5 Upperclassmen to Watch in the 2017 NBA Draft Class
PG Monte Morris, Iowa State
As a rising senior, Monte Morris proved his worth as one of the better veteran point guards in college basketball last season. With the Sixers’ stark lack of point guard depth from a long term perspective, grabbing someone with the intangibles Morris has shown during his stint with the Cyclones could be invaluable for the future.
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On the offensive end, Morris is an extremely intelligent facilitator. He operates well in the pick-and-roll and excels at different paces depending on the personnel placed on the floor. He sees the floor with precision when running in the open court, and has the savvy needed to find his spots on the court and dish the ball to teammates when the offense slows down.
During Hoiberg’s time with Iowa State, the team played with one of the fastest paces in the league, which made the fact that Morris led all major college basketball programs in assist to turnover ratio as a sophomore notably impressive. On a per-40 minute basis that season, Morris averaged just 1.2 turnovers, by far the leading figure among his collegiate counterparts.
Morris is a highly unselfish player, which could bode well for a Sixers team that will, in the future, thrive on ball movement and up-tempo play. He can get the ball rolling alongside Ben Simmons and is willing to make the extra pass to set up teammates for more desirable opportunities.
However, like Simmons, Morris doesn’t always look for his own offense with any regularity, which could pose a problem for a team that still has a stark lack of scoring in the rotation. Morris’ scoring prowess has never been overly impressive, but he has made signifcant improvements in recent years.
His shooting aptness from deep has been upped tremendously over the course of his junior campaign, while his ability to score on the fastbreak has long been considered his one strong suit in that facet of the game. He’s a subpar finisher at times and is still filling out his frame, something worth noting for a senior, but he has the physical tools to improve that as his career progresses at the next level.
Defensively, Morris’ lateral quickness and excellent hands are promising aspects. He plays hard on that side of the ball and has the length needed to cover either guard spot, despite strength being somewhat of a hindrance at times. He has improved his decision making on that side of the basketball as well over the course of his college career, and should be a fine player on both ends once he gets to the next level.
With Philly building their current core around athletic prospects who can get up and down the court and produce in multiple aspects of the game, Morris makes a lot of sense as a potential late first round consideration. He gives them a well constructed athlete who fits into their current nucleus much better than the likes of Jerryd Bayless, T.J. McConnell or Sergio Rodriguez, while his ceiling resides much higher than that of any other guard currently on the team outside of Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot (if you consider him a guard) and a Furkan Korkmaz, who will spend another year overseas.
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