BOSTON – Trivia question: How many Atlantic University Sport (AUS) players have made it to the NBA?
Well, nobody for quite a while, and it’s actually up for argument, depending on your definition of “made it.”
But Acadia’s Brian Heaney played for the Baltimore Bullets, and Larry Hampton, also of Acadia, along with Mickey Fox and Will Njoku of Saint Mary’s, all had NBA tryouts.
Then there’s Scott Morrison, a Morell native who played at UPEI.
Morrison wasn’t nearly the player any of those listed above were, though he does still hold the conference record for three-pointers made in a career, with 220 in 99 games.
But it’s in coaching that he’s really made his mark.
His career began as a Dalhousie University women’s team assistant in 2001-02. He was the interim head coach the following season, then became the head coach for the Lakehead University men’s team. After winning coach of the year awards at Lakehead and with the Maine Claws of the NBA’s D-League, Morrison was hired as an assistant by Brad Stevens and the Boston Celtics last June.
When he got the job, he made a purchase he’d been planning for a while.
“I always said, when I was in the D-League for all those years, that when I get to the NBA I’m going to get an NBA car, so I went back to Charlottetown and bought a Honda Civic. I got the windows tinted, though, so it’s a little more big-time than I used to be. It’s a nice Civic, the Touring edition,” said Morrison, who can be dryly hilarious.
“Most of the guys have a Range Rover for their daily use, usually decked out pretty good. Guys like Kyrie (Irving) and Gordon (Hayward) and the owners, they’ll have your Lamborghinis, your Maseratis … a couple of the guys have a big Rolls, one of their guys driving them to and from. The boys live pretty good, they’re under a lot of pressure on game nights, but those other days they’re enjoying it.”
Morrison and his fiance Susanne Canvin, who played basketball at Saint Mary’s and UPEI and now works in marketing for the Celtics, live a six-minute walk from the TD Garden. So, she walks to work every day, and he does for games, too.
Commuting isn’t the only travel that’s gotten easier.
“Everything is charter jet, five-star hotel and catered meals in those five-star hotels,” said Morrison. “The travel is one of the worst things about the job, but also one of the best things in terms of the treatment. If it wasn’t for being away from home, travel would be great because everything is taken care of, it’s 180 degrees from the D-League, or college.”
At 40, he is the youngest of the Celtics five assistant coaches and one year younger than Stevens. His work is chiefly on the offensive side of the ball, much of it preparing video for Stevens to use in demonstrating to the players how to attack opposing defences. Like all the coaches, he has players assigned to him that he works with year-round.
One of Morrison’s players is Hayward, who came to the Celtics as a free agent this season and suffered a season-ending injury in the team’s first game.
“As soon he could get on the court, he had a couple of his own guys around and whenever we were in town I would work with him, worked with him all summer, so I’m looking forward to getting back out there with him,” Morrison said.
“Someone like Gordon, the first day I met him he had just signed a max contract, so I couldn’t take much credit for that. I went into that first day having watched all his film from the year before and talking to Brad about what things (Hayward) could work on. You don’t want to jump in and make any big changes but you can suggest areas he could improve. One of the first times we met, he said, ‘Your job is to make me better, it doesn’t matter how good I was last year’.”
The head coach does most of the talking during timeouts, but Morrison sometimes adds something, though he’s much more likely to talk to his own guy.
“I’m behind the bench, so every now and then I’ll lean over and get into a guy’s ear, usually about an offensive thing, and just try to chip in if I see something,” he said.
When the team is at home, the workday for coaches starts at about 8:30 a.m., a couple of hours before the players start to arrive.
“One of my guys, Semi Ojeleye, is a rookie, so he does his pre-practice shooting first, so I’ll be on the court with him, and helping out with other guys until practice starts,” said Morrison.
“All told, probably on the court for three or four hours, then guys leave. We don’t have a lot of coaches’ meetings, it’s more like ‘here’s your assignment, make sure you get them in, we’ll talk if we have to,’ which I like. Coach Stevens is pretty good with being aware of families and home commitments, so he doesn’t expect you to be there 14 hours a day.”
Morrison’s contract with the Celtics is up this year and he’s hoping to get it renewed. Even after a full season on the job there are still times when he has to pinch himself.
“I guess at one point in time, this would have been a dream,” he said. “And there’s certain times during the season, certain moments, where I’ll catch myself and think that this is pretty cool that I got to this point. But I’ve always had the same philosophy since we started doing well at Lakehead, which was if you start getting too caught up in that stuff or start patting yourself on the back, then it’ll all be over pretty quickly.
“It is important every now and then to look back and appreciate it, but the majority of the time keep grinding, because there’s a lot of people working hard around me, and also trying to get to where I am. I don’t want to lose my spot and I hope to continue to move up, too.”
