RealGM

“It’s fit,” Tyronn Lue told ClutchPoints. “I don’t care about [his] stats. It’s what fits us, what fits our team. I like the fit.”

From a fit standpoint, the starting quartet of Leonard, George, Zubac, and Morris has been pretty solid. Individually speaking, Marcus’ play and numbers — especially this season — stand out as subpar from the rest. But as a collective, this unit is arguably the most consistent starting lineup the Clippers have had available for years, and that means something. Even in lineups where Terance Mann started at point guard, it was still those four other guys he was with.

This season, the starting lineup featuring those four has a record of 20-9. In four incredibly injury-prone seasons together, the Clippers have a 43-18 record when Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Ivica Zubac, and Marcus Morris start together. Over an 82-game season, that’s on pace for a 58-24 record.

“I do like the group that we’ve had the only consistency we’ve had this year is — and the last couple years — has been Marcus, Kawhi, PG and Zu,” Tyronn Lue said specifically referencing the starting lineup. “And so that’s the only consistency, we got right now and so we gotta continue to keep working with that.”

Marcus Morris’ fit with the starting unit, or in the starting lineup in general, has just as much to do with the spacing he provides alongside Kawhi Leonard and Paul George as it does with what he wouldn’t necessarily be able to bring from the bench.

Morris is not an, ‘energy,’ guy by any means, which is exactly what a second unit lineup needs. Terance Mann brings that energy. Nicolas Batum bring that energy. In a way, it feels almost safe to say that if Morris didn’t start for the Clippers alongside George and Leonard, then he probably would have a hard time finding minutes.

Marcus is also very highly respected as a voice on the floor and in the locker room. He’s been that, ‘dog,’ capable of lighting a fire under his guys and getting under opposing teams’ skins.

Obviously, Paul George’s injury changes things, but the Clippers’ starting lineup since the All-Star break featuring the core four with Russell Westbrook has had the best defensive rating (93.8) and the third highest net rating (+14.6) in the league.

And that’s with Morris averaging just 6.6 points and 2.8 rebounds on 41.5 percent shooting from the field and 27.6 percent from three.

“Fans only see stats, and people only see stats, and honestly, I’m okay with that,” Marcus Morris told ClutchPoints in a recent interview. “But if you look at the percentages and I know it’s high when I’m on the court, that we rebound. It’s just a veteran playing the game.

“We got a rebounding point guard, both of our forwards — our small forward and two guard — they both rebound. We got one of the best rebounding bigs in the league. So like, how many rebounds can I have with all that on the court? I do the other stuff. I block out, help our team.”

Even Robert Covington came to Morris’ defense after the recent string of rough shooting nights.

“People gotta understand that players are gonna go through slumps and the way to get through it is by playing through it. Marcus has been in the league 12 years and people gotta understand that everything is not ideal for him—”

That’s when Norman Powell, whose locker sits right beside Robert Covington’s, interjected to say he wasn’t having any of the ‘slump’ talk.

“Ain’t no damn slump man,” Powell said. “He just missed a couple shots.”

“That’s a slump my boy,” Covington responded. “The only way you get out of it is keep shooting.”

“Nah, ain’t no slump man. It’s only a slump if you call it one. Ain’t no slump. He just missed a couple shots.”

Since he mentioned them, are the percentages actually better with Marcus Morris on the floor than off? Why don’t we take a look at some of them, all of which is according to Cleaning The Glass.

The High Cyde wrote:All our bitching about Morris is for naught, Lue is gonna Lue and stick with him due to “consistency” as if starting lineups are absolute lol

“It’s fit,” Tyronn Lue told ClutchPoints. “I don’t care about [his] stats. It’s what fits us, what fits our team. I like the fit.”

This season, the starting lineup featuring those four has a record of 20-9. In four incredibly injury-prone seasons together, the Clippers have a 43-18 record when Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Ivica Zubac, and Marcus Morris start together. Over an 82-game season, that’s on pace for a 58-24 record.

Marcus Morris’ fit with the starting unit, or in the starting lineup in general, has just as much to do with the spacing he provides alongside Kawhi Leonard and Paul George as it does with what he wouldn’t necessarily be able to bring from the bench.

Morris is not an, ‘energy,’ guy by any means, which is exactly what a second unit lineup needs. Terance Mann brings that energy. Nicolas Batum bring that energy. In a way, it feels almost safe to say that if Morris didn’t start for the Clippers alongside George and Leonard, then he probably would have a hard time finding minutes.

Obviously, Paul George’s injury changes things, but the Clippers’ starting lineup since the All-Star break featuring the core four with Russell Westbrook has had the best defensive rating (93.8) and the third highest net rating (+14.6) in the league.

Source: https://clutchpoints.com/clippers-news-trying-to-make-sense-of-marcus-morris-robert-covington-and-tyronn-lue

It is what it is at this point, I’m close to over it. Great article though, you can make arguments on both sides.

MartinToVaught wrote:Now that Lue has admitted to not making his decisions based on any statistics, just favoritism, can we all agree to stop using Morris' plus/minus as an excuse to justify his playing time?

The High Cyde wrote:All our bitching about Morris is for naught, Lue is gonna Lue and stick with him due to “consistency” as if starting lineups are absolute lol

“It’s fit,” Tyronn Lue told ClutchPoints. “I don’t care about [his] stats. It’s what fits us, what fits our team. I like the fit.”

From a fit standpoint, the starting quartet of Leonard, George, Zubac, and Morris has been pretty solid. Individually speaking, Marcus’ play and numbers — especially this season — stand out as subpar from the rest. But as a collective, this unit is arguably the most consistent starting lineup the Clippers have had available for years, and that means something. Even in lineups where Terance Mann started at point guard, it was still those four other guys he was with.

This season, the starting lineup featuring those four has a record of 20-9. In four incredibly injury-prone seasons together, the Clippers have a 43-18 record when Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Ivica Zubac, and Marcus Morris start together. Over an 82-game season, that’s on pace for a 58-24 record.

“I do like the group that we’ve had the only consistency we’ve had this year is — and the last couple years — has been Marcus, Kawhi, PG and Zu,” Tyronn Lue said specifically referencing the starting lineup. “And so that’s the only consistency, we got right now and so we gotta continue to keep working with that.”

Marcus Morris’ fit with the starting unit, or in the starting lineup in general, has just as much to do with the spacing he provides alongside Kawhi Leonard and Paul George as it does with what he wouldn’t necessarily be able to bring from the bench.

Morris is not an, ‘energy,’ guy by any means, which is exactly what a second unit lineup needs. Terance Mann brings that energy. Nicolas Batum bring that energy. In a way, it feels almost safe to say that if Morris didn’t start for the Clippers alongside George and Leonard, then he probably would have a hard time finding minutes.

Marcus is also very highly respected as a voice on the floor and in the locker room. He’s been that, ‘dog,’ capable of lighting a fire under his guys and getting under opposing teams’ skins.

Obviously, Paul George’s injury changes things, but the Clippers’ starting lineup since the All-Star break featuring the core four with Russell Westbrook has had the best defensive rating (93.8) and the third highest net rating (+14.6) in the league.

And that’s with Morris averaging just 6.6 points and 2.8 rebounds on 41.5 percent shooting from the field and 27.6 percent from three.

“Fans only see stats, and people only see stats, and honestly, I’m okay with that,” Marcus Morris told ClutchPoints in a recent interview. “But if you look at the percentages and I know it’s high when I’m on the court, that we rebound. It’s just a veteran playing the game.

“We got a rebounding point guard, both of our forwards — our small forward and two guard — they both rebound. We got one of the best rebounding bigs in the league. So like, how many rebounds can I have with all that on the court? I do the other stuff. I block out, help our team.”

Even Robert Covington came to Morris’ defense after the recent string of rough shooting nights.

“People gotta understand that players are gonna go through slumps and the way to get through it is by playing through it. Marcus has been in the league 12 years and people gotta understand that everything is not ideal for him—”

That’s when Norman Powell, whose locker sits right beside Robert Covington’s, interjected to say he wasn’t having any of the ‘slump’ talk.

“Ain’t no damn slump man,” Powell said. “He just missed a couple shots.”

“That’s a slump my boy,” Covington responded. “The only way you get out of it is keep shooting.”

“Nah, ain’t no slump man. It’s only a slump if you call it one. Ain’t no slump. He just missed a couple shots.”

Since he mentioned them, are the percentages actually better with Marcus Morris on the floor than off? Why don’t we take a look at some of them, all of which is according to Cleaning The Glass.

Source: https://clutchpoints.com/clippers-news-trying-to-make-sense-of-marcus-morris-robert-covington-and-tyronn-lue

It is what it is at this point, I’m close to over it. Great article though, you can make arguments on both sides.

NickP wrote:

MartinToVaught wrote:Now that Lue has admitted to not making his decisions based on any statistics, just favoritism, can we all agree to stop using Morris' plus/minus as an excuse to justify his playing time?

But Morris' plus/minus are through the roof. He's "not hurting" the team. Lol.
As long as Morris scores a solid 4, grabs 2 boards, he's done his job.

MartinToVaught wrote:

NickP wrote:

MartinToVaught wrote:Now that Lue has admitted to not making his decisions based on any statistics, just favoritism, can we all agree to stop using Morris' plus/minus as an excuse to justify his playing time?

But Morris' plus/minus are through the roof. He's "not hurting" the team. Lol.
As long as Morris scores a solid 4, grabs 2 boards, he's done his job.

43-18 when Kawhi, PG, Zubac and Morris start together! Clearly that record is all because Morris is starting, no other reasons!