The Boston Celtics arguably boast the deepest roster in all of the NBA.
Outside of their wildly talented starting five that features the likes of Kyrie Irving, Al Horford and Jayson Tatum, the Celtics’ second unit consists of players that likely would be starters on other teams.
One of those players is Marcus Morris, who impressed Tuesday night in the Celtics’ win over the Philadelphia 76ers with 16 points and 10 rebounds. In fact, Skip Bayless continues to be so impressed with Morris that he believes the Kansas product is better than one of Boston’s starting forwards.
"Marcus Morris is better than Gordon Hayward. When push comes to shove, and you have to win the basketball game, I'm going with Marcus Morris. … Morris had 16 and 10 last night in 20 minutes." — @RealSkipBayless pic.twitter.com/Nw6s1L7Te3
— The Facility (@TheFacilityFS1) October 17, 2018
It’s a tough time to include Gordon Hayward in an argument such as this one. Hayward had a career year (21.9 points per game) in his final season with the Utah Jazz, but the gruesome injury he sustained in last season’s opener raises question marks about his future. It’s highly unlikely Hayward regresses to a low-level player, but it remains to be seen if he’ll ever return to All-Star form.
Morris tends to make the absolute most of his time on the court, which makes him a great asset for Brad Stevens coming off the bench. But the Celtics coach never has been shy to tinker with his lineup and rotations, so you shouldn’t rule out Morris seeing an increased role as the season progresses.
The Hayward-Morris debate ultimately doesn’t matter for the Celtics. At the end of the day, the C’s will find ways to utilize both forwards in a way that’s best for the team.
