Marcus Morris Sr.‘s role with the LA Clippers is going to have to be a little different this upcoming season.
Without Kawhi Leonard in the picture, the game plan for the whole team is going to be much different. With Morris, he’s still going to need to do what he does best, but he’ll have to take it to another level without the Clippers’ franchise player.
Morris and Kawhi have similar skillsets in many areas, and Morris will really need to step up this year if we want to stay afloat in this Western Conference race. I have confidence in him to do it, and can’t wait for what we see out of Morris this year.
Marcus Morris Sr. needs to do what Kawhi Leonard didn’t get enough credit for with the LA Clippers.
I’ve written plenty of times about how the LA Clippers were in the bottom half of the league in rebounds per game last year, and better not have to say the same at the end of this year. Morris can be a big part of the improvement that needs to happen in that area. Leonard has been a great rebounder throughout his career, and the Clips will miss his presence on the boards.
Leonard averaged 6.5 rebounds per game last year. His career average is 6.4. Both those numbers are much better than Morris’ 4.1 last season.
Morris is going to be one of the biggest Clippers on the floor whenever he’s out there this year, and needs to be a better presence on the boards. He’s not going to have the luxury of Kawhi bailing him out on the rebounding front.
Now, I don’t want to act like Morris and only Morris was getting bailed out by Kawhi. The whole team should have rebounded better (except for maybe Ivica Zubac). That being said, I expect Morris’ rebounding to be better this year as the starting power forward again.
On top of that, Morris is going to be the second best defender among the guards and forwards on this team this year. If PG isn’t on the floor, Morris is going to be asked to take on the toughest defensive assignment on the court. There’s no Kawhi anymore, who can pick up anybody.
Morris is going to be tasked with even more tough assignments. A 6’8″ power forward who can move like a traditional wing, he can guard positions two through four. He’ll need to hold it down even better than he typically does without Leonard’s All-Defensive team defense.
On offense, I actually don’t expect Morris’ role to change too much. He’ll need to be physical when he’s in the paint as a power forward, and we really would love to see him shoot the ball at a similar clip to last season from behind the arc. He had the second-best three-point percentage in basketball last year (47.3%), and if he can shoot like that again, we’re going to be in really good shape.
Morris didn’t get a ton of opportunity to get a feel for playing without Kawhi last year in the playoffs. When Kawhi went down, Morris only played three out of eight games over 30 minutes.
He wasn’t healthy for most of the Western Conference Finals. If there’s anything Morris is used to, however, it’s handling the adversity of injured teammates.
Morris can do it, and will be a big part of the Clips’ plans in every aspect of the game this year.