Marcus Morris proving to be invaluable part of Celtics

BOSTON — Coming into this season, most viewed Marcus Morris as the consummate veteran role player who would hopefully give the Celtics one more solid year before leaving for someplace else for a more lucrative contract via free agency.

Now it’s fair to starting thinking about what the Celtics would have to do to keep him around for the duration of what is designed to be a championship-contending window.

While the team had wild swings of effectiveness and [...]

BOSTON — Coming into this season, most viewed Marcus Morris as the consummate veteran role player who would hopefully give the Celtics one more solid year before leaving for someplace else for a more lucrative contract via free agency.

Now it’s fair to starting thinking about what the Celtics would have to do to keep him around for the duration of what is designed to be a championship-contending window.

While the team had wild swings of effectiveness and disjointed play over the first quarter of the season, Morris was the one player who could be counted on just about every night. Asked if Morris had been the team’s most consistent player through the first six weeks of the season, Celtics coach Brad Stevens issued a flat: “Yes.”

No further explanation was needed.

But as Morris has continued to produce at a very high level — for the last eight games as a member of the starting lineup heading into Wednesday night’s contest in Washington — Stevens has lauded the eight-year veteran’s versatility, talent and overall presence on the squad even more.

“When we had the initial injury wave last year in March,” the coach said after Monday’s 113-100 victory against the New Orleans Pelicans at TD Garden, “when Kyrie (Irving) was out, (Marcus) Smart was out, and Jaylen (Brown) was out for a while after falling in Minnesota, I thought Marcus Morris took it to a different level. I thought that was a big reason why we were feeling good about ourselves.

"He was great throughout the postseason. And he’s done nothing but add to it here at the start of this season.”

In a similar situation on Monday night, Morris responded again with 31 points and five 3-pointers in Boston’s sixth straight victory despite being without Irving (shoulder), Al Horford (ankle), Gordon Hayward (illness), Aron Baynes (ankle) and Guerschon Yabusele (ankle).

First thing was just be a leader,” Morris said. “You know we had a lot of guys down, obviously. Stay aggressive. Just keep trying to play the right way and keep trying to promote playing the right way with the guys out there.”

Irving is expected back in the lineup in Washington, while Baynes and Horford were listed as questionable on Tuesday, Hayward is doubtful, and Yabusele is expected to miss the next several weeks.

After playing such an expanded role with the season-long injury to Hayward last year, and moving into a starring role in the playoffs, it was fair to wonder how Morris would react if he had to take a step back this season with Boston fully healthy. But he was out in front of the sacrifice train — coming up with the “Bench With Attitude” mantra when it appeared he was ticketed for the second unit — and has maintained that perspective even as some younger players initially struggled in their revamped roles.

That made Morris stand out in the locker room during the 10-10 start before everyone came around to his way of thinking, acting and performing during the current six-game win streak.

“I think everybody is buying in,” he said. “Buying in to what Coach is preaching, and moving the ball, and when the ball is moving everybody is getting shots and getting to their spots. We’re defending at a high level right now. And, obviously, our offense has been clicking.”

Morris has shown the benefits of that “buy in” this season as he’s averaged a career-best 14.4 points per game and a career-best 6.2 rebounds. His 49.0-percent shooting overall is crushing his previous career-best of 44.2 percent, as is his 42.9-percent 3-point shooting percentage compared to a previous career best of 38.1.

“He’s a hard guy to guard,” Stevens said. “So you put a smaller guy on him, he posts you like he did at the start of the game (on Monday). Put a bigger guy on him, he plays off of those guys in close outs and that’s tough. He’s a really good shooter who can put the ball on the floor.”

In the final year of a contract paying him an amazing NBA bargain of $5.5 million, he is also a guy who is putting himself in position to get quite a raise this summer as an unrestricted free agent.

Only now instead of being happy for him someplace else, it might be time to figure out if there is any way with this team’s mounting salary forecast moving forward to keep him in Boston for the long term.