It's become a rite of passage for Houston Rockets draft picks to make their way to the Rio Grande Valley for a stint with the Vipers.
And now the 14th pick overall from the 2011 NBA draft is taking that road well-traveled. According to Jonathan Fiegen of the Houston Chronicle, the Rockets are sending rookie forward Marcus Morris to the D-League for some seasoning, some playing time, and a chance to improve at the position for which he was drafted, small forward.
Morris joins the list of Rockets draft picks to be assigned to the RGV, a list that includes, Aaron Brooks, Carl Landry, and Patrick Patterson.
One very big difference this time around, though. Instead of sending a player to coach Chris Finch,m now up with the big club as an assistant to head coach Kevin Mchale, Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey is sending Morris to Vipers coach Nick Nurse.
Not that Nurse doesn't have the skins on the wall to compete with Finch, it's that the two have very different approaches to the game.
Nurse likes to substitute en masse, 5 players in, 5 players out, and plenty of playing time for everyone. But is that enough playing time for Morris, the former Kansas Jayhawk, to satisfy the Rockets?
It will be interesting to see how this plays out this weekend when the Dakota Wizards come to Hidalgo for a back-to-back series Friday and Saturday.
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