The Bulls of Summer: Raymar Morgan
On Thursday, the Chicago Bulls announced their Las Vegas Summer League roster which includes Raymar Morgan. The list of 11 players includes several players who are expected to play a significant role for the Bulls now and in the future along with a handful of longshots and D-League bound fringe ballers.
The Bulls will play at least five games in Las Vegas between July 9 and July 18, the first three games are already scheduled, beginning with a matchup on July 9 against the Boston Celtics.
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A lot of people may be familiar with names like Jerian Grant, but not everyone knows players like Tre Demps. Over the next few days we will give you the 4-1-1 on each of the players on the Bulls roster for Summer League.
Who: Raymar Morgan
Position: Power Forward
Age: 27
Background: Morgan is one of the older players you will see in the Las Vegas Summer League. He is from Ohio where he was a state champion and won DI Player of the Year before attending Michigan State. Morgan spent four years with the Spartans and had fairly consistent averages across each season. His highest scoring average was 14.0 as a sophomore. In his senior season, Morgan averaged 27.2 minutes and shot 52.9 percent from the field, though he was not a strong 3-point shooter. His line of 11.3 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.1 steals in 2009-10 were a strong cap to his collegiate career.
After college, Morgan went to Europe where he has played since 2010-11. In all, he has played for half a dozen European teams, including several in Israel before stops in Germany and Turkey. In 2015-16, Morgan played for ratiopharm Ulm of the German BEKO Bundesliga and EuroCup. While sports fans might be more familiar with the German Bundesliga of soccer, this isn’t the first time that the BEKO Bundesliga has come up for the Bulls this summer. Second-round draft pick Paul Zipser played for Bayern Munich of the Bundesliga. Morgan had a solid campaign in 2015-16. In 43 games he averaged 24.2 minutes with 15.1 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.8 assists.
Outlook: Like our profile on Tre Demps, we have one LVSL game in the books already, and like Demps, Morgan also received a Did Not Play-Coach’s Decision (DNP-CD). Morgan is down the depth chart of the summer squad and isn’t going to see a lot of playing time. The Bulls really want to see what Cristiano Felicio is going to bring to the table this summer.
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It gets more complicated for Morgan because Bobby Portis played the best game of anyone in the first game of the LVSL against the Celtics with 17 points and 13 rebounds. Portis is assured of a spot and minutes with the NBA side, but he needs all the playing time he can get to help improve his game. With that knowledge, Morgan is probably here for the same two reasons the other fringe players on the squad are: For the Bulls coaching staff to evaluate and an audition for the Windy City Bulls, the D-League affiliate of the NBA Bulls. While some players like Demps are just entering into this world and likely to spend their time going through the D-League, Morgan is already an established player in Europe and if he doesn’t like the looks he gets here, he will likely return to Europe.