Chris Morris
Born: January 20, 1966
Position: Small Forward
Height: 6-8 (2.04 m)
In the NBA:
His Game:
Chris Morris was an athletic forward who was scoring in double figures during his first 8 seasons in the NBA.
He was a good defensive player who could both shoot a 3-pointer and go inside for a dunk.
His Career:
Selected by the New Jersey Nets in the 4th place of the 1988 draft, Morris made a good start as a rookie, finishing the 1988-'89 season with 14.1 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. The next season he scored a career-high average 14.8 points per game, in 1991 he averaged 6.6 rpg and in 1993 he had 1.9 steals per game. The next season he missed 32 games due to injury and 1994-'95 was his last season with the Nets.
During the 1995-'96 season he played for the Utah Jazz, scoring 10.5 points. He stayed with the team the following 2 years. Utah advanced to the NBA finals both seasons but Morris was now scoring only 4.3 points. In the 1998-'99 season he played 44 games for the Phoenix Suns, averaging 4.2 points in 12.2 minutes per game.
Honors:
Morris was selected in the 2nd All-Rookie team in 1989. He participated in the 1989 Slam Dunk contest.
Statistics:
| YEAR |
Team |
Games |
Pts |
FT % |
FG % |
3PM |
3-pt % |
Reb. |
Trn |
Ast |
St |
Blk |
Min. |
Star? |
| 1989 |
New Jersey |
76 |
14.1 |
.717 |
.457 |
64 |
.366 |
5.2 |
2.5 |
1.6 |
1.3 |
0.8 |
27.6 |
No |
| 1990 |
New Jersey |
80 |
14.8 |
.722 |
.422 |
61 |
.316 |
5.3 |
2.3 |
1.8 |
1.6 |
1.0 |
30.6 |
No |
| 1991 |
New Jersey |
79 |
13.2 |
.734 |
.425 |
45 |
.251 |
6.6 |
2.1 |
2.8 |
1.7 |
1.2 |
32.3 |
YES |
| 1992 |
New Jersey |
77 |
11.4 |
.714 |
.477 |
22 |
.200 |
6.4 |
2.2 |
2.6 |
1.7 |
1.1 |
31.1 |
YES |
| 1993 |
New Jersey |
77 |
14.1 |
.794 |
.481 |
17 |
.224 |
5.9 |
1.5 |
1.4 |
1.9 |
0.7 |
29.9 |
YES |
| 1994 |
New Jersey |
50 |
10.9 |
.720 |
.447 |
53 |
.361 |
4.6 |
1.0 |
1.7 |
1.1 |
1.0 |
27.0 |
No |
| 1995 |
New Jersey |
71 |
13.4 |
.728 |
.410 |
106 |
.334 |
5.7 |
1.6 |
2.1 |
1.2 |
0.7 |
30.0 |
No |
| 1996 |
Utah |
66 |
10.5 |
.772 |
.437 |
63 |
.320 |
3.5 |
1.1 |
1.2 |
1.0 |
0.3 |
21.6 |
No |
| 1997 |
Utah |
73 |
4.3 |
.722 |
.408 |
31 |
.271 |
2.2 |
0.6 |
0.6 |
0.4 |
0.3 |
13.4 |
No |
| 1998 |
Utah |
54 |
4.3 |
.721 |
.411 |
19 |
.306 |
2.1 |
0.6 |
0.4 |
0.5 |
0.3 |
10.0 |
No |
| 1999 |
Phoenix |
44 |
4.2 |
.870 |
.430 |
16 |
.286 |
2.8 |
0.5 |
0.5 |
0.4 |
0.3 |
12.2 |
No |
| Career |
Career |
747 |
11.0 |
.739 |
.441 |
497 |
.306 |
4.7 |
1.6 |
1.6 |
1.2 |
0.7 |
25.1 |
No |
In Europe:
Morris' European career has been quite a traumatic experience and he said in an interview that he'd never play in Europe again. He signed with Greek team Olympiakos in the summer of 1999 and left in the midseason. The team claims that he had a bad behavior and he pretended to be injured. Morris on the other hand says that he was injured from the beginning and the team didn't show any understanding, forcing him to play. He played 5 games in total (Greek+European championship), averaging just 6.5 points.