You really don't understand the game at all if you're asking that question. Can Morris create for himself or others off the dribble? Can he drive and finish at the rim? Can he spot up and make the opposition pay as a floor spacer on a consistent basis? The answer to all three is a resounding NO. Darius Morris is not a good offensive player, he's a below average NBA player. But he's young and athletic, so he's probably a legit NBA starter in your book. Effort =/= effectiveness, and he definitely isn't effective for us offensively unless he's wide open with no one within 8 feet of him (because they'll give him jumpers from 20+ feet out all night long) or if it's in transition on the break.
Guess where all 6 of those points against Golden State came from? A lay-up in transition off a steal, a lay-up when the Warriors completely fell asleep on defense, and a lay-up where he ran the floor in transition and attacked the Warriors defense. He is not effective in a halfcourt set (which we're going to be running frequently with our personnel), thus he's an offensive liability for us.
Good 3-point shooter? Based off what exactly, that he knocks down shots when there is no one playing a hint of defense? Get real. He is not a good shooter. That would be referring to Jodie Meeks. Looking at Morris' percentages on the season don't tell the whole story, especially when he's being spoon fed with the defense giving him all the space in the world. Hell, if he's not in that left-hand corner, he's almost useless from beyond the arc. If he were a good shooter, then he wouldn't be seeing so little defensive coverage off the ball.
Morris doesn't deserve to start. He's not good enough to be a starter in this league, he's not a good enough defensive player to handle starting caliber SGs or PGs on most teams, and he's a liability on the offensive end for the most part. We're basically hiding a weak link and soaking up minutes by putting him on the floor with our 4 best players until we plug MWP into the game. The only reason for Kobe's move to SF is due to the massive hole we had at backup SF this entire time. Shifting him to that position and keeping Morris as a token starter at SG eliminates our production issue from the SF position. That's it.
Sure, it works for now, but I'd much rather have a player that can actually be a contributor for us on a nightly basis in the starting lineup. You'll see Morris yanked out early and often in games because he'll usually be taken advantage of by starting caliber players. It doesn't really add anything to our team thrusting him in as a starter, it's just a minutes stopgap.
Morris does do a lot of drive and kick outs when he does run PG and does manage to get a few assists when asked to do the ball handling
But half of the things that your asking him to do is not what the coach wants....
All I got from what you said was "so what if he scored 6 points they were in transition" and last time I checked Lakers needed a few fast break opportunities and then your argument is he isn't a good 3 point shooter cause he doesn't shoot them contested? Which is also silly if he can make a wide open 3 then why not keep him on the floor? Think how the Knicks feel when Brewer is out there on offense? Or when sefolosha is out there for the thunder.... They are true offensive liabilities because brewer doesn't hit any jump shots consistently and that's being wide open and either does sefolosha
