Why Morris Played So Much Last Night

If we talk college Jones was a way better 3 point shooter that Pat but its not just about the 3.I just dont see how anybody can justify Jones not getting in at all. I dont have a issue with MM getting clock but he didnt play good enough for Jones to not get some clock unless its injury related.

 

I did think playing Morris was fine last night, but the whole Morey talking about small-ball really baffles me. Morey picked Patterson, White, Jones, and Motiejunas with 4 1st round picks the past 3 years. If he really likes small-ball, why did he pick all these PFs who aren't 3 pt shooters? And he certainly doesn't believe in the 2-PF lineup, given that he spent so much on Asik, a traditional center.

After trading Lamb and KMart, we certainly lack the depth to play small.

 

Getting Harden changes the dynamic of the team with regards to how we want to play. I suspect that if we got him before the draft, the selections might have been different.

 

I don't think he meant small ball at all times, I think he meant being able to matchup this small ball lineup for stretches will do damage to teams.

 

Repped. Great post!

I don’t understand the high levels Morris hate on this board… The negativity nowadays on this BBS is getting out of hand. He’s never single handedly lost us the game by playing bad. He’s never had enough minutes to take night off and not give 100% like T-Mac. He’s not Rafer Alston who’s tear-drop layups were lead balloons. He didn’t get a huge contact for blocking 12 shots in a preseason game and then stunk it up for the rest of his career like Kelvin Cato. He’s not Brian Cook (yet). He’s a young rookie who’s too small to play 4, his natural position so he’s had to learn to play the 3 for a year now. Then on his first start as a pro he had to play the 4! LOL! If anything, I was happy that he was really trying to make the most out of his situation, so much so that he was gripping the bat too tight. Now, I’m not saying he’s going to be our starter or that he should even be in the 10 man rotation this year, I’m just expressing the unfair hate he’s receiving from this BBS.

With all that being said, I don’t think I would have kept Morris out there that long… HAH! I want Morris to do well and I want young guys to get minutes but there were times when I was grimacing when he touched the ball because he was sooo uptight out there that the chances of a turn over or bad shot was too high. I would have let him go out there get a few good minutes to build his confidence then I would have then him back out before he f’s-up and lowers his confidence again. Remember, if he can gain his confidence and his maturity catches up with his talent he’s got an extremely high upside as well. So, we should all hope for the best for him and give him a bit more slack before we hate on the kid.

Regarding the offence, I agree with the OP but I don’t think McHale wanted Morris out to the 3 as often as he was there. McHale mentioned in his postgame interview that Morris was getting his positioning wrong on the floor and got mixed up a few times because he’s been playing 3 in practice then he had to play 4 in the game. I’m thinking Morris was floating too far out like a 3 instead of being 14’-15’ out. Another reason to believe that this is the style we are putting in this year is because during the game Morris missed an open 3 and Bullard was very adamant when he said something like, “Marcus has to hit that if he wants minutes this year.” Meaning, we are looking at our 4’s to spread the floor this year. This is exciting because all of them can do it to a certain degree! Not only that but two out of three of our 3’s can play 4 in spurts (Parsons and Morris, not Delfino).

OP if you are right about this being our offence then what excites me is actually seeing White play the 5 role in this offence with DMo or TJones playing the 4 (but guarding the 5 on defense). Just daydreaming about the kind of wrinkles to the horn offence they can put in because of his vision and passing abilities are exciting! Especially with Lin and Harden in the backcourt and McHale insisting that everyone is moving, no one stands around! With all the great basketball minds we have in our coaching staff… Just thinking about it gives me a harden! I don’t think we’ll make the playoffs but this team will be extremely fun to watch from a basketball purest standpoint!

 

If what we want is the best at 3pt shooting plus pick and roll, by that logic, DMo should start over Morris/Patterson/Jones. DMo shot over 40% 3pointers in euroleague and preseason, Morris and Jones shot in the low 30% for their college career and preseason. DMo set proper screens and rolling to the basket wide open so much in preseason, but nobody would pass him the ball except for when Royce White had the ball (and they end up in easy points). And what's scarier than a 7 footer shooting 3s? Go check out their college/preseason/euroleague 3pt% stats if you are skeptical.

 

Perhaps the coaches weren't satisified with Dmo's effort on D. If you look at Morris, he actually had good effort, even when switching/rotating, he managed to stay in front of guys and challenged their shots. Compared to Dmo and Jones, they probably figured Morris brought a better mix of shooting and D.

 

I think it will take a lot more than 10 games. I'm thinking mid-January there will be a war going on over PF/C minutes.

 

The set the OP is talking about (I think) and few other pick&rolls with similar spacing:

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/oAGY3Dp-xv8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I don't have the time right now to write down all of my thoughts, but it's basically a motion set with multiple p&r options and a few read&react (counter) elements to keep the defense from cheating/overloading.
The idea is to to space the floor, move the ball from side to side to keep the defense moving/honest and have the opposing team defend multiple actions. Spacing, indeed is of the essence here. The Rocket ran this over and over again against the Pistons.
I actually didn't think the set was any good from what little I saw of this set in the pre-season. Of course it's a whole nother thing whether you run this set with James Harden or Kevin Martin, who obviously is a very much limited playmaker.

I still don't think we should go to this set when either Lin or Harden are out of the game. Parsons isn't a good enough playmaker himself quite yet and if the defense keys in on your primary ballhandler the offense quickly comes to a halt - I do like the flare screen option a lot, though.
If either Lin or Harden is on the bench, I'd run some flat cuts with different options for Harden and pick&rolls from different angles or out of motion for both Lin and Harden.

If neither is in the game (which I think McHale should try to avoid as much as possible), I'd keep the ball out of the guards/wings hands as much as possible. None of our small bench guys are playmakers, so ideally I'd try to put the ball in the bigs hands and run guys of screens (horns, corner, etc...).

I'd also like to see us run some slot p&r in early offense. Any time I see NBA teams do this (the Hawks and Bucks do this for example) it creates good shot after good shot. Harden did this three times instinctively (I think) and it resulted in a layup, open 3 and dunk. Just saying, it's quite hard to defend.

 

This Post is wrong - see Clutch for correct analysis:


#4
Clutch
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Since: Feb 1999
Posts: 13,572
Member: #1

IF Jones plays tonight, it's possible (just saying "possible") that it was a teaching/discipline situation. Jones could have been late to a meeting or something.

McHale played Terrence extensively in the preseason, starting him a couple of times in fact. So random that he would start Marcus over him, and then not play him at all -- even when he went with two bigs (Asik and Smith) at the same time at one point.

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My response to Clutch's post:

This would make a lot of sense . . . Coach M has been praising/playing him ALL preseason !! Then to give him a DNP - CD - was blatantly strange. It reeks of a punishment and not a rookie thing.

I'm guessing UR correct - it must've been hard for coach to watch Morris fumbling around and missing layups for 25 minutes. I counted 10 points Jones would've had that Morris missed out on. I'm just glad it didn't cost us a Win.

 

You are right, but Jones is a more talented player. Morris can't defend 4's or 3's, or handle the ball.

 

You don't just need a PF that can shoot, you also need one that is a good rebounder, a decent passer, and can defend the opposing team's PF. If not, you gaine one thing (spreading the floor on offense), and lose three.

 

lol, there's so much hate for morris lately. It wouldnt surprise me if he had a good game tonight.

The problem with Morris is confidence. He is thinking too much, not letting the game come to him. He botched about three or four easy layups and missed an easy pass. Those mistakes can be easily fixed.

Although, playing morris at the 4 is a bit of a mismatch. He stuggled rebounding going up against bigs like Jason Maxiell.

He's got some talent guys, its too early to call him a bust.

 

Excellent post, thanks.

I wonder if the team is now looking for a playmaker/scorer off the bench so that the minutes with Harden or Lin (or both [shudders]) sitting are not so painful. I mean, it's only one game, but right now it seems both of these guys have to log a ton of minutes for the team to stay competitive. I hope it's just season opener jitters for their subs, Douglas and Cook, but, man those were not comfortable minutes and those guys were kind of bad last year, too.

In other words, I think Morey should try to find a James Harden-type Sixth Man of the Year candidate to spell James Harden so that James Harden can get some rest.

Thoughts on who that may be? One guy came to my mind, not as much a scorer or shooter, but otherwise solid:
Shaun Livingston.

Would also be nice to have someone like Kyle Lowry or Goran Dragic in that role.

 

I understand this. My point is that if Morley foresaw a need to go small at times, he really should've drafted accordingly. Because right now, we really lack the personnel for it. Hence Harden playing 44 minutes

 

Didn't really see Horn or the A-set allignment being used. From what I saw was a lot of 4 out and 1 in and the 2-1-2 alligment with the p&r, and 5 out.

 

I think Morey's more in love with the stretch 4 concept than actual small ball, although they often go together.

 

Sign Morris to the Max?

 

Morris is BALLIN' tonight!