In January of 2015, brothers Marcus and Markieff Morris were accused of aggravated assault outside of a high-school basketball game in Phoenix, Arizona.
At the time, both brothers were members of the Phoenix Suns. Since then, Markieff Morris has been traded to the Washington Wizards whereas Marcus Morris was traded to the Detroit Pistons where he stayed for two seasons before being shipped to the Boston Celtics for star defender Avery Bradley and a second-round pick.
On Oct. 3 of this year, they were both acquitted of the charges and will now be able to return to their teams for the remainder of the preseason and prepare for the upcoming year.
Luckily for the Boston Celtics, head coach Brad Stevens will still have three preseason contests to play around with starting lineups, and Morris will surely be in the mix.
All three of the final games could see a tweak or two with the starting five, and will also continue to adjust throughout the year. “I’ve told [Aron] Baynes he could be starting against certain matchups and he could be coming off the bench. I told Marcus the same thing. I told Jaylen the same thing,” said Coach Stevens prior to their opener on Oct. 2.
While starting Morris and Al Horford at the four and five instead of Horford and Baynes would sacrifice some size and rebounding, it could also mean more scoring and the ability for all five on the floor to play with a fast tempo.
On the other hand, you could also put Gordon Hayward in the back-court with Kyrie Irving, and start all three of the big men listed above.
Personally, I fully expect to see varying starters based on defensive matchups, with a core of Irving running the point, Hayward on the wing, and Horford down low. The other two players could fluctuate between Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Morris, Aron Baynes, Jayson Tatum, and possibly even Daniel Theis who made waves after a monster performance in his first-ever NBA game.
Don’t miss your first look at Morris in green on Friday, Oct. 6 when Boston takes on the 76ers in Philadelphia.
Whether or not he will be inserted into the starting five is still unclear, however I can promise he will be at some point between that game and their final two preseason affairs in preparation for Oct. 17 when they take on the Cleveland Cavaliers in an Eastern Conference Finals rematch.
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