Case done, Morris ready for court
WALTHAM — Marcus Morris joined his new team yesterday and will play his first minutes during tonight’s exhibition game in Philadelphia. The former Pistons and Suns forward didn’t need a trip here to understand his role, though. Morris could see part of his immediate value by watching the Celtics from afar.
“Competing against these guys over the years, I think they know what I can do,” the 6-foot-9 swing forward said after his first practice. “I know what they can do. I think it’ll be really easy for me to fit in. I gotta be the tough guy on the team. I gotta be the protector. Guys, you know, knocking my guys down, I can’t have that. You know what I’m saying? It’s going to be my role to be the bully. And I accept that.
“When I’m off the court, I’m cool and collected. But when I’m on the court, technical fouls. I kinda dumbed it down last year, I only had like six,” said Morris. “But the year before that I was like top three (in the league). It just depends on how hard they foul me. Like I said, man, I gotta protect my guys out there. I’m going to be the bully on the team.”
At least now the subject of confrontation is back to basketball. Morris and his twin brother Markieff were acquitted of felony assault charges by a Phoenix jury on Tuesday night, stemming from a 2015 incident involving the beating of Erik Hood, a former family friend. Two other men pled guilty to the charges before the brothers went on trial in late September.
Morris, who worked out daily and went through video sessions with Celtics assistants Jake Eastman and Alex Barlow during the trial, expressed relief at finally stepping away from an issue that had dogged the brothers for a year and a half.
“It’s a big relief. For a second, I felt like it was kind of killing my character for a lot of people who don’t know me,” he said. “So just to get acquitted (with) everything and now be a Boston Celtic, that’s all I’m really looking forward to.
“It was very difficult. I love playing basketball. Just for me to be coming to a new place and not being able to be there, one of the first guys there, just learning everybody,” said Morris. “It’s a little tough but that’s behind me. I’m ready to play. I’m ready to get going.”
Indeed, those 6:30 a.m. sessions with Eastman and Barlow were generally the only diversion Morris had from the anxiety of the trial.
“I was sitting in the courtroom for 10 hours a day, so it was kind of hard to keep a clear head. But once it was over, once I got off the flight here in Boston I felt very good,” Morris said. “I never really was concerned. Mainly just missing training camp and the start of preseason were my only real concerns.
“I knew it was going to come out in the end. I’m a good guy, man.”
Beyond playing against the Celtics, Morris was mainly familiar with the dynamic of this team through Markieff and the testy rivalry between the Celtics and Wizards.
“It was crazy, man. I was watching it when I was in Washington,” he said of last spring’s secondround playoff series. “It was pretty crazy. I would have loved to be a part of something like that. When I played against Boston in past years, (Jae) Crowder and (Isaiah Thomas), there was a lot of (expletive)-talking. I would have loved to be a part of that. Now I’m here, different group of guys. Now it’s our time to build our own legacy and build our own rivalry.”
Morris decided against coming to Boston to watch the series, unsure of how he would be received, wearing Wizards gear and rooting on his brother.
“I truly wasn’t really worried about anything, but I wasn’t rooting for Boston so I wasn’t going on the road, you know what I mean, wearing a Washington Wizards jersey or hat or whatever,” said Morris, “because I just didn’t feel like that was right. I still played for the Detroit Pistons so I wasn’t that big a fan of Washington. I was just a fan of my brother, you know what I mean?”
The parameters have obviously changed. A chat with Paul Pierce, the Celtics legend and fellow Kansas alum, gave Morris a good idea of his new team.
“He said I’m really going to love it a lot,” said Morris. “I wanted to work out with him this summer. I didn’t get an opportunity with what’s going on with the case and stuff, being in Phoenix for a while. But he told me I was going to love it out here.”