Will Celts miss Marcus Morris more than Irving and Horford?

[jambr380]

Moving on from Morris is natural and expected with Hayward, Tatum, and Brown. Even though Morris was productive and played hard, I really don't see any drop off in production with those three just getting additional minutes reps.

I know people are distraught about Al, but we have to remember that we might not be getting the Al of the 17 and 18 playoff runs. Kanter is more of a rebounding and scoring force and will make things just as difficult for big men on the block. I am hoping/expecting Hayward can take over much of the Al role as non-guard offensive facilitator.

I think our biggest problem right now is quality depth. Theis was like 11th man on the roster last year; he looks to be 7th-8th this season which could make things a bit dicey.

[Rosco917]

His ability to play the power forward position will be missed. Just the fact that he was a big, will be missed.

[footey]

Morris was a good player for us. But don’t think he fits on our new roster. Just too many guys his size and position. I could see it getting ugly if he stayed.

He would be perfect on Lakers or Clips. Should get good payday. Well earned.

[mmmmm]

JumpingJudkins - think you missed my point...the Celtics in free agency IMO have acquired adequate replacements for Kyrie and Al...

MikeB

Sure, but the Celtics already had more-than-better replacements for Morris on roster that should have been getting many of the minutes and shots that he got this last year.

Morris started this last season on an unbelievable (and unsustainable) personal hot best shooting streak.  That ran into December.   But after that, he quite predictably regressed and sucked the air out of our offense with his black hole shooting after the calendar turned.   And after he joined the starting lineup our defense declined steadily from 'top 2' at the time to just 7th by the end of the season (and it was below average the last few months).   And yet Brad, for whatever reason, continued to start him and give him far too many minutes and shots over guys like Hayward and Brown who were both playing very well after November onward and critically, are FAR FAR more important to this team's future.

To his credit, Morris finally regrouped from his slide to shoot very well in the playoffs.   But that was again, just more regression.   In the end, while he hung on to still post a career best in scoring efficiency, his overall value this last year was once again pure mediocre.   His Win Share/48 rate was .104 -- down from the .108 he posted the year before.   Morris is pretty much the definition of a league-average NBA player.  Not bad.  Not great.  Just a guy.

So no.  Morris will not be missed.

[keevsnick]

JumpingJudkins - think you missed my point...the Celtics in free agency IMO have acquired adequate replacements for Kyrie and Al...

MikeB

They have no where near acquired adequate replacement for Horford. Horford to Kanter is a massive drop off. Hayward and Tatum could and I expect easily will replace Morris production at the 4, and defensively he was pretty mediocre. He's a nice depth piece, but I'm not worried about his loss.