Tag: monte morris

Pistons trade Monte Morris to Timberwolves

The Minnesota Timberwolves have acquired guard Monte Morris in a trade with the Detroit Pistons for forward Troy Brown Jr., guard Shake Milton and a 2030 second round pick.

Morris, 28, has appeared in 348 regular season games (166 starts) in seven NBA seasons with the Denver Nuggets, Washington Wizards and Pistons, averaging 10.4 points on 47.9% shooting, including 38.9% from three, 2.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game. In 62 games (61 starts) last season with Washington, the 6-2 guard averaged 10.3 points on 48.0% shooting, a career-high 3.4 rebounds and a career-best 5.3 assists. At the conclusion of the 2022-23 season, he ranked second in the NBA in assist-to-turnover ratio (5.4).

The Flint, Mich. native has appeared in 48 playoff games (10 starts), averaging 9.5 points on 45.1% shooting and 3.5 assists. His best playoff performance came in Game 6 of the First Round of the 2021 Playoffs when in 32:58 minutes of action off the bench, Morris finished with 22 points on 8-of-16 shooting and nine assists. He became the second player in Nuggets history to finish a playoff game with 20+ points and 9+ assists off the bench.

Morris was originally drafted out of Iowa State by the Nuggets with the 51st overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft.

Signed as a free agent with the Wolves on July 8, 2023, Brown Jr. played in 37 games (three starts) for Minnesota where he averaged 4.2 points in 11.1 minutes of action per game. In 334 career games (87 starts) with the Wizards, Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers and Timberwolves, he holds averages of 6.3 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game.

Signed as a free agent with the Timberwolves on July 8, 2023, Milton played in 38 games for Minnesota where he averaged 4.7 points in 12.9 minutes of action per game. In 292 career games (45 starts) with the Philadelphia 76ers and Timberwolves, he holds averages of 8.7 points, 2.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game.

Pistons guard Monte Morris injury update: out 6-8 more weeks

Detroit Pistons injury updates:

Pistons guard Monte Morris underwent a PRP injection on Friday, November 17 as Pistons medical staff continues to treat and rehab a right quad strain. He will be re-evaluated again in 6-8 weeks.

Per the Detroit Free Press today, on Morris: “The 28-year-old guard arrived in Detroit in June, when he was traded from the Washington Wizards. His outside shooting, low turnover rate and veteran experience was expected to immediately lift a young Pistons backcourt. His season debut may not come until late January.”

Jalen Duren (right ankle) is expected to return to practice this week.

Pistons forward Bojan Bogdanović (right calf strain) has begun a return to play progression and is cleared for full basketball contact. He will continue these progressions and begin practicing with the team in the upcoming days.

Wizards trade Monte Morris to Pistons

The Detroit Pistons have acquired guard Monte Morris in a trade with the Washington Wizards for future draft considerations.

The Wizards acquired a 2027 second round pick from Detroit (the more favorable of the picks from Brooklyn and Dallas that Detroit previously acquired).

Washington also generated a traded player exception in the deal.

Morris, 6-2, 183, averaged 10.3 points, 3.4 rebounds and 5.3 assists in 27.3 minutes per game while shooting 48% from the field and 38.2% from 3-point range with the Wizards last season. His 5.3 assists and 3.4 rebounds per game marked single-season career-highs and his 5.43 assist-to-turnover ratio ranked second in the NBA during the 2022-23 season. Since entering the league in 2017-18, Morris’ career 48.1% field goal percentage ranks eighth-best among all guards in the NBA (min. 2000 field goal attempts).

Drafted 51st overall by Denver in the 2017 NBA Draft, Morris played five seasons for the Nuggets and averaged 10.5 points and 4.0 assists in 25.2 minutes per game while shooting 39.4% from behind-the-arc. The Flint, Mich., native played four seasons at Iowa State University where he was a three-time All-Big 12 selection. In high school, Morris led Flint Beecher to back-to-back Class C Michigan state titles in 2012 and 2013 and won Michigan’s Mr. Basketball award in 2013.

Nuggets trade Monte Morris and Will Barton to Wizards for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Ish Smith

The Washington Wizards yesterday acquired Monte Morris and Will Barton III in a trade with the Denver Nuggets that sent Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Ish Smith to the Nuggets.

“We’re very excited to add Monte and Will as proven players at the point guard and shooting guard positions, two areas that were top priorities for us to address during this offseason,” said Wizards President and General Manager Tommy Sheppard. “Monte has steadily improved his all-around game and is coming off a career year while Will has been a consistent scorer and three-point threat during his time in Denver, and both are obviously familiar with Coach Unseld’s system and style.”

Morris (6-3, 175), a five-year NBA veteran, comes to Washington after averaging career-bests of 12.6 points, 4.4 assists and 3.0 rebounds in 75 games (74 starts) in 2021-22. Morris topped 20 points on seven different occasions last year and dished at least five assists in 34 games while limiting turnovers, as he finished fifth in the league in assist-to-turnover ratio at 4.27:1.

In 280 career games (105 starts) with the Nuggets, Morris has averaged 10.5 points and 3.7 assists per game on .481 shooting from the field and .394 shooting from three with a 4.8:1 assist to turnover ratio. He has averaged double-digit scoring over each of the past two seasons and has shot at least .450 from the field and .370 from three-point territory in each of the past four. He ranked 29th in three-point percentage last season (.395) and connected on multiple three-pointers in 36 games. Morris shot a career-best .414 from three-point range in 2018-19, 13th best in the NBA. The native of Grand Rapids, MI, played four years at Iowa State, leaving as the Cyclones’ all-time winningest player with 100 victories before being selected 51st overall in the 2017 NBA Draft by Denver.

Barton III (6-6, 190) has played 10 NBA seasons with Portland and Denver, appearing in 623 games (284 starts) and averaging 11.6 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game while shooting .362 from three-point range. In his seven-and-a-half seasons in Denver after being acquired at the 2015 trade deadline, Barton III averaged 14.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game and leaves the Nuggets as the franchise’s all-time leader in three-pointers made (804).

In 71 games (all starts) with the Nuggets last season, Barton III averaged 14.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, 3.9 assists in 32.1 minutes per contest. He shot .438 from the field and .365 from three-point territory while attempting a career-high 6.1 three-pointers per game. The 31-year-old guard scored in double-figures in 57 games and totaled 20 or more points on 17 occasions. The Memphis product averaged 10+ points in every season with Denver (2015-2022) and has shot .360 or better from three-point range in five of the last six seasons. The Baltimore native was originally selected with the 40th overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft by Portland.

Morris and Barton III combined to average 27.8 points, 7.8 rebounds and 8.2 assists per game on .444 shooting from the field and .407 shooting from three during the 2021-22 NBA Playoffs.

Caldwell-Pope started in 77 games in his lone season in Washington after being acquired as part of the five-team deal from the Los Angeles Lakers, averaging 13.2 points and 3.4 rebounds per game. In his second stint in Washington, Ish Smith averaged 8.6 points, 3.0 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game in 28 games after being acquired at the trade deadline from Charlotte.

“We wish KCP and Ish and their families the very best and we thank them for their time with the Wizards,” said Sheppard.

Nuggets sign Monte Morris to contract extension

The Denver Nuggets have signed guard Monte Morris to a multi-year contract extension.

Morris’ contract extension is reportedly a three-year deal worth $27 million. Per the Denver Post, “the deal, which is fully guaranteed, offers incentives which could push it closer to $9.4 million annually, according to one source. The extension kicks in at the start of the 2021-22 season.”

Morris, listed at 6-foot-3, 185 lbs., averaged 9.0 points, 1.9 rebounds and 3.5 assists in 22.4 minutes per game for the Nuggets last season.

And in 2018-19, Morris played all 82 games for the Nuggets, starting six of them, and averaged 10.4 points, 2.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists, while shooting .414 from three-point range.

Over the last two seasons combined, Morris boasts the second-best assist-to-turnover ratio in the NBA at 5.29.

Morris spent most of the 2017-18 season on a two-way contract with the Denver Nuggets. In 37 G League games for Rio Grande Valley Vipers, he put up 17.8 points, 4.4 rebounds and 6.5 assists, while shooting 47.2% from the field.

The Nuggets drafted Morris late second round (51st overall) in 2017. He played four seasons of college hoops at Iowa State University.

Nuggets guard Monte Morris analyzes screens set by Jazz center Rudy Gobert

The art of setting screens is tricky business. There’s a fine line between what’s legal and illegal. And making the right call on each instance is one of the many difficult aspects of a referee’s job.

The Nuggets and Jazz are currently playing a first-round playoff series. Here’s the Denver Post reporting what Nuggets guard Monte Morris had to say about screens set by Jazz center Rudy Gobert:

Jazz center Rudy Gobert is a prolific screener, both in terms of sheer volume and effectiveness. A review of Denver’s Game 2 loss showed that he was involved, either directly or indirectly, in half of Utah’s 20 3-pointers.

When asked about it Thursday, Nuggets point guard Monte Morris said he felt some of them were illegal.

“He does a good job at setting screens,” Morris said. “I don’t think all of them are legal, so I mean, the ref can’t call all of them, but we gotta get into the ball and fight through them and not wait on what the ref’s going to do.”

The series is tied 1-1. This after Utah’s 124-105 Game 2 win yesterday. In the victory, Gobert shot 7-of-10 for 19 points, seven rebounds, three assists, two blocks, and a lot of screens.