NBA Draft Talk: Marcus Morris To Houston

by Owen on Jun 24, 2011 11:01 AM CDT in Kansas Jayhawk Basketball 2010-11

Jayhawk number two on the night, Marcus Morris. Just a few short minutes after hearing his brothers name called, Marcus Morris hugged his family, hugged head coach Bill Self and assistant Danny Manning. Great moment for Kansas basketball, great moment for the twins. Hard to believe the development that the duo displayed in their three years with Kansas.

Marcus came into Kansas the less heralded of the two, left with more fanfare but in the end it was his versatility that might have worked against him just a bit as the draft talk centered around Markieff having a true NBA position whereas Marcus would be a tweener. Either way, Houston is the destination and based on the talk out of Houston the biggest thing they saw in Marcus was very similar to what Phoenix saw in Markieff.

"We think he is a very talented power forward, scorer. He's tough inside and can score close to the basket and can take you outside. He's just tough - a tough player that can also defend."

- Rockets director of global scouting Arturas Karnisovas

Go back to the Bill Self Illinois days when Roy Williams and a young Nick Collison and Drew Gooden squared off against the Illini. Those teams were tough inside. Self develops tough big men and with Danny Manning the bigs at Kansas aren't just developing toughness, they are also developing a great skillset on the offensive end.

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Thorpe is high on Morris as a 3 in the NBA

http://blog.chron.com/nba/2011/06/a-different-way-to-look-at-rockets-draft-including-an-early-morning-home-run-call/

“I thought he was a top five or six talent as a three. I think he played three at Kansas, he would have been even better than he was. I think he’s got the size and strength to defend elite small forwards. I’m not telling you he’s going to shut them down, but he’s not going to be a fun guy to defend on the other end because he’s going to post those guys up. That wears a guy down when you have to defend a guy like that.

"I think Patrick Patterson was the steal of the draft last year and I think Marcus Morris has absolutely the potential to be the same, with toughness and rebounding, too.

"He was super professional always early, took stretching seriously, lifting seriously, working seriously. He’s even more motivated now.

"He’s a home run."

just an excerpt from a pretty long quote in a fairly long article:

by SagehenMacGyver47 on Jun 27, 2011 4:37 PM CDT reply actions