- Acquitted of felony assault charges, Celtics forward Marcus Morris is ready to join his new team, Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald writes. Considering his experience in the league, Danny Ainge doesn’t anticipate an issue acclimating the veteran.
The Celtics have waived power forward Devin Williams, Jay King of Mass Live tweets.
The big man out of West Virginia signed a non-guaranteed training camp deal with the club in late September. With Williams out of the picture, the C’s drop down to 19 total players, 14 of whom remain on guaranteed deals.
Williams split time with the Hornets’ G League affiliate and Melbourne United of the Australian Basketball League last season.
- NBA general managers loved the Thunder‘s acquisition of Paul George. George received 59% of the vote for which offseason addition would make the biggest impact, easily beating out Jimmy Butler (17%), Chris Paul (10%), and Kyrie Irving (7%). Additionally, Oklahoma City was chosen as the team that made the best offseason moves, with 43% of the vote. The Celtics (25%), Timberwolves (14%), and Rockets (11%) were runners-up.
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- Celtics‘ guard Marcus Smart is aware of the massive deals players around the NBA are signing but he is focused on the season and not free agency. “It’s huge; it’s crazy,” Smart said to NBC Sports Boston’s A. Sherrod Blakely. “Those guys definitely deserve it. But like I said, that’s not my focus. I can’t control what those guys are getting. I can only control what I can control.”
An Arizona jury has found Marcus Morris and Markieff Morris – along with one other defendant – not guilty on counts of aggravated assault, according to Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald (Twitter link). The Morris brothers were facing the possibility of probation or prison time for allegedly attacking a former acquaintance.
From a basketball perspective, a guilty verdict would have undoubtedly meant suspension time for each player. With a defendant-friendly verdict in the books, both players can head to their respective teams’ training camps and likely won’t have to worry about the league forcing them to miss time.
Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe (Twitter link) confirms that Marcus Morris is expected to head to Boston as soon as possible. The combo forward was traded to the Celtics in the offseason for Avery Bradley and he has yet to play in a game with his new teammates.
It’s unlikely Markieff Morris practices or plays for the Wizards this preseason as he recovers from sports hernia surgery. The power forward is targeting the second month of the season as a return date.
- In explaining why he was willing to include the Nets‘ 2018 first-round pick in his trade offer for Kyrie Irving, Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said he felt he owed it to veterans like Gordon Hayward and Al Horford to cash in some of the club’s assets for a star (video link via CSNNE.com). Hayward and Horford have chosen Boston in free agency over the last two years, and are ready to contend for a spot in the Finals.
- Speaking of Irving, he’s among the new Celtics who are appreciative of the team’s philosophy on rest and recovery in between games, as Taylor C. Snow of Celtics.com details in an interesting piece.
- Nets coach Kenny Atkinson is confident that his centers can exceed expectations, according to Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Brooklyn traded for Timofey Mozgov, drafted Jarrett Allen and signed Tyler Zeller over the summer to form a center by committee. Zeller, who had a productive year in 2014/15, can’t understand why the Celtics cut his playing time over the past two seasons before waiving him in July. “It was one of those things I was trying to figure out all year,” he said. “They had a great year, so I can’t say they made the wrong decision. But at the same time, I wish I was a part of it. I felt like I could’ve contributed more.”
It hasn’t taken long for Kyrie Irving to gel with his new Celtics teammates, Marc D’Amico of the Celtics’ official website writes. The newly acquired point guard has made an effort to approach his new teammates on the bus and at practice in order to make the transition more comfortable.
Of course Irving’s performance has wowed a Celtics teammate or two as well. Through training camp, Irving has impressed Al Horford with his uncanny ability to finish shots and frustrated Terry Rozier with his slippery offensive game. “He’s a tough one to guard, probably one of the toughest guys I’ve ever had to guard in my life,” Rozier said.
After putting up 25.2 points and 5.8 assists per game in his final season with the Cavaliers, Irving will look to provide much-needed star power to a Celtics squad eager to take the next step toward contention. Irving may well be the player on the roster with the highest ceiling ahead of the 2017/18 campaign.
Among the biggest things that Gordon Hayward will have to adjust to when suiting up for the Celtics this year is the big market environment, Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald writes.
Ever since rumors started to swirl that Boston may be the ultimate landing spot of the 2017 free agent (thanks in large part to Celtics head coach Brad Stevens), Hayward started to notice just how much attention he was generating in New England.
“It is different, and that’s something that’s different for me because I’ve flown under the radar since I’ve been in high school,” Hayward said. “Going into making this decision [to join the Celtics], we talked about how there’s going to be more of a spotlight.”
Hayward averaged 21.9 points and 5.4 rebounds per game for the Jazz last season. This year he’ll look to mesh well with a Celtics team dead-set on competing for the Eastern Conference title.
- Closing arguments in the assault trial involving Markieff Morris and Marcus Morris are expected to be heard by jurors today, per an Associated Press report (link via USA Today). Depending on the outcome of the trial, the Wizards and Celtics forwards could face NBA discipline, not to mention possible jail time.
- While not every player to change teams this offseason moved to a better situation, Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated identifies seven players whose new NBA homes should pay dividends. Kyrie Irving (Celtics), Paul George (Thunder), and Nick Young (Warriors) are among Spears’ picks.