It was a giant leap of faith born of a firm belief in his abilities, a bold career move with nothing promised or expected, and it鈥檚 turned out to be the best thing Scott Morrison ever did.
The native of Morel, P.E.I. 鈥 men鈥檚 basketball head coach at Lakehead University for a decade 鈥 is turning heads in the D League now, guiding the Maine Red Claws to the best record in their conference and earning a coaching spot in the league鈥檚 all-star game next month in Brooklyn as part of marquee weekend.
It caps a meteoric rise by the 37-year-old Morrison, who took a leave of absence from Lakehead in 2013 to pursue a dream.
鈥淚 said if I was younger and would have had a chance to see what Steve Nash did as a player, maybe I would have set my goals higher as a player when I was a kid,鈥 Morrison said in a telephone interview. 鈥淪eeing coach (Jay) Triano break in with the Raptors and become a head coach in the NBA as a Canadian, I said, 鈥楬ey, I鈥檓 not going to sell myself short again. I鈥檓 going to go for it if I ever have the chance.鈥 鈥
He went for it and hit it big.
Morrison 鈥 whose Red Claws, a Boston Celtics affiliate, lead the D League鈥檚 Eastern Conference with a 17-8 record 鈥 went blindly into the future when he negotiated that leave from Lakehead, fully intent on honing his craft for a year or so to become a better Canadian university coach.
He originally thought he鈥檇 find a way to volunteer with an NBA team, but those opportunities don鈥檛 generally exist and it was Ryerson鈥檚 Roy Rana, who had Morrison on his Canadian junior team staff, who suggested the D League as a more realistic option.
Morrison knew about three D League coaches. He impressed then-Red Claws coach Mike Taylor, then worked for a season as a non-travelling scout and developmental coach. When Taylor鈥檚 job came open last summer, the Celtics gave it to Morrison.
鈥淚鈥檝e always felt, just being with the national teams in the summer, that we have just as high a level of coaching in parts of Canada (as) they do in the U.S., but not many of us get the chance to prove it,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 guess I鈥檓 just grateful that I got the chance to show my work ethic last year and show that I can work with players at this level. I鈥檓 really grateful for the guys in Boston giving me a chance, and I鈥檓 just trying to do right by them.鈥
He is doing more than right. In the ever-changing D League, where players tend to come and go with alarming frequency, Morrison has found a way to let his team thrive while also impressing his NBA-level bosses.
鈥淥ne thing we tried to do is keep our system simple and focus on fundamentals as much as we can, so that when guys do come in new they don鈥檛 have to learn a whole playbook full of stuff,鈥 he said.
鈥淓veryone that鈥檚 been here can still improve by keeping things simple. You don鈥檛 have to overwhelm guys when they get in, and also we鈥檝e tried to keep things a little closer to what the Celtics are doing, so that when they assign guys to us they can kind of step right in and feel at home with what we鈥檙e doing on both sides of the ball.鈥
The Celtics, the lone NBA affiliate of the Red Claws, have sent a handful of players down 鈥 notably Toronto鈥檚 Dwight Powell, before he was traded to Dallas, and James Young 鈥 knowing they鈥檇 get consistent coaching from Morrison.
鈥淚 was hired mid-August and went right to Boston, I spent basically 2陆 months there just getting to see what they do and also how they teach was pretty great for me,鈥 he said. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 run everything that they do, but most of what we run is something that鈥檚 in their repertoire, too.
鈥淭hey invest so much money in those players and what I鈥檓 seeing in the NBA is, if you鈥檙e not in the rotation it鈥檚 hard to get better, because they don鈥檛 practise a whole lot once the season gets going. Even just the chance to come down and play 35 minutes to stay fresh if you do get the call, I think, is worth it.鈥
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