“These guys are doing a great job of letting me just play my game”
After two seasons with the LA Lakers, during which he won the 2020 NBA championship, Markieff Morris is already enjoying his time with the Miami Heat. The 32-year old was primarily utilized as a floor-spacer by the LA Lakers off the bench. However, he has been given more opportunities from inside the three-point line, resulting in a vast increase in his two-point attempts.
This has allowed him to average nine points per game off the bench. That most notably includes the off the bench 16-point cameo that helped the Heat overcome the Orlando Magic in their most recent game. Markieff Morris has never been an elite three-point scorer, shooting at slightly above thirty percent on both of his last two seasons with the LA Lakers. Morris spoke about his new role with the Miami Heat, and was full of praise for his teammates for allowing him to play to his strengths.
Markieff Morris praises his Miami Heat teammates ahead of Brooklyn Nets tie
During the early part of his career, Morris had stints with the Washington Wizards and the Phoenix Suns. At the time, he was at his best during pick-and-rolls and was always on the lookout for open spaces to take clean shots. Not once until the 2018-19 NBA season did Morris attempt fewer than seven two-pointers per game. That statistic dropped to below four for each of his two seasons with the LA Lakers.
Head coach Erik Spoelstra had the following to say about Morris’ changed role:
It’s not as if we’re inventing that part of his game. That’s who he used to be, particularly when he was with Washington. That’s who he was, a pick-and-roll, in the pocket and make plays from there. Post up, you can run offense through him there. You can use him in a lot of different ways offensively similarly to how we use Bam [Adebayo]. But he’s starting to get his legs. He’s really working diligently on his conditioning and you see the impact that he can make.
In the three NBA games thus far, Morris has shot at a career-high of 52.6% from the two-point zone. He has attempted 6.3 shots per game despite only playing around 20 minutes during each of his appearances. It was his highest shot return since the 2017-18 NBA season with the Washington Wizards. Morris has already recognized that the Heat are allowing him to play to his strengths, and was full of praise for his teammates:
I’m finally back to basically where I had success at in the league early in my career. For me personally, the game has changed a lot from when I first came in to now. Over here, these guys are doing a great job of letting me just play my game, and they’re playing to my strengths.”
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So far in the three games, only 32% of Morris’ total shots have come from the three-point zone. It is a role that the Heat have the likes of Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson and even Jimmy Butler to fulfill. Hence, the overall move has not only helped the Heat play to their strengths, it has resulted in the same kind of situation for Markieff Morris as well.
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