{"id":71137,"date":"2024-03-29T23:37:24","date_gmt":"2024-03-30T03:37:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=71137"},"modified":"2024-03-30T19:25:30","modified_gmt":"2024-03-30T23:25:30","slug":"cavs-secure-veteran-toughness-ahead-of-playoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/03\/29\/cavs-secure-veteran-toughness-ahead-of-playoffs\/","title":{"rendered":"Cavs Secure Veteran Toughness with Pre-Playoff Signing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On Friday, the Cleveland Cavaliers announced that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/cavaliers\/news\/releases-marcus-morris-signing-240329\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">they officially signed<\/a> veteran forward <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/morrima03.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Marcus Morris<\/a> for the remainder of the 2023-24 season. Morris originally <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/03\/15\/13-year-nba-veteran-joins-eastern-conference-contender-marcus-morris-cleveland-cavaliers\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">signed a 10-day contract<\/a> with the Cavs on Mar. 18.<\/p>\n<p>Now in his 13th season, Morris was the 14th overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft. This season, he\u2019s played six games for the Cavs. In those contests, he\u2019s averaging 7.0 points and 3.3 rebounds in 16.7 minutes per game. He\u2019s also shooting 44.4 percent from 3.<\/p>\n<h2>Cavs Secure Veteran Toughness Ahead of Playoffs<\/h2>\n<p>Upon agreeing to a 10-day contract with Cleveland, Morris cited his relationship with Cavs head coach JB Bickerstaff as what spurred his decision to join the team.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s funny \u2018cause we wasn\u2019t even talking about me joining (the Cavs),\u201d Morris says. \u201cWe was just having natural conversation and just talking basketball\u2026 We both just came to an agreement of coming over here and trying to help the team\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">From couch to court: Marcus Morris shares why his first game with the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/cavs?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@cavs<\/a> felt easy and details his relationship with J.B. Bickerstaff. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/LetEmKnow?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#LetEmKnow<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/gBicsCueom\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/gBicsCueom<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Bally Sports Cleveland (@BallySportsCLE) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BallySportsCLE\/status\/1769914817429590309?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 19, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>In detailing what he likes about Morris, Bickerstaff says \u201cjust a level of professionalism.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">&#8220;There&#8217;s a toughness to him, a grit to him.&#8221;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/cavs?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@cavs<\/a> head coach J.B. Bickerstaff and Marcus Morris Sr. discuss the veteran&#8217;s fit with the team and getting him up to speed. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/LetEmKnow?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#LetEmKnow<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/MFoL14tafQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/MFoL14tafQ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Bally Sports Cleveland (@BallySportsCLE) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BallySportsCLE\/status\/1769864148823773484?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 18, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>\u201cA guy who\u2019s been through all the trials and tribulations of the NBA,\u201d Bickerstaff explains.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cA ton of experience. There\u2019s a toughness to him. A grit to him. A reputation around this league of what his peers think about him and how they respect him. Then obviously his ability to make shots and compete on the floor.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>In his debut with the Cavs, Morris recorded 14 points on 4-5 shooting from 3 in a win against the Indiana Pacers. A week later, Morris gets ejected from a game against the Charlotte Hornets for delivering an elbow to four-year pro <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/r\/richani01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nick Richards<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>Old School Mentality<\/h3>\n<p>\u201cI just <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nba\/story\/_\/id\/39811521\/cavaliers-marcus-morris-sr-tossed-elbow-hit-win\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">wanted to be physical<\/a>,\u201d Morris explains, per ESPN News Services.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cLike I told the player (Richards), I wasn&#8217;t trying to hurt him. I&#8217;m just trying to set the tone, man. You&#8217;re rolling down the paint, catching lobs and we&#8217;re trying to stop that type of (stuff).\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s been a lot of grueling games,\u201d Morris he continues, \u201cand I was just wanted to toughen us up.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cStep in front of it like, listen this is what\u2019s going to be expected moving forward, not just for today. Set the precedent going into the playoffs. We\u2019re not about to have anybody coming in here and doing what they want to do.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Bickerstaff believes Morris\u2019 \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/spindavies\/status\/1772633697788854286?s=46&amp;t=wi4lwy44ptAPzCOfNGn4lw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">old school mentality<\/a>\u201d changed the game for the Cavs. Tied 20-20 after the first quarter, Cleveland overcame their slow start to win by 23 points. A day later, Morris has bypassed the second 10-day contract players usually sign, skipping straight to the standard deal.<\/p>\n<p>Suffice it to say, the Cavs are happy to have him. A player who provides <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2023\/04\/27\/5-key-reasons-knicks-beat-cavs\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">the toughness they sorely lacked<\/a> against the New York Knicks last postseason, Morris will be an x-factor for the Cavs in the 2024 NBA Playoffs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Friday, the Cleveland Cavaliers announced that they officially signed veteran forward Marcus Morris for the remainder of the 2023-24 season. Morris originally signed a 10-day contract with the Cavs on Mar. 18. Now in his 13th season, Morris was the 14th overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft. This season, he\u2019s played six games [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":71141,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,1608,62,3],"tags":[49128,369,297,596],"class_list":["post-71137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cavaliers","category-basketball","category-nba","category-news","tag-jb-bickerstaff","tag-marcus-morris","tag-nba-free-agency","tag-nba-playoffs"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}