Randolph Morris

Randolph Albert Morris (born January 2, 1986) is an American professional basketball player for the Sporting Al Riyadi Beirut of the Lebanese Basketball League.

Randolph Morris
Personal information
Born (1986-01-02) January 2, 1986
Houston, Texas
NationalityAmerican
Listed height6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)
Listed weight275 lb (125 kg)
Career information
High schoolLandmark Christian
(Fairburn, Georgia)
CollegeKentucky (2004–2007)
NBA draft2005 / Undrafted
Playing career2007–2019
PositionCenter / Power forward
Career history
2007–2008New York Knicks
2008–2010Atlanta Hawks
2010–2018Beijing Ducks
2019Sporting Al Riyadi Beirut
Career highlights and awards
Stats  at Basketball-Reference.com

High school

As a senior for Atlanta, Georgia's Landmark Christian High School, Morris nearly averaged a triple-double[1] at 23.0 ppg, 16.0 rpg and 8.0 bpg, which earned him McDonald's All-American Team status. Randolph Morris was the #2 rated center and #10 overall prospect by Rivals.com in a year when a record eight high schoolers went directly to the NBA draft. Morris strongly considered a jump straight to the NBA as well, but decided to spend at least a year in school. Kentucky won a late recruiting battle, after drawing Morris away from early favorite Georgia Tech.[2] Morris, along with All-Americans Joe Crawford and Rajon Rondo, gave Kentucky the top-rated recruiting class in the nation.[3] Also, in that same recruiting class was Kentucky teammate Ramel Bradley.

College

After a solid debut in his first year at Kentucky, Morris decided to declare for the 2005 NBA draft but did not hire an agent. He averaged 8.8 points per game and 4.2 rebounds. Despite playing well for Kentucky and starting every game but one, he did not prove himself NBA ready and often got in foul trouble. Morris went undrafted and decided to attempt a return to Kentucky. The NCAA agreed to reinstate him, but not before sitting out the first half of the 2005-2006 season. Morris returned to Kentucky in January 2006, but could not help the team get out of its season-long slump. Nevertheless, he improved in almost every statistical category from his freshman year and was very impressive at times. As a sophomore, he averaged 13.3 points and 6 rebounds per game. In his junior season Morris made further progress, averaging 16.1 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game, earning first team All-SEC honors.

Professional career

After his freshman year at Kentucky, Morris declared himself eligible for the 2005 NBA Draft. He went undrafted, but since he did not hire an agent, Morris was allowed to return to the Wildcats to continue playing college basketball.

At the same time, because the NBA's collective bargaining agreement prohibited him from re-entering into a future draft, Morris was also legally a free agent who could be signed at any time. That meant he would be able to leave Kentucky in the middle of the college basketball season if signed by an NBA team.[4]

Morris took advantage of his free agent status, and signed a two-year, $1.6 million contract with the New York Knicks on March 23, 2007, five days after Kentucky was eliminated from the NCAA Tournament.[5] Morris became the first player in history to go from the NCAA to the NBA in the same week, when he signed with the Knicks.

When UK's then head coach Tubby Smith resigned and took the same job with the Minnesota Golden Gophers, Kentucky's athletic director Mitch Barnhart asked Morris to defer making a decision about turning pro until after the administration found a new head coach to replace Smith, but he chose to sign with New York instead of waiting.

After spending parts of two seasons playing with the Knicks, Morris joined the NBA Summer League team of the Atlanta Hawks in 2008, and subsequently signed a two-year, $1.7 million contract with the Hawks on July 29.[6] He would then spend the next two seasons as a member of Atlanta's roster.

Morris moved to the Beijing Ducks of the Chinese Basketball Association ahead of the 2010-11 season.[7] In his second season in China, he and teammate Stephon Marbury led Beijing to its first-ever CBA title. In 2014, the Ducks won their second championship, and Morris was named the CBA Finals MVP. Beijing repeated as champions in 2015, giving the Ducks a run of three titles in four years.

NBA career statistics
Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

Regular season
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2006–07 New York 508.8.167.000.3331.8.2.4.2.8
2007–08 New York 18210.1.362.000.4832.1.1.2.13.1
2008–09 Atlanta 2303.9.412.0001.000.9.1.1.0.8
2009–10 Atlanta 2804.4.561.000.5931.4.1.2.12.2
Career 7425.9.426.000.5451.4.1.2.11.9

Playoffs
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2009 Atlanta 302.7.000.000.000.7.0.3.0.0
2010 Atlanta 303.3.500.0001.000.7.0.0.01.0
Career 603.0.333.0001.000.7.0.2.0.5

References
  1. Kentucky's Morris should pull out of draft
  2. Davis, Seth (May 31, 2004), College Basketball: Who's No. 1?, Sports Illustrated
  3. "Rivals.com Top 25 for 2004". Rivals.com. Retrieved March 12, 2007.
  4. Wojnarowski, Adrian (December 11, 2006). "The Problematic Prospect". Yahoo! Sports. Retrieved April 4, 2007.
  5. "Knicks sign Kentucky center Morris to 2-year deal". ESPN.com. Retrieved March 23, 2007.
  6. Hawks land big man
  7. "Former Wildcat Randolph Morris shines in Beijing debut". AllKYhoops.com. Retrieved January 21, 2012.
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