Nets' Anthony Morrow has mastered the art of the 3-point shot after years of practice (original) (raw)

Sam Sharpe/US PresswireThe Nets' Anthony Morrow has the second-highest 3-point shooting percentage, .448, in NBA history.

When her only son was 7 or 8 years old, Angela Morrow would put him to bed and turn off the light. Once the door to his bedroom was closed, it sounded as if a pickup game had broken out.

Swish, Yay!

Using a flashlight to help him see, Anthony would be throwing balls of rolled-up aluminum foil, or sometimes rolled-up socks covered with tape, through a hoop he had made by bending a wire hanger into a circle.

“That boy could make a goal out of anything,’’ Angela Morrow says.

Most basketball aficionados agree that great shooters are born, not trained. But if the ability to consistently hoist a basketball over 20 feet through a circular hoop 10 feet above the ground is mostly innate, that gift alone won’t get you to the NBA.

“Shooters, to me, are born," said Rontrice Morrow, Anthony’s older cousin and the man who taught him the finer points of shooting a basketball. “But practice does make perfect."

Anthony Morrow has been practicing shooting a basketball all his life. His dedication has refined a skill so sharp that he has the second-highest 3-point shooting percentage, .448, in NBA history.

At pre-school age, growing up in Charlotte, N.C., his mother would take Anthony to the park and let him shoot basketballs until he tired himself out. When Rontrice — who is eight years older than Anthony — would go to the park with friends, his grandmother would make him take Anthony. Rontrice and his friends would play half-court, and Anthony would shoot by himself at the other end.

All that shooting paid off when Morrow, 25, signed a free-agent deal with the Nets last summer worth 12millionoverthreeyears.ForaguywhowentundraftedcomingoutofGeorgiaTechthreeyearsago,andwhonearlysignedfor12 million over three years. For a guy who went undrafted coming out of Georgia Tech three years ago, and who nearly signed for 12millionoverthreeyears.ForaguywhowentundraftedcomingoutofGeorgiaTechthreeyearsago,andwhonearlysignedfor80,000 to play in Ukraine, it is more money than he could have imagined he’d ever see in his life.

“This is just tremendous, man, it’s a blessing,’’ Morrow said of the success and stability he has found in the NBA. “I thank God for it every day. It’s just one of those things where you see stuff like that in movies. You don’t see stuff like that every day. So I acknowledge that, give back to my neighborhood, give back to my community, tell people my story all the time.”

Morrow’s story picks up in the 10th grade with his jumper. It was then he first realized he was good enough to play basketball in college — maybe professionally. His high school coach at Charlotte Latin, Jerry Faulkner, told him that, with work, he had the potential to do big things.

“I said, ‘Anthony, what you do with this is your business, but I’m going to give you a chance,’" Faulkner recalled. “ ‘You can do what you want to do with it — you can listen to your coach, listen to your teachers and go to the next level. And maybe the next level.’"

Morrow, who grew up on the west side of Charlotte, had transferred to Charlotte Latin — 30 miles away, on the city’s south side — as a sophomore. The move taught him a lesson beyond basketball, his mother said.

“I felt the need to move him because public school wasn’t giving him a challenge,” Angela Morrow said. “He would be done with his homework in 20 minutes. I felt like he was smart enough to be challenged.”

She worked four jobs to cover the family’s bills and pay the tuition, and sometimes would bring Anthony to work with her “because I wanted him to see that nothing is free. Whatever you want, you’ve got to work for it.”

Morrow did. Sometimes, after a weeknight road game, he might not get home until after midnight — and then would have to do homework. He’d get to bed at 2 or 3 a.m. and be up by 6 a.m. to get to school on time.

As a sophomore, Morrow was recruited by North Carolina, his favorite college team, but then-coach Matt Doherty resigned after the 2002-03 season and his replacement, Roy Williams, didn’t show interest in Morrow, who ended up at Georgia Tech instead.

Morrow’s college career undulated. A successful sophomore season gave way to a junior campaign in which, after a back injury, his scoring average slumped and he mostly came off the bench. He rebounded as a senior, with his jumper (44.8 percent from 3-point range) helping to earn an invite to the NBA’s Portsmouth, N.H., draft combine. Still, he wasn’t drafted.

Morrow bounced around the NBA summer league circuit, hoping his shooting prowess would attract a suitor. He caught on with the Golden State Warriors, earned the MVP of the Utah summer league then a contract for the 2008-09 season. As a rookie, he scored 10 a game and hit 46.7 percent of his 3-point shots. The next year, he shot 45.6 percent from 3, a mark of consistency the Nets noticed last offseason.

“One of the things that we lacked tremendously was shooting,” Nets assistant GM Bobby Marks said. “Him kind of being under the radar the last couple years in Golden State — he was two minimum contracts, non-guaranteed — we felt at the value he possessed on the court and at the salary number we were looking at, he was a guy that kind of fit (our needs).”

Morrow has quietly become the Nets’ top offseason acquisition. He is averaging 13.2 points and shooting 42.4 percent from 3-point range in 43 starts, the most of his career. His career 3-point shooting percentage trails only Steve Kerr (.454) in NBA history.

“I’ve only played with one other shooter similar to him and that’s Kyle Korver, a guy that’s just a dead-eye 3-point shooter,” Nets point guard Deron Williams said. “Guys like that are a point guard’s dream, because you’re pretty much mad when they miss.”

For more Nets coverage, follow Colin Stephenson on Twitter at twitter.com/ledger_nets

Colin Stephenson: cstephenson@starledger.com

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.