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.
Injured Boston Celtics forward Marcus Morris said he hopes to make his regular-season debut Oct. 30 against the San Antonio Spurs.
Morris said Monday after practice that he expects to miss another week due to knee soreness. The issue, which Morris dealt with during training camp, convinced the Celtics to shut him down shortly before opening night.
“It’s gotten a lot better over the past 10 days so I feel like I can play now,” Morris said. “But we’re gonna be cautious because it’s a long season.”
Morris should be a key piece for the banged-up Celtics whether he starts or comes off the bench. He was expected to compete for the starting power forward spot during training camp, but arrived a week and a half late because of an aggravated assault trial, which ended with an acquittal of all charges. By the time he joined the Celtics, he was already dealing with the sore knee.
Monday was a slow news day unless you were the Phoenix Suns, in which case, yikes.
The big story in Boston was another week of waiting on Marcus Morris, who’s dealing with ‘knee soreness’, a description that is right up there with hockey’s ‘upper body injury’ and ‘lower body injury’ terms in unhelpful vagueness.
My pet theory is that he spent too much time sitting behind a too-small table in a courtroom, but at any rate, it looks like last season’s injury issues have carried right over into this one. At some point in time, we may need to find out if LeBron’s got a basement full of voodoo dolls wearing green and white jerseys.
Page 2: About the other Marcus
Though he didn’t practice today, Marcus Smart has been listed as day-to-day as he attempts to recover from a pair of ankle sprains. The Celtics guard missed Friday’s win because of the injuries suffered last Wednesday during a game against the Bucks. The Celtics play the Knicks at home tomorrow and Smart’s status is uncertain.
“Today he told me that he’s getting better,” Brad Stevens said of Smart. “We’ll put him through a series of tests tomorrow and we’ll see. He’s day-to-day. He’s had some (tests) and he’s passed them up to this point but it’s just progressing him back.”
So Smart might return to the lineup tonight, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Celtics keep him back another game–they shouldn’t need him to beat the Knicks after all. Ah the Knicks. If you didn’t already know the Knicks were a basketball team, there seems to be no way to reasonably reach that conclusion by watching them play.
Finally: The Suns are on fire–but that’s not a good thing.
Three tweets:
Phoenix coach Earl Watson has been fired, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) October 22, 2017
I Dont wanna be here
— Eric Bledsoe (@EBled2) October 22, 2017
McDonough RE: Bledsoe's tweet: "He said he was at a hair salon… I didn't believe that to be true. He won't be with us going forward."
— ABC15 Sports (@abc15sports) October 23, 2017
The Suns have spent the last few years doing the basketball equivalent of this:
https://youtu.be/IhB1L0NQhXY?t=36
Which makes McDonough’s rather high-handed remarks about Eric Bledsoe seem a little silly. If McDonough and Sarver hadn’t spent the last few years turning the Suns into feedlot runoff, maybe (1) their best player wouldn’t be Eric Bledsoe and (2) he wouldn’t be seriously ticked off about playing for them.
The rest of the links
Boston Herald: Celtics, Marcus Morris take it slow | Celtics notebook: Jayson Tatum finds out about life on the go in the NBA
NBC Sports Boston: Back to the drawing board
YouTube: The Waiting
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