OKC Thunder beyond the numbers: Markieff Morris
Markieff Morris has officially played his first 10 games with OKC Thunder, let’s analyze his performance Beyond the Numbers.
Player background:
Markieff Morris has been in the NBA since the 2011-12 season. For his career, he is averaging 11.8 points in 564 games played off 45 percent shooting. He has a high free throw percentage at 77.8 percent (lord knows we need that), and his consistency has been proven as he is sitting at 77.6 percent free throw shooting on his 43 games played this season.
With OKC he is averaging 7 field goal attempts in 18.1 minutes. He hasn’t been explosive offensively, but he reminds me a lot of Terrance Ferguson in that way. He is active defensively and doesn’t take away from other players on the court by attempting nonsense shots.
The numbers:
He’s scored three or more points in nine of his 10 games, recording four double-digit performances. He has hit two or more field goals in eight of his 10 games while hitting one or more 3-balls in nine games. Now passing the 10-game mark with OKC, if his rotation develops consistency I look forward to seeing his acclimation in blue and orange.
He gave us a scare in his first outing, putting up no points in just over 17 minutes of play as the OKC Thunder took Utah into double-overtime for a one-point win. He only attempted one field goal, but he did induce a steal.
In his interview on Fox Sports, he was asked about shaking off the rust following his neck injury while playing for Washington. With no scoring contributions, it was a rightful assumption. Morris said it “just felt good to get back out there” and he would take it “game by game, I’m going to get better“.
Seems like he adjusted well, bouncing back with a 10-point game the next night. Now let’s analyze the newest addition’s impact beyond the numbers.