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Free Agent Forwards: Marcus Morris

The Celtics forward will be an UFA and the Kings have been said to have interest.
By | 0 Comments | Jun 15, 2019

The Sacramento Kings are in need of some wings to beef up their bench depth, assuming Harrison Barnes remains on a new contract. Corey Brewer, who eventually became the primary backup to Barnes after being acquired, is also a free agent so the Kings are thin at the position.

Marcus Morris’ four year, $20 million contract is over and the Boston Celtics forward will be testing the market. The Kings have been linked to Morris recently, as Shams Charania of The Athletic said Sacramento is expected to have strong interest.

The 29-year-old forward played 75 games for the Celtics where in 28 minutes a game, he averaged 13.9 points, 6.1 rebounds (career high) and 1.5 assists on 44.7 percent field goal shooting (career high) and 37.5 percent from deep.

Morris owns a quality shot chart around the field except he notably struggles in both corners from deep and shots from right at the free throw line.

In the corners, he shoots awful percentages of 17.2 and 26.3. On above the break threes, he’s a much better 41.2 percent which the Kings would love to have. He also posted a true shooting percentage of 56.8, a career high.

Morris is primarily a catch and shoot guy from three, with 37.7 percent of his attempts coming on this situations and he converted 39 percent of the shots on 4.2 attempts.

Factoring in shots where he doesn’t take a dribble, he’s 38.7 percent on those shots on 4.3 attempts. Morris has moments where he goes on isolation plays or tries to create his own shot, but he’s a solid catch and shoot guy who can play off ball and that would fare well with Bogdan Bogdanovic and another guard on the floor.

Morris also shoots the ball at a 44 percent clip from the mid-range. He usually goes for mid-range jumpers when he pump fakes from deep and steps inside the arc, working on isolation plays or simple pull-up jumpers.

Morris can finish in the paint and in the restricted area, converting on over 60 percent of his shots in both of those areas. In the clip, he runs the pick and roll and strongly finishes despite the contest from Serge Ibaka.

He can take the ball to basket on iso plays, cuts to the rim and one underrated aspect of his game is being able to run in transition. Despite the Celtics being a middle of the pack team in pace, Morris has fast legs and that could fit right in with the uptempo Kings.

The Kings would also benefit from Morris’ rebounding. He averages 6.1 a game with a defensive rebounding percentage of 19.5, ranking third on the Celtics (min. 20 games played).

On defense, Morris averaged 0.6 steals a game on one deflection a game. He also recovered 57.1 percent of loose balls, all of these numbers being fairly decent.

Opponents averaged 9.4 attempts a game when Morris was defending and they converted 47 percent of the time. About four of these attempts a game from deep, where opponents made 35.6 percent of their attempts. In the playoffs, these numbers decreased to 44.8 percent overall and 23.7 percent from three. His playoff numbers were solid, especially from deep. In the regular season, the numbers are definitely manageable.

Morris also added 2.5 defensive win shares this season, which ties a career high he set in 2015-16 season with Detroit. His defensive box plus has almost always been negative except for one season, with this season’s mark being -1.0.

Some concerns with Morris is his usage rate being 20.9 percent and his high volume of shot attempts as he attempted 11.3 shots a game with Boston. If he comes to Sacramento, he’d have to accept a smaller role than what he had in Boston.

Morris has said he’s open to returning to the Celtics but intends to test the free agent waters first and I’m sure there will be options for him. His last contract paid him $5 million a year and after the season he just had, he’ll definitely be seeking more.

I’d offer the 29-year-old a two year, $24 million contract. He’d provide the Kings with a diverse scoring arsenal, rebounding and size to guard the 3 and 4 spots on the floor with his 6’9” length.

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