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One of the biggest NBA stars in camp with the D’Tigers that has drawn so much attention is Denver Nuggets’s point guard, Monte Morris. Born on June 27th, 1995, in Grand Rapids, Morris who was nicknamed Man-Man by his mother after birth, showed great signs of excellence with basketball at an early age. During his high school years at Flint Beecher High School, he commanded a four-year starter role for the Beecher Buccaneers. Morris won the Michigan Associated Press Class C Player of the Year Award and made it three times to the all-state selection. In all four seasons at the Buccaneers, he led the scoring, assisting, and steals. Also, Morris led Flint Beecher to back-to-back Class C Michigan state title wins in 2012 and 2013. His exploits would see him emerge winner of Michigan’s Mr Basketball in the year 2013. In his freshman season, the Nigerian started on the bench, but his talent and hard work would make way as he fought his way into a regular spot on February 1st, 2014, against Oklahoma Sooners and has never looked back since then.
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He made history at Iowa after registering 134 assists, the third most recorded by any player in the school’s history. During his sophomore year at Iowa, Morris started all 34 games and had an average of 11.9 points, second in the team. Posting a Big 12-best of 5.2 assists and 3.4 rebounds, Morris earned an All-Big 12 Second-Team honours, and also finished the year as the player with the second most-assist of any sophomore, the 11th most recorded in the school history. After leading Iowa State to a 5th seed in the NCAA, and getting into the second round before they were beaten by Purdue in 2017, Morris made the 2017 NBA Draft the 51st overall pick by the Denver Nuggets. In a two-way contract signed with the Nuggets, Morris was meant to split time with the Nuggets and a G-League team designated for him. On October 23, 2017, he was assigned to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the NBA G-League. During his NBA debut for Denver on December 12, 2017, Man-Man registered an assist in just three minutes of action. Out of three games, he recorded an average of 3.3 points for the Denver Nuggets. For Rio Grande Valley, the D’Tigers star averaged 18.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 6.6 assists per game. Morris who is currently in camp with the Nigerian national basketball team ahead of the Olympics this summer committed his future to the West Africans on March 20th, 2021, as a naturalized player. Source Wikipedia Featured Image Source: ESPN
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