FA guard Anthony Morrow still considering the Clippers, Heat, Wizards, Raptors and Suns, per source. All willing to use some portion of MLE.
— David Aldridge (@daldridgetnt) July 10, 2014
To clarify on Morrow: those teams are willing to use $ up to MLE amount. All don't have MLE.
— David Aldridge (@daldridgetnt) July 10, 2014
Anthony Morrow, eh? I have a friend who insists he has the most fundamentally sound shot-release in the NBA. We often debate this and I counter with Jamario Moon, mostly because I want to piss him off. Given the earlier report of the Raptors signing James Johnson, it’s hard to see where Morrow would get minutes. I asked RR resident salary cap expert and owner of the most gorgeous beard ever, Blake Murphy, what the Raptors could pay him and he said:
@raptorsrepublic @ekoreen $2.8M remaining on MLE, but that would push them into tax and activate apron. $2M seems "realistic" max.
— Blake Murphy (@BlakeMurphyODC) July 11, 2014
Last year Morrow made $1.03M with the Pelicans, so the Raptors could conceivably afford him. Glancing briefly at the shooting guard depth-chart we have DeMar DeRozan, and then Lou Williams. Hey, what? We only have two shooting guards and one of them really isn’t a shooting guard? Well, looks like we’ve found a slot for Morrow. He also happens to be a ridiculous three-point shooter, shooting a whopping 43% for his career and is coming off a season where shot 45%. That’s right, 45%. That’s like, more than what half the team shoots from two-point range.
So, before we dismiss this rumour as guff, I say this actually might make some sense on a cerebral level, especially if we, by some miracle of God, manage to off-load Landry Fields’ contract (I kid, he’s a nice guy). The Raptors also happen to have a bit of a hole at the backup C where we’re one Valanciunas injury from seeing Chuck Hayes haunt our nightmares on a regular basis, so this observer might suggest that that is more of a concern, as sexy as Morrow’s release may be.
