Marcus Morris Discussion

[DetPistons04]

Obviously there has been a lot of discussion about Marcus over the last few weeks since he started struggling.
Marcus has been a very good player since Stan acquired him and he's an excellent value as an NBA starter making only 4.625 M this year, 5 M in 2017-18 and 5.375 M in 2018-19 before becoming a UFA in 2019.
Marcus is also a pretty strong defender at the 3 and from what I'm aware of one of the leaders/mentors for this young roster.
He was also one of our best players in the Playoffs vs Cleveland last year. That needs to be recognized.

Anyhow, I pulled some of his stats and really the problem over the last 11 games is the shooting %, it's bad.
My personal opinion is whatever he's got going on with his knee is probably affecting his rhythm/lift on his shots. He's been coming up short on a lot of them and missing a lot of shots that he usually makes with regularity.
Obviously we as fans don't have access to all the inside information, but those are just my thoughts. I still like Marcus as a player and I'm nowhere near ready to just try and trade him away because he's struggled for 11 games. Maybe dialing back his minutes could be a solution if he's still having issues with the knee.
Feel free to add whatever you'd like.

First 27 games this year
14.4 pts, 1.9 ast, 4.3 rbs, 37% 3 pt%, 45% fg%, 83% ft% and 32 mpg

Last 11 games
10.2 pts. 2.2 ast, 3.3 rbs, 25% 3 pt%, 31% fg%, 77% ft% and 31 mpg

Last season in 80 games
14.1 pts, 2.5 ast, 5.1 rbs, 36% 3 pt%, 44% fg%, 75% ft% and 36 mpg

Playoff series vs Cleveland
17.8 pts, 2.5 ast, 3.3 rbs, 39% 3 pt%, 47% fg%, 87% ft% and 36 mpg

[Pharaoh]

When you look at all those numbers and consider his contract the best thing to do is reduce his minutes if it's a knee issue.

Dude would cost $15+ mil on the open market & he's locked in for a thirdof that!

Speaks volumes about our board that after 100+ games where his numbers are excellent...some wanna throw him away because of the last 10

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[DetPistons04]

When you look at all those numbers and consider his contract the best thing to do is reduce his minutes if it's a knee issue.

Dude would cost $15+ mil on the open market & he's locked in for a thirdof that!

Speaks volumes about our board that after 100+ games where his numbers are excellent...some wanna throw him away because of the last 10

Sent from my SM-J110F using RealGM mobile app

Pretty much my thoughts as well.
I use Mlive more than RealGM and the hatred for Mook is out of control there.
Everyone seems to have tunnel vision based on the last 11 games and they're overlooking a lot of other information.

[El Chivo]

I want Johnson taking his role. Period.

[DetPistons04]

I want Johnson taking his role. Period.

Yeah well he's gonna hafta earn it, Stan isn't just going to hand it to him.
Morris has been the better player since he's been here.

[mattao313]

Morris is a fine player but his is streaky as hell from 3 and takes WAAYY too many mid range jumpers.

For reference he only takes 18% of his shots within 10 feet of the rim (KCP 25%).

[El Chivo]

I want Johnson taking his role. Period.

Yeah well he's gonna hafta earn it, Stan isn't just going to hand it to him.
Morris has been the better player since he's been here.

Give Johnson the freedom to brick stupid shots and to make mistakes Morris has and I'm quite sure he will pan out.

[ComboGuardCity]

Marcus always rubbed me the way. He's not very good yet gets Isos like he's prime Melo. He's not even a poor mans Melo. He's a poor man's Rudy Gay. If he's getting more than 15-20 off the bench, then I think he's not a positive.

[DetPistons04]

I want Johnson taking his role. Period.

Yeah well he's gonna hafta earn it, Stan isn't just going to hand it to him.
Morris has been the better player since he's been here.

Give Johnson the freedom to brick stupid shots and to make mistakes Morris has and I'm quite sure he will pan out.

lol... Clearly you're just not gonna give Morris any credit for his good play last year and the first 27 games this year.
I'm not saying he's playing well now, he's clearly not, but that doesn't mean I'll dismiss everything else and act like it never happened.

[El Chivo]

Yeah well he's gonna hafta earn it, Stan isn't just going to hand it to him.
Morris has been the better player since he's been here.

Give Johnson the freedom to brick stupid shots and to make mistakes Morris has and I'm quite sure he will pan out.

lol... Clearly you're just not gonna give Morris any credit for his good play last year and the first 27 games this year.
I'm not saying he's playing well now, he's clearly not, but that doesn't mean I'll dismiss everything else and act like it never happened.

he's an average players with awful shot selection, good defense, good charm and swag.

this is a savage league... think about Bazemore falling down after a great year. past doesn't count.

Johnson has a shot to be great if SVG stops punishing him for every single mistake.

[Pharaoh]

Give Johnson the freedom to brick stupid shots and to make mistakes Morris has and I'm quite sure he will pan out.

lol... Clearly you're just not gonna give Morris any credit for his good play last year and the first 27 games this year.
I'm not saying he's playing well now, he's clearly not, but that doesn't mean I'll dismiss everything else and act like it never happened.

he's an average players with awful shot selection, good defense, good charm and swag.

this is a savage league... think about Bazemore falling down after a great year. past doesn't count.

Johnson has a shot to be great if SVG stops punishing him for every single mistake.

Stanimal will be great BECAUSE SVG punished him for stupid ****!

I swear no one listens when SVG speaks! He's on record as saying letting the kids play big minutes regardless is a bad idea because you can never reign them in later!

So SVG (like a lot of coaches) will be hard on the young guys and gradually lighten the noose so to speak

It teaches them from the start as opposed to letting them do **** and then trying to coach them out of it later!

Sent from my SM-J110F using RealGM mobile app

[Pharaoh]

Morris is a fine player but his is streaky as hell from 3 and takes WAAYY too many mid range jumpers.

For reference he only takes 18% of his shots within 10 feet of the rim (KCP 25%).

Interesting stat considering people claim KCP never attacks the rim!

Again just goes to show that we're all seeing what we wanna see and not it's necessarily reality

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[Izzite]

I don't even mind all of his mid-range jumpers. My only problem is when he becomes a ball-stopper on offense. He'll try to "get his" and sometimes it works and others it leads to empty possessions. He has a few kinks, but I love his personality and he's too good of value contract wise to trade away in my opinion.

[JohnReese]

The only thing I'm worried with Morris is his defense, which has been really bad lately. We know Marcus is not a regular guy so you need to identify when he is gonna have a good game and when he isn't.

The project is that Stanley gets his place in the lineup and we have a great weapon in the bench with him.

[Blkbrd671]

Obviously there has been a lot of discussion about Marcus over the last few weeks since he started struggling.
Marcus has been a very good player since Stan acquired him and he's an excellent value as an NBA starter making only 4.625 M this year, 5 M in 2017-18 and 5.375 M in 2018-19 before becoming a UFA in 2019.
Marcus is also a pretty strong defender at the 3 and from what I'm aware of one of the leaders/mentors for this young roster.
He was also one of our best players in the Playoffs vs Cleveland last year. That needs to be recognized.

Anyhow, I pulled some of his stats and really the problem over the last 11 games is the shooting %, it's bad.
My personal opinion is whatever he's got going on with his knee is probably affecting his rhythm/lift on his shots. He's been coming up short on a lot of them and missing a lot of shots that he usually makes with regularity.
Obviously we as fans don't have access to all the inside information, but those are just my thoughts. I still like Marcus as a player and I'm nowhere near ready to just try and trade him away because he's struggled for 11 games. Maybe dialing back his minutes could be a solution if he's still having issues with the knee.
Feel free to add whatever you'd like.

First 27 games this year
14.4 pts, 1.9 ast, 4.3 rbs, 37% 3 pt%, 45% fg%, 83% ft% and 32 mpg

Last 11 games
10.2 pts. 2.2 ast, 3.3 rbs, 25% 3 pt%, 31% fg%, 77% ft% and 31 mpg

Last season in 80 games
14.1 pts, 2.5 ast, 5.1 rbs, 36% 3 pt%, 44% fg%, 75% ft% and 36 mpg

Playoff series vs Cleveland
17.8 pts, 2.5 ast, 3.3 rbs, 39% 3 pt%, 47% fg%, 87% ft% and 36 mpg

his slump and ours started with RJ's return. He's working himself back into rhythm and last night hit some really tough and big shots for us. Every player slumps, and its forcing marcus to attack the rim, which is actually good for him. As soon as he gets his groove back, our team is going to be really dangerous

[DBC10]

I think the worst thing about his playstyle is the fact that he doesn't dribble drive, he's never really been great at it either. So defenses will tighten up around him without fear he'll just blow past by them. In effect, this causes him to shoot more tough midranges even more. But it's also tough since he's also our team's "bailout" guy when our play breaks down and we just need to get a basket, which he can get through ISOs.

I watched him during his HOU days, and he never struck me as a full-time starter.

[Canadafan]

I would love nothing more than Stanley and Marcus to start at our forward spots. Leuer and Tobias play most of the bench minutes. Leuer can play 12 each at center and PF. Spot minutes for Boban. Marcus plays half game at SF and a little at PF.
I think svg is slowly going towards that. Last game SJ really showed up and played a lot down the stretch with Marcus at PF.
Maybe for now he'll stick with the same lineup just to make SJ continue to work. But eventually if we're gonna take the next step, SJ has gotta be a starter. Captain obvious over here lol

[MotownMadness]

It feels like this guys streaks run at months period times. Like he will play awesome for about a month and then cool down for a month.

[rmfc]

If there is to be had, I'd trade Marcus. He should be playing off the bench but I don't think SVG is ever going to bench him.

[Billl]

I think the plan was to start Morris until Stanley was ready. Unfortunately, SJ hasn't exactly stepped up this year.