Randolph Albert Morris (born January 2, 1986) is a retired former American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player.

High school

As a senior for

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

's Landmark Christian High School, Morris nearly averaged a triple-double at 23.0 ppg, 16.0 rpg and 8.0 bpg, which earned him

McDonald's All-American Team The McDonald's All-American Game is the all-star basketball game played each year for American and Canadian boys' and girls' high school basketball graduates. Consisting of the top players, each team plays a single exhibition game after the concl ...

status. Randolph Morris was the #2 rated center and #10 overall prospect by

Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckma ...

in a year when a record eight high schoolers went directly to the NBA draft. Morris strongly considered a jump straight to the NBA as well, but decided to spend at least a year in school.

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

won a late recruiting battle, after drawing Morris away from early favorite

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

. Morris, along with All-Americans Joe Crawford and

Rajon Rondo Rajon Pierre Rondo (, born February 22, 1986) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A point guard, Rondo played two years of college basketball for ...

, gave Kentucky the top-rated recruiting class in the nation. Also, in that same recruiting class was

teammate

Ramel Bradley Ramel "Smooth" Bradley (born February 5, 1985) is a retired American professional basketball player who last played for Ankara DSİ of the Turkish Basketball First League. He played college basketball at the University of Kentucky. High school ...

College

After a solid debut in his first year at

, Morris decided to declare for the 2005 NBA draft but did not hire an agent. He averaged 8.8 points per game and 4.2 rebounds. Despite playing well for Kentucky and starting every game but one, he did not prove himself NBA ready and often got in foul trouble. Morris went undrafted and decided to attempt a return to Kentucky. The

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

agreed to reinstate him, but not before sitting out the first half of the 2005-2006 season. Morris returned to Kentucky in January 2006, but could not help the team get out of its season-long slump. Nevertheless, he improved in almost every statistical category from his freshman year and was very impressive at times. As a sophomore, he averaged 13.3 points and 6 rebounds per game. In his junior season Morris made further progress, averaging 16.1 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game, earning first team All-SEC honors.

Professional career

After his freshman year at Kentucky, Morris declared himself eligible for the

2005 NBA draft The 2005 NBA draft took place on June 28, 2005, in the Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York City. In this draft, NBA teams took turns selecting amateur college basketball players and other first-time eligible players, such as players fr ...

. He went undrafted, but since he did not hire an agent, Morris was allowed to return to the

Wildcats The wildcat is a species complex comprising two small wild cat species: the European wildcat (''Felis silvestris'') and the African wildcat (''F. lybica''). The European wildcat inhabits forests in Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus, while the ...

to continue playing college basketball. At the same time, because the NBA's collective bargaining agreement prohibited him from re-entering into a future draft, Morris was also legally a free agent who could be signed at any time. That meant he would be able to leave Kentucky in the middle of the college basketball season if signed by an NBA team. Morris took advantage of his free agent status, and signed a two-year, $1.6 million contract with the New York Knicks on March 23, 2007, five days after Kentucky was eliminated from the NCAA tournament. Morris became the first player in history to go from the

to the NBA in the same week, when he signed with the Knicks. When UK's then head coach

Tubby Smith Orlando Henry "Tubby" Smith (born June 30, 1951) is an American college basketball coach. He was the men's basketball coach at High Point University, his alma mater. Smith previously served in the same role at the University of Tulsa, the Univer ...

resigned and took the same job with the

Minnesota Golden Gophers The Minnesota Golden Gophers (commonly shortened to Gophers) are the college sports teams of the University of Minnesota. The university fields a total of 25 (12 men's, 13 women's) teams in both men's and women's sports and competes in the Big Te ...

, Kentucky's athletic director Mitch Barnhart asked Morris to defer making a decision about turning pro until after the administration found a new head coach to replace Smith, but he chose to sign with New York instead of waiting. After spending parts of two seasons playing with the Knicks, Morris joined the NBA Summer League team of the

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays its home games at ...

in 2008, and subsequently signed a two-year, $1.7 million contract with the Hawks on July 29. He would then spend the next two seasons as a member of Atlanta's roster. Morris moved to the

Beijing Ducks The Beijing Shougang Ducks (''simplified Chinese'': 北京首钢鸭俱乐部篮球队), also known as Beijing Shougang or Beijing Ducks, are a professional basketball team based in Beijing, China, which plays in the North Division of the Chin ...

of the

Chinese Basketball Association The Chinese Basketball Association (), often abbreviated as the CBA, is the first-tier professional men's basketball league in China. The league is commonly known by fans as the CBA, and this acronym is even used in Chinese on a regular basis ...

ahead of the 2010-11 season. In his second season in China, he and teammate

Stephon Marbury Stephon Xavier Marbury (born February 20, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player and current head coach in the Chinese Basketball Association. After his freshman year with the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, he was selected as th ...

led Beijing to its first-ever CBA title. In

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, the Ducks won their second championship, and Morris was named the

CBA Finals MVP The Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) Finals MVP is the annual award that is handed out at the end of each Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) playoff finals series to the most valuable player of that season's CBA Finals. The award was first d ...

. Beijing repeated as champions in 2015, giving the Ducks a run of three titles in four years.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

, - , align="left" , , align="left" , New York , 5 , , 0 , , 8.8 , , .167 , , .000 , , .333 , , 1.8 , , .2 , , .4 , , .2 , , .8 , - , align="left" , , align="left" , New York , 18 , , 2 , , 10.1 , , .362 , , .000 , , .483 , , 2.1 , , .1 , , .2 , , .1 , , 3.1 , - , align="left" , , align="left" ,

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, 23 , , 0 , , 3.9 , , .412 , , .000 , , 1.000 , , .9 , , .1 , , .1 , , .0 , , .8 , - , align="left" , , align="left" ,

, 28 , , 0 , , 4.4 , , .561 , , .000 , , .593 , , 1.4 , , .1 , , .2 , , .1 , , 2.2 , - , align="left" , Career , align="left" , , 74 , , 2 , , 5.9 , , .426 , , .000 , , .545 , , 1.4 , , .1 , , .2 , , .1 , , 1.9

Playoffs

, - , align="left" , 2009 , align="left" ,

, 3 , , 0 , , 2.7 , , .000 , , .000 , , .000 , , .7 , , .0 , , .3 , , .0 , , .0 , - , align="left" , 2010 , align="left" ,

, 3 , , 0 , , 3.3 , , .500 , , .000 , , 1.000 , , .7 , , .0 , , .0 , , .0 , , 1.0 , - , align="left" , Career , align="left" , , 6 , , 0 , , 3.0 , , .333 , , .000 , , 1.000 , , .7 , , .0 , , .2 , , .0 , , .5

References

External links

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Kentucky Wildcats bioYahoo! Sports profileESPN.com Player Card
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, Randolph 1986 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in China American expatriate basketball people in Lebanon American men's basketball players Atlanta Hawks players Basketball players from Atlanta Basketball players from Houston Beijing Ducks players Centers (basketball) Power forwards (basketball) Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball players McDonald's High School All-Americans New York Knicks players Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) Undrafted National Basketball Association players Al Riyadi Club Beirut basketball players