Quick Thoughts

by Harlan Schreiber

1.    Morrow Time!:    The interesting news of this weekend was undrafted rookie Anthony Morrow’s 37-point outburst against the Clippers.  Morrow, a 6′5 shooting guard out of Georgia Tech, shot 15-20 from the field (4-5 from three) and even grabbed 11 rebounds.  There wasn’t much in Morrow’s college stats to indicate that he was a regular NBA player (14.3 ppg on 46% shooting as a senior) but Don Nelson does seem to have a knack for developing young offensive players against the mainstream.  Morrow’s 37 points are the most points by an undrafted rookie in the modern era, breaking Marquis Daniel’s 34-points from 2003-04 (Daniels was another Nellie find).  That got me wondering a couple of things: (1) how many unheralded young players have broken in under Nellie? and (2) who is the best undrafted player ever? Continue reading Quick Thoughts…

Transactions 9/11-11/12

by Harlan Schreiber

Boston Celtics 

9/29    Re-sign Sam Cassell 

It’s pretty amazing how quickly a player can lose it.  Cassell was perfectly useful for the Clippers last year (12.8 ppg, .455 FG%, 4.7 apg in 25.7 mpg), only to offer pretty much zero for the Celts (7.6 ppg, .385 FG%, 2.1 apg in 17.6 mpg) and was even worse in the playoffs (4.5 ppg, .333 FG%, 1.2 apg, in 12.6 apg).  Now, the limited role on Boston obviously had a lot to do with Cassell’s precipitous drop but at some point when you fall so hard, you have to think the career is over.  Even so, Boston was willing to give him one more contract just to ride out the good feelings from last year’s playoff run. Continue reading Transactions 9/11-11/12…

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