Darius Morris sighting
I noticed there wasn't a thread on this, but Darius Morris had a career high with 15 points, including 3-5 from behind the arc, in just under 19 minutes of playing time, Let's hope this is the beginning of a nice stretch by D-Mo.
December 16th, 2012 at 10:45 PM ^
The Lakers can definitely use some help at PG... Especially on D. Hopefully Darius jumps on this opportunity and gets himself some PT. 15 points in 18 minutes is a good start.
December 17th, 2012 at 8:51 AM ^
At least until a week or so ago he was.
December 16th, 2012 at 10:49 PM ^
December 17th, 2012 at 12:59 PM ^
A guy like Morris never will be a star or a guy teams build around. But if he shows that he can perform like this occasionally, and be a solid teammate, he'll have a nice 10-year career as a rotation guy. Who knows whether that will be in LA, but he'll fit in somewhere.
December 16th, 2012 at 10:55 PM ^
Morris just needs to be more productive. He's played very inconsistently over his career and that's the main reason he hasn't been getting time. Once he's more productive (which is what we're all hoping) he will get time, even if Nash is there.
December 16th, 2012 at 11:14 PM ^
Ya, I imagine if they have a playoff spot locked up they'll rest Nash. Probably throughout the year too to keep him fresh for the playoffs.
December 16th, 2012 at 11:27 PM ^
The way the Lakers are playing, locking a playoff spot up isn't gonna happen .
December 17th, 2012 at 12:00 AM ^
LOL ya it's funny. I remember people were talking upper 50s in the wins, possibly 60s. If I told you that a starting 5 of Kobe, Dwight, Pau, Artest and Nash would struggle to make the playoffs you would have laughed. Even with the miles Kobe and Nash have on them.
Shoulda given Phil complete control like he wanted.
December 17th, 2012 at 12:58 AM ^
Just as hard as I laughed when somebody told me the Pistons actually won a title over a team consisting of Kobe, Shaq, Malone, and Payton. And some guy named Brian Cook.
December 17th, 2012 at 1:19 AM ^
December 17th, 2012 at 10:23 AM ^
But if it were Malone in his prime, there's no way that he (or Payton) would have been on the Lakers. The only reason he was on that team is that the Jazz had decided to rebuild.
December 17th, 2012 at 10:20 AM ^
Metta World Peace. Ron Artest no longer exists.
December 16th, 2012 at 11:33 PM ^
December 17th, 2012 at 12:02 AM ^
December 17th, 2012 at 12:51 AM ^
Hard to improve from the end of the bench.
December 17th, 2012 at 8:53 AM ^
At least have some idea what you're writing. And of course there's practice against NBA players, training with the world's best, etc. But why would any of that interest you?
December 17th, 2012 at 12:17 AM ^
No he wouldn't, how would not being able to practice everyday for the entire year against worse competition and worrying about not failing out of school made him a better basketball player? As long as he keeps getting contracts leaving was the right decision. It is one of the biggest falacies in sports that players improve more by staying in college when it comes to basketball. It isn't good to leave school and not get a contract, but if you get a contract it was the right decision.
December 17th, 2012 at 12:50 AM ^
By staying another year and getting drafted higher Morris would have improved more as a player. All the evidence suggests that it's better to get drafted by a terrible team where you can play under the radar and get minutes without a ton of pressure to win immediately. Early playing time solves a lot of problems, and a few years down the line the big contracts will follow for a good player on a bad team.
December 17th, 2012 at 1:35 AM ^
What makes you think morris would have gotten drafted higher? The year after he left was a deeper draft class and if Morris hasn't improved his outside shot after two years of focusing solely on basketball it wasn't going to improve while in college either. Morris is limited as a pg, he has relatively slow foot speed that can make him a liability on defense, isn't an explosive athlete or jumper, and has an incosistent at best outside shot which makes getting your own shot pretty difficult. Morris probably went as high as he was ever going to go in the draft, he made the right call.
December 17th, 2012 at 5:40 AM ^
December 17th, 2012 at 6:45 AM ^
I'm sure he'd have it another way....Like, actually getting significant minutes for a team.
December 17th, 2012 at 1:09 PM ^
You don't think he enjoys being on his hometown team and playing in front of his friends and family?
I wanted him (as a fan thinking selfishly) to stay in school too, but I don't think he made the wrong decision.
December 17th, 2012 at 8:56 AM ^
message boards solemnly weighing in that he should have stayed ad nauseum. Oh wellz. Let's see. . . million in my pocket, working out with Kobe and Nash. Nah, I'll take going to classes and playing at UM. . . because a bunch of Michigan fans are ridiculous and arrogant enough to KNOW (having weighed my life, family issues, etcetera for me) that's the better option for me. So retarded, so mindlessly regurgitated two years running.
December 16th, 2012 at 11:48 PM ^
December 17th, 2012 at 3:43 AM ^
The injury looked bad at first but it was later determined that he only sustained a knee sprain. No torn MCL, fortunatley.
December 16th, 2012 at 11:59 PM ^
DMo needs to keep working hard and picking Nash's brain
December 17th, 2012 at 12:00 AM ^
This has been covered ad nauseam, but the peculiar circumstances Morris faced (i.e., the lockout) made it probably financially prudent for him to declare early when he did.
I'm glad he had a strong game against Philly, but until I see otherwise, his 3-5 shooting from beyond the arc is not sustainable. He still will have value when Nash gets back as the best defensive point guard we've got. Morris has still got to learn to play under control and finish at the rim but he's not drastically worse than Blake or Duhon in that regard.
December 17th, 2012 at 3:08 AM ^
I agree with almost everything you said, I don't understand how people don't understand that declaring earlier probably lead to a higher position due to the weak draft. I hope that this performance is not just a one off. That being said, 3-5 shooting from beyond the arc is unsustainable for any player...
December 17th, 2012 at 7:47 AM ^
While true, even 2-5 is unsustainable for him. He more likely to go 1-5 or 2-5 in my opinion. I just haven't seen his deep ball improve, granted I have only seen limited minutes of him this year since he plays only limited minutes.
December 17th, 2012 at 8:57 AM ^
hindquarters, then acknowledge you haven't been watching him? Dude.
December 17th, 2012 at 10:25 AM ^
Not too many people have been watching him considering his minutes were down to 13 a game in December, down from 22 a game in November. He has been a DNP/CD once in the last week and got 7 minutes on another night.
December 17th, 2012 at 11:55 AM ^
What? Read what I wrote again. I have watched him as much as anyone else. The reason I said i haven't seen much of him, is because he has extremely limited minutes(hence there isn't much too see of him).
December 17th, 2012 at 1:05 PM ^
Um... there's this thing called the "internet," where you can look up "statistics" that may support or debunk your opinions. In about five seconds, I looked up Darius Morris on basketball-reference.com. Turns out, he's shooting .447 from three-point range for the season, and .545 in the month of December. Granted, he has only attempted 38 threes on the season (in 424 minutes played), but still, the numbers say that it isn't unreasonable for him to go 2-5 or 3-5 in a game.
Source: http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/m/morrida01.html
December 17th, 2012 at 7:21 AM ^
December 17th, 2012 at 8:56 AM ^
One thing that has been nice to see in the development of Darius Morris in the NBA, at least in the games that I have seen this year, is that the increased playing time and in-game experience really are helping, and you can even see this in his stats from November in particular when he played in place of Nash, I believe. If he keeps getting time and keeping learning from Nash, there's no reason that, in the future, he doesn't get considerable minutes on a resgular basis. His game-to-game performance is a little up-and-down, but if he can contribute more consistently, that will be a huge step, and he has shown that he can contribute this year.
December 17th, 2012 at 10:27 AM ^
Playing time has decreased as the year has progressed, actually.
December 17th, 2012 at 10:55 AM ^
unfortunately, so has the quality of his play.
December 17th, 2012 at 10:22 AM ^
Morris is the 4th PG on the team. He's playing because the first 2 are hurt. When they return, he's released, or in the D-League.
December 17th, 2012 at 1:07 PM ^
He's a RFA after this season. If he can occasionally score 15 points in 18 minutes off the bench and play decent defense as a big point guard, somebody will pay him.