Marcus Morris (basketball)

Marcus Morris

Morris in 2009
No. 13 – Detroit Pistons
Position Forward
League NBA
Personal information
Born (1989-09-02) September 2, 1989
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Nationality American
Listed height 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)
Listed weight 235 lb (107 kg)
Career information
High school Prep Charter
(Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
APEX Academy
(Pennsauken, New Jersey)
College Kansas (2008–2011)
NBA draft 2011 / Round: 1 / Pick: 14th overall
Selected by the Houston Rockets
Playing career 2011–present
Career history
2011–2013 Houston Rockets
2012 →Rio Grande Valley Vipers
2013–2015 Phoenix Suns
2015–present Detroit Pistons
Career highlights and awards
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Marcus David Morris (born September 2, 1989) is an American professional basketball player for the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The 6'9" forward played college basketball at Kansas before being drafted 14th overall by the Houston Rockets in the 2011 NBA draft.

Early years

Morris was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Thomasine "Angel" Morris. He has four brothers, Donte, Blake, David and twin Markieff, who plays in the NBA for the Washington Wizards.[1]

Considered a four-star recruit by Rivals.com, Morris was listed as the No. 10 power forward and the No. 29 player in the nation in 2008.[2]

College career

Morris enrolled at the University of Kansas where he majored in American studies.[1] He was named the 2010–11 Big 12 Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year.[3] He also was named a second team All-American for his play in the 2010–11 basketball season by both the Associated Press and the National Association of Basketball Coaches, and a third team All-America by Fox Sports.[4][5] On March 30, 2011, Morris was named to the ten member John R. Wooden Award Men’s All American team.[6] Morris and his brother signed with a sports agent from Los Angeles, and announced that they would enter the 2011 NBA draft.[7]

Professional career

Houston Rockets (2011–2013)

Morris was selected by the Houston Rockets with the 14th overall pick in the 2011 NBA draft, five minutes directly after his brother Markieff was taken with the 13th pick by the Phoenix Suns. He was assigned to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the NBA Development League on January 2, 2012.[8] In his first game in the D-League on January 6, 2012, Morris recorded 33 points and 16 rebounds in a narrow 105–103 loss to the Dakota Wizards.[9] Morris returned to the Rockets on January 16, was reassigned to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers on February 3, and returned to the Rockets again on February 20.[10]

After an injury to Patrick Patterson, Rockets head coach Kevin McHale named Morris the opening day starter at power forward for the 2012–13 season. When told he would be starting, Morris thought that McHale was kidding, since he rarely played his rookie season and was hurt during the preseason.[11] During the course of the season, Morris was the backup power forward to Patterson, and started 17 games while Patterson was injured. His three-point shot was much improved from his rookie season, more than tripling the percentage from 12% to 38%.

Phoenix Suns (2013–2015)

On February 21, 2013, Morris was traded to the Phoenix Suns, reuniting him with his twin brother.[12][13] A day later, he played his first game with his brother in the last 6 minutes of a loss to the Boston Celtics, as he recorded 7 points, 2 steals, and a rebound during that period of time, despite having no formal training from the Suns before entering the game. This marked the second time that twin brothers played for the same NBA team; Dick and Tom Van Arsdale played together with the Suns during the 1976–77 season. On March 1, 2013, Morris scored 16 points to help the Suns defeat the Atlanta Hawks 92-87. He made four out of five three-point field goal attempts. He went on to start alongside Markieff on March 10, 2013 against his former team, the Rockets, which made the Morris twins the first set of twin brothers to ever start for the same NBA team.[14]

On September 29, 2014, Morris signed a multi-year contract extension with the Suns.[15] In the Suns' 2014–15 season opener on October 29, 2014, Morris recorded 21 points in the 119-99 win over the Los Angeles Lakers.[16] During the Suns' January 7 game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Morris received a technical foul and was caught on national TV berating head coach Jeff Hornacek about the situation.[17][18] His other antics during his final season with the Suns and afterwards, though, led to AZCentral.com labeling him one of Arizona's biggest sports villains.[19]

On February 6, 2015, Morris recorded his first career double-double with career-highs of 34 points and 12 rebounds in a 100-93 win over the Utah Jazz.[20] His double-double off the bench marked him as just the second player after Brook Lopez in 2014–15 to record a 30-point, 10-rebound game off the bench. In addition, the last Suns player to do it was Danny Manning in 1997.[21] In a game against the Dallas Mavericks on March 22, the Morris twins both had double-doubles in the same game for the first time in their professional careers.[22]

Detroit Pistons (2015–present)

On July 9, 2015, Morris was traded to the Detroit Pistons, along with Reggie Bullock and Danny Granger, in exchange for a 2020 second-round draft pick.[23] He made his debut for the Pistons on October 27, 2015 in the team's season opener against the Atlanta Hawks. In 37 minutes of action as a starter, he recorded 18 points and 10 rebounds in a 106–94 win.[24] On April 1, 2016, he scored a season-high 31 points in a 98–89 loss to the Dallas Mavericks.[25] The Pistons finished the regular season as the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference with a 44–38 record, earning a playoff berth for the first time since 2009. However, in their first-round series against the first-seeded, eventual champion Cleveland Cavaliers, the Pistons were swept 4–0.

NBA career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2011–12 Houston 17 0 7.4 .296 .118 .750 .9 .2 .1 .1 2.4
2012–13 Houston 54 17 21.4 .428 .381 .653 4.1 .9 .5 .3 8.6
2012–13 Phoenix 23 6 16.1 .405 .308 .405 2.5 .7 .8 .2 5.7
2013–14 Phoenix 82 1 22.0 .442 .381 .761 3.9 1.1 .9 .2 9.7
2014–15 Phoenix 81 35 25.2 .434 .358 .628 4.8 1.6 .8 .2 10.4
2015–16 Detroit 80 80 35.7 .434 .362 .749 5.1 2.5 .8 .3 14.1
Career 337 139 24.8 .431 .363 .699 4.2 1.4 .7 .2 10.1

Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2016 Detroit 4 4 36.0 .468 .389 .870 3.3 2.5 .5 .0 17.8
Career 4 4 36.0 .468 .389 .870 3.3 2.5 .5 .0 17.8

Off court issues

On February 26, 2012, after seeing the final Border War basketball match between Kansas and Missouri, Morris and another assailant named Julius K. Harris received battery charges for punching a man that was an employee for a bar and nightclub in Lawrence, Kansas called The Cave. Both Morris and Harris entered a diversion agreement for the battery charge, with Marcus paying a $300 diversion fee and $60 for court case fees, as well as agreeing not to come in contact with both the victim and The Cave for an entire year.[26]

On January 24, 2015, both Marcus and Markieff Morris found themselves involved with two aggravated assault cases as five different men (including the twins and current Baltimore Ravens safety Gerald Bowman) allegedly assaulted a 36-year-old man named Eric Hood outside of the Nina Mason Pulliam Recreation Center in Phoenix, Arizona.[27] Hood had previously mentored the Morris twins from high school until the end of their college careers, while the brothers wound up beating Hood up for "sending an inappropriate text message" to their mother. While the case against the Morris brothers was first set up on August 3, 2015;[28] the trial for the twins is currently set for a new court date on September 30, 2016, with both of the twins being waived from a court appearance that day.[29] The incident was not only considered a catalyst for the Suns trading Marcus to the Pistons on July 9, 2015;[30] but it was also one of the reasons why the Suns eventually traded his twin brother to the Washington Wizards over eight months later on February 18, 2016.[31]

Personal life

Morris' twin brother, Markieff, is seven minutes older than him. He is a fan of his hometown Philadelphia Eagles while his twin brother is a fan of the rival Dallas Cowboys.[32] His nickname is "Mook".[33]

He and Markieff, alongside former teammates Goran and Zoran Dragić, all briefly played together for the Suns during the fourth quarter of their 112-96 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on January 2, 2015. It marked the first time in the NBA's history that two different pairs of brothers played together for the same team at the same time.[34]

References

  1. 1 2 University of Kansas. "Player Bio: Marcus Morris". Kansas Athletics. Retrieved August 28, 2011.
  2. ↑ Marcus Morris Recruiting Profile
  3. ↑ Kansas' Marcus Morris named Big 12 Player of the Year The Sporting News, March 7, 2011
  4. ↑ Goodman, Jeff (Mar 7, 2011). "Goodman's 2010–11 All-America teams". Fox Sports. Fox Sports Interactive Media. Retrieved June 21, 2011.
  5. ↑ J-W Staff (March 29, 2011). "Marcus Morris tapped 2nd-team All-America". Lawrence Journal-World. The World Company. Retrieved 2011-03-29.
  6. ↑ Bedore, Gary (March 31, 2011). "Kansas basketball signee Naadir Tharpe praised". Lawrence Journal-World. The World Company. Retrieved 2011-03-31.
  7. ↑ J-W Staff Reports (2011-04-08). "Morris twins sign with agent, will declare for draft". Lawrence Journal-World. Retrieved April 8, 2011.
  8. ↑ Rockets to send first-round draft pick Marcus Morris to D-League
  9. ↑ Marcus Morris impresses in 1st D-League game
  10. ↑ Marcus Morris recalled from D-League; Cole Aldrich replaces Nick Collison for a night
  11. ↑ Marcus Morris gets starting nod in opener in place of injured Patterson
  12. ↑ Suns Acquire Marcus Morris
  13. ↑ Houston Rockets trade Marcus Morris to Phoenix Suns
  14. ↑ Morris twins started for Suns tonight... – Twitter
  15. ↑ Suns Sign Marcus and Markieff Morris to Extensions
  16. ↑ Suns rout Lakers 119-99 despite Kobe's 31 points
  17. ↑ Marcus Morris technical and yelling at Jeff Hornacek (1-7-15)
  18. ↑ Marcus Morris gets in shouting match with Jeff Hornacek
  19. ↑ Joseph, Andrew (February 12, 2016). "The 10 biggest villains in Arizona sports". AZCentral.com. Retrieved March 9, 2016.
  20. ↑ Marcus Morris has career-high 34, leads Suns over Jazz
  21. ↑ Phoenix Suns down Utah Jazz on strength of Marcus Morris' 34 points
  22. ↑ "Phoenix Suns Game Notes" (PDF). NBA.com. p. 5. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 26, 2015. Retrieved April 26, 2015.
  23. ↑ "Detroit Pistons Acquire Marcus Morris, Reggie Bullock And Danny Granger From Phoenix". NBA.com. July 9, 2015. Retrieved July 9, 2015.
  24. ↑ Pistons surprise Hawks on opening night, winning 106-94
  25. ↑ Barea's 29 points lead Dallas to 98-89 win over Pistons
  26. ↑ http://www2.kusports.com/news/2012/may/04/ex-ku-basketball-player-marcus-morris-enters-diver/
  27. ↑ http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/12735869/marcus-morris-markieff-morris-phoenix-suns-charged-felony-assault
  28. ↑ http://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2015/8/3/9089451/morris-brothers-aggravated-assault-case-timeline-could-extend-into?_ga=1.236176584.810549670.1433645455
  29. ↑ http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2016/07/30/court-proceedings-continued-markieff-marcus-morris/87723264/
  30. ↑ http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/heat-index/2015/07/02/markieff-morris-reacts-to-suns-trade-of-marcus-morris/29634811/
  31. ↑ http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/14800909/phoenix-suns-trade-markieff-morris-washington-wizards
  32. ↑ Q&A With Marcus Morris
  33. ↑ "Morris Twins Get Fan-Decided Tattoos". NBA.com. September 16, 2014. Retrieved January 9, 2015.
  34. ↑ Green helps Suns pull away from 76ers, 112-96
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/4/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.