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11 - Monte Morris

6-2, 175 Point Guard
Iowa St. Senior
Birthday
06/27/95 (28.7 yrs)
Hometown
Flint, MI
High School
Beecher
Team Site Profile
Statistics
Athleticism
6
Size
8
Defense
7
Strength
6
Quickness
7
Leadership
8
Jump Shot
8
NBA Ready
8
Ball Handling
8
Potential
6
Passing
8
Intangibles
8

NBA Comparison: Moochie Norris

Strengths: The undisputed king of collegiate assist to turnover ratio enters the 2017 draft as an extremely experienced and high level floor general … Monte Morris’ ability to play big time minutes, and not turn the ball over is an obvious value at any level … His senior season in Ames he sported a 5.16 A/To ratio, his best at ISU … Morris’ offensive IQ is extremely high, and his ball handling, while not overtly flashy, is also well above average … He’s adept at using screens, penetrating the lane, and executing a fast break to perfection, which are translatable at any level … Monte is also a very good shooter … He’s never shot below .358% on 3s in college, and as a senior, he nailed .378% on 4.1 attempts per contest … He’s also a very good free throw shooter, and has a very good intuition in regards to shot selection … Morris can pull up off the dribble in the mid-range as well, and this again is utilized effectively due to his knowledge of spacing … Athletically, he’s quick and has good end to end speed with or without the ball in his hands … While lean, Morris stands 6’3’’ in shoes, and measures a solid 6’5’’ wingspan … He definitely possesses adequate size to guard the majority of NBA point guards … Monte’s defensive skills include quick hands, and good instinct in the passing lanes … Finishing at the rim was not a problem for him either at the college level … His 65% clip at the rim (according to hoop-math.com) is extremely good for a point guard … Plus, he has some room to fill out in terms of muscle mass … He used this length rather nicely on the glass where he pulled down 4.8 boards per contest, which is good for a point guard …

Weaknesses: One pretty obvious weakness for Morris will be his slight 175 pound frame … For him to maximize his NBA potential he’ll need to fill out in order to compete with physical, strong NBA backcourts … He’s also a solid athlete, but at the next level, he’s going to give up athleticism on a nightly basis … He has the IQ to mitigate some of this, but it’s still a deficit … I feel Morris’ main issue in the NBA will be improving his scoring, and/or finding a niche in the NBA … It’s a luxury that he can be so efficient running an offense, but does not screwing up really warrant NBA minutes? Further honing his 3 point shot to become a 40+% shooter would also help his cause, this is very do-able because of his good mechanics … Since he most likely won’t be hanging his hat on the defensive end, he’ll need to up his game … He’ll turn 23 before his first NBA game, so he’ll need to figure out his NBA niche fairly quick or risk teams giving that roster spot to a guy they feel has a higher ceiling …

Overall: Monte Morris is a coachable player, with an extremely high level basketball IQ. A point guard to the truest sense, those skills translate, point blank. His biggest hurdle, aside from adding bulk, will be improving his scoring, and finding the right system. Basketball IQ goes a long way, and while not a high level prospect, Fred Van Vleet and Ron Baker come to mind as guards from last year’s draft who were rock solid, overlooked, and ended up on NBA rosters. Whether Morris is drafted or not, I feel he has a legit shot to stick in the league.

Notes: First team All-Big 12 (2017) Second team All-Big 12 (2015,2016). Committed only 165 turnovers in 140 NCAA games while dishing 768 Assists.

David Ray 5/2/17
 

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