten much better. Martin took several years to reach his full potential. Hopefully one day the rockets give Morris enough leeway to see if he will sink or swim. With no playing time we'll never know.
If Morris develops into a player that can take minutes from Parsons then I am on the Morris train. Until then I am totally skeptical.
That's what Spanoulis (TMAC of Greece) also says. Look, at the end of the day, it's hard to judge rookies until year 3. Morris has 2 more years to find his way in this league, and on our team. He was disappointing for a lottery pick this year, but not every lottery pick pans out in the first year, if at all. If he doesn't show a trajectory of improvement next year going into year 3, then we can give up on him.
Facts Excellent at Kansas as a 4. Transitioning to NBA at 3 without much training camp or practice at NBA level. Morey has proven like everyone else in the world that he makes mistakes. He isn't playing with the same group of guys consistently. He played 3 years at Kansas. Morris sucked last season. Do I expect Morris to be all-NBA. No. Starter. Hope so, but I'm thinking more realistic upside is for him to be a good backup. Parsons will give Morris a difficult time getting starter minutes. Too many people on this board are very black or white. At the 14th pick, getting a good backup would be an acceptable, but not good outcome. Morris has a very large road to get to that point especially after failing first test. Acceptable is not good enough for most on the board. Morris was a gamble pick as he was being projected to a different position. I like that Morey took a risk on trying a very productive college player at a position he would not be at a height disadvantage. Morris needs to adjust to speed of the SF position or will be out of the association very quickly. I'm not ready to give up completely on the guy, but don't expect a savior either.
Unless you can "fact" it away, the fundamental basis of $Ball is to minimize risk. If that's the case then your "fact" that Morey "took a gamble" doesn't pass the smell test. The Morey Rockets...as the usually do...draft the BPA. That, along with the definition of $Ball should lead us to a conclusion that a specific NBA position wasn't a consideration. The Morey Rockets have been behind the curve in recognizing the need for height and athleticism. Drafting a player without a true position, based upon some arithmatic equation, only adds to the lack of recognition.
would feel better about his potential if/when he gets back into town and learns the offense and works on his game like some of his teammates are.
I don't have a world of optimism regarding Morris - I think the chances of him becoming an All Star are almost non-existent. His natural role seems to be PF off the bench. No where near athletic enough at SF and the 3s at this level are tough enough that he's not going to bully them with success. And it's looking more like the classic scenario of a player that starred in college...but won't star in the NBA. And in the NBA, you're either a star or a role player...and Morris seems unmotivated to help in areas other than isolation scoring opportunities. If he can't find away to be reliable in that one dimensional role, he's not going to last long. Chase has a job because while he's limited as a player he's very dependable producing points off the bench. Parsons has the starting job because he's an outstanding swiss army knife role player. As it stands, Morris and Patterson are both mediocre picks.
Part of the problem last year is that they stuck with Parsons more because until Lowry and Martin got hurt, they were playing both Dragic and Lowry at the guard positions and going small playing Lee at SF, Parsons at PF and Scola or Patterson at C most nights. This left Budinger and Lee unable to get minutes unless injuries occurred and Morris was behind them in the depth chart since he wasn't nearly as good as they were with the 3 ball(Budinger) or defense (Lee). We really need to trade either Budinger or Martin because that is the only way we will be able to see Morris get playing time.
Minimize risk? Moneyball is all about maximizing talent and minimizing overall risk and not about minimizing risk on an transaction if the odds of it working out outweigh the risk. Morris has a fallback of being an undersized backup PF which he may not be able to do. Morris had the upside of being a good SF. Morris's position has nothing to do with BPA, but he would be a better value at SF if he can adjust to position as he would not be undersized. Morey does take size into consideration, but Morey would rather have an undersized guy that can play in the NBA than a tall athletic guy that can't. Morey has missed a couple of centers when drafting. Carl Landry and Aaron Brooks have been very successful undersized guys considering most of the guys selected at their spots do not stick in the NBA. Morey does not solely use stats. It is just an additional tool to supplement traditional scouting.
I definitely feel Morris has the talent and potential but I'm mostly concerned about his role on the team. Every player has a niche on the team except for Morris.
I don't see a great scorer in Morris, again it's foolish to compare him to anyone, like Glenn Rice, Carmelo Anthony, Glenn Robinson, or Paul Piece. He lacks the mentality to be compared to any of those players. The ability, the attitude, and the production is not there. Most of all, he's an inferior talent to all four of those players. I couldn't picture any of those guys at the beginning of their careers being sent to D-League. That ceiling is much too high for Morris.
If you believe any aspect of what you just wrote...you also believe in the tooth-fairy. You have little to no clue of what the phrase "risk averse" means. Especially if you want to trot out an undersized 4 year college player that dropped like a lead weight into the second round due to knee issues and a 6-1" 4 year college PG who currently plays in China. They classify as "very successful"...? Excuse me while I disagree. If you have disagreements with my view...I suggest you start with a Morey 1st round selection that was both tall and athletic and amounted to something. Otherwise, you have no arguements other than the Morris-masses who use playing time as an excuse. The Lottery should mean more than than a "fall back" position. It should mean NBA-ready. Especially on a Lottery-bound overachieving team.
if he is a throw in to get Dwight Howard or something special, so be it I actually wanna keep patterson
To be clear, I think he's absolutely capable of being a rotation player. I'm not saying he's not capable of that. I'm saying I think it's a huge stretch to think we're going to develop this guy into a serious scoring option where he's going to be posting up as well as facing up to defenders and taking them off the dribble. I don't see him becoming that sort of player. Ultimately, I think if he's really going to have a place in this league it's going to be as a smart, hard-working 4. And I think he's capable of that, but probably not as a starter.
What people don't realize is that the SF/PF tweener is the hardest position to be effective at, because the responsibilities of the 2 positions are so different; at both ends. The ones that do have success (younger Odom, etc) have the skillset of a 3, but the size of a 4. This allows them to exploit mismatches at either position, without being a liability (equal agility at the 3, but with size advantage; equal size at the 4, but with agility advantage). The many others that fail at this tweener spot do because their liabilities override their mismatch potential (more of a size liability at the 4 than skill/agility advantage; more of a skill/agility liability at the 3 than a size advantage). Marcus Morris, right now, has the size of a 3 (6-8 230), with short arms, average athleticism, and the skills of a face-up 4. And to be honest, even if he develops, it's hard to see him ever not being a liability when playing long stretches at either position. He has some NBA skills (range, ability to use body), which could make him a useful situational player off the bench, but people who think he's going to be unguardable are really kidding themselves.
