With a surplus of guards and a need up front, the Boston Celtics made somewhat of an inevitable move on Friday. And it involved a former Kansas basketball player.
According to multiple reports citing sources, the Celtics have agreed to send guard Avery Bradley to Detroit for former KU standout Marcus Morris. The Pistons also will be getting a future second-round draft pick in the deal.
Morris, if the trade goes through, will be playing for his fifth team in his first seven NBA seasons. And there’s no doubt that this next squad will represent his best opportunity at team success.
The Celtics, who earned the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference last season, reached the conference finals a year ago and added prized free agent Gordon Hayward, along with No. 3 pick Jayson Tatum, during the offseason.
The key portion of the deal for Boston was to move Avery’s contract so they could sign Hayward to a max deal. But getting a young forward with size and good athleticism in return certainly does not represent the Celtics walking away as the losers in this deal. It seems to have the potential to be mutually beneficial for both sides and all parties.
Bringing the 6-foot-9, 235-pound Morris twin into the fold gives Boston coach Brad Stevens even more flexibility and versatility and also brings some beef and attitude to the team trying to break through and reach the NBA Finals.
[Stevens has talked recently about moving more toward positionless basketball,][1] playing with three positions instead of five — guard, wing and big man. Morris fits into that idea very well and should give Stevens a variety of options on the perimeter and down low.
Morris made news last postseason by showing up to a Washington Wizards playoff game to support twin brother, Markieff, in an authentic Washington Markieff Morris jersey. The move opened eyes throughout the arena [and even led some to speculate][2] that Marcus may have filled in for Markieff following an injury in the postseason.
Morris enjoyed one of the better and more consistent years of his career last season, averaging 14 points and 5 rebounds in 79 games with Detroit.
He has career averages of 10.8 points and 4.2 rebounds in 416 NBA games, but surrounded by all of that talent in Boston, it’s easy to see how he could carve out a key role and improve on those numbers in the coming years.
[1]: http://www.nba.com/article/2017/07/05/tweener-no-more-versatility-wanted-positionless-nba
[2]: http://www2.kusports.com/weblogs/tale-tait/2017/may/5/did-the-morris-twins-pull-a-fast-one/
