I don’t even think about that [contract situation], I’m just trying to focus on winning these last few games. But I appreciate this opportunity because it’s been a blessing for me. — Anthony Morrow, April 6, 2014, The Advocate.

Anthony Morrow came into the NBA shooting 46 per cent from three in his rookie season. Since then he’s traveled around the league never finding a firm home. When traded from the Nets in 2012 Morrow has been pushed back on team’s depth charts.

Now, with injuries to the New Orleans Pelicans Anthony has received more playing time and flourished being the only consistent shooter on the team.

What’s amazing to see is his synergy with core Pelican players. Tyreke Evans and Anthony Davis seem to work well with Morrow and their games complement each other. As Evans drives on fast breaks he can find the sharp-shooter flanking down the perimeter. As for Davis, it seems that in isolations that having Morrow on the court can increase efficiencies in the half-court sets.

In a season of severe turbulence it is encouraging to watch certain players emerge.

Since the Jrue Holiday injury

Sports are as much about opportunity as they are about talent. Sometimes you have to be in the right place at the right time. For Morrow, prior to Jrue Holiday being injured, was receiving an average of 15 minutes a night. Since then it has increased to nearly 20 minutes a night.

Analysing how effective Morrow has been since Holiday’s injury produces both pleasing and sombre thoughts. On one hand Anthony has played well as we will highlight shortly. On the other we must remember that if not for an injury to Holiday would head-coach Monty Williams have thrown him into the lineup as frequently?

There is an indication that since Jrue Holiday’s injury that Morrow’s role has increased. As well there appears to be a correlation between this increase in playing time and his scoring numbers. Of any statistical category his scoring has increased the most.

Additionally his three-point shooting has improved significantly by over four and half per cent.

Adding a layer to this information, over his last seven games Morrow has averaged 18 points on nearly 52% shooting from 3 point-range. Facilitating these recent numbers are the increase in minutes per game, which rose equivalently to an average of 29 minutes a night.

All of these numbers are great. Morrow has seized an opportunity and has thrived to showcase his shooting and scoring ability with increased minutes.

But this begs the question, in a decreased bench role, will Morrow struggle to produce as well as he has?

As the graph above shows it appears that Morrow’s production does indeed decline as he sees a reduction in minutes. Points are skewed because the more minutes you get the more opportunities to score. But, by comparing with +/- we can see that the team’s Morrow has played on have performed better when he’s received more minutes and worse when he’s seen less.

We see this in almost every other category with Morrow. Offensive Rating, 3PT% and FG% also see similar trends.

Investigating other players we can see that this is a trend most players go through, but not as linearly as Morrow.

Who does he work well with?

By far the most interesting part of this season is looking into who Anthony Morrow plays best with. During most games this season the presumption is that he’s most effective paired with Anthony Davis and Tyreke Evans.

Well, there’s a surprise actually. Anthony Morrow and Austin Rivers are by far and away the most effective two-man combo overall. When on the floor they score more points than their opponent (4.6), shoot a better 3 point-percentage and have a better effective field goal percentage (1.6%).

One quick example of the two working well together is in the example above. Here we see Babbitt getting a block with Austin Rivers pushing the ball up the court and finding Morrow for a three. Notice how Ajinca runs down the middle drawing away Burks. Morrow continues to streak to the corner and Rivers is able to find him.

The other two man combinations worked well in different ways, but it’s very encouraging to see that when these two are on the floor that they produce very good results. The reason this is so exciting is that the way the team is constructed having Rivers and Morrow come off the bench will give Monty Williams reliability to hold serve.

However this is just the surface, what about 5-man units?

Monty Williams plays the Davis-Evans-Morrow-Roberts-Stiemsma lineup more than any other. This is because over the past 10-15 games Morrow has received more starts based from this lineup. It’s not completely ineffective, outperforming opponents in key statistical categories.

The most productive lineup is Ajinca-Babbitt-Evans-Morrow-Rivers. However, this has only played 24 minutes this season which is rather disappointing. In these limited minutes the lineup has outscored their opponents by a staggering 15 points. They shoot the ball more effectively both from three and from an efficiency standpoint.

This lineup also marries up with the two-man combo that alluded to Rivers and Morrow playing well together. Having Evans as the bulldog running the point with good spot up shooters seems to work well.

Areas you might not expect production

Anthony Morrow plays with terrific energy and passion. Whenever he plays he tries to assert himself into the game by displaying little fear when taking a shot.

We’ve talked plenty about his scoring impact; however does Morrow affect other areas of the game for the Pelicans?

The table above illustrates the difference in net rating when Anthony Morrow is either on or off the court. Their offense functions better than their opponents, they grab more rebounds and surprisingly they block more shots.

However digging deeper we discover that it’s not the offense driving these numbers. When Morrow steps on the floor Pelican opponents offensive rating declines by 4.1 points. The Pelicans offense itself does not change.

This is very intriguing because Morrow is not known for his defense, yet the team improves. The reason for this is the lineups he’s playing in. Tyreke Evans and Austin Rivers are consistently playing alongside Morrow. As such, Anthony is able to track the opponent’s shooter.

Using Synergy data we’re able to see that in spot-up and off-screen defensive plays that Morrow is directly responsible he holds the opponent to 33 per cent shooting. These make up 54 per cent of the types of defensive plays that Morrow faces.

Outside of the data I believe that Morrow brings something intrinsic to the Pelicans when he’s on the floor that helps explain this defensive improvement; communication.

Anthony Morrow yells and does a good job of pumping energy into the team when he’s on the court. He’ll ask for help when he needs it and on fast breaks will try to alert his team-mates when he’s open.

Take the Jazz game from a few nights ago. Is it any surprise that when the Pelicans were trying to make their run that Morrow was in the game? Utah got off to a quick start but when Morrow was inserted the bench held their own and increased the lead.

Moving into the future

If Anthony Morrow left the Pelicans it would be a shame. He’s developing on the court with team-mates, plays his heart out and represents what you want in a role player.

His relationship with Anthony Davis and Tyreke Evans appears to be a very good one. He works very hard and is oddly enough one of the senior members of the Pelicans.

Dell Demps does a terrific job of finding role players and this is another example of that. If Morrow opts out of his contract the Pelicans will have to do all they can to resign him.

Scoring is a highly valued trait in the NBA, so it’s likely that he’ll receive more money than the Pelicans could offer. Moving into the future Demps must look at the values Morrow brings outside of his scoring and evaluate whether he can be effective in other areas.

He can flat-out shoot. He loves the gym, which is something we value. He’s got some toughness about him, and will knock down big shots. — Head Coach Monty Williams, August 12, 2013, Pelicans.com