This really should end the debate of who the best Defender is at the 1.
"According to Synergy Sports Technology, on 55 possessions of defense this season Morris has done well in defending isolation plays and pick-and-roll plays by allowing zero percent of iso shots to go in and only 30.8 percent of pick-and-rolls to score. Defending spot-up and off the ball plays are mediocre for Morris. He continues to struggle to defend off the screen shots, allowing 71.4 percent of those shots to convert. Overall, Morris’ defense has only allowed 36.4 percent of shots to score." Quoted from http://www.lakersnat...ake/2012/11/19/
Edited to add.
If he ever learns how to get over a screen he will be a monster on D.
I'll never stick up for Nash because his defense is almost as bad as Calderon's...but understand the article. ISO's are the least effective plays in basketball if you aren't Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, or Kevin Durant...so FG% will be much, much lower...and as far as the P&R goes, we now have Dwight...so players are either going to see Dwight at the rim, or take a jumper out of it. P&R defense, by backcourt players that have defensive anchors, is never interpreted correctly.
If we still had Drew, I would be curious...because Drew was horrible defending the P&R (and so was Shaq, and every big we've ever had since Kareem, it seems).
I'd like to know just how many ISO plays Morris has defended, and who was in the ISO. How many of those were CP3? That's my question. If a lot of them came from someone like Aaron Brooks (who has been [expletive] all season long, simply put), then there's no reason to look at that.
Like I said in another topic, though...don't expect Morris' defense to give him the green light to take over the backup role. Morris probably has a decent 3PT percentage (don't quote me on that, I'm just guessing because he has had a LOT of wide-open threes), but Steve Blake still knows how to space the floor better, and D'Antoni has a sweet spot for floor-spacers.
Two games, though. Morris has been throwing assists. Kind of depends on how Mike wants us to play. If he wants to play through Gasol when the second unit is on the floor, I don't think Morris will get the nod, because of the floor spacing. If he wants it to be Dwight, maybe Morris gets it, since Dwight is more likely to benefit from a penetrating PG (because, quite frankly, you aren't going to see Gasol sliding to the rim and catching oops, even if he was in his prime).
And just nit-picking, like I always do...Morris will be a monster on defense if he plays it like CP3 or Rondo, and he'll never be on that level.
Great defenders. He can be a good defensive player, like Duhon was in his prime (and that's stretching it, because Duhon earned starting roles because of his defense during his first three years in Chicago + how good he was, defensively, at Duke), but if Morris will be featured for anything in his career, it will be for his slashing, if he can ever stack up a half a season (at least) where he plays under control and shows promise as a solid backup.
His defense will stand out when he's playing alongside a 39-year old Nash, though. Blake still has a better DRtg (defensive rating) as of right now (his 104 vs. Morris' 108), but I'm going to give Morris the benefit of the doubt because he's holding his man to a lesser FG% (slightly).
I won't say much about Synergy sports, though. They say they are testing 55 possessions of defense. Morris has started three games, played in eight. That's MUCH MORE than 55 possessions of defense. Houston shot the ball 90 times last night, and there's more to defense than just defending the shot.
