Los Angeles Clippers video crew on hand Monday to capture Marcus Morris’ ‘special’ night

By Matt Tait     Feb 19, 2020

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Marcus Morris makes his way onto the court followed by Mario Little and his brother Markieff Morris prior to the halftime ceremony.

Marcus Morris has played all of three games and scored 33 points for the Los Angeles Clippers, yet the franchise is already treating him like a lifelong contributor.

Monday night, [as Morris returned to Allen Fieldhouse to see his jersey raised into the rafters of the building in which he starred for three seasons in college,][1] the Clippers sent a video team from L.A. to Lawrence to chronicle the night.

From following Morris and twin brother Markieff around throughout the night to talking with people in Lawrence and getting feedback from Kansas coach Bill Self, the crew treated Morris like he had been a part of the Clippers organization for years.

It would have been incredibly easy for them to say thanks but no thanks to the assignment. After all, the team just traded for him and had absolutely zero ties to him before Feb. 6. Beyond that, it would have been easy to simply say there just wasn’t enough time to get everything together in order to get a crew to Kansas for the memorable night for the Morris family. But none of that stopped them.

The timing certainly helped. The fact that it was close to All-Star weekend, with the Clippers having a few days off, certainly played a part in the video crew’s attendance.

But the gesture still surely meant a lot to Morris, who talked about his new team and opportunity before [Monday’s win over Iowa State.][2]

“I think it’s a chance for something special,” he said. “I’m happy. Just being able to compete for a championship, or even being in that position, I think is big for me and big for my career. I’m ready to get out there and be that missing piece that they were looking for.”

As expected, Self was thrilled to see the two former KU forwards and he marveled at how much they had grown and changed since leaving KU following the 2010-11 season.

“First of all, they both look great,” Self said. “I mean, they’re lean and they’ve both lost weight since they’ve been here even.”

As for the event itself, Self, who was in the locker room and did not see it, was equally pleased with how much the ceremony meant to the twins and how they treated their return.

“I asked Kieff how Marcus did and he said he was great,” Self said. “I asked Marcus how he did and he said, ‘Coach, I killed it.’ And then I asked him, I said, ‘Really, what was your motivation?’ He said they went back and watched all the other senior speeches. So that tells me how much it meant to them, and him, to come back and do that because that’s probably more studying than they’ve done in long time. But I was happy to see them and then they obviously had a lot of teammates that care about them come back, too. So it was pretty special to see those guys as husbands and parents.”

Here’s a quick look back at the short video of the night put together by the Clippers.

[1]: http://www2.kusports.com/news/2020/feb/17/notebook-marcus-morris-calls-jersey-retirement-spe/?mens_basketball
[2]: http://www2.kusports.com/news/2020/feb/17/offensive-explosion-helps-no-3-kansas-cruise-past-/

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.