Phoenix Suns (Finally!) Shore Up Point Guard Spot With Monte Morris

Phoenix Suns (Finally!) Shore Up Point Guard Spot With Monte Morris

today unlocked on Phoenix Suns after months of waiting the Suns finally have their point guard and I like it even more than I did when I first saw it come across the timeline I’ll tell you why next you are locked on suns your daily Phoenix Suns podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your Team every day and we’re back this is lock on Phoenix Suns part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day I’m Brendan clean your host and a credential media member covering the Suns for the past seven seasons as well as the host of the just basketball show Welcome to locked on suns thank you for making us your first listen to kick off your Wednesday if it is a holiday week for you last day before then thank you for spending it here as free agency rolls along we’re fre available everywhere guys including YouTube so if it’s your first time or you just haven’t bothered to before hit that follow or subscribe button get a new episode in your feed every single Monday through Friday throughout all the news summer league and much more as the offseason continues get locked on to the Phoenix Suns each and every day right here become an every dayer today’s episode brought to you by game time the best place to buy a ticket download the game time app create an account use the code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase terms apply all right Monte Morris the newest member of the Phoenix Suns of course not official until July 6 you know how that all goes but the news coming in courtesy of sham chirania on Tuesday shortly after the Suns introduced Ryan Dunn and Oso igodo which I don’t think I even have time to talk about today but that’s all right because the signing is the bigger news he’s 6’2 he was drafted in 2017 meaning that this is year 1 2 3 4 5 6 78 for Mr Morris and he is the point guard that the Suns have been looking for and to me he is exactly the right type of point guard okay and that is why it’s funny right I mean maybe you just think I’m an idiot but I did a whole episode on Tuesday basically setting the stage for what I assumed would be a Kyle Lowry signing before long here on Tuesday didn’t happen instead it was Morris but as part of that I said oh you know I’m not a huge fan of um not a huge fan of the Morris option for this and that reason and on and on and I honestly think I was just I wasn’t thinking about what he could bring and I was thinking more about the perfect and I do that all the time in the offseason so that’s on me because this is a good this is a good addition this is for two main reasons a good addition number one Morris is a point guard in the truest sense of the word one he’s small two of course he used to have these Godly uh you know Assist to turnover numbers he has never averaged more than 1.0 turnovers in a season or per game in a season and he’s a a high assist player he can run a pick and roll can set an entry pass deliver the ball to a shooter on time everything else so he is a point guard but he can shoot and he can spot up shoot and he can run plays where he gets off the ball and can still be you know a threat to knock down an open jumper and that might sound basic but the Suns did not have a player like that last year right the players that they maybe tried to roll out to fill some of that spot whether you’re talking about Jordan Goodwin or you know even like a campaign at times and everything else that’s a very valuable skill set on offense in and of itself to be a highlevel playmaker but also be comfortable to say hey I’m going to initiate a set but I’m I’m going to let it fly if the ball comes my way defenses are going to have to at least close out to me you know I’m not going to he’s six 2 63 he’s not going to be some kind of sniper cuz you know his shot can get blocked and all those types of things but you just think to the team he played for for most of his career right the Denver Nuggets where Morris was I mean a backup point guard but if you remember for a lot of those years Jamal Murray was hurt well not a lot of those years two of those years Jamal Murray was hurt and Morris developed a really nice chemistry with nicoa yic that is a player who demonstrates exactly what I’m talking about if you play with Nicole yic no body dominates the ball so you better be able to adapt and adjust and and Morris certainly did that so that’s number one number two I just underestimated his his point of attack defense now he may not be as versatile on that end of the Court as what maybe a Chris Dunn or even a Kyle Lowry or a Delon Wright could have been he’s shorter he’s not as physically strong so he’s probably he’s somebody who’s going to guard point guards maybe some two guards right his wingspan is is not that you know big for his size he might have like a plus one or plus two wingspan nothing spectacular so I was like H I don’t really love that but again I kind of was letting you know perfect be the enemy of good these are minimum players these are bench players and so Morris is perfectly solid doing that I went back and looked for the past two seasons uh Morris was an a is past two full seasons I should say because this past year was A Lost season quad injury when he was in Detroit kind of a dump contract dump anyway from Washington standpoint in the summer of 2023 ends up in Detroit has these injury issues that team’s terrible then he gets to Minnesota and it’s like it’s after the deadline they’re trying to push for a one seed and he’s backing up Mike Conley Andale Alexander Walker and Anthony Edwards can be on the ball so Morris we saw him in the playoffs here in Phoenix he didn’t really do much but the past two previous Seasons before that his defense was really solid I always like to use the bball index stats they have a really comprehensive database that not only just kind of gives it’s not just like a all-in-one number that doesn’t tell you the details but they give grades and percentiles and and and try to ascribe value to specific specific qualities to specific skills that an NBA that a basketball player can have and in the past two full seasons he was an A and then a B+ in their perimeter defense calculations and the main three things that he did well were um off ball chasing defense so guarding Shooters you know let’s think of an example of who that could be in the Western Conference um the first guy that comes to mind is dton connect but let’s say let’s even say Klay Thompson as just an example right in Dallas now ball screen navigation on the ball meaning you know John Morant or Steph Curry kind of off ball also sometimes on Ball and then loose ball recovery rate he’s always graded out really well so let’s just say hustle energy and they needed that as well so if Morris can be a guy that can play on or off the ball that makes him a lot easier to fit in with the sun’s best players if he can play defense at that level that also makes him that much more valuable next to the sun’s best player so my initial reaction on Twitter was like I’m curious to see how much he will actually play with Devin Booker with Bradley Beal with Kevin Durant well Durant less so but the two guards especially it’s going to be under siiz we know that but I actually think it could happen and that’s good news lastly just a small tidbit to lead us into the next topic that I have Morris has chemistry with two of the players that are on this roster already one of which was his teammate his last full season when he was healthy in Washington and you know where I’m going that was Bradley Beal Morris was the starting point guard for that team which also of course had porzingis and kozma so they’ve played together and that offense had some really high highs it just was you know a weak bench a kind of a young bench and they weren’t really trying to win but they have that and then even further back Morris Morris’s first uh couple seasons in the league when he broke through with Denver Mason plumbley was the backup center behind uh Nicole yic and so they’ll have chemistry so that’s just a kind of a cherry on top a little bit but on a minimum with the options that the Suns had when you look at the fact that Chris Dunn is not did not end up getting a minimum and maybe Delon Wright felt like he could you know maybe close games in Milwaukee frankly filling that Patrick Beverly role for them I think that truly Morris is one of the best options that they possibly could have gotten and I feel really good about it it also tells us something about the Suns generally and their philosophy this summer they’re valuing vets over upside and they’re raising their floor let’s get into what both of those things will mean for this roster and for this team this season coming up next first Today’s Show brought to you by the game time app with killer last minute deals Allin prices views from your seat and their lowest price guarantee game time takes the guesswork out of buying tickets from MLB to the soccer going on here in in the valley as well as all over the country and Beyond I need to look at the Copa America game on Saturday my wife is out of town I don’t have a lot going on I saw tickets I I saw rumors that tickets were as cheap as like 90 bucks to go see a quarter file game in Cope America that may very well include Brazil may have to as the children say cop um however in addition to having tickets game time gets you those deals last minute deals Flash Deals Zone deals in a particular area and more as well as their lowest price guarantee where they will credit you 110% of the difference if you find the same ticket in the same general area cheaper on a different forap take the guesswork out of buying MLB tickets and Beyond with Game Time download the game time app create an account use the code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase terms apply again create an account redeem the code l c k d o n NBA for $20 off download game time today last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed all right let’s keep it rolling vetss over upside all right and I’ve talked about this a little bit um in bits and pieces but this cements it right the three players that the Suns have added basically since Bradley Beal got healthy in late December early January and they started to be like a real team and learn about themselves those three players are Royce O’Neal Mason plumbley and now Monte Morris veterans two of those guys are in their 30s Monte Morris is 29 he will turn 30 next June he just had a birthday and also lowkey Monte Morris a Michigan guy Grand Rapids um grew up in grew up in beer looks like so book ishia now Morris Michigan dudes but those are three players who are going to not make mistakes not be hit or miss in terms of you know executing a scheme executing game situations and closing games and not being as bad of a fourth quarter team so many of the things that we saw um plagued this team and I’ll get to some of that to close the show but remember last year the Suns went with mid Prime veteran players and I asked James Jones about this a little bit um when it as it pertained to the draft today at the press conference there you go look I’m talking about it found a little way to work it in um I I asked like more about trading the pick and why the Suns chose to go ahead and keep it when all the opportunities of moves with you know I didn’t name little or nurkic but we all know that’s kind of what’s out there I just sort of asked him like well what was the thinking there and he said look our roster when we were trading away first round picks routinely our roster was a little bit younger with Aon and male and obviously cam kind of being the foundational pieces when they traded the pick that uh ended up becoming shamid and then of course traded the one of their picks for Chris Paul and last year they kind of had to with the R but this year he said it made more sense to try to balance that with depth that was younger because their roster has now gotten older and so he didn’t spec you know he’s not allowed to talk about these free agents yet because they’re not legally officially signed by the team but I think if I can just sort of take his answer a step further their approach very clearly was to say trying to sort of use the minimum Market as our draft last year which is kind of what they did with the likes of kada Bates deop and chimzi metu and Drew Eubanks and Jordan Goodwin even being a throw into the be trade that didn’t work so let’s use the draft as the draft and let’s go ahead and use free agency for for for What free agency is for which is you know older veteran role players most of the time and I think the results bear that out right you know I look at I mean one they traded four of those guys to get Royce O’Neal they benched nir little he wasn’t a free agent but they got him back we’re not sure if aogi is coming back he’s not even really a a young guy anymore but this roster is going to be sign you know they got Eric Gordon so it’s not one siiz fits-all with with this analysis but they kind of went both directions here and Morris’s a part of that I mean the second unit right now they have one more roster spot basically um well they technically have two but I’m kind of assuming at least one of Leo aogi will be back so they basically have one roster spot we’ll see what they use that on but just for right now you’re probably looking at Beal Booker I will say O’Neal Durant and nurkic starting and Off the Bench that means you have Morris Allen plumbley most likely bullbull will be in the rotation and then from there it’s like is the guy that they sign with this last roster spot going to get the kind of back backup forward fourth forward let’s say spot on this team is that going to be little is that going to be um aogi is that going to be rot probably not it’s just a more cohesive coherent rotation and I think on top of that there’s interchangeable pieces obviously the Allen O’Neal thing from the standpoint of the starting lineup but but plumbley can step in as a starter we talked with Brandon on Monday about how the the value of the the continuity stylistically from nurkic to plumbley I said in the first segment you can see Morris playing with the starters so maybe there’s games where they close a little bit smaller and it’s Morris Booker or Morris Beal Booker Durant nurkic as their as their closing lineup as things currently stand maybe there’s games where it’s O’Neal maybe there’s games where it’s bull bow for all we know you know if they need if Durant misses a game O’Neal is a much better spot starter than you know who even would have played last year when Durant missed time little and and Bates deop and whatnot right so it’s less of a risk and most importantly you’re not going to run into the bottom falling out if injuries hit or if some of these players on the younger end don’t work out so let’s get to that next I want to go a little bit back in the history books of this past season a little bit into the stat sheet of what how bad it got when the Suns dealt with issues and absences and why that won’t happen now plus dip into some of that fourth quarter stuff as well coming up next closing out the show I want to look at some lineups here to kind of highlight how bad it got at points early last season for the Suns we all remember Booker gets hurt first week of the Season then he gets re injured against the Spurs around Halloween the Suns lost both of those Spurs games and then lost in Philly they had a seven game WN win streak early in the season but to see when when Booker really got back they were treading water for a lot of the early part of that season let me see what their record was when Booker really came back um he returned November 15th against the Wolves yeah I remember now and the suns were 13 and 12 at that point now that that wasn’t the first game he played but it was the third game he had played they lost one of the games that he had played prior to that point so they were 12 and 11 without him and obviously Bill missed all of that time as well and that was because not only were the players just didn’t end up being good enough but they were pressed into action so much sooner than the Suns ever would have wanted right when you’re talking about you know Bates deop Starting Games little starting games um at the guard spot a ton of the Dual Goodwin aogi lineups if you remember that a lot of of Eubanks just because you know they didn’t have Durant at Center as an option or anything like that so I’m going to walk through the most played lineups last year with Durant on the court and Booker and Beal both off the court okay those were not all games where those guys were hurt some of that of course is going to show up and just staggering them when they are all healthy but this lineup played 95 possessions um sorry 35 possessions last year which is you know not an insignificant amount minus and it got outscored by 14 points per 100 possessions Goodwin Gordon watab Durant Eubanks Gordon aogi watab Durant Eubanks was actually a little bit of a positive lineup but their defensive rating was atrocious 35 possessions as well Gordon aogi little Durant Eubanks we had 33 possessions with Goodwin Allen little Durant nurkic 33 possessions with Gordon Allen O’Neal Durant Eubanks that was even when you know everybody was healthy Goodwin Allen Bates deop Durant nurkic outscored by 6.3 all those lineups that I just told you were outscored by at least five points per 100 possessions and they all played at least 30 possessions together you don’t need me to remind you but those numbers just illustrate how Bleak it got 13 and 12 by the time book got back and just getting slaughtered in a lot of those different lineups they needed Durant to shoot it 20 plus 25 plus 30 plus times every game he was playing insane minute totals and it was just entirely unsustainable you go to when Beal got back which was uh not the 27th 29th of December is that correct against the Charlotte Hornets correct at that point in time the suns were 16 and 15 and of course they finished the season 49 and 33 so from that point on they were 33 and 18 you know on Pace for 50 plus wins you have to wonder if those first 25 games with Booker out of the lineup or I guess it wasn’t 25 games what am I looking at record-wise here they were not 12 and they were five and six when Booker got back they were 13 and 12 on December 15th I was looking at the wrong date and then again when Bill got back 16 and 15 you have to imagine and wonder what it would have been like if for those first 10 games when Booker was out Allen replaced him in the starting lineup instead of already being in the starting lineup in place of Beal right or even whatever way you want to slice it and instead of backing up Gordon and Allen instead of that being Goodwin and aogi now you’re going to be looking at that being Morris and maybe Damen Lee maybe another player that they sign Royce O’Neil is in the mix you look at the bench in general which got anchored by Eubanks aogi Gordon this past year guys that were overmatched and I’m not trying to make the case the suns are going to be the one seat like don’t get me wrong there’s limitations here but it’s just it’s not going to be as much of a slog when they inevitably every team does it but let’s just be realistic Booker Beal and Durant over the past couple of Seasons each of them have missed time now Durant was an Iron Man last year and deserves a lot of credit for that but you don’t honestly load managing Durant a bit might not be the worst idea if you can get away with it from a depth standpoint I didn’t even mention in the depth side of things too that bullbull will actually be playing somehow he was sitting deep on the bench while they were trotting out all these players who were subpar and you know a lot of you were clamoring to see Bull and I was not a Believer and I was proven wrong so even him being part of things sooner will be helpful but the last thing I wanted to hit on is the fourth quarter right I’m not most likely right now the Suns players closing games will be a lot of the same players we we saw last season however you know a lot of their ugly fourth quarters came when they were injured and it did clean up by the end of the season when Royce came and they depth got a little bit better and they started playing the right players more consistently so you know let’s call it like pre-all-star break was was really the the worst of the worst in terms of their their end of game stuff and that cost them too so whether it’s Morris playing with them or not the fourth quarter Everybody Plays typically you know some Stars will play the whole first quarter nobody plays the whole fourth quarter they tried to stagger but even if you’re staggering and trying to have at least one of your star players on the court throughout the whole fourth quarter inevitably you’re going to run into situations where let’s say you open that quarter with Durant as the or a lot of the time toward the end of the season it was Beal last year that might have been you know Beal Gordon Allen Roy and Eubanks or something you know this year that will be Morris Beal Allan O’Neal plumly like just me saying that tells you how different it’s going to be right so that’s all good the ultimate question I mentioned this yesterday I’ll just continue to to to beat the drum on it a little bit right my test for this offseason all along has been could the Suns get one more player who is certifiably going to be in the postseason rotation and capable of making an impact in those moments the best version of Monte Morris may very well be that I don’t really count plumbley because whether the Suns liked it or not Eubanks was out there so maybe that’s like half of an extra player because I’m not positive you know in the the end game of these playoff situations maybe bud is somebody who’s more willing to go small and this and that so plumbley might not factor in so we’ll see Morris could be bub may may well just be him but last year Morris didn’t crack 11 minutes and 45 seconds in any playoff game he didn’t play more than three consecutive playoff games at all um all playoffs so he would play and then he would get get benched by the end of a series and that was kind of the the Rhythm so I’m not sure we’re there yet with this roster maybe it was not possible to get there outside of a really risky trade like nkit or little we have not heard any rumors about negotiations on trades like that from the Sun so we really have no idea if they’ve been looking at those things what was on the table who they’ve been looking at the kind of secondary Market of the NBA off season the past this is like the third year in a row basically where it’s been like this are these trades and so maybe once the dust clears and I talked about this on Tuesday’s episode to close that episode out that you know the dust will settle maybe a team like Brooklyn with Dorian finny Smith or Atlanta with some of their guys or you know Charlotte these bad teams that might just be sort of waiting it out maybe there’s a a deal to be made with them once everything else happens with low marinan Brandon Ingram Jared Allen potentially Darius Garland whatever all of that ends up looking like but right now I still don’t think the postseason rotation is exponentially better but the regular season rotation because of the team’s emphasis on experience and on less risky players it’s going to be a much smoother 82 games that’ll wrap us up recording with Steven pjon Garner on Wednesday that’ll be in your feed first thing Thursday if there’s any news of course we’ll analyze it we might start to talk about how this team fits together now that we have a decent feel for it the suns are going to announce their summer league roster soon we’ll probably have some takeaways from the rookie press conference a day late for you as well so hit follow or subscribe get that episode in your feed and more throughout the summer enjoy your Wednesday I’ll catch you guys then

The Phoenix Suns got their point guard with Monte Morris in NBA free agency, giving them real veteran depth for the first time in years.

Brendon Kleen of @justbasketballfans breaks down why Morris fits in Phoenix plus the value of the Suns prioritizing experience and depth this summer over high risk young players.

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