In what turned out to be a rather quiet trade deadline, the Dallas Mavericks executed a small deal. The Mavs and Atlanta Hawks essentially traded defense for offense when guard/forward Dahntay Jones went to the Hawks in exchange for sharpshooter Anthony Morrow.
In a 1-on-1 phone interview with Morrow, who goes by the nickname “A-Mo”, Mavs Fanatic and I am able to give Mavs fans a close-up look at our newest player.
A North Carolina native, Morrow played four years of college basketball in ACC country as a Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket.
Morrow broke into the NBA as an undrafted free agent when he was signed by the Golden State Warriors. Notably, A-Mo set the record for most points scored (37) by an undrafted player in his rookie season while also leading the league in 3-point percentage (46.7%).
Now in his fifth season, Morrow holds career averages of 11.5 points with outstanding shooting numbers – 45% FG | 42.5% 3PT | 89.7% FT.
The interview…
Mavs Fanatic: Welcome Anthony, the past 24-30 hours must have been quite busy for you, were you able to catch any of the game (Mavs at Hornets) tonight?
AM: Yeah man, very busy. I was following a little bit on my phone, but as soon as I got here I went to the arena and got some shots up.
Mavs Fanatic: With most the attention on your teammate Josh Smith, what went down and explain the events leading up to it being in fact you that was dealt instead.
AM: I mean I didn’t know for sure if I would be traded, I had been talking to my agent; of course, he and Danny Ferry had been talking a little bit. I was happy to be on the team, obviously for my teammates. I really enjoyed the player development people, I feel like I really developed my game.
But the playing, man, I just wasn’t playing at all really. I had ended up getting hurt, came back and played less than before. It was one of those things, you knew the trade deadline was coming up and thought I’d throw my name out there, get my agent working on getting me somewhere else.
Mavs Fanatic: Dallas a spot you considered?
AM: Basically, Dallas was one of the places that I just liked; you hear all good things about it. Everybody that I know that plays here now and former players that played here told me good things as well.
It seemed like a good situation so I felt blessed when I heard I was going to be a Maverick.
Mavs Fanatic: You mentioned the injuries you sustained early this season; I read it was both the hip and back?
AM: It kind of stemmed from each other, it was a back injury, all connected really. It was a hamstring, back, hip all running together at the same time. I had to just get back to my stretching, yoga and all that kind of stuff. It was definitely a setback.
After the injury, I did some rehab, worked and they (Hawks training staff) really helped me.
Mavs Fanatic: So you’re feeling good now?
AM: Yeah definitely, like 100 percent, just waiting and anxious to play.
Mavs Fanatic: What are you ready to bring to this Mavs team?
AM: First seeing where I fit in with the team, whatever they need me to do, whatever my role is I’m going to do it to the best of my abilities. My energy, being a good locker room guy obviously, great teammate.
On the court, I’ll do what I do best – shoot and score.
Mavs Fanatic: Appears you’ll likely debut Sunday against the Lakers, a team in similar unfamiliar territory as the Mavs – outside the playoffs looking in.
AM: Yeah need to take my physical, get my first practice in and hopefully be ready to play the Lakers. With about 30 games left I think we’ll be fine, find our rhythm, there’s a lot of competitors on this team and I’m ready to join.
Mavs Fanatic: When you look at this team’s personnel, what do you see?
AM: We have a lot of great scorers here, good young talent mixed with older guys who know what it takes to win. I’m excited to play on a team with Dirk Nowitzki, I’m just ecstatic right now.
Mavs Fanatic: While on Twitter, I came across your personal website, Mr. Rise and Grind.
AM: Yeah, I’m looking to get it updated (Still shows Morrow as a NJ Net), haven’t updated it in awhile, but that’s a little thing I go by ever since college. I always said, rise and grind, just wake up and go to work. That’s what got me here and what I’m going to continue to do now with the Mavericks.
Mavs Fanatic: There’s a video on YouTube with you and Kyle Korver having 3-point shootouts in practice. Which Dallas teammate will pose you the best challenge?
AM: It would definitely have to be Dirk Nowitzki man (laughs). He’s probably the best big man shooter of all time. I’ve never seen a big man like him, he’s so unique and definitely a Hall of Fame player one day.
You know I heard all great things (In terms of Dirk and the Mavs); DeShawn Stevenson was one of the first to call me after the trade. We were very close in Atlanta and he told me everything about it. It was funny because we were talking a few weeks ago about different teams, him being in Dallas, and he was like man you would LOVE being in Dallas. Three or four weeks later, I end up coming here so glad it worked out like that.
An interesting point Morrow made to me was that he’s very familiar with playing in Dallas.
His first time was as a 16 or 17-year-old high school player. He actually had his very first NBA tryout with Donnie Nelson and the Mavericks. He went on to play the Rookie/Sophomore game in Dallas as well.
Morrow mentioned that Vince Carter reached out to him on Twitter about growing a beard. He admitted he’s not really able to grow one and would probably own the worst on the team. I let him know he’s not alone as Darren Collison also conceded it’s not his thing.
A-Mo does know what ‘MFFL’ stands for because Mavs fans did well to educate him early and often.
This was a sample size of getting to know your newest Dallas Maverick and first impressions show the Mavs have acquired a quality player and stand-up guy.
Welcome to Dallas Anthony!
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