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Steph Curry remembers two things about his only NBA summer-league season as a rookie 17 years ago. First, he recalled being lousy. The ballyhooed No. 7 pick of the 2009 NBA Draft introduced himself to the Golden State Warriors by shooting 32.5 percent from the field over five lackluster games. “I couldn’t make a shot,” Curry said via text message on Wednesday.
His second and more vivid memory is that another Warriors guard did just fine. On July 16, Anthony Morrow, an undrafted shooting guard from Georgia Tech, set UNLV’s Cox Pavilion ablaze with what remains one of the greatest — and most audacious — individual performances in the 22-year history of the Las Vegas tournament. It was on this date that Morrow scored 47 points in a little over 36 minutes played against the New Orleans Hornets for a mark that has rarely been threatened at the annual summer-league gathering. What made the effort even more of a conversation piece was that the Warriors beat the Hornets 104-84. “He had the gym absolutely buzzing,” Curry said. “I’m not surprised that it’s still the record.”
Morrow, now 40, remembers channeling his inner Ray Allen — “one of my favorite players ever” — and launched shots without apology or hesitation. He made 18 of 26 from the field, including 7 of 9 from 3-point range. Curry, in comparison, chipped in nine points in a supporting role. “As a shooter, you get into that groove. I got in the groove that day, and it really kind of set the tone for the rest of my career,” Morrow said. “Like, it really etched me in stone.”
Keith Smart, who served as the Warriors’ summer-league coach in 2009, said he uses Morrow’s story as a teaching point to this day. “Sure, people say, ‘Well, summer league doesn’t mean anything.’ Oh, no, no. It means a lot,” Smart told The Athletic by phone this week. “When a guy like Morrow gets his shots, that changes his career. At Georgia Tech, everybody knew he could shoot it, OK? But they didn’t know how he could shoot it in the pros. “I share that with a lot of kids. The message is, ‘If you don’t get drafted, you still got to do what you do here well.’ Morrow is a great example of that.”
Q. There was a moment they were they could have traded Stephen Curry. They were going to choose between him and Monta Ellis. Anthony Morrow: Yeah. Q. Was the belief when you were in practices, was the energy like, they fully have bought into Steph or was it kind of like we don't know, it's a little wobbly, like do they believe in him? I know Mark Jackson eventually did, but what was it like those early years? Was it like you could tell that he's kind of like a trial run with them or was it like he's the face of this franchise? Anthony Morrow: Day one. They started him first game of the season against Houston. He played well. It's like he had like 17, but he had like a terrible turnover that lost the game. And like I remember all the vets like he ain't ready to play, he ain't this, he ain't that. I'm like Don Nelson is not turning his back on him. He chose him. He's not turning his back, and it was just part of the game. Like in the process, in the journey. I was like, he turned his back on this boy, man. The way he played, Don was opening him up like play yourself like you did at Davidson, and it is what it is and I remember the whole sh*t going on with him and Monta, well it wasn't him and Monta, it was like the media and everybody else and Monta, with Steph and Monta, and I mean Monta is a hell of a player bro, he was super underrated, still my guy, he was cold and I think that the way they played they had, was too small of a back court for back then.
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Anthony Morrow: Our fans are the greatest fans on Earth, any sport to me. And you know, it is what it is. And not a hot take, but I'm going to just say this: Honestly, I think Kevin Durant is going to end his career in Oklahoma City like when he's done. Q. Really? You think so? Morrow: Yeah. I think Kev is going to come back to Oklahoma City for real.
Anthony Morrow: Right now San Antonio is like the little brother of Oklahoma City. Like they're right in the same path. Like you see how Sam Presti has developed this team to be what they are now. It's the same as what San Antonio was with developing who they were and they've been sustainable. Shout out to Coach Popovich, RC Buford, doing that work over there and just the development, and I know Sam kind of took that blueprint and went there with it. I would love to see them in the Western Conference Finals every year for the next five years or something like that because they still young.
Brandon 'Scoop B' Robinson: Warriors G/F Klay Thompson has the interest of the Orlando Magic in free agency this off-season. He also got out of a semi-shooting slump scoring 23 points vs. the Nuggets on Sunday. “He got a short memory and he don’t care what anybody think,” says ex-Warriors teammate @MrAnthonyMorrow to @BovadaOfficial on this week’s episode of Scoop B Talks. “He’s not going to hesitate. He’s going to play the same way every time. That’s why I never worry about him when he get in a shooting slump because I’m like: ‘He’s not going to stop shooting.’ And it’s not like his jump shot just disappears.”
Warriors G/F Klay Thompson has the interest of the Orlando Magic in free agency this off-season. He also got out of a semi-shooting slump scoring 23 points vs. the Nuggets on Sunday.
— 👑 Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson (@ScoopB) February 26, 2024
“He got a short memory and he don’t care what anybody think,” says ex-Warriors teammate… pic.twitter.com/QJY4OR5mvI
Former NBA player Anthony Morrow is currently facing legal action in Charlotte stemming from a domestic violence incident that led to his arrest in mid-February. Morrow, who is from the area, is facing charges of assault on a female, assault by strangulation, communicating threats and second-degree kidnapping, according to the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s office records. The 37-year-old was arrested and booked into the Mecklenburg County jail on Feb. 10 and released after posting his $15,000 bond on Feb. 12.
According to court records obtained by local ABC affiliate WSOC-TV, Morrow was involved in a domestic violence incident with a woman inside her uptown Charlotte apartment. The documents allege that Morrow assaulted the woman, whom he was reportedly dating at the time, by “squeezing her neck with his hands” and “striking her multiple times with his fists.” The altercation reportedly resulted in the woman sustaining “scratches on the right side of her neck, a cut lip, and abrasions on her forehead.” Morrow’s attorney issued a statement to WSOC-TV, noting that Morrow “denies these allegations” and “has faith in our justice system and has every confidence that a review of the evidence will reveal that he is not guilty.”
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Joe Mussatto: More OKC staffing news: Former Thunder point guard Eric Maynor is moving from the Blue staff to the Thunder staff as a player development coach. And another former Thunder, Anthony Morrow, is taking a one-year position as lifestyle services and engagement associate.
“He’s a Lamborghini-type athlete. You can’t ask him to be a Honda Civic,” said former NBA player Anthony Morrow, who spent nearly three seasons alongside Westbrook in Oklahoma City.
Anthony Morrow vividly remembers one of the many times Scott Brooks ripped into Russell Westbrook. Westbrook had just completed a sloppy first half in Miami, missing seven of his 10 shots while dishing only one assist. The Thunder fell down considerably in the first quarter before battling back to make it close by the end of the second. It was the winter of 2015, a difficult time for Oklahoma City, which was fighting through injuries to remain in the playoff picture. OKC fans now callously refer to that year as “The Plagues of Egypt Season.” This team needed more from its point guard, so when it gathered in the locker room, Brooks approached him — in front of everyone.
“It was just one of those situations that was real tense in the locker room,” said Morrow, who played for the Thunder from 2014 to 2017. “Scott came in and went right at him. … He just went in on him.” Morrow remembers Brooks’ accusations. “You’re turning the ball over!” and “We need you!” and, as he so subtly describes, “Some other choice words; you know what I’m saying?”