Meet The Washington Wizards First Pre-Draft Invitees
By Ryan Eugene
2016-17 Stats: 35 GP, 16.4 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 6.2 APG, 1.5 SPG, 46.5 FG%, 37.8 3P%
Lastly, we look at Monte Morris from Iowa State. His team advanced the furthest in the NCAA Tournament among the six workout invitees. The Cyclones beat Fenner’s Nevada squad in the first round, before falling to Purdue in the second round.
Interestingly, many of Morris’ statistics don’t jump off the board at you. He didn’t shoot over 40% from three like a few candidates, and his 16 PPG seems rather average.
Still he was on a team that earned a #5 seed in the NCAA Tournament, and he may be the only true creator of the group. His 6.2 APG is almost three assists per game higher than Artis, who had the second highest. In his junior year he averaged 6.9 assists per game.
In terms of scoring, he scored his season-high 30 points, with a season-high four three-pointers, in a game against Oklahoma State.
Morris also played well at the NBA Draft Combine.
He also fits one of the Wizards’ biggest needs, as him being drafted would bring on a point guard who can play both guard positions. He’s shown he has great vision. He can shoot the ball. And Morris
Morris also has an accolade to his name that will greatly intrigue scouts. In his senior season he broke the NCAA assist-to-turnover ratio record by finishing at 5.21. The record he broke of 4.79 Morris set his freshman year.
Considering the amount of ball handling time required of a backup point guard, Washington needs someone they can trust to make the right decisions AND limit turnovers.
We saw late in the postseason how damaging turnovers can be to a team as thin as the Wizards. Too often turnovers led to transition baskets for opponents as the Wizards didn’t want to expend energy to run back. It’s like they knew they’d need to save stamina to play the whole game because of poor bench play.
Lastly, taking Morris would bring the Wizards another M. Morris to pair with Markieff Morris, although probably not the one he and fans are hoping for.
Next: Washington Wizards 2017 Season Review: Jason Smith
Morris is ranked #66 on DraftExpress’ latest Top 100 prospects list.