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

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player.

Early life

As a senior for

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

'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 status. Randolph Morris was the #2 rated center and #10 overall prospect by Rivals.com 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 landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

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, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Established in 1885, it has the lar ...

. Morris, along with All-Americans Joe Crawford and Rajon Rondo, gave Kentucky the top-rated recruiting class in the nation. Also, in that same recruiting class was

teammate Ramel Bradley.

College career

After a solid debut in his first year at

, Morris decided to declare for the 2005

NBA draft The NBA draft is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) annual event, dating back to 1947 BAA draft, 1947, in which the teams in the league can Draft (sports), draft players who declare for the draft and that are Eligibility for the NBA dr ...

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 College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

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. He went undrafted, but since he did not hire an agent, Morris was allowed to return to the Wildcats to continue playing college basketball. At the same time, because the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

'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 The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the Na ...

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

in the same week, when he signed with the Knicks. When UK's then head coach Tubby Smith resigned and took the same job with the

Minnesota Golden Gophers The Minnesota Golden Gophers (commonly shortened to Gophers) are the college athletics, college sports teams of the University of Minnesota. The university fields a total of 21 (9 men's, 12 women's) teams in both men's and women's sports and com ...

, 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 The NBA Summer League, also known as the Las Vegas Summer League, is an off-season basketball competition organized by the National Basketball Association (NBA). NBA teams come together to try out different summer rosters instead of their regula ...

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 Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Easte ...

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 of the

Chinese Basketball Association The Chinese Basketball Association (), often abbreviated as the CBA, is the first-tier men's professional 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 China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, he and teammate

Stephon Marbury Stephon Xavier Marbury (born February 20, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player who was also the head coach for the Beijing Royal Fighters of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) from 2019–2023. After his freshman year ...

led Beijing to its first-ever CBA title. In

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, the Ducks won their second championship, and Morris was named the CBA Finals MVP. Beijing repeated as champions in

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, giving the Ducks a run of three titles in four years.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

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Playoffs

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References

External links

*
Kentucky Wildcats bio
{{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 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball players McDonald's High School All-Americans New York Knicks players Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) Undrafted NBA players Al Riyadi Club Beirut basketball players