Preseason Poll: Can Marcus Morris play the 3 effectively?

Aside from Morris' lack of lateral quickness and/or 3-point shooting, he has very short arms. Short arms and slow feet are not a formula for stardom.

 

No matter what happens, Morris will upset fans. He could suck. Half of the Rocket Fans boo for him sucking. He is great. Half of the Rocket fans boo for not tanking. He is mediocre (which is probably better than the average 14th pick). All Rocket fans boo for him not being great or for costing the Rockets precious ping pong balls.

So I'll just get this out of the way for however he plays, "Morris, why did you do that. You are single-handedly killing us. Suck it Morris".

BTW, if he sucks, I expect all fans will boo him. Even for those who his sucking fits their agenda.

 

I've seen almost all of Morris's games at kansas. I've been a big jayhawk fan since my sister went to school there 15 yrs ago and I can tell u this, he is the best pro prospect to come out of Kansas since drew gooden. Now many will point out that gooden ended up being a journeyman in the nba which is true but coming out of KU he was a top 5 pick and many thought would be an Allstar pf. Morris was a 3 yr contributor so he knows how to play team ball which is good if he wants playing time on this team his first year. He is absolutely the most polished offensive player in the draft out of any position the guy knows how to score buckets from all over the court. His weakness as stated by others is his ball handling which in all honesty is not any worse than leanords who people seem to have wanted to draft. He's not an elite athlete but I would say he's a good athlete on chase buds level with more power. His first step is actually very quick for a guy his size I see no reason why he won't be able to abuse almost any 3 in the league because of his size and quickness while not elite still above avg. I really think we got a very good player who could not saying he will turn out to be a Allstar or borderline allstar like Danny granger. In my opinion had Morris just played more 3 at Kansas he would have been a top 5 pick he's extremely talented let's be optimistic guys he can def play the 3 in this league but can he flourish there we shall see it will be fun to see his development this yr. just my opinion hope I could give u guys a positive outlook on the guy.

 

Why do you say he has short arms? His combine measurements have his wingspan at 6'10. That might not be a freakishly long wingspan like some NBA players have, but its still a larger wingspan than is normally proportional to his height (6'8). There's no basis for saying 'very short arms.'

Also, I dunno about quickness since he didn't participate in the agility drill, but his sprint time was 3.15, which is better than: Derrick Williams, Klay Thompson, Jimmer Fredette, Kemba Walker, Alec Burks, Iman Shumpert. Not too shabby.

 

Wasn't it B.Self that said Morris was the most complete ball player he's ever had? I really hope he can play the 3. The SF spot will be up for grabs between Bud, TWil and Morris. I'm quite certain that Twil and Bud will get more burn this year.

On a sidenote,

Tweet from TheRealTWill Terrence Williams
I don't tell you guys every time I go the gym to get shots up and play, it's pointless just kno I'm working and dec 26th u can vouch 4 it

 

Thanks. I needed the laugh.

 

http://www.nbadraft.net/players/marcus-morris

"Surprisingly short arms. At 6-9 and with a 6-7 wingspan, lacks great length for the post position … Doesn’t stand out defensively ...."

 

Personally, I'll go with measurements that the NBA pays for and records in front of all the team executives, scouts and coaches at the pre-draft camp over an unsourced, unconfirmed, report from a nobody writing for the (at best) 2nd best scouting and mock draft website.

But that's just me.

 

Offensively, I think he's going to be OK if he is able to adjust to the longer 3-pt line. When I see Morris, I just constantly think about how we used to run post-ups with Battier, and how easy it was for him to get position and get off that slow, mechanical jump hook on guys a few inches shorter and lighter at the SF position. Marcus will just destroy these guys, of this I have no doubt.

The people comparing Morris to Pierce or Anthony are really doing these guys a disservice; Anthony has a great first step, and is very comfortable taking more than 1 dribble to get his points; Pierce has his unstoppable wrong-foot fadeaway; from everything I've seen, Morris has a good jab step that can beat opposing 4s, but nothing to beat an NBA wing defender.

Defensively, I can't really say until I see in game, but if the Jazz can get away with Millsap at the 3, I think the Rockets can get away with Marcus.

If he develops 3 point range, he's Al Harrington. If he can't he's a much bigger Bonzi Wells. Either way, seems pretty good to me, though I just don't see franchise player anywhere.

 

Actually if you check the draft express measurement database the have Marcus Morris as a 6"10" wing span. That is widely regarded as accurate.

http://www.draftexpress.com/nba-pre...011&source=All&sort2=DESC&draft=0&pos=0&sort=

 

This is the biggest question mark coming into training camp. He will have to fight with T-will and Parsons. I am really not looking forward to this SF experimentation.

 

If he can play the 3 to which i voted "Yes" I think he is more of a low post power 3 than an athletic perimeter 3 that can take u off the dribble.