The Oklahoma City Thunder signed shooting guard Anthony Morrow in free agency this past offseason, but little did they know how big of a role he would be asked to play to start the season. Due to the injury that Kevin Durant has suffered, Morrow will be asked to step up and shoulder a large portion of the scoring load. Morrow has been an electric scorer throughout his career, but needs to be more consistent than he has in the past few seasons.

Season G MP FG% 3P% 2P% FT% TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS 2013-14 76 18.8 .458 .451 .462 .828 1.8 0.8 0.5 0.2 0.7 1.3 8.4 View Original Table

Generated 10/20/2014. Provided by Basketball-Reference.com Generated 10/20/2014.

Morrow played last season with the New Orleans Pelicans, and came through with a decent season as you can see above. He wasn’t the type of scorer that the Thunder will need him to be, but he also didn’t play the type of minutes or role that were needed.

Oklahoma City will be giving him the green light to play his game, and it will pay off with a big season from Morrow. Morrow is just 29 years old, and is in the prime of his career. Without Kevin Durant’s scoring ability, the Thunder are going to need those points to come from someone on the roster.

There are a few different candidates, but Morrow is the best pure scorer out of any of them. He really hasn’t had a sizable role with a team for three seasons, which will give him even more motivation to make this opportunity a big success. Morrow is a pure professional and will be prepared for the challenge that this season will be.

Durant has been playing at an MVP caliber level for the past few seasons, and that simply won’t be able to be replaced. Russell Westbrook is going to take over as the number one scoring option, and defenses will be focusing in on him. Serge Ibaka will also need to step up his offensive game, and defenses will also make sure to give him extra attention as well. That will leave Morrow to having a much easier time scoring the ball, especially with his ability to shoot the three-point shot.

All of that being said, the Thunder are desperately needing Morrow to come through for them this year. He may not end up being able to score 17-18 points per game, but anywhere around 14-15 would be helpful. There will also be nights where Morrow goes off for 20 or more points, and with his new role that could be a lot more often than many expect.