{"id":86647,"date":"2024-07-20T07:52:57","date_gmt":"2024-07-20T11:52:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=86647"},"modified":"2024-07-20T07:52:57","modified_gmt":"2024-07-20T11:52:57","slug":"hornets-should-sign-ivy-league-grad-after-perfect-shooting-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/07\/20\/hornets-should-sign-ivy-league-grad-after-perfect-shooting-night\/","title":{"rendered":"Hornets Should Sign Ivy League Grad After Perfect Shooting Night"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On Friday, NBA fans were treated to a sensational performance by Charlotte Hornets guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/morgama01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Matt Morgan<\/a>. Going 11-11 from the field and 7-7 from 3, Morgan torched the nets from start to finish.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Matt Morgan&#8217;s PERFECT night in Vegas \ud83c\udf1f<\/p>\n<p>36 PTS<br \/>\n11-11 FGM<br \/>\n7-7 3PM<\/p>\n<p>Leading the <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hornets?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@hornets<\/a> to the <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/NBA2KSummerLeague?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#NBA2KSummerLeague<\/a> win! <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/VneaDPQidr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/VneaDPQidr<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 NBA (@NBA) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NBA\/status\/1814528979170136319?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 20, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The 26-year-old is now averaging 17.8 points per game in the Las Vegas Summer League while shooting an eye-popping 61.5 percent from the field and 56.0 percent from 3.<\/p>\n<h2>Hornets Should Sign Matt Morgan<\/h2>\n<p>At 6-foot-2 and 180 pounds, Morgan doesn\u2019t have the ideal body for a 3-point specialist who primarily plays off-ball. However, his body of work is extremely consistent.<\/p>\n<p>In four seasons at Cornell, Morgan played 114 games, shooting 47.0 percent from the field and 37.7 percent from 3-point range. He graduated as the Big Red\u2019s all-time leading scorer (2,333 points). As a pro, Morgan has continued to excel from beyond the arc. In three seasons playing abroad, he\u2019s never averaged below 17 points per game or shot under 37 percent from 3.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Matthew Morgan | Round 2 MVP | 2023-24 BKT EuroCup\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SIIonLcmVoE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Morgan may not be looked to as a go-to scorer in the NBA. Nonetheless, his steadiness makes it easier to have faith in his ability to replicate those results at the NBA-level.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, players like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/curryse01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Seth Curry<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/millspa02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Patty Mills<\/a> have thrived with a similar size, style, and skillset. At this point in their careers, Curry and Mills may be <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/07\/16\/charlotte-hornets-re-sign-10-year-nba-veteran-point-guard-seth-curry\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">a bit longer in the tooth<\/a> than their teams would like. Still, as deadly but diminutive deep threats, they serve as a blueprint for the player Morgan can be if signed.<\/p>\n<p>With 15 players signed to standard contracts and one signed to a two-way contract, Morgan would have to agree to a two-way deal. Teams are now allotted three two-way roster spots, so the Hornets would still have one remaining.<\/p>\n<h3>Why Sign Matt Morgan?<\/h3>\n<p>After going undrafted in 2019, Morgan will have agreed to his first official NBA contract.<\/p>\n<p>To this point, he\u2019s signed multiple Summer League contracts, playing with the Toronto Raptors and Los Angeles Clippers. He\u2019s even suited up for the Raptors\u2019 G League team. However, he\u2019s yet to agree to a two-way or standard contract with an NBA team.<\/p>\n<p>That being said, signing a deal with Charlotte would be a momentous moment for him.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Matt Morgan with 25 Points vs. G League Ignite\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ECBnCGtcvP4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>It also gets Morgan\u2019s foot in the door for more opportunities.<\/p>\n<p>Due to the nature of two-way contracts, he would probably spend most of his time in the G League. Nonetheless, whether with the Hornets or their G League affiliate, he could get an opportunity to stand out. Indeed, the \u2018next man up\u2019 mentality has led to myriad players being discovered.<\/p>\n<p>Morgan could be the next one to deliver a home run when he steps to the plate. As Charlotte\u2019s backcourt is often plagued by injury, there\u2019s a decent chance that they\u2019ll have to lean into their depth at some point.<\/p>\n<p>The pharaoh in their story would seem to be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/ballla01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LaMelo Ball<\/a>, who has played just 58 games over the past two seasons. However, Curry has missed even more games (59) in that time. If he or <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/manntr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tre Mann<\/a> were to go down, Morgan could be a call-up due to the similarities in their shooting ability. Of note, Curry averaged 19.9 minutes per game with the Hornets last season, while Mann played 31.0 minutes per game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Friday, NBA fans were treated to a sensational performance by Charlotte Hornets guard Matt Morgan. Going 11-11 from the field and 7-7 from 3, Morgan torched the nets from start to finish. Matt Morgan&#8217;s PERFECT night in Vegas \ud83c\udf1f 36 PTS 11-11 FGM 7-7 3PM Leading the @hornets to the #NBA2KSummerLeague win! pic.twitter.com\/VneaDPQidr \u2014 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":86650,"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":[7,1608,62,3],"tags":[3391,297,1224,585],"class_list":["post-86647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hornets","category-basketball","category-nba","category-news","tag-matt-morgan","tag-nba-free-agency","tag-nba-summer-league","tag-seth-curry"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86647","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=86647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86647\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}