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Kansas forward Marcus Morris talks about his experience at the LeBron James Skills Camp, which he attended July 5-7 at Akron University. As for James’ free agency status, Morris speculated earlier Thursday at Allen Fieldhouse that he believed James would pick the Heat or the Knicks.
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Marcus Morris won’t forget the Summer of 2010.
Asked to rate his experiences on a scale of 1-to-10, Morris, Kansas University’s junior basketball forward, didn’t hesitate: “Ten.”
His big adventure includes last week’s stint with the U.S. Select Team at the USA Basketball National Team training camp in Las Vegas, as well as earlier trips to Chicago for the Amar’e Stoudemire big man camp and Akron, Ohio, for the LeBron James Skills Academy.
“I had fun doing everything, getting to meet new people and new players everywhere I went,” noted the 6-foot-8 Morris, who said he’s now become good friends with Kansas State’s Jacob Pullen and Curtis Kelly.
“Knowing certain people and getting to watch them on TV and now having their numbers to be able to contact them and be able to talk about their games will be fun,” Morris added.
Morris worked as a camp counselor with fellow collegians, including the K-State duo, at the James and Stoudemire camps.
Last week, Morris, Pullen and 18 other college players scrimmaged daily against the NBA players that make up the National Team.
“It was the best experience (of the three) because being around all those NBA guys was fun,” Morris said, “We were around each other a lot.”
Morris spent most of his on-court time guarding Memphis’ Rudy Gay and Minnesota’s Kevin Love.
“He’s real good. He’s one of the better players out there,” Morris said of Gay. “He’s a young guy, too. He’s only 23. I didn’t know he was that young.”
Morris had hoped to guard — and be guarded by — Oklahoma City forward Kevin Durant. That matchup didn’t happen.
“He’s a cool guy. I was around him. I ate with him a few times and went out with him, so it was fun,” said Morris, who bonded with Tyson Chandler of the Dallas Mavericks.
“I talked to him a lot about everything,” Morris said of Chandler. “He was telling me how the NBA was, how long he was in there and what’s the key to getting in and staying in.”
What is Chandler’s secret formula?
“To work hard,” Morris said. “You get to the NBA, and a lot of guys can’t shoot. Be a consistent shooter and I could stay there a long time. (He said) to be a consistent shooter and rebounder.”
U.S. Select Team coach Jay Wright of Villanova conversed with Morris quite a bit.
“He told me I’ve had two good years so far and he’s looking forward to watching me this year,” Morris said, noting Wright had him play a lot on the perimeter.
“I did what a normal 4 (power forward) would do, an international 4,” Morris said. “I just stood outside. I didn’t do too much dribbling or handling the ball, just standing out there and shooting a lot of threes. We were more of a scout team.”
Morris said the week gave him confidence that he ultimately will play in the NBA.
“It showed me, if I put in the hard work, in time I could be just as good as they are,” Morris said of the pros.
As to when he’ll play for pay ... Morris remains undecided about all that.
“Not at all,” he said, asked if the week with the pros makes him more eager to enter the ranks of the rich and famous. “We’ll just have to wait and see. I don’t think there’s anything that needs to be rushed (in deciding whether to enter 2011 Draft or return for senior year).”
Morris was back in KU’s practice facility Monday, insisting he’s raring to go for his junior season.
“I’m not too tired. We didn’t really do hard workouts (in Vegas). We were having fun most of the time just getting experience. I’m not tired at all,” Morris said. “I’m not burning out. There’s no such thing as burning out.
“It’s been busy,” he added of the summer, “but I’d rather have it like this than any other way.”
Members of the U.S. Select Team: Morris and Pullen, plus Lavoy Allen (Temple), William Buford (Ohio State), LaceDarius Dunn (Baylor), Jimmer Fredette (BYU), Scotty Hopson (Tennessee), Scoop Jardine (Syracuse), JaJuan Johnson (Purdue), Jon Leuer (Wisconsin), Shelvin Mack (Butler), John Shurna (Northwestern), Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith (Duke), Chris Singleton (Florida State), Howard Thompkins (Georgia), Mike Tisdale (Illinois), Kemba Walker (UConn), Chris Wright (Dayton) and Tyler Zeller (North Carolina).
Members of the U.S. National Team: Chauncey Billups, Chandler, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Tyreke Evans, Gay, Eric Gordon, Danny Granger, Jeff Green, Andre Iguodala, David Lee, Brook Lopez, Robin Lopez, Kevin Love, O.J. Mayo, Lamar Odom, Rajon Rondo, Derrick Rose, Gerald Wallace and Russell Westbrook.
Former Jayhawk Henry still unsigned August 25, 2010
Gameday returning to Allen Fieldhouse August 25, 2010
C.J. Henry, Chase Buford leave KU basketball team August 18, 2010
Julian Wright headed to Toronto August 11, 2010
Selby not yet cleared by NCAA August 5, 2010
Comments
63Jayhawk (anonymous) says…
Gary,
You might want to update the caption under the photo. It is a bit outdated.
hawk316 (anonymous) says…
Marcus, welcome back. Glad you had such a great summer. I've been impressed with the way you and your brother have applied yourselves since your freshman year. You have worked very hard to get stronger and to improve your game. Now your continued hard work is about to pay off. It's time to take your game up another notch and lead the 2010 Hawks to the Final Four. This could be a special team and a special year.
jaybate (anonymous) says…
"Some Other Possible Names for the USA Select Team"
(Author's Note: I dislike commoditizing human beings that play basketball, as if they were a kind of meat-on-the-hoof, so, in homage to Albert Camus, I consciously commit the absurdity of creating a list of other names for the USA Select Team that also turn human beings into commodities in hopes of calling attention to this issue. Perhaps all of these names could one day be traded in a fantasy futures market, too.)
~USA Prime Cut Beef Team (if you like marbling)
~USA Select Cut Beef Team (if you like lean)
~USA Organic Beef Team
(Note: Heresy time. I'm not an organic foods guy, and certainly not a vegetarian, even though I know it is the only truly honorable way to live. But if you like beef without all the growth and disease fighting drugs and beef that actually tastes like beef, rather than vegetable fat marbled with a little muscle tissue, grass fed, organic beef is the way to go and the organic folks are the only ones doing it right. Or better yet, try buffalo, or elk, if you can't find grass fed beef. Fry it in beef suet in a cast iron skillet, and rediscover the actual taste of beef. It is amazingly good and you can eat about half as much beef this way and still be waaaaay full. It makes taste sense and money sense and health sense to eat grass fed, organic beef. Grass fed, organic beef from Flint Hills blue stem and/or real prairie grass, would probably be about the best beef in the world. Let the naturally lean meat age a day or two on your counter and pan fry it. It will be truly tender, not fatty tender. I learned this from one of George Herter's old Bull Cook cookbooks. Never ruin a great steak by grilling it over charcoal, ever! Grilling hides meat flavor. Reserve grilling and smoking for ribs and hams. If you are truly addicted to smoke on beef, then use white oak, or hickory, and never let the flames touch the meat, or all you will taste is the burned meat and smoke particles. Once you taste real beef, you will never go back to the grilled, corn fed junk, unless you have no choice, which is too often the case. Real beef, fried in beef suet, is so intensely flavorful that you eat half as much, consume way less fat, and skip ingesting the growth enhancer drugs imho.)
~usa Full Grain Leather Team
(Note: Insist on it for your next pair of cowboy boots and watch the elite custom boot maker try to sell you on goat, ostrich, alligator, or anything else he can hustle on the come, but the truly good stuff from a proper steer.)
jaybate (anonymous) says…
~USA Flawless Diamond Team
(Note: relevant so long as De Beers PR can keep women from making man-made diamonds a girl's best friend.)
~USA West Texas Intermediate "light, sweet" Crude Team
(Note: the following link is to a chart that ranks crude oil from around the world. What America needs is low sulfur diesel and the new clean diesel engines that can eventually be fueled by no sulfur biodiesel.)
http://mediaserver.fxstreet.com/Repor...
~USA Mint State Perfect Coin Team
(Note: maybe not quite appropriate during a period when coinage is being decontented of valuable metals.)
~USA 24 Carat Gold Bullion Team
(Note: perfect for a team in a 24 carat national economic depression called an 8 carat national economic recession.)
~USA Team Mise en bouteille au Château
(Note: forget the stupid 100 point scale)
~USA Number IX Ribbed Smoked Sheets Natural Rubber Team (nothing beats a natural rubber boot for humping the soggie boonies in comfort).
(Note: Le Chameau Chasseur, a truly great natural rubber boot with a leather lining and I have no idea what grade of rubber they use.)
~USA Highly Enriched Uranium Team
(Note: The USAF swears by this stuff.)
~USA Number 1 Grade Barrow and Gilt Pork Bellies Team
(Note: You can't make really great bacon out of a lousy silk purse.)
stravinsky (anonymous) replies…
Jaybate, KUSports resident bball analyst and... dietician?
(It's true! The stuff is SO much more delicious, whether or not the chemicals in non-organic animal are really harmful for us or not [FDA, of course, says no. Keep in mind there are a LOT of lobbying dollars making sure that answer stays no.] Unfortunately, I don't reaaally have the cash to afford to eat $15-20/lb stuff from The Merc all the time. Someday!)
OakvilleJHawk (anonymous) says…
Please forgive Mr. ADD here....look, a yellow bird...but what exactly is the difference between the U.S.Select Team and the U.S. National Team beside bank accounts?
Is one the Olympic team in training and the other is the Olympic JVteam?
Where's the U.S. Kick Ass Team? Labron, Kolbe, etc.?
justanotherfan (anonymous) replies…
The Select team is the practice squad. Most of the players on this year's National team were former Select team members. Due to free agency and injury issues, a lot of the top players are unavailable this year, meaning most of the former Select team got called up to the National team, meaning they needed a whole new Select team.
OakvilleJHawk (anonymous) replies…
thank you, my friend...I'd say both teams are fairly decent. :}
OakvilleJHawk (anonymous) says…
PS from Philly and wearing a Yanks cap!!!! I think Momma had a talk with Marcus when he got back!!!!
JHawk252 (anonymous) says…
As a Red Sox fan, I hope he's wearing that cap just because he got it for free from CJ. The one and only good thing about that Evil Empire is that it's paying a tuition bill to KU.
Other than his choice of headgear, I'm delighted by Marcus's summer experience. It's bound to help him fulfill his potential of becoming another Jayhawk monster. The added bonus is that he could very well stick around for his senior year -- if only to have one more year playing with 'Kieff - - potentially making him one of the top players in Kansas history.
kennethst (anonymous) says…
Jaybate always makes me laugh.....well done, sir!
GBJayhawk (anonymous) says…
Hey Marcus,
Sounds like you had a dream of a summer. Lots of workouts without a lot of pain, meeting other players on an informal basis and getting to hang out.
Looks like you're ready to step into your new role as one of the team leaders, and Rock the Chalk for next season.
good luck!