Summer League love for Jordan Morgan

Jordan Morgan is not going to impress anyone looking at a box score — seven points and six rebounds in 23 minutes on Tuesday. But watching him play, and you see some value. He is able to muscle players around in the low post and fight and scratch for rebounds. It is a good thing to see.

Morgan is a big dude, but he has more athleticism than you would think looking at him. He uses all of that to his advantage.

He is still pretty limited on both ends of the floor. He has to rely on his positioning on defense and his offensive game is limited to put backs. But every team needs a guy willing to do the dirty work. Morgan can make his money there.

If he makes an NBA roster, I will gladly eat crow. I would love to eat crow on this. Few deserve success at what they do more than JMo

Great stuff. Morgan’s one of the toughest players around.

Good luck to him. In a watered down NBA a kid like him has a real shot. NBA rosters are full of no name free agents that are of similar skill and athletic ability. Hope he makes it.

Does anyone know if Morgan’s new squad in France is a step up or step down in competition?

Does anyone know if Morgan's new squad in France is a step up or step down in competition?

Virtus Roma was in Lega A in Italy. Nantes is in LNB Pro B in France, which is the second tier. The top tier of French basketball is ranked just behind the top tier of Italian basketball in the FIBA rankings I believe. So it’s a step down from the looks of it. Virtus Roma regularly made the Lega A playoffs and earned a Euroleague spot in the past, though they’ve been in a rough patch missing the playoffs three of the last five seasons. They’re the team Brandon Jennings played on instead of going to college. Virtus played in the Eurocop last season. Relating it to soccer, Euroleague is like Champions League and Eurocop is like Europa League. So Jordan would have probably had the chance for more exposure to better continental competition staying with Virtus. But he wanted to take a shot at the NBA and Virtus probably couldn’t hold a spot for him.

Not knowing what he made at Virtus, it could easily be a step up in money. Even though it’s Pro B, he could be the “franchise” American on the team and make more money than he did last year.