I’m surprised to agree with Hubie Brown on something (“wait a minute!”), but he’s right that Marcus Morris has been great for the Celtics this season. He fulfills perfectly the role of “veteran bucket-getter”, which is a needed role for a team with so much young talent like the Celtics. You need a bucket and Kyrie Irving isn’t in the game? Just have him shoot a midrange jumper. It might not go in, and it wasn’t as much in the beginning of the season, but at least it will be a decent shot and not a Jayson Tatum turnaround or a Marcus Smart three or a Jaylen Brown anything. Hayward was supposed to fill that role, but I think his foot looks like it’s going to fall of again and he’s not been very good.
Morris has upped his scoring from previous seasons, too. It’s not just him doing the same stuff he’s always done except on a winning team. He’s doing MORE. More buckets in fewer minutes on what I consider to be elite efficiency for a player like him (which is a chucker). I don’t even like his game, but there’s no denying his abilities this season.
It slightly pains me to praise a Celtics player like this. I don’t feel much animus towards any particular fanbase, but the Celtics are the closest thing to a rival that the Bucks have. And normally, all their players are very easy to criticize. But with Morris, I’m struggling to find any serious faults. I guess I could bring up that criminal case where he and his bro and maybe his posse beat up a dude for… something about his mom? Man, that was so long ago.