In the lead up to this season, you may have heard a bit about new Iowa State coach Steve Prohm‘s history with point guards. In each of Prohm’s four seasons at Murray State, his point guard led the team in usage rate, a statistic that essentially measures the role of an individual player in the offense. Because point guards are often acting as a facilitator who keeps everyone involved but doesn’t dominate the scoring, this is a bit unusual. For example, Georges Niang led the Cyclones in usage rate last season, and it was a similar story at Kansas with Perry Ellis as the most frequently used player for Bill Self. Prohm, though, has historically found success with point guards that act as dual threats — both scorers and facilitators — within his offensive scheme.
There were at least one notable offseason hint that suggested junior point guard Monte Morris would get an expanded role this year under his new head coach. In an interview with CBS Sports, Prohm told Jon Rothstein that he had asked both of his now-professional point guards, Isaiah Canaan and Cameron Payne, to discuss his coaching style with Morris. Iowa State’s 68-62 victory over Colorado on Friday night gave us the first opportunity to dissect the role that Morris will potentially play in his new coach’s system, and so far, the returns look promising.
The statistical difference in one game wasn’t staggering — Iowa State used Morris on about five percent more possessions than his average of a year ago. The team still initiated a lot of its offense through Niang, an understandable decision given that the senior is a matchup nightmare for most opponents. Still, we had plenty of opportunities to see Morris finish possessions. Perhaps his most effective offensive role is as the ball-handler in Iowa State’s pick-and-roll (PNR). According to DraftExpress, Morris leads all returning players in PNR efficiency after scoring an impressive 1.043 points per possession in those situations last season. Against Colorado, Morris repeatedly took advantage of its defensive switches, using his quickness to beat a bigger defender off the dribble.
One problem, though, is that Morris isn’t an elite athlete in terms of his explosiveness. On a couple of second half possessions, Morris attempted to blow by his defender before ultimately getting blocked at the rim. In those instances, he’ll need to rely on his ball-handling skills to create separation, as he did in the above clip with a nifty hesitation move to create balance and space.
Morris can also use his ball-handling to create space against mismatches in isolation. He wasn’t the most effective isolation player a season ago, but it looks like Prohm might be willing to give his point guard the opportunity to occasionally make plays in these types of sets. For example, after a rebound on a missed free throw, Morris was again guarded by Colorado’s Josh Scott, the same big man whom he blew by above. After his teammates cleared some space on the right side, Morris went to work on him before hitting a smooth step-back jumper over the taller defender.
These are just two examples of the type of usage Morris is likely to receive this season under Prohm. We should also expect Morris to continue his role as the Cyclones’ primary facilitator, but it shouldn’t surprise anyone if the junior starts putting a few more points on the scoreboard himself.