Marcus Morris Sr.’s strong Cavs debut could make him a permanent addition

Whenever an NBA player signs a 10-day contract, the pressure is on to make a lasting first impression. Doing that makes it easier to convince the team you’re auditioning for to keep you long-term. Well, for newly-signed Cleveland Cavaliers forward Marcus Morris Sr., who met his new team for the first time the morning before Cleveland faced the Indiana Pacers, things are kicking off in the right direction.

Morris, getting his first game action in over a month, saw early minutes for the Cavs, entering the game mid-way into the first quarter. Soon after, Morris drilled a three-pointer from the top of the perimeter off an assist from a dishing and driving Caris LeVert. After that, things continued to fall into place whenever Morris was on the floor, and, by the time the final buzzer had sounded, he had finished his Cleveland debut with 14 points on 5-7 shooting and four rebounds in roughly 19 minutes of action.

“If you know me, it wasn’t really that tough,” Morris said of getting into a rhythm early. “The thing was, [my teammates] did a great job of getting to the paint and breaking down the defense. I just had to make open shots. So, when you are at home, and you’re not doing nothing, the one thing you [are] doing is shooting spot shots.”

It’s again worth mentioning that Morris had done this only after meeting his teammates that morning during the team’s shootaround. Everything to fall into place naturally, like he had been with the team since training camp, seemed almost too good to be true. For a team like the Cavs, who are thin at power forward with injuries to Dean Wade (knee) and Evan Mobley (ankle), Morris’s Cleveland debut was a welcome sign, and, based on his first impression, the welcome may last longer than his 10-day deal.

Marcus Morris Sr.’s Cavs debut earns high praise