Monte Morris: Diamond In The Rough

Monte Morris: Diamond In The Rough

Every year, The NBA Draft has hidden gems that many teams pass on for various reasons such as measurables, age, potential, and production. For example, potential rookie of the year guard Malcolm Brogdon, coming out of college many teams were concerned about what position he would play and his ability to score efficiently and consistently. All thirty teams passed on him once and 5 teams passed on him a second time until the Bucks took a chance on him with their 36^th pick in the second round. With that being said, there will be another player many teams pass on that I believe will have a very solid NBA career in Monte Morris from Iowa State.

As a senior, yes as a senior he averaged 16.4 PPG, 4.8 RPG, and 6.2 APG. Morris is a pure point guard that simply doesn’t turn the ball over. He led the country in assist-to-turnover ratio 4 years in a row. Also during his tenure at Iowa State, he was a Big 12 1^st team All-American in 2017 and 2 time Big 12 2^nd team All-American in 15-16. Morris has a very balanced game he’s very solid on off the ball defense which made him the all-time leader in steals in Iowa State history. Offensively he can score from all three levels very well, especially at the rim and from midrange, but has a lethal three-point shot, shooting 38 percent for his career.

NBA teams with aging point guards or need to upgrade at that position should consider drafting him such as the Spurs, Heat, Bulls, Knicks, and 76ers. The risk on Morris is very low many mock drafts have him going middle-to late in the second round. He’s a very clean cut, hardworking player which you can attest to by his averages going up every year of his college career. Yes, he considered “old” because he stayed all 4 years, but is there really an issue drafting seasoned players out of college? 4-year college players come to the NBA more mature and their individual game will be more polished. The teams that drafted Damian Lillard, C.J. McCollum, Draymond Green, and Jimmy Butler all have a strong case for why drafting seniors out of college isn’t such a bad thing. If I was an NBA franchise with an early second round pick and point guard is a position of need for my team I’d quickly jump the gun and draft Monte Morris. Don’t be the team that missed out on this hidden gem it might just come back to haunt you in a few years.