Los Angeles Lakers: Ranking each player of the newly constructed roster
By Jason Reed
9. Markieff Morris
Again, in terms of raw talent, you could easily make the case that Kyle Kuzma should be higher than Markieff Morris. At his best, Kuzma does offer more and can do more than Morris can. However, the fit with the team means a lot and Morris simply fits much better.
Morris is not someone who can defend the most athletic wings but he is someone who could be a wing defender off the bench with some success. More importantly, he has a much more consistent shooting stroke than Kuzma and that is a big deal.
Morris is a better off-ball fit when LeBron James is on the court. We saw that in the NBA Playoffs as Morris had several big games where he knocked down most if not all of his shots from the land of three.
The Lakers do not ask him to do that much but he has done pretty well for himself in what they have asked him to do.
He also is more versatile than Kuzma. Morris can guard some of the lesser athletic bench wings in the league while also being more than capable of suiting up as a small-ball five. Frank Vogel started him against the Houston Rockets for that reason and Morris was solid in that role.