Morris

[rollie mass]

Recently saw some Marcus Morris scrimmage footage on Reddit.com and just reminded me of what a disadvantage he had last season with the court situation and early injuries.Considering he joined  a new,young team gutted by injuries. Morris was a valuable young vet.

He looked in shape and his shot was going down but who knows what was edited.
Just the weight of that trial and nagging injuries.It's not surprising he had some bouts of depression.

[bellerephon]

Morris definitely made positive contributions for the Celts last year. He can also play a role for the team next year. I would not be surprised if he is involved in some sort of trade, however, before the deadline.

[Androslav]

True that.
Morris is the kind of guy that can truly save the season for some teams.

Denver - they have no wing stoppers, he can shoot and won't mess up the offense, without him again 9th?
Detroit (return) - again they have no wing stoppers nor outside shooting, or again without playoffs?
New Orleans - They would chase 50+ wins with him on the roster
Portland - they are always weak at forwards
Bobcats - they would have been my favorites for the Easts 8th spot with his arrival.
Indiana - he wouldn't literally save their season as I project them to finish 4th/5th, but with 2 white soaked socks at the wings, Bojan (forgive me) and Dougie, they need another winger with range if they want to make some noise.

Let's just hope he will be in high demand and give us a good return in a potential trade.
Something like our pick (30th) for theirs (20th) would be good for me. Al that while trading a prideful player that seeks minutes and us getting out of the luxury.

[bogg]

True that.
Morris is the kind of guy that can truly save the season for some teams.

Denver - they have no wing stoppers, he can shoot and won't mess up the offense, without him again 9th?
Detroit (return) - again they have no wing stoppers nor outside shooting, or again without playoffs?
New Orleans - They would chase 50+ wins with him on the roster
Portland - they are always weak at forwards
Bobcats - they would have been my favorites for the Easts 8th spot with his arrival.
Indiana - he wouldn't literally save their season as I project them to finish 4th/5th, but with 2 white soaked socks at the wings, Bojan (forgive me) and Dougie, they need another winger with range if they want to make some noise.

Let's just hope he will be in high demand and give us a good return in a potential trade.
Something like our pick (30th) for theirs (20th) would be good for me. Al that while trading a prideful player that seeks minutes and us getting out of the luxury.

Eh. Morris can hang with the best smallball lineups that Golden State and Toronto can throw out there, and he does a pretty good job against Ben Simmons. Boston has to re-sign Kyrie Irving (and possibly Horford) next summer, and salary-dumping a useful veteran for a pick swap that nets you nothing this season isn't going to look good to the vets if/when Boston gets bumped in the postseason. Moving a late first up a few spots in the draft but p---ing off Irving ahead of his free agency seems like getting too clever for your own good.

[spikelovetheCelts]

I think keeping Morris all year is wise for us to compete for title in the Finals. He could win a game if he was hot.

[Evantime34]

Morris fit the injured Celtics last year because that team lacked shot creation and Morris is very good at creating his own shot. That skill isn't needed on the current roster.

However, if he's fine playing a reduced role his defense could really help this team. I expect Morris to start the season playing 10-15 minutes a game and if he isn't content with that then the C's will trade him if he requests it or becomes difficult.

[JBcat]

True that.
Morris is the kind of guy that can truly save the season for some teams.

Denver - they have no wing stoppers, he can shoot and won't mess up the offense, without him again 9th?
Detroit (return) - again they have no wing stoppers nor outside shooting, or again without playoffs?
New Orleans - They would chase 50+ wins with him on the roster
Portland - they are always weak at forwards
Bobcats - they would have been my favorites for the Easts 8th spot with his arrival.
Indiana - he wouldn't literally save their season as I project them to finish 4th/5th, but with 2 white soaked socks at the wings, Bojan (forgive me) and Dougie, they need another winger with range if they want to make some noise.

Let's just hope he will be in high demand and give us a good return in a potential trade.
Something like our pick (30th) for theirs (20th) would be good for me. Al that while trading a prideful player that seeks minutes and us getting out of the luxury.

Eh. Morris can hang with the best smallball lineups that Golden State and Toronto can throw out there, and he does a pretty good job against Ben Simmons. Boston has to re-sign Kyrie Irving (and possibly Horford) next summer, and salary-dumping a useful veteran for a pick swap that nets you nothing this season isn't going to look good to the vets if/when Boston gets bumped in the postseason. Moving a late first up a few spots in the draft but p---ing off Irving ahead of his free agency seems like getting too clever for your own good.

This is all true but in an ideal world some combination of Yabu, Semi, Theis, Williams steps up so that we can trade Morris to avoid the tax.  Paying the tax this year could have big consequences going forward as we will be all but certain in tax terroritry in future years with repeater penalties.  (Maybe we could also trade some combination of the those other players to avoid it too.)

[Surferdad]

True that.
Morris is the kind of guy that can truly save the season for some teams.

Denver - they have no wing stoppers, he can shoot and won't mess up the offense, without him again 9th?
Detroit (return) - again they have no wing stoppers nor outside shooting, or again without playoffs?
New Orleans - They would chase 50+ wins with him on the roster
Portland - they are always weak at forwards
Bobcats - they would have been my favorites for the Easts 8th spot with his arrival.
Indiana - he wouldn't literally save their season as I project them to finish 4th/5th, but with 2 white soaked socks at the wings, Bojan (forgive me) and Dougie, they need another winger with range if they want to make some noise.

Let's just hope he will be in high demand and give us a good return in a potential trade.
Something like our pick (30th) for theirs (20th) would be good for me. Al that while trading a prideful player that seeks minutes and us getting out of the luxury.

Hey Androslav, I generally like your posts here on CB, but this one confuses me.  Yes Morris is the kind of guy that "can save the season for some teams".  What about Boston if one of the wings or frontcourt players goes down?  Not wishing injury on anybody, but it's a part of the game.  Beyond that, I see no reason to trade him unless a great offer comes up that DA can't refuse, e.g. for another all-star to help this season.  Morris will get less minutes with Hayward back, but dems da' breaks.  He's a good soldier and will ride the pine if the team is winning.

[bellerephon]

I agree that Morris is a good guy to keep on the team. He is a quality player off the bench and capable of playing a bigger role when someone gets hurt. Having said that, it might make sense to include him in a trade if the value is there or if they really want to get under the lux tax line.

[Androslav]

True that.
Morris is the kind of guy that can truly save the season for some teams.

Denver - they have no wing stoppers, he can shoot and won't mess up the offense, without him again 9th?
Detroit (return) - again they have no wing stoppers nor outside shooting, or again without playoffs?
New Orleans - They would chase 50+ wins with him on the roster
Portland - they are always weak at forwards
Bobcats - they would have been my favorites for the Easts 8th spot with his arrival.
Indiana - he wouldn't literally save their season as I project them to finish 4th/5th, but with 2 white soaked socks at the wings, Bojan (forgive me) and Dougie, they need another winger with range if they want to make some noise.

Let's just hope he will be in high demand and give us a good return in a potential trade.
Something like our pick (30th) for theirs (20th) would be good for me. Al that while trading a prideful player that seeks minutes and us getting out of the luxury.

Hey Androslav, I generally like your posts here on CB, but this one confuses me.  Yes Morris is the kind of guy that "can save the season for some teams".  What about Boston if one of the wings or frontcourt players goes down?  Not wishing injury on anybody, but it's a part of the game.  Beyond that, I see no reason to trade him unless a great offer comes up that DA can't refuse, e.g. for another all-star to help this season.  Morris will get less minutes with Hayward back, but dems da' breaks.  He's a good soldier and will ride the pine if the team is winning.

Thank you for the kind words.
I feel like Morris is so prideful that in the absence of serious minutes he might become a high maintenance guy. Remember he started for Detroit before being a key piece in our last playoff run. Degrading him to say 18 mpg, would cut his chances to perform for his next contract.
If Tatum, GH, Brown, Smart, and Semi take the most of the 3-4 what will be left for him.
Al also might play some 4, Theis, too. Williams might get some playing time as well.
And as I mentioned before, a lot of teams (solid ones) would give him 30 mpg. That doesn't help him being content with a severely diminished role.
I do think he can win a playoff game, he is a good two-way player. He definitely earned my respect. But he could win a playoff game in Denver also.

Then again, maybe I am being overly optimistic about our overall health this year and I see him as a redundancy.

[cman88]

It will be interesting to see if Morris accepts a limited role this year. He can be a really big help to the team if he does as a scorer off the bench and another body to throw at Durant/Harden etc. in potential showdowns.

But it also remains to be seen if his ego will get in the way of that. The fact that ainge hasn't traded him which would get them under the luxury tax lends me to believe they feel he can help them win a championship this year.