(Photo courtesy of Boston Herald)
Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here… highlighting the big story line. Because there’s nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.
Baynes is confident that he and Morris will provide Boston with the kind of physical play it needs to build upon the success the team enjoyed last season.
“He’s got a great work ethic and I love the way he plays,” said Baynes, referring to Morris. “You know he brings a bit of toughness to it and yeah, I’ve always had fun playing with him and he played with our second unit a lot in Detroit and we always did good things when we were together on the court so I’m excited that he’s here as well and yeah, we look forward to bring some extra toughness.”
The Pistons didn’t have nearly as much success as Baynes or Morris would have wanted, but it certainly wasn’t due to their play on the floor together.
The duo formed Detroit’s best two-man unit defensively with a defensive rating of 93.5 – tops among all of Detroit’s two-man units which played at least 30 games together.
In addition, their offensive rebounding percentage of 22.2 and defensive rebounding percentage of 82.2 speaks to how they can be a force on the glass as well.
CSNNE — Aron Baynes confident he and Marcus Morris will provide physical play to Boston Celtics frontcourt
Aron Baynes and Marcus Morris were introduced to the Boston media yesterday, and more so than in any year since the Big Three days, there’s this sense of excitement coming from role-players suiting up for the Celtics. They seem to know (the following quote from Morris) there’s something big they can accomplish here:
“It’s exciting,” he said. “This is the first point in my career where I can say I have an opportunity to get to the finals and the opportunity to compete for a championship. I’m excited and I think fans in Boston are really going to enjoy what I bring to the game and I think I fit right with these guys.” –Herald
“Compete for a championship.” You weren’t hearing that when the Celtics brought in Tyler Zeller via trade, or signed Amir Johnson. You probably haven’t heard that since Mickael Pietrus joined the team (someone else please find that transcript– K, thanks). Remember that press conference with the flotsam and jetsam that cast ashore from the Nets in 2013? Those guys looked like they wanted to be anywhere but the Greater Boston Area. My, how this rebuild has come along.
As for what the two Detroit defects bring to the Cs– toughness in spades and some really promising advanced numbers when they share the court. Brad Stevens and his crew will have a lot of fun putting lineups together, and while a starting five almost certainly won’t include both of these guys, he may want them on the court together when rebounding is a priority.
Baynes and Morris weren’t the prizes of this off-season, but considering the jettisoning of plenty of rotation players from last year’s team, we should be prepared to see a lot of them.
Good thing they really want to be here (and Aron, if you’re still looking for BBQ, I’m shocked no one recommended Pit Stop in Mattapan).
Oh, one last thing, if you weren’t already starting to resonate with Morris’ junkyard dog mentality, there’s this about his favorite player:
“I didn’t know there was a trade looming or anything, it was unexpected,” Morris said during a conference call yesterday. “I found out about it at 8 o’clock in the morning at the workouts. Once they told me who it was, how could I be upset about going to the Boston Celtics? Paul Pierce has always been my favorite player. I reached out to him to see if I could get some work in with him.”
“First thing (Pierce) said to me when we talked was I was going to love it,” Morris said. “That’s all I needed to hear. I didn’t think I wouldn’t, but from a guy like that who’s been in Boston for so long and done so many great things it kind of made it easier for me.” –Herald
On page 2, Celtics/Lakers, Ball/Tatum carries some weight
Lakers vs. Celtics game on July 8th was the most watched NBA Summer League game in history at 1.1 million views on ESPN.
— Serena Winters (@SerenaWinters) July 19, 2017
H/t to Tom Westerholm at Mass Live for posting the above tweet. It’s crazy, but this really did feel like appointment viewing TV for me. I was in New York with my brother, also a huge Celtics fan, and we made sure it was on every TV at the bar. Considering this is the same league that produced irrational hope about Marcus Banks, nothing from Summer League should be taken as absolute fact, but people are really starting to love this stuff.
As for the Celtics/Lakers angle, with Ball/Tatum headlining, both teams will certainly get Christmas Day games. Any chance they pair the teams up again? My guess is no, not yet, but if the Lakers land a star next season, and the Celtics repeat or even improve upon their play from last year, A 2018 Celtics/Lakers Christmas Day game doesn’t seem too far fetched.
The rest of the links:
Mass Live — Kadeem Allen signs first two-way contract in Celtics history, but what does that mean?
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