Morris plans to hit more shots — and fewer walls

Monte Morris didn’t so much hit the wall as smash headlong into the bugger with cartoonish panache, like Wile E. Coyote riding an ACME rocket.

“Personally, I know I struggled in the playoffs some,” said the Nuggets point guard, who saw his postseason averages — 5.4 points and 2.6 assists — dip to roughly half his regular-season pace.

“It was kind of like two college seasons that I just played. So for me to hit my walls when I did and come back from it, I didn’t try to get too down on myself. Because I knew that I could play at this level.”

The man proved it, given the benefit of hindsight, time and again. Which is what made the former Iowa State standout’s surprising fade in the NBA playoffs — 0 for 13 on 3-point attempts over 14 postseason tilts and just 2.3 points and 1.4 assists per contest against Portland in the Western Conference semis — all the more puzzling.

“Really, people don’t know this about me, I’m real stiff,” Morris explained Monday after his exit physical. “Like, my body’s stiff. So flexibility is going to be big for me this summer.

“On the court, I’m going to still be the same, grinding like I was last summer. But I’m going to focus more on my body as far as movement and things like that, so I can be more durable down the stretch of the season and not have those nicks here and there.”

If the plan for Morris last summer was proving he could run with an NBA roster, the plan for this one is proving he can hang in through the marathon and still be effective in the spring.

The 6-foot-3 point man was a diamond during a rough winter, health-wise, for the Nuggets’ backcourt, appearing in all 82 regular-season games over his first full year in the NBA. For months, Morris made a fan base forget Isaiah Thomas; when Thomas returned to the rotation, Morris’ emergence had rendered the veteran and former All-Star redundant. Only Morris and Clippers rookie Landry Shamet finished the regular season among the NBA’s top 15 in both 3-point field-goal percentage (.414 for Morris, good for 13th; .422 for Shamet, who was 11th) and in turnover percentage (6.6 for Morris, good for fourth; 7.0 for Shamet, who was ninth).

But Morris admitted this week that even if the spirit was willing, after nearly 100 appearances, his legs and body were seriously feeling the miles by early May. And it showed: Over the final five games of the Western semis, the Nuggets point guard averaged 9.6 minutes and 2.6 points while shooting just 4-for-18 (.222) from the floor, a shell of his regular-season averages of 10.4 points and 3.6 dimes per game and a 49.3 percent fieldgoal conversion rate.

“This year, everything was happening so fast for me,” Morris said. “I had an opportunity to back up Jamal while Isaiah was out and I made the best of it … But it was tough going later in the season, the wear and tear on my body and things like that, just not having that experience.”