For the past two offseasons, we have been looking at players coming to the NBA after playing at least as season overseas. With the lockout, we are going to have plenty of time on our hands.  With that being said, I plan on doing scouting reports for each of the 30 first round picks from this past draft.

Past Editions: Kyrie Irving (#1) | Derrick Williams (#2) | Tristan Thompson (#4) | Jonas Valanciunas (#5) | Jan Vesely (#6)| Bismack Biyombo (#7) | Brandon Knight (#8) | Kemba Walker (#9) | Jimmer Fredette (#10) | Klay Thompson (#11) | Alec Burks (#12) | Markieff Morris (#13)

Immediately after his brother Markieff was selected by the Phoenix Suns, Marcus Morris was drafted by the Houston Rockets.  It is hard to tell the Morris brothers apart just by looking at them, but when you look at their game, it is obvious that they play differently, even when they both have success doing the same thing.

Strengths

Post Play

Much like his brother, who was selected one spot higher, Marcus Morris scored at an elite rate this past season when playing in the post.  Out of the 155 post up possessions, Morris scored 182 points, posting a PPP of 1.174, placing him in the top 3% of all NCAA players in the post, while shooting 61.5%.  Unlike his brother, who is also great at playing in the post, position doesn’t really matter to Marcus, because he is much better when facing up out of post situations.  While facing up, Morris is able to use his shooting ability and his quickness to put a lot of pressure on the defense, resulting in a lot of success.  When he faces up, Morris posts a PPP of 1.18 while shooting 64.3%.  Maybe more impressive is the fact that he draws a ton of fouls when facing up, drawing contact 21% of the time:

There are a few reasons why Morris is successful when facing up.  First, he’s quick for his position.  One of Morris’ favorite move is catching with his back to the basket, a quick sweep as he faces up, and then attack the baseline.  It’s a great move and before the defender knows it, Morris is usually by them.  However, but what really makes him effective is that he has the ability to counter that move and attack the middle if the baseline is taken away.  Combine that with his ability to face up and knock down a jumper if you play off of him, and Morris is very hard to stop on the block.

Pick And Roll Offense

Like his brother, Marcus Morris has a tendency to rely on popping out when putting himself in pick and roll situations, doing so 69.8% of the time he sets a ball screen.  However, unlike his brother, Marcus’ shotmaking is a strength and that allows him to be a threat when popping out.  This past season Morris hit 47.8% (an eFG% of 60.9) of his shots when popping out, posting a PPP of 1.1, which was good enough to finish in the top 25% of all college players.  Watching him play the pick and roll on tape and it looks familiar to another pick and pop player currently in the NBA:

This should remind you a lot of David West.  Like West, Morris isn’t really concerned about setting a solid screen.  Instead, he is more concerned with popping out and getting his feet set.  The fact that he isn’t setting a good screen allows him to get open and allows him to get off a good shot, one that he can knock down consistently.  Unlike West, Morris is willing to put the ball on the floor after popping out in pick and pop situations.  So if you close out too hard on him, he can put the ball on the floor and go right past you.

Weaknesses

Transition Offense

Morris is an athletic big who can handle the basketball a bit, so it is surprising to see him struggle in transition.  On the break, Morris’ biggest problem is that he turns the basketball over way too much.  Overall, he turned it over 12.3% of the time in transition, according to Synergy Sports.  Even worse, as the ball handler in transition, Morris turns it over 16.7% of the time.  Morris, who usually makes good basketball decisions on offense (in terms of when to shoot when to attack), seems to struggle with his decision making when rushed:

With the ball in transition, Morris doesn’t seem to pick out the right pass or he tends to force the issue, putting himself in pretty tough positions.  Without the basketball, Morris is trying to think one, two, or maybe three steps so he is doing many things before he even catches the basketball.  The result?  Happy feet and a fair amount traveling violations as he makes the catch.

Post Defense

Looking at the tape and at the numbers, Marcus Morris looks like he can be a well rounded defender.  However, there is one area where Morris really struggles and that is on the block.  Last season, Morris gave up a PPP of 0.84 to opponents posting him up, putting him in the bottom 50% among all college players.  Additionally, Morris ends up committing a foul 15% of the time when he is posted up.  The reason why Morris struggles so much is that he tends to give up post position way too easily, and after that position is given up, he allows his man to back him down too easily:

I know that I have probably been comparing Marcus to his brother Markieff a little too much in this scouting report, but I am going to do it again here, and I think it is really important.  In Markieff’s scouting report, I talked about how he fights for position on the defensive end and how he uses his body to keep his man from backing him down.  Marcus does not do this, and as you can see in the clip above he plays off of his man when he has the basketball.  He is not meeting his man with his body, and the offensive player in the post is able to take advantage of that gap and back down Marcus to get position.  Also, that gap allows an offensive player to turn, face, and hit a jumper on Morris before he can get there can close the gap in time.

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All things being considered, Houston’s selection of Marcus Morris is a very good one.  He can do a lot of things well and if you combine him with a smart/quick point guard you have a potentially lethal pick and pop threat on your team who can do a lot of things and put pressure on the defense.  However, for Morris to go from a nice player to a very good player he is going to have to improve some things.  First, he needs to make better decisions when put in situations where quick decisions are required.  When he starts thinking one or two steps ahead, he starts getting a little flustered.  Also, Morris has to work on his post defense.  Offensively, he is probably at his best as a 4, but if he doesn’t work on his post defense, opposing teams will take advantage of him.