14 Nov 2008; Full article
Terence Morris, late bloomer
As for the CSKA newcomers, Terence Morris looks like he is a great fit for the team. One must remember that Morris, who will turn 30 next January, had played his first outstanding season in Europe as late as last year. Before that he was basically a journeyman, playing in the NBA, NBDL, CBA and in smaller European leagues. Morris’ ability to block shots, play solid positional defense, as well as rebound the basketball in traffic, all of which he had been displaying in the red and white Hapoel Jerusalem jersey in the 06/07 campaign, made him a target for the Israeli basketball powerhouse Maccabi Tel Aviv. He arrived primarily as a defensive presence to play alongside the extremely skilled but unathletic and defensively weak Croation center Nikola Vujcic – and he left as one of the 07/08 Euroleague season’s biggest surprises, anchoring the Maccabi defense, cleaning the boards, and shooting the basketball on high percentages in all areas, and eventually signing for almost 1.700.000€ net per year with the reigning Euroleague champion. Morris is as good a replacement for the injured Slovenian power forward Matjaz Smodis as there is in all of European club basketball, and he should be expected to get minutes even when the CSKA captain is back to full fitness, maybe playing alongside him just as David Andersen did as a CSKA player. While Morris is not the actual replacement for Andersen – in fact, Erazem Lorbek rather fits into that category – , Smodis’ much developed lowpost game over the years could lead to him playing more of an inside role when on the court alongside Morris, while the latter does most of the damage playing on the highpost position. The highpost, that is where the former Maryland standout truly excels. He is a terrific shooter of the ball, possessing an effortless release and connecting on 8/18 threes in the up and running Euroleague season, 30/61 in the 07/08 campaign for Maccabi. While his qualities on the defensive end of the floor are well known, he is surprising experts with his outstanding passing game this season. His passes are strong and extremely accurate, and he possesses very good court vision. While he is not a once in a century kind of passing big man like his former colleague Vujcic is, he easily finds solutions against the press, passes very well against the zone defense and reliably finds smaller players on the cut inside.
