Texas Basketball: 3 best Longhorns NBA Draft prospects

Arterio Morris, G

Two of the very best NBA Draft prospects on the current Longhorns’ roster were both signed in the highly touted 2022 recruiting class.

The first that we’re going to cover on this list is the former elite five-star recruit out of Dallas Kimball High School in the DFW Metroplex, and true freshman guard Arterio Morris. The 6-foot-3 and 195-pound Morris is almost the exact picture of what NBA scouts look for in a physically gifted and insanely explosive two-way point guard.

He’s got the quickness and burst that lets him blow by opposing defenders as a primary ball-handler on offense and the lateral agility and foot speed to keep up with essentially any guard or wing on the defensive end of the floor.

The combination of Morris’ physical traits (namely quickness) and his high motor makes him an extremely disruptive high-effort defender that has the makings of a pest on that end of the floor at the next level.

Moreover, that insane speed and burst also make Morris extremely dangerous when he’s facilitating the offense or when he’s handling the ball in transition. He’s got the ability to explode to the hoop when driving the lane (in the settled halfcourt offense or in transition) or use his quickness and solid ball handling to create enough space to pull up.

Morris is likely to fill the role of a primary ball-handling guard that plays most of his minutes at the one or a true combo guard. NBA Draft Room compared him a bit to the former Indiana Pacers two-time All-Star guard Victor Oladipo in terms of his athletic skill set and defensive ability.

At the moment, though, I don’t believe Morris fits the mold of a true point guard prospect at the next level. He hasn’t quite developed the court vision or the ability to command the floor on offense that is needed to be a true point guard in the NBA.

For the time being, I look at Morris as a potential future late first or second-round pick if he’s able to really develop his decision-making ability on the offensive end and two-way discipline. He also will need a bigger role at Texas to prove that he can be a higher-volume playmaker and disruptor at the NBA level.