Darius Morris Discussion

Weezy wrote:Well, he is tall, pretty strong, I think he can pass, has good handles, that's something to build on, he just plays too out of control.

Well, let me rephrase the question a bit. In what situation, would you put Morris on the floor right now? I cannot think of a situation where I would say lets put Morris out there to solve some problem.

With guys like Glock and Jordan Hill, for instance, I can think of situations where I would say, put them out there. Glock for scoring, Hill for rebounding and hustle.

When you put him out there, do you feel like you are going to see some crisp passing? I don't.

Not saying he cant develop, just saying I dont know what he is right now, much less what he could be whereas with some other players you feel like you can say ok they have this, just work on that now.

I'm actually not sure who is worse right now, G-lock or Morris. Glock is a 1 trick pony that lost his 1 trick...ummm deja vu ala Machine. Morris is just plain terrible. Both of them have no point guard skills.

JGC wrote:

Weezy wrote:Well, he is tall, pretty strong, I think he can pass, has good handles, that's something to build on, he just plays too out of control.

Well, let me rephrase the question a bit. In what situation, would you put Morris on the floor right now? I cannot think of a situation where I would say lets put Morris out there to solve some problem.

With guys like Glock and Jordan Hill, for instance, I can think of situations where I would say, put them out there. Glock for scoring, Hill for rebounding and hustle.

When you put him out there, do you feel like you are going to see some crisp passing? I don't.

Not saying he cant develop, just saying I dont know what he is right now, much less what he could be whereas with some other players you feel like you can say ok they have this, just work on that now.

I would put him on the floor if we were in a run and gun offense. He actually has a good feel for a PG on the fast break. He's creative and makes good decisions, but only in fast break situations, not as much in half court sets.

But even then, there are better players I would put in before him because that is an extremely specific skill set and I don't see this team catering to that anyway.

JGC wrote:

Weezy wrote:Well, he is tall, pretty strong, I think he can pass, has good handles, that's something to build on, he just plays too out of control.

Well, let me rephrase the question a bit. In what situation, would you put Morris on the floor right now? I cannot think of a situation where I would say lets put Morris out there to solve some problem.

With guys like Glock and Jordan Hill, for instance, I can think of situations where I would say, put them out there. Glock for scoring, Hill for rebounding and hustle.

When you put him out there, do you feel like you are going to see some crisp passing? I don't.

Not saying he cant develop, just saying I dont know what he is right now, much less what he could be whereas with some other players you feel like you can say ok they have this, just work on that now.

All good points, I don't disagree at all. I was simply pointing out a couple of things he does have going for him that are positive, and those are pretty much it because there aren't many . I still see a tiny bit of potential in him because he clearly has an NBA body and some PG tools, but he's going to have to put it together very fast if he wants to make it in the league and with us.

Morris kinda reminds me of Bynum from 2005-2007. Very raw.

Unfortunately for Morris, he's a guard, and guards are a dime a dozen. He's easily replaced. Sad but true.

I will give him credit for one thing. He wants to be a true PG and he tries. He's just not NBA caliber.

^ Oh man, but at least we saw something in Bynum... Morris? Ewwww... just a whole lot of turnovers in that crystal ball.

JGC wrote:

Weezy wrote:Well, he is tall, pretty strong, I think he can pass, has good handles, that's something to build on, he just plays too out of control.

Well, let me rephrase the question a bit. In what situation would you put Morris on the floor right now?

When we're down 40. He's getting used to it right now anyway.

He has more TOs than assists in the summer league.

Decent game today. Almost a triple double...

Damn son.

Psychobroker wrote:^ Oh man, but at least we saw something in Bynum... Morris? Ewwww... just a whole lot of turnovers in that crystal ball.

Morris has good handles, nice courtvision, a true PG mentality, and good height and length for a PG. Unfortunately, he's a poor decision-maker, bad floor general, poor shooter, and doesn't have the explosive athleticism to cover up his mistakes.

Bynum was 7-feet tall and had soft touch around the rim. So even though he was raw, he was still somewhat productive due to his height, length, and natural talent. Being raw works better when you're 7'1 and 285lbs.

Morris doesn't have those advantages being a guard. He has way too much work to put in before he's NBA ready. I wish we could be patient with him like we were with Drew, but we can't afford to. Guards are easily replaceable, and Mitch will find a replacement if he can.

Damn, Darius really hit the weight room

What I saw in the summer league he got better as they progressed. Tough to judge a PG on that team as there wasn't anyone that could make a shot. Last year he would over penetrate and over dribble and he still did that in the summer league but not as bad and improved each game. Right now Blake is the backup unless a deal materializes that they move him. If anyone can play both guard spots they have the advantage but I have yet to be convinced that Goudlock can play PG and that DJO can fill either. Morris is a PG and would probably progress a lot in the D-league as the 14th man. Lakers picked up DJO because I don't think they are sold on Goudlock. All three should be very interested if the Lakers pickup someone like Meeks. Team really needs a guy that can play both guard spots like Shaw did in the day. I doubt they want anymore than 5 guards on the team and right now they have 3 that are locked up. I would expect a backup SG and a D-league player (i.e. a game they feel has potential but is raw).

I never give up on a player after only 1 year. So I won't give up now on Morris after the shortened season, short training camp, new coach. I expect him to be much better after a real training camp and full summer to work.

Let's wait pre-season for a real, not final, status about him !

I'm pretty far down on him right now. He's extremely raw and his skill set is far too specific. The only time I've seen him look like an NBA caliber guard is on the fast break. He's got a flair and a feel for the break. It takes a truly specific situation for that to be a viable option though...

He's actually an alright defender. I remember him giving CP3 some issues in the preseason last year. If we can get a bench 3rd string that runs with him, he's fine as our last PG. The problem is Blake, not Morris.

he needs to observe Stevie

Well, he's definitely got an NBA body, just hope he can actually get a better NBA mind at some point, figure out how to slow down and play in control.

Weezy wrote:Well, he's definitely got an NBA body, just hope he can actually get a better NBA mind at some point, figure out how to slow down and play in control.

The body has nothing to do with being able to play the game..... or at least not that much to do with it.... Where Morris is failing isn't in his physique or athleticism..... it's in fairly basic skills and fundamentals..... I've never seen a point guard at this level that continually plays with his head down.... also his ball handling is below average at best and his passing is not fundamentally sound at all..... All things he can work on to gain the skills but from last Summer League to this one he hasn't really progressed one bit... unfortunately.....

His overall game isn't at the NBA level.... it doesn't take much watching to see that.

Rooscooter wrote:

Weezy wrote:Well, he's definitely got an NBA body, just hope he can actually get a better NBA mind at some point, figure out how to slow down and play in control.

The body has nothing to do with being able to play the game..... or at least not that much to do with it.... Where Morris is failing isn't in his physique or athleticism..... it's in fairly basic skills and fundamentals..... I've never seen a point guard at this level that continually plays with his head down.... also his ball handling is below average at best and his passing is not fundamentally sound at all..... All things he can work on to gain the skills but from last Summer League to this one he hasn't really progressed one bit... unfortunately.....

His overall game isn't at the NBA level.... it doesn't take much watching to see that.

I agree with you, jeez. All I meant is that he has the height and strength to not be out of his league in the NBA, but that's clearly not close to enough because he constantly looks lost and out of control out there, I just said I HOPE at some point he could actually put that body to use instead of wasting the clear physical ability. I mean at the very least he's not undersized like Glock and doesn't have that also going against him, he's got no physical liabilities/deficiencies standing in his way. Dayum though, somebody is not a Morris fan.

Rooscooter aka The Morris and Ebanks killer ( I agree with his assessment on both players though )