{"id":88568,"date":"2024-08-02T06:43:45","date_gmt":"2024-08-02T10:43:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=88568"},"modified":"2024-08-02T06:43:45","modified_gmt":"2024-08-02T10:43:45","slug":"cavs-sixers-duking-it-out-free-agent-marcus-morris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/08\/02\/cavs-sixers-duking-it-out-free-agent-marcus-morris\/","title":{"rendered":"Cavs, Sixers Duking It Out For Free Agent"},"content":{"rendered":"

13-year NBA veteran Marcus Morris<\/a> has been pulled in several different directions this offseason. With the Cleveland Cavaliers, Charlotte Hornets, Detroit Pistons, Miami Heat, New Orleans Pelicans, and Minnesota
\nTimberwolves interested in signing<\/a> the power forward (per The Philadelphia Inquirer\u2019s Keith Pompey), his decision to sign with the Cavs shortly before the 2024 NBA Playoffs has paid off.<\/p>\n

Cavs, Sixers Duking It Out For Free Agent Marcus Morris<\/h2>\n

Appearing in 12 games during the regular season, Morris averaged a modest 5.8 rebounds per game. However, he was efficient, shooting 44.1 percent from the field and 41.4 percent from 3. In the playoffs, Morris managed to keep up his performance, averaging 6.1 points per game on 39.1 percent shooting from 3. He was also tough, bringing an intangible asset to a team full of nice guys.<\/p>\n

He may never have gotten there if the Philadelphia 76ers didn\u2019t waive him after 37 games with them.<\/p>\n

Morris didn\u2019t play poorly in his time with the Sixers, averaging 6.7 points per game while shooting 40.0 percent from 3. Indeed, as a native of Philadelphia, he relished the opportunity<\/a> to play in his hometown. Yet, at 34 years old, he\u2019s lost a step and it\u2019s negatively impacted his defense. Nonetheless, with his experience and vocal leadership, his presence isn\u2019t only felt on a scoreboard.<\/p>\n

Now, \u201cfor his comfort level, the Sixers and Cavs appear to have the best chances to land (Morris).\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Sixers only have a one-year veteran-minimum salary of $3.3 million available to offer him. \u2026The Cavs, who are highly interested, are prepared to give Morris nearly double that amount. Despite that, Morris can still see himself coming back to the Sixers.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Of note, his brother\u2019s team \u2014the Dallas Mavericks \u2014\u201cwere interested before making roster moves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morris\u2019s brother, Markieff, \u00a0had recently stated that he wants his twin to join him<\/a> in Dallas. In 832 career games, Morris has only played 185 with his brother, and none since 2015. As a result, the Mavs may have had a particular appeal.<\/p>\n

Cleveland Cavaliers<\/h3>\n

If Morris signs with the Cavs, he could battle for a spot in the rotation.<\/p>\n

Evan Mobley<\/a>, a franchise cornerstone, has averaged 33.2 minutes per game in his career. 37 percent of those minutes (12.3) have been spent at center. So, with about 26 minutes to give his backup \u2014at max \u2014Cleveland has an important decision to make. Without signing Morris, they\u2019d rely on Dean Wade<\/a> or Georges Niang<\/a> in the second unit. Wade, perhaps a better defender than Morris at this juncture, is a streaky shooter. Niang, a high grade catch-and-shoot option, is a porous defender.<\/p>\n

Morris ultimately provides the Cavs with the best of both worlds. Unless Cleveland makes a trade for Cam Johnson<\/a> or Dorian Finney-Smith<\/a>, that is.<\/p>\n

Philadelphia 76ers<\/h3>\n

The Sixers are loading up in preparation for a championship run. Money aside, Morris may want to be a part of that. Again, he was born and raised in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

Secondly, while the Sixers have a more talented and thus competitive team than the Cavs \u2014at least on paper \u2014their power forward depth is wonky. They never quite replaced former starter Tobias Harris<\/a>, who took his talents to Motor City<\/a> in free agency. In theory, the Sixers could start Paul George<\/a> or Caleb Martin<\/a> at the four-spot. Yet, there\u2019s a certain beauty in the simplicity of starting Morris as a traditional stretch-four who can play off of the team\u2019s stars.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

13-year NBA veteran Marcus Morris has been pulled in several different directions this offseason. With the Cleveland Cavaliers, Charlotte Hornets, Detroit Pistons, Miami Heat, New Orleans Pelicans, and Minnesota Timberwolves interested in signing the power forward (per The Philadelphia Inquirer\u2019s Keith Pompey), his decision to sign with the Cavs shortly before the 2024 NBA Playoffs […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":88576,"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":[62,1608,7,9,30,16,21,33,3,13],"tags":[369,297],"class_list":["post-88568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","category-basketball","category-hornets","category-cavaliers","category-mavericks","category-heat","category-timberwolves","category-pelicans","category-news","category-76ers","tag-marcus-morris","tag-nba-free-agency"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88568","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=88568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}