Post by jhb on May 10, 2021 11:21:20 GMT -5
Markieff Morris
PF
6'9"
240
22
Kansas
Morris, one of a set of twins from the vaunted Kansas program, is an interesting TMBSL prospect, one who has a lot of the skills that teams will value but also one who was mostly a role player in college. He will likely continue to operate in a similar role in the league and while he doesn't have the upside of many of his fellow future draftees, he is a relatively safe pick with some well-developed abilities for his age. He's a strong player with a TMBSL-ready body and his size should play well as a rotational 4 at the next level.
Markieff has a great touch around the rim and is pretty adept at using his drop-step to get into position to finish. He'll need to add some counters and turn-around steps to get better defenders off the drop-step at the next level, but great scorers have entered the league with less in their toolbox. He has a pretty solid hook shot that he converts at a good rate as well. He's become a really good shooter as well and that will likely be what allows him to stick at the next level. His jumper is very clean and smooth and his mechanics are far better than his 65.3% career conversion rate from the free throw line would indicate. He has even begun to expand his game to the perimeter with great effect, making 44.8% of his attempts from deep in his final two seasons on over two attempts per 40 minutes. As bigger players at the next level push him out of the paint, scouts expect him to become a much quicker trigger from outside and begin converting more of those opportunities. And considering his mid-range game is not as developed and he's never played well as a ball-dominant guy, he's even more likely to hang around the perimeter as a spot-up shooter at the next level.
Defensively, he's never going to be an elite player just because of his size and athleticism, where he's simply average. But he plays well within a system and shouldn't be a total sieve...he won't win you games here but won't lose them either. He showed the ability to be a bit of an opportunist and grab some steals and blocks in college but scouts worry that won't translate with larger, more talented opponents. He will provide some value as a rebounder, he showed at Kansas that he could put up very good rebounding totals per 40 minutes and he does put forth the effort in that department.