Is anyone going to miss Marcus Morris?

[Celtic Fan Forever]

I think Morris is exactly what this team needs right now. A true modern power forward who can hit shots and play tough versatile defense. So yes, I will miss him. We're really going to struggle at that spot this year, I don't like full time PF minutes for Hayward/Tatum.

[JBcat]

Morris averaged about 28 minutes in 75 games last season.  Who is going to replace those minutes?  Theis?  Ojeleye? Grant Williams?  Morris is much better than any of these guys.  Yes, I believe the Celtics are going to miss his contribution is a big way. 

And you can't say that Tatum is going to replace him because Tatum already played full minutes.  He can't play more minutes.  He can play different minutes but then you need to compensate for that too.

Kantor replaces Horford.  Walker replaces Irving.  Both downgrades but there is a replacement for each.  We don't have a replacement for Morris  My hope is that Ojeleye steps up and is able to play increased minutes and bring improved production as compared to his norm.  But that alone won't do it .  Some other lesser big/swing players are going to have to play increased minutes.

I don’t think it’s that black and white.  Tatum, Brown, and Hayward’s minutes were all a little suppressed last year.   I think you could increase their minute load probably by total of 15 or so minutes, then you only have to account for a portion of Morris’s minutes.

[18isGREATERthan72]

I think positive opinions of Morris are buoyed by his hot shooting to start the season last year...  Tatum had a slightly better year with slightly worse efficiency than Morris, despite Morris being the second best player for the first month of the season.  By all accounts, Tatum had a down year, and Morris was worse despite the hot start.  The only reason you would miss Morris is if you have given up on Tatum becoming a legit all star.  If Tatum even improves marginally this year, he's better.  If you expect Tatum to take a big step, he's far superior.

[Moranis]

Morris averaged about 28 minutes in 75 games last season.  Who is going to replace those minutes?  Theis?  Ojeleye? Grant Williams?  Morris is much better than any of these guys.  Yes, I believe the Celtics are going to miss his contribution is a big way. 

And you can't say that Tatum is going to replace him because Tatum already played full minutes.  He can't play more minutes.  He can play different minutes but then you need to compensate for that too.

Kantor replaces Horford.  Walker replaces Irving.  Both downgrades but there is a replacement for each.  We don't have a replacement for Morris  My hope is that Ojeleye steps up and is able to play increased minutes and bring improved production as compared to his norm.  But that alone won't do it .  Some other lesser big/swing players are going to have to play increased minutes.

I don’t think it’s that black and white.  Tatum, Brown, and Hayward’s minutes were all a little suppressed last year.   I think you could increase their minute load probably by total of 15 or so minutes, then you only have to account for a portion of Morris’s minutes.

I don't think Tatum is going to play any more minutes (31 seems about right), but certainly Hayward and Brown should both play more than the 26 mpg they played last year.  Of course a lot of those are Rozier's 23 mpg.  Then there are Baynes' 16 mpg (though his were only 51 games). 

The simple reality is Baynes, Rozier, and Morris were replaced in the rotation by Langford, Edwards, G. Williams, and Poirier.  That just strikes me as a huge downgrade (at least next year).  Now sure maybe long term those guys end up being very solid players, but relying on 4 rookies to play major rotational roles is just not a good idea.

This is yet another offseason where Ainge failed the team. 

[nickagneta]

Not sure where anyone is getting that Morris only had one good shooting month or shooting quarter. Through 60 Celtic games or 3/4 of the season, Morris played in 55 games and had shooting splits of 47.1/40.3/86.4 with a TS% of 59.9%.He slumped the last 6 weeks of the season, but then played and shot great again for the playoffs.

[W8ting2McHale]

I don’t have a problem with his shooting percentage because that’s going to ebb and flow for everyone over a season, for some more than others, but I do have a problem with the shots he was taking and when he was taking them. He decided he was the 2nd or 3rd option, instead of the 5th or 6th, and that caused a lot of friction and created a dysfunctional offense.

If he had played within himself and contributed as a veteran 5-6th or better yet as the 1st or 2nd big off the bench, man, then he would have been an above average player for the Celtics, but in assuming the #2 role, he was mediocre at best. I am glad he’s not coming back and expect Grant Williams to eventually play like the high IQ burly bench big that we needed Morris to be.

[PhoSita]

Morris was a gamer.  He brought it all the time.  He didn't back down from anybody. I liked that about him. 

At the same time, he never met a shot he didn't like, and he was a mercenary type player for good and for bad.  The bad was that it felt like he was focused on getting his numbers irrespective of what the team needed or which of his teammates needed to get more integrated into the offense.

I have no ill will toward him but I think it's better for the team that he's gone.  The team is more oriented toward a youth movement now, and there are plenty of guys vying for minutes at the 3/4.

[PhoSita]

The simple reality is Baynes, Rozier, and Morris were replaced in the rotation by Langford, Edwards, G. Williams, and Poirier.  That just strikes me as a huge downgrade (at least next year).  Now sure maybe long term those guys end up being very solid players, but relying on 4 rookies to play major rotational roles is just not a good idea.

This is yet another offseason where Ainge failed the team.

This only makes sense if you willfully ignore the fact that the team clearly opted to refocus around youth once it became clear that AD wasn't happening and both Kyrie and Horford were gone.

Replacing the players you mentioned with younger guys is totally reasonable in that context.



Baynes and Morris were vets with no future in Boston.  Rozier was a net negative.  The team is better without them.

Between Brown, Tatum, Hayward, and Langford (a lottery pick), the Celts have no shortage of talented players to fill out the wing rotation.  Not to mention Smart, who can play 1-3, and Semi, who should get some minutes at both forward spots.

Smart and Wanamaker should be more than capable of filling out however many minutes at the point the Celts need behind Kemba.


At center, the Celts have three seasoned professionals to divvy up 48 minutes, plus a highly talented yet raw prospect in Robert Williams. 

They're not exactly thin at any of these spots.

[PAOBoston]

Morris was a gamer.  He brought it all the time.  He didn't back down from anybody. I liked that about him. 

At the same time, he never met a shot he didn't like, and he was a mercenary type player for good and for bad.  The bad was that it felt like he was focused on getting his numbers irrespective of what the team needed or which of his teammates needed to get more integrated into the offense.

I have no ill will toward him but I think it's better for the team that he's gone.  The team is more oriented toward a youth movement now, and there are plenty of guys vying for minutes at the 3/4.

This is how I feel. Dude was the best player on the team last November and basically saved their bacon multiple times. They were so bad that without Morris they likely would have been a sub-500 team during that stretch. I liked his toughness and his irrational confidence. But the reason he and Rozier are gone is because shots need to go where they need them to: Hayward/Tatum/Brown.

[KGs Knee]

Yeah, I'll miss Mook.

He's a solid, if unspectacular defender, a decent floor spacer, and a hard-working, gritty player.  Every good team needs a player or two like him.

Thankfully the Celtics still have Marcus Smart.  He's a shorter but younger version of Morris.

[Moranis]

The simple reality is Baynes, Rozier, and Morris were replaced in the rotation by Langford, Edwards, G. Williams, and Poirier.  That just strikes me as a huge downgrade (at least next year).  Now sure maybe long term those guys end up being very solid players, but relying on 4 rookies to play major rotational roles is just not a good idea.

This is yet another offseason where Ainge failed the team.

This only makes sense if you willfully ignore the fact that the team clearly opted to refocus around youth once it became clear that AD wasn't happening and both Kyrie and Horford were gone.

Replacing the players you mentioned with younger guys is totally reasonable in that context.



Baynes and Morris were vets with no future in Boston.  Rozier was a net negative.  The team is better without them.

Between Brown, Tatum, Hayward, and Langford (a lottery pick), the Celts have no shortage of talented players to fill out the wing rotation.  Not to mention Smart, who can play 1-3, and Semi, who should get some minutes at both forward spots.

Smart and Wanamaker should be more than capable of filling out however many minutes at the point the Celts need behind Kemba.


At center, the Celts have three seasoned professionals to divvy up 48 minutes, plus a highly talented yet raw prospect in Robert Williams. 

They're not exactly thin at any of these spots.

But if the goal is to refocus around youth why bring in Walker and Kanter and keep Hayward?  Those are win now moves, not build for the future type moves.  That is the real problem I have with what Ainge has done since basically making the Tatum/Fultz trade.  He hasn't picked a direction.  He has kept trying to win now and build for the future and he quite simply isn't maximizing either option or path.  The team is much farther away from winning a title then it should be right now and that is 100% on Ainge.

And I'm sorry, Brad Wanamaker shouldn't be the back-up PG.  If you want to call Smart the back-up PG, then Langford (at least this year) shouldn't be the back-up SG.  And come on, Kanter is the only big man on this team that should get anything more than 10-15 minutes of deep bench type minutes.  The roster is a complete and utter trainwreck.  3 of the 4 best players are naturally SF's.  There isn't a single legitimate PF on the team (unless Tatum can handle that spot).  There is 1.5 centers on the roster (I'm counting Theis as a .5).  There is only Walker as legitimate credible ball handlers. 

I hope I'm wrong and I do find many on this board's enthusiasm to be refreshing, but this looks like at best a mid to maybe upper 40's win team that is going to struggle immensely to win a single playoff series, and it all rests at Ainge's feet.  He has failed the team and the city the last 2 off-seasons and the team is getting progressively worse despite having all of those young high lottery picks to work with (granted he wasted 1 by trading it for Irving).

[Somebody]

The simple reality is Baynes, Rozier, and Morris were replaced in the rotation by Langford, Edwards, G. Williams, and Poirier.  That just strikes me as a huge downgrade (at least next year).  Now sure maybe long term those guys end up being very solid players, but relying on 4 rookies to play major rotational roles is just not a good idea.

This is yet another offseason where Ainge failed the team.

This only makes sense if you willfully ignore the fact that the team clearly opted to refocus around youth once it became clear that AD wasn't happening and both Kyrie and Horford were gone.

Replacing the players you mentioned with younger guys is totally reasonable in that context.



Baynes and Morris were vets with no future in Boston.  Rozier was a net negative.  The team is better without them.

Between Brown, Tatum, Hayward, and Langford (a lottery pick), the Celts have no shortage of talented players to fill out the wing rotation.  Not to mention Smart, who can play 1-3, and Semi, who should get some minutes at both forward spots.

Smart and Wanamaker should be more than capable of filling out however many minutes at the point the Celts need behind Kemba.


At center, the Celts have three seasoned professionals to divvy up 48 minutes, plus a highly talented yet raw prospect in Robert Williams. 

They're not exactly thin at any of these spots.

But if the goal is to refocus around youth why bring in Walker and Kanter and keep Hayward?  Those are win now moves, not build for the future type moves.  That is the real problem I have with what Ainge has done since basically making the Tatum/Fultz trade.  He hasn't picked a direction.  He has kept trying to win now and build for the future and he quite simply isn't maximizing either option or path.  The team is much farther away from winning a title then it should be right now and that is 100% on Ainge.

And I'm sorry, Brad Wanamaker shouldn't be the back-up PG.  If you want to call Smart the back-up PG, then Langford (at least this year) shouldn't be the back-up SG.  And come on, Kanter is the only big man on this team that should get anything more than 10-15 minutes of deep bench type minutes.  The roster is a complete and utter trainwreck.  3 of the 4 best players are naturally SF's.  There isn't a single legitimate PF on the team (unless Tatum can handle that spot).  There is 1.5 centers on the roster (I'm counting Theis as a .5).  There is only Walker as legitimate credible ball handlers. 

I hope I'm wrong and I do find many on this board's enthusiasm to be refreshing, but this looks like at best a mid to maybe upper 40's win team that is going to struggle immensely to win a single playoff series, and it all rests at Ainge's feet.  He has failed the team and the city the last 2 off-seasons and the team is getting progressively worse despite having all of those young high lottery picks to work with (granted he wasted 1 by trading it for Irving).

I find this take to be pretty realistic, but only when you take the players at face value. Brad's great at getting the best out of weak frontcourts, he got a center rotation of Olynyk-Amir-Sully to anchor a top 5 defense in the league a few years ago, and made guys like Vitor Faverani look like a credible starting center (iirc he had a 20/20 game in his short stint with us). I'm quite bullish on Brad making this terrible frontcourt decent as it has all the ingredients he can work with: a veteran center who has experience (Kanter), a mediocre backup who's more of a finesse big (Theis) and a bruiser from overseas that has shown flashes of being able to hang with NBA quality talent (Poirier), as well as some end of bench wildcards in Williams and Fall (not expecting them to give us anything at all, but they're wildcards that Brad has shown to be able to get some situational value out of). Brad has also been able to get good value out of random guards: he made Jordan Crawford look like a viable rotation guard for an NBA team, Evan Turner into a quality rotation player (yes he played some SG for us) and Shane Larkin a decent change of pace guard off the bench as a 3rd stringer. I'd be confident in him getting one of Wannamaker/Edwards to be a decent backcourt player for us off the bench. As for the PF position I agree with you, we lack players who can handle that position full time, but we could probably cover that up by playing Hayward there and sacrifice defense for offense, and play guys like Theis there against bigger lineups. This team is probably a trade or signing away from being a real contender in the East, but there's no reason that they shouldn't be able to win 50+ games with the conference being so weak outside of the top 2 (Bucks and 76ers).

[Kuberski33]

Very happy I won't have Morris to get p---ed off at this season. He's good as long as his shot is falling. When it's not, he's a liability because he keeps firing away, doesn't pass and while he's a decent defender, I don't think he's anything to write home about. 

He's a good role guy in the right situation but last year was anything but the right situation.  I don't think he fits on the current team either.  Only one basketball and he takes a disproportionate amount of shots for his talent level.

[chambers]

No, I think he's too selfish for this team.
He's a guy who talks a big game about team work when his true agenda is to get his and his alone.

He was good for us last year, and last year's team needed a guy like him, a versatile microwave scorer and solid defender (if we were going to be true contenders).

But for this mini rebuild period giving the reigns to Kemba/Tatum and perhaps Brown, we don't need Morris taking shots from those guys or Hayward.
Thankful he's gone now.

I am also very excited to see Grant Williams fill the Morris gap on the defensive end- he probably won't be as good as Morris was straight away, but he'll be more of a team player and he won't cause trouble in the locker room. He'll also pass a hell of a lot more which can only be good for our offense.

[apc]

So based on pre season game one, Morris is still an idiot.