Spurs sign Malik Hairston and Brian Morrison

[Bruno]

http://www.nba.com/spurs/news/hairston_morrison_080930.html

The San Antonio Spurs announced today that they have signed Malik Hairston and free agent Brian Morrison. Per team policy, terms of the deals were not disclosed.

Hairston, a 6-6 forward, was obtained from the Phoenix Suns in a draft night trade for the rights to Goran Dragic on June 26. Taken with the 48th overall pick, Hairston spent four seasons at the University of Oregon. He earned Honorable Mention All-Pac-10 honors his sophomore and senior seasons. In his final season with Ducks he averaged a team-high 16.3 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists. He ranked fifth in the Pac-10 in three-point shooting connecting on 43.3 percent (52-120) of his shots from behind the arc and scored 20 or more points 11 times. During his four years at Oregon, he averaged 14.1 points, 5.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists while shooting .504 (612-1,214) from the field, .395 (145-367) from long range and .643 (275-428) from the line.

Hairston played on the Spurs squads at the 2008 Las Vegas Summer League and Rocky Mountain Revue. In four games in Vegas he averaged 6.3 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 20.3 minutes. At the Rocky Mountain Revue Hairston saw action in four games, averaging 8.3 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 27.5 minutes while shooting .520 (13-25) from the field.

Morrison, a 6-2 guard, also played on the Spurs summer league teams in Las Vegas and Salt Lake City. He saw action in four games in Las Vegas, averaging 5.0 points, 1.5 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 12.3 minutes. The former UCLA Bruin played in three games at the Rocky Mountain Revue, averaging 9.7 points, 1.3 rebounds and 1.0 assists in 11.3 minutes. Morrison spent this past season playing with the L.A. Defenders in the NBA Development League. He appeared in 23 games, averaging 5.0 points, 1.6 assists and 1.2 rebounds in 12.5 minutes. Morrison has played overseas in Turkey and spent the 2005-06 season playing for the Yakima Sun Kings in the CBA. He spent two seasons at UCLA after spending his first two collegiate seasons at North Carolina. In his two seasons with the Bruins, he played in 42 games averaging 7.7 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 22.2 minutes.

[xellos88330]

Arrrrgh so many names at training camp. My head is hurting now!!!

[Bruno]

I'm surprised to see Spurs adding another guard.
Spurs will have tons of perimeter players during the training camp and a relatively small amount of bigmen.

If Morrison has been signed as 4th string PG, it also means that Spurs don't consider Hill or Stoudamire as a PG.

[xtremesteven33]

this is getting weird.....WAY too many PG/SG's.

i hope they have a trade in the works for a goog Big

[I. Hustle]

Although he is 6'2 he plays center

[ss1986v2]

everyone is getting worked up over essentially nothing. most of these names are simply camp fodder. it doesnt matter how many guards they invite if they are going to simply cut them at the end of camp anyway.

[Dre_7]

this is getting weird.....WAY too many PG/SG's.

i hope they have a trade in the works for a goog Big

Yeah, the Spurs are in desperate need of a goog big!

[xtremesteven33]

Yeah, the Spurs are in desperate need of a goog big!



actually we need a good big to help out Tim inside. An athletic strong center/PF.

like a Harrington,Perkins,Tyrus Thomas,Haslem or a Diop

where u been?

[Darkwaters]

actually we need a good big to help out Tim inside. An athletic strong center/PF.

like a Harrington,Perkins,Tyrus Thomas,Haslem or a Diop

where u been?

I think his point is that the team really needs a good big to help us out, but a goog big is not necessarily a priority.

[angelbelow]

morrison sucks..

[AnotherArgie]

Although he is 6'2 he plays center

:lol

Seriously, something's going on here.

[urunobili]

Vaughn will be bought out...

[ChumpDumper]

I think the Spurs just picked up Morrison for the Toros. He was left unprotected in the D-League expansion draft by LA. He can make some money, stay out of the D-League draft and conceivably join the Toros from the available player pool.

Maybe.

I don't know, there's only so much that can be speculated about players 16-20

[lurker23]

I'm also surprised that the Spurs are carrying so many PGs/SGs into camp, particularly when most Spurs fans feel that where the team needs more depth is SF and PF. Anyway, here's what I wrote about Brian Morrison back at the Rocky Mountain Revue:



Hill did a great job of staying in front of Tyrone Brazelton, who is a very fast guard. When Brian Morrison came in to replace Hill, Brazelton blew past him a couple times.


Brian Morrison: He's a point guard who has a good shot. While it's definitely a step down when he comes in for Hill, he has shown the ability to hit the 18-footer to NBA 3-point shot. He's not horribly quick on defense (I already talked about him getting owned by Brazelton), but he is a vocal leader on the court. I think he might be able to play overseas if he wants to.

[T Park]

LOL I'd love to know where this huge surplus of bigs are that the spurs passed over

[pad300]

LOL I'd love to know where this huge surplus of bigs are that the spurs passed over

Elton Brown - signed to participate in Chicago's camp on 26 Sept.(earliest mention I found in the press)
http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=10076

Nick Fazekas - signed to participate in Denver's camp on 23 Sept. (earliest mention I found in the press)
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/sep/23/fazekas-wants-to-be-nuggets-big-man-on-campus/
In the article, it says "he had "lots" of camp offers" so he may have had one from SA, but declined, preferring Denver (his Hometown).

There's at least 2 that could have been in camp...

[timvp]

I think the Spurs just picked up Morrison for the Toros. He was left unprotected in the D-League expansion draft by LA. He can make some money, stay out of the D-League draft and conceivably join the Toros from the available player pool.

Bingo.

Brian Morrison is not an NBA player at this point. He'd probably be a decent fit on the Toros, however.

[benefactor]

Morrison is just someone to play against at camp...and maybe a spot on the Toros as some have suggested. As far as Hairston goes this is the Spurs giving him one last chance to show he can make the team. He is bigger than most of the other 2 guards we have...so if he shines at camp and during the preseason he might find a spot at the end of the bench.

But if I was a betting man I would say neither make the team.

[Mr.Bottomtooth]

Vaughn will be bought out...

I doubt it. I think he'll make the team but ride the bench, sometimes in his suit.

[DPG21920]

I still think it will look like:
Active Roster:

Kurt/Oberto/Ian
Duncan/Bonner
Bruce/Ian
Manu/Mason/Finley
Parker/Hill

IR:

Vaughn, Tolliver, ???

I really think there is only 1 or 2 spots at most and they are for the Toros or IR

[mrspurs]

Ive seen Morrison play. Noway he makes the cut. What he does have is a good passing game. And thats it. So for someone to help mix it up during practices, a good passer is about as good as its gonna get from a noone. They will need alot of good passing point guards in order to run the second squads to polish the starters. Thats the way its always been during training camps. The bigs they work on later. They get alot of one on ones and alot of training with the coaches. Then bang, the first scrimmage and then the bumps and bruises followed by the cuts.

[Hoy]

What he does have is a good passing game.

Man, you are annoyingly ignorant.
He is a good jump shooter. Maybe the best 3 pointer shooter in our camp.
He is slow, though.

[Tully365]

Elton Brown - signed to participate in Chicago's camp on 26 Sept.(earliest mention I found in the press)
http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=10076

Nick Fazekas - signed to participate in Denver's camp on 23 Sept. (earliest mention I found in the press)
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/sep/23/fazekas-wants-to-be-nuggets-big-man-on-campus/
In the article, it says "he had "lots" of camp offers" so he may have had one from SA, but declined, preferring Denver (his Hometown).

There's at least 2 that could have been in camp...

The Spurs brought in Fazekas for a workout just a month ago (sorry I don't have the link available), so at least they took a look before deciding to pass.

[dbestpro]

I still think it will look like:
Active Roster:

Kurt/Oberto/Ian
Duncan/Bonner
Bruce/Ian
Manu/Mason/Finley
Parker/Hill

IR:

Vaughn, Tolliver, ???

I really think there is only 1 or 2 spots at most and they are for the Toros or IR

Ian is so nice you selected him twice. Now the real deal.

Thomas/Oberto
Duncan/Mahinmi/Bonner
Bowen/Udoka
Ginobili/Mason/Finley
Parker/Vaughn/Stoudamire/Hill (NBDL)

The 15th spot will be filled by a player cut from another team. Better luck next time for Tolliver and Hairston.

[Biggems]

i was hoping we would go after SF Nichols.....I think his size and skillset would have been a perfect fit for our final wing spot.

[DPG21920]

Ian is so nice you selected him twice. Now the real deal.

Thomas/Oberto
Duncan/Mahinmi/Bonner
Bowen/Udoka
Ginobili/Mason/Finley
Parker/Vaughn/Stoudamire/Hill (NBDL)

The 15th spot will be filled by a player cut from another team. Better luck next time for Tolliver and Hairston.

Obviously I meant Ime, not Ian.

[mrspurs]

Man, you are annoyingly ignorant.
He is a good jump shooter. Maybe the best 3 pointer shooter in our camp.
He is slow, though.

Your as clueless as they come. The best 3 point shooter in our camp? :lol Thats why he's getting paid the big money huh? try try again silly hoy.........:lol