(Photo courtesy of Purdue)
With Purdue basketball set to officially open preseason practice on Oct. 14 — **** nay, 21st **** — we are keeping busy with a series making projections on each of Purdue's scholarship players, keeping in mind that we are basing such things off less than ever because of this bizarro world off-season. Please keep in mind that more in unknown — to people like us and maybe even to coaches and such — than ever before heading into a season.
Anyway, we continue today with Ethan Morton
Prior Editions: Trevion Williams | Eric Hunter | Aaron Wheeler | Sasha Stefanovic | Isaiah Thompson | Emmanuel Dowuona | Zach Edey
The point in his career
The true freshman comes to Purdue as one of the finest guard recruits Matt Painter's signed at Purdue and a personal favorite for the coach. Expectations for him will be high, including immediate expectations.
Projected role
Morton's going to play a prominent role. How many exactly and what position(s) may remain to be seen, but it's difficult to envision a scenario where he's not at worst a key figure in Purdue's rotation. The offensive savvy that drew Purdue to him and the intangibles people revere in him could be difference-makers for a Purdue team that lacked so much of what Morton's good at last season. He could be part of the solution for a team that stagnated too much on offense last season and had far too few go-getters, and too low an offensive basketball IQ.
Morton is technically a point guard, but could play either backcourt spot, and his height and length could be compatible with every position but center. Matt Painter's talked about using him at the 4 to get another passer and decision-maker out there. Purdue may not start games that way, but it may be an option for how to finish. Versatility — and Morton figures to be smart enough for this to be practical versatility and not just theoretical — will mean even more capacity for minutes.
Best case scenario
Best case, Morton comes in and earns a 25-30-minute sort of role right away, whether as a starter or crucial reserve and transforms Purdue in much the same way Dakota Mathias helped transform Purdue in 2014, with his passing and IQ as much as anything. This might be set up for Morton to be a profoundly impactful player right away.
Worst case scenario
With substantive players, sometimes the worst case is hard to envision, but for Morton it might involve trying to do much and turning the ball over more than he would as an older player, struggling on defense against a higher caliber of athlete and quickness — and strength if he plays off the ball – and not establishing himself as enough of a shooting threat to command respect. His shooting is unknown to us. We've heard good things and seen respectable things in a small sample size in AAU, but also heard him talking about needing to improve.
Reasonable expectations
Expectations should be high, for Morton to be a key contributor this season and potentially an excellent player thereafter, if not right away. He profiles as a looming Mackey Arena favor, an elite teammate and leader and certainly has a chance to make a huge difference for Purdue this. Here's guessing he falls much closer to his best case than his worst case.
