Even Marcus Morris Is Unsure

“I’m just not sure,” Morris told The Boston Globe in the wake of the Celtics being eliminated by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference finals. “There’s going to be a lot of players next year, so I’m not 100 percent sure where I fit totally yet. It’s just something I’m still kind of wary about.”

Read more at: https://nesn.com/2018/05/marcus-morris-unsure-about-how-he-fits-with-celtics-for-2018-19-season/

That's why I said the Celts have too many young talent.

Not a bad problem to have.
But sooner or later you have to cash in or you'll just lose each one of them in free-agency.

Right now the Celts have 9 players who are starters or can be considered starters.

Kyrie
Tatum
Hayward
Horford
Brown
Smart
Baynes
Rozier
Morris

You can only play 5 players on any given time.

That's why I proposed upgrading the roster by swapping Rozier, Brown, Morris, Yabusele, Nader, and Ojeleye for Kawhi Leonard.
http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=ybocyjyv

There's just too much young talent and not enough minutes.

you have 5 starters and 4 backups listed

not 9 starters

My only thought is that Morris was not happy not being a starter, and he will not be one next year. So, are we going to have a disgruntled player on the bench who could cause issues???? If so, get rid of him before it starts. Same goes with Terry, who said yesterday that he knew Kyrie was the starting guard and he was a back up, But, let's face it, the kid has said repeatedly he wants to be a starting point guard in this league. So how happy will he be in December/January if he is not getting the time he wants, will he ask for a trade?

alot of questions on this team even though we just put on a great show for the league

Fierce, seriously? Is this going to go on all off season or just this week?

I know a lot of posters complain about Morris, but he is on one of the best contracts in the nba - about 5 million per year and he gave is 14 pts and 5 rebounds on almost 50% efg% on 27 minutes a night, and never complained about not starting. He will be an UFA at the end of this year, but my guess is Ainge lets him finish the contract and then walk. Of course if some team wants him, we all know Danny will listen, but I doubt moving him is on his mind.

mrkleen09 wrote:Fierce, seriously?  Is this going to go on all off season or just this week?

Kleen

This is like a freakin computer virus.

Shamrock,
Correction: Morris will become UFA in the summer of 2019

AK

sinus007 wrote:Shamrock,
Correction: Morris will become UFA in the summer of 2019

AK

Right - what I meant to say is that he will likely play through 2018-2019 and walk after next season. Do I have that right, this coming year is the last year of his bargain contract?

Shamrock1000 wrote:

sinus007 wrote:Shamrock,
Correction: Morris will become UFA in the summer of 2019

AK

Right - what I meant to say is that he will likely play through 2018-2019 and walk after next season. Do I have that right, this coming year is the last year of his bargain contract?

Yes.
As for Morris being unsure, he, IMO, will come off bench - there's too much talent in front of him. Obviously, he will be used against Lebron - he proved to be very good at this position.

AK

What about Daniel Theis? What kind of contract does he have? I would love for him to stick around and I think Brad would too. He was a find. Imagine what it would have been like with him in there against Cleveland?

Rosalie,
He has $815K for this year and $1.378M for the next
So far, he showed that he's worth much more.

AK

RosalieTCeltics wrote:What about Daniel Theis?  What kind of contract does he have?  I would love for him to stick around and I think Brad would too.  He was a find.  Imagine what it would have been like with him in there against Cleveland?

I believe it's one more year and then he's restricted. He was great this past season. Look forward to see if he's improved or gets more minutes next year. Could be the perfect C in today's game.

When I read this thread the first time, I thought it was,

"Even Marcus Smart is Unsure."

Now that I understand the topic, I'm sure he is.  I'll bet he doesn't last the next season as a Celtics player.  We may need him around at first, just in case Hayward isn't ready to go right out of the chute, but he may go out in a two for one trade later to fill a need.

gyso

Gyso, I feel the same way. He talked a good game in the playoffs, but if everyone remembers, he was very unhappy coming off the bench. It is going to be interesting to see just what Danny does with this issue

mrkleen09

If you don't think the Celts have a problem with this abundance of talent, think again.

How happy will Rozier be when Kyrie returns and plays 30 minutes per game?

Smart is also a PG and he will be getting close to 30 minutes per game playing PG and some SG.

Gordon Hayward came to the Celtics for 32m a year.
Obviously he's going to get 30 minutes per game.
His relationship with Brad Stevens goes all the way back from his college days.
Clearly Jaylen Brown will also get less playing time.

We have to accept the fact that the Celts have a surplus of young talent.

It's only been a few days the Celts lost in a Game 7 and Morris is already complaining about playing time.

With the money that was handed out in such large portions two summers ago long a thing of the past (at least heading into the 2019 and probably the 2020 season), I believe that lots of guys will get used to not getting any more contracts that resemble what was handed out in 2016 at least until the new "gambling" money raises the tax line.

Thinking you are worth a certain amount may not turn into actuality when it comes time to put your name on a contract.  As much as we all enjoyed our team this year, some of our guys are not going to get everything that they may want as far as money and playing time.  Management has said that they will enter the luxury tax area, but they are not likely to just give everyone 50+ percent raises either. Some of them will have to concede some of what they want to still have an NBA contract.

If Smart plans to get 12-14 M that is over a 300% raise.  Giving Baynes 8 m is about a 50% raise, etc, etc, etc.  There are still other guys who made nice contributions (Lowery, Theis) who are at or near the end of their contracts as well as a first round pick to sign.

Certainly, there could be a batch of trades and other signings in the next 4 months that could change the roster and further determine playing time and roles.  I do not expect Ainge to sit completely still all summer.

Of course, the Cs guys who finished the year in the playoffs (especially every one who is not a center) are worried because they all know how good Hayward and Irving are if they are healthy.  Since both of these two stars are expected to be back and healthy everyone knows that both are going to get heavy minutes which, of course, takes minutes away from others.  Such a situation should only make our team better and better.

For everyone to be completely happy Ainge will have to thin out the talent level, but to win he needs to increase the talent level.  Quite a dilemma, and it very well may necessitate players shutting up and trying to win a championship next season.  Being or becoming a disgruntled player is surely a choice of behavior.

fierce wrote:mrkleen09

If you don't think the Celts have a problem with this abundance of talent, think again.

How happy will Rozier be when Kyrie returns and plays 30 minutes per game?

Smart is also a PG and he will be getting close to 30 minutes per game playing PG and some SG.

Gordon Hayward came to the Celtics for 32m a year.
Obviously he's going to get 30 minutes per game.
His relationship with Brad Stevens goes all the way back from his college days.
Clearly Jaylen Brown will also get less playing time.

We have to accept the fact that the Celts have a surplus of young talent.

It's only been a few days the Celts lost in a Game 7 and Morris is already complaining about playing time.

#1 - Every conversation about "abundance of talent" does not = Hey, lets bring up my Kawhi Leonard idea. But hey, if you enjoy beating a dead horse - keep it up.

#2 - Where in that article was Morris was "complaining about playing time"?

mrkleen09 wrote:

fierce wrote:mrkleen09

If you don't think the Celts have a problem with this abundance of talent, think again.

How happy will Rozier be when Kyrie returns and plays 30 minutes per game?

Smart is also a PG and he will be getting close to 30 minutes per game playing PG and some SG.

Gordon Hayward came to the Celtics for 32m a year.
Obviously he's going to get 30 minutes per game.
His relationship with Brad Stevens goes all the way back from his college days.
Clearly Jaylen Brown will also get less playing time.

We have to accept the fact that the Celts have a surplus of young talent.

It's only been a few days the Celts lost in a Game 7 and Morris is already complaining about playing time.

#1 - Every conversation about "abundance of talent" does not = Hey, lets bring up my Kawhi Leonard idea.  But hey, if you enjoy beating a dead horse - keep it up.

#2 - Where in that article was Morris was "complaining about playing time"?

Glad you asked the 2nd question. Another post said Marcus was very unhappy coming off the bench. I am sure he would rather start, as would any NBA player, but I don't remember him ever making a thing out of it. Closest I could find was a December press conference where a reporter asked him about it and he said "next question". The writer goes on to "analyze" the situation, but it seems to be making something out of nothing. Here is the link:

http://www.masslive.com/celtics/index.ssf/2017/12/marcus_morris_boston_celtics.html

Maybe I am missing something though??

Playing in at least 50 games per year and averaging about 25 minutes per game will just about put you in the top 5 players on a roster. This past year 143 players made the cut - so for 30 teams that was 143 out of 150 players (4.8 players per roster) This past year, 7 Celtics hit the 25 plus minutes per game and will add Hayward's 25 plus minutes to the active roster next fall. That's 8 players with backgrounds of playing starter type minutes. Even the Russell year Celtics ,whose teams were well known for their dept, only averaged 5.8 players per team - and that was long before salary cap issues dictated a new brand of fiscal responsibility. Money management will be a high priority for Danny. By the way  - the Bird years Celtics only averaged 5.3 years of starter type minutes.

  swish

Why oh why is the argument of how much playing time players will get is being brought up now? Did you forget how good Kyrie was before he went down? Did you not see Danny go after Gordon with a smile on his face? They did not lust after him for nothing.

I loved what the kids did this season, but, did you watch that last game? could you not feel that if we had our two superstars, we would have won that game hands down? There is a gap of excellence between
Rozier and Kyrie. Jason Tatum has proved to all that he deserves to be on the court, and as far as I am concerned, so doesn't Jaylen Brown. What a terrible problem we are facing.

You are arguing about ROLE players. Kwahi is NOT coming here! There is only one trade that could possibly shock us and that is one for a premier center.
This is crazy. The rest of the league would die to have the problems that the Celtics are facing.

Let's dwell a little on what we have just gone thru, who would have ever thought that this would have happened? Stop and think, we have so much ahead of us, why argue about the things that will be handled by the guy who is putting this all together, DANNY. We will never know what is going on in that head so why try?

Good points Rosalie

Let’s see we just got within one game of going to the Finals with 2 legit all stars missing and have budding young athletic all star talent on the roster, plenty of depth and upside....other franchises wish they had our rotation problems.

RosalieTCeltics wrote:Why oh why is the argument of how much playing time players will get is being brought up now?  Did you forget how good Kyrie was before he went down?  Did you not see Danny go after Gordon with a smile on his face?  They did not lust after him for nothing.  

I loved what the kids did this season, but, did you watch that last game? could you not feel that if we had our two superstars, we would have won that game hands down?   There is a gap of excellence between
Rozier and Kyrie. Jason Tatum has proved to all that he deserves to be on the court, and as far as I am concerned, so doesn't Jaylen Brown.  What a terrible problem we are facing.

You are arguing about ROLE players.  Kwahi is NOT coming here!  There is only one trade that could possibly shock us and that is one for a premier center.
This is crazy.  The rest of the league would die to have the problems that the Celtics are facing.

Let's dwell a little on what we have just gone thru, who would have ever thought that this would have happened? Stop and think, we have so much ahead of us, why argue about the things that will be handled by the guy who is putting this all together, DANNY. We will never know what is going on in that head so why try?

Agree wholeheartedly

Being at game 7 ....... and after a long 5 hour drive home made longer by our atrocious shooting performance.

I haven’t posted since that drive and only today skimmed thru the topics. Who knows what will happen .... personally I don’t think much changes at the top of the heap. Our best 8-10players will return most likely. There is plenty of court time to keep all happy plus winning games makes for a more acceptable situation for those lower minutes per game players.

We are so close to #18. Just don’t see much change coming.

beat

Tatum will be better (Good Gawd!)
Brown will be better (and he's already pretty frippin' good!)
Kyrie will still only be 26 when the season starts.
Gordon Hayward will be 28 when the season starts (Hayward and Kyrie have the same birthday, 3/23, 2 years apart)
Horford will be a year older, true, but he has been injury-free and he's not being asked to be the #1 option

That is a helluva starting 5.  With the exception of Horford they are all in their prime or ramping up into it.  To trade any one of them, except maybe the aging Horford, the target would have to be gigundo.  

Theis will be 26 and is cheap.

Morris is under contract for 1 more year, as is Terry Rozier.  I would not be surprised to see either one of them, or both, and maybe even Marcus Smart being packaged in trades.  Morris, at $5.4M is cheap veteran help and he's an expiring contract.  Rozier stock has never been, and probably never will be, higher than it is now and Trader Danny knows that like he knows his mother's face.  Smart is coming up for a big raise and that calls for difficult decisions.

If we re-sign Baynes, there's 12.

Semi showed well this year.  Larkin showed he can play in this league. Would I be heartbroken if neither came back? No, but I wouldn't mind it neither. They fill their roles well and are cheap.

There's 12 players, all of whom I'd keep and believe we'd have a reasonable expectation of being back in the EC Finals next year.  Once you get past 12 it's more about depth and maybe specific skillsets (e.g. Gerald Green last year).  To put this in perspective our #12 player this season, based upon total minutes played, was Nader with 522 minutes.  Granted he probably would have never gotten off the bench if Hayward hadn't gone down 5 minutes into the season but nevertheless, that's 12th man minutes (for comparison, Philly's 12th man was Ilyasova with 554 minute; Toronto's 12th man was Noguiera with 418 minutes; Houston's 12th man was Joe Johnson with 505 and GSW's 12th man was Jordan Bell with 809.  Bell also started 13 games due to Curry's injury).

Unless I don't think I'd give up either J for Bamba, who seems to be the centerpiece of draft day trade talks du jour, but I'd give up Sacto's pick, the Memphis pick and Rozier or Smart. Other than that, I'd stand pat.



bob


.

So, what would the Celtics need to give up to acquire a top-six pick? According to Deveney, they’d likely need to part with either Jaylen Brown or Terry Rozier, as well as their No. 27 pick in this year’s draft and at least one of their 2019 selections. Boston currently owns the Sacramento Kings’ first-round pick (protected for the No. 1 overall pick) and the Memphis Grizzlies’ first-rounder, which is top-8 protected.

Read more at: https://nesn.com/2018/05/nba-rumors-celtics-eyeing-mo-bamba-could-swing-draft-trade-for-texas-star/

It's very clear the Celts have a surplus of talent.

Terry Rozier becomes the 3rd PG behind Kyrie and Smart next season.

One thing's for sure, if not Kawhi Leonard, Ainge will cash in on his surplus of talent soon.