A few months ago, I went to NY and watched former Terp Terence Morris play at Madison Square Garden against the Knicks... for Maccabi Tel Aviv. Yeah, after bouncing around the NBA for 5-6 years, never getting much playing time, Terence took his game overseas last year and had some success. His agent is my boy Doug Neustadt, and this year Doug and his up and comer Mike Kneisley got Terence a gig for Maccabi, which plays at the highest level of Euro hoops and regularly sends players over to "The League."
So it's a very big 'make or break year' for Terence, as I wrote about in this feature for the Baltimore Sun: http://terpsnation.blogspot.com/2007_10_01_archive.html
Truth be told, that night at MSG I wasn't real impressed. He looked physically like he belonged and even had some good moments, but his energy seemed low and I wondered if he had the desire to go out and work hard in Europe ... it wouldn't have shocked me if his career fizzled.
But guess what? T. Morris is getting it done in Israel baby. Playing alongside Marcus Fizer and Vonteego Cummings, and bad-ass Will Bynum from Ga. Tech, Terence averaged 13 points and 11 rebounds in January and just got named Euroleague Player of the Month.
Kudos to Terence for getting it done. Here's a cool quote from the press release:
Although a perfect 5-0 month didn't mean first-place in its regular season group, Maccabi emerged from January in a stronger shade of yellow, thanks in great part to Morris. His consistency, versatility and selflessness was clear as a player who took more rebounds than shots while giving his team momentum for the Top 16. Morris and Maccabi's fans will get to celebrate together when he receives his January MVP award at an upcoming home game.
Here's a link to the full text: http://www.euroleague.net/news/i/24043/180/item
If you love hoops and "where are they now" stuff like me, check out euroleague.net and just click on some teams and you'll see lots of recognizable names all over the place.
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