Monté Morris Is A GREAT Fit For The Timberwolves…

Monté Morris Is A GREAT Fit For The Timberwolves…

Welcome to another how and grows breakdown today we’re talking about Monte Morris and what he can potentially bring to the Minnesota Timberwolves so I think we know the basics about Morris and what he’s done in his career he was exceptional backing up and filling in for Jamal Murray during some successful

Years with the Denver Nuggets and he remained an impactful player in his time with the Washington Wizards before he moved to Detroit and picked up an injury that has him play just six games before this recent trade to the Wolves he’s a smart point guard who’s not going to

Turn the ball over and he’s made 39% of his threes over the course of his career but what I think is important to Minnesota is his ability to create shots for himself and others from the middle of the floor when you think about the minutes he’s replacing in Jordan

Mcclaflin and maybe even some Kyle Anderson and Mike Conley minutes that’s something we don’t see from those guys in that sense it’s a new wrinkle that could be introduced into Minnesota’s stagnant offense it starts with the ability to make shots from that mid-range area it’s not the ideal shot

We know that but it’s something that is still necessary to act as a pressure relief valve for the offense and Morris is really good at it over his career Morris has taken 44.3% of his shots in the mid-range area it probably won’t be that high with Minn

S but he’s proven himself to be a reliable player in that area of the floor and he’s shooting 47% on those mid-range shots that’s a really high clip for that area of the floor on that sort of relative volume what I’ve really loved from digging in deeper into

Morris’s game is the crafty ways he gets into those mid-range looks you see here he pushes the defender into this handoff action and uses it to shed his man and spin back into the middle of the floor where all of this space has been opened up then when the rim protector rotates

Over he just shuffles back into that open space in the corner that was created via that original handoff action that’s not just a typical pull-up jumper that’s really smart manipulation of the defense again he comes around this ball screen you see this little ball fake as

He snakes the pick and roll forces that big Defender to drop back and protect the passing Lane so Morris can slip into the open shot and get that free throw line jumper off again that’s just really crafty stuff from a point guard who’s made a living on really crafty stuff

He’s obviously played a ton with Nicola yic so if he’s coming off a ball screen and the defense is late on a switch he’s just going to make them pay for it every time Minnesota do have a deficit in players who can do that kind of thing

Off the dribble so it’ll be really handy to have that within their offense going forward and again his experience playing with big men like Nicola yic or christs porzingis and he can run those handoff actions with them in the same way they would run it with KL Anthony towns and

Rudy go you see him here he comes racing off this handoff the big man is dropping back to cut off a layup so moris is stopping and popping on that jumper to give that defense another option to think about most teams including Minnesota have kind of outlawed that

Mid-range shot that Morris has made a living on but the wolves run a lot of these same sort of simple actions and that should mean Morris can find his footing within their offense the Timberwolves love to get towns the ball with Cutters flying past him in dribble

Handoff or late pass situations and that should play into Morris’s skill set as a mid-range scorer again that’s something they can’t do as much with Conley JM or Anderson who like to score in different ways and they really love working the two two-man game with go as the screener

Or the Hub of the handoff actions we’ve seen how great Conley is at pulling up for three-point looks or jetting into the paint to make plays for others in those situations again Morris should be able to replicate that in some ways while also adding his mid-range garnish

To it as well and Morris is a really efficient and effective passer when he is able to get himself into space and make plays from the middle of the floor again Conley has his empty Corner actions and the pick and roll passing juice but it should be fruitful for

Minnesota to have someone backing him up who’s a bit more of an isolation scoring threat in the mid-range that will lead to more collapsed defenses where Morris can use his playmaking to create looks from an area of the floor that’s often ignored by the Wolves best

Creators and it’s that same Nifty way of playing that has me excited about the middle of the floor playmaking Morris can bring to the Wolves for a run into the playoffs and a backup role in the playoffs themselves you see here he gets into the middle and he reads it

Perfectly Dort is going to jump this pass Shay is all the way over as the low man helping on a potential porzingis dive so Morris just makes the smart read and whips it to Shay’s open man in the corner those quick and correct decisions are why he’s been an assist to turnover

Machine for his whole career again there’s nothing overly fancy here just the right decisions he comes off the screen gets dangerous in the mid-range area forces Adams to come out here and contest his shot and then drops the pass around him to yic on the roll if the

Defense has to respect the willingness to take and make that mid-range shot then Morris can leverage that into easy playmaking reads he uses that snake move through here again brings both the pick and roll Defenders with him into the mid-range and then makes that simple pick and pop passing read to the shooter

It’s really easy to imagine that working with Carl Anthony towns or Nar Reed and it’s not something we have seen with minot’s backup ball handlers this season for an offense searching for consistency every little bit counts again he gets into his area off the screen collapses the defense around him with the threat

Of a jumper and then uses that collapsed defense to find the open man waiting for that three-point shot when you factor in that moris is going to take and make his fair share of Threes both self-created off the dribble and as a catch and shoot player who can make defenses pay for

Collapsing on Anthony Edwards and KL Anthony towns while also providing another playoff proven winning mentality into that locker room that really does need needed at times it seems like a no-brainer upgrade to Minnesota’s guard stocks and that has been the case for years with moris over the past Four

Seasons his teams have been demonstrably better when he’s on the floor even working his way back into game shape with the lowly Pistons they’ve scored 10.9 points per 100 possessions more when he’s on the floor compared to off the floor it’s hard to expect that l of impact with Minnesota but even a

Fraction of that would help their bench unit tremendously it won’t be the sexiest move that we see this week in the trade Feeding Frenzy but it’s a nice upgrade in a position of need for the wolves and that could make a difference in the tight Western Conference thanks

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The Wolves get their upgrade at point guard and some more juice in their struggling offense.