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Three the Hard Way The true story of how Anthony Morrow became the Oklahoma City Thunder’s three-point weapon.

Undrafted. As 60 names were called in the 2008 NBA Draft from Madison Square Garden—Anthony Morrow, Shooting Guard, Georgia Tech—was not among them.

There would be no hat with his new team logo emblazoned on it handed to him. There would be no awkwardly posed photo smiling with a significantly smaller commissioner standing beside him. No post-pick interviews with ESPN reporters name-checking all those who helped him along the way from his earliest playing days growing up in a basketball hotbed like Charlotte. And once Semih Erden—Center, Fenerbahçe Ülker, Turkey—was selected by the Boston Celtics with the 60th and final pick of the second round, there would be, by most accounts, no future in the NBA for Anthony Morrow.

For Anthony Morrow there would only be more time, time to wait for a team, NBA or otherwise, to come calling. It would be an entire month from that very last pick before he would sign a contract with the Golden State Warriors to play in the Summer League.

“Knowing the odds of making the NBA even when you’re drafted is extremely tough. And then not being drafted! But I can speak for a lot of the undrafted guys out, I’m really still close to CJ Watson and Jeremy Lin. We’ve got that bond,” Morrow says. “It’s a nerve wrecking time trying to make the team but also an experience that is second to none. It was fun for me even when I had to worry about being cut every single day. It’s part of really seeing what you’re made of. I didn’t even know that I had that much inside of me to go through everything I went through. Hopefully we can get a TV show. Football players have Undrafted on the NFL Network. We have to do that for basketball.”

In his first NBA start in 2008, Morrow dropped 37 points on the Los Angeles Clippers—a record for an undrafted rookie. He would end the season as the first rookie to lead the league in three-point field goal percentage. But then it was back to the Summer League and after another season with the Warriors he was traded to the Nets. And so began the many travels of Anthony Morrow.

Two years in New Jersey then traded to Hawks for a season, then traded to the Mavericks for another and signing with the Pelicans for one year. But Morrow has finally found a somewhat permanent home after signing a three-year deal with the Oklahoma City Thunder. “I just turned 30 and I’m going on my eighth year now with my sixth team. Being in different organizations, meeting different people, learning different philosophies and schemes that other coaches run compared to here in OKC—this is the best organization I have been in.” 

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Now with a new coach in Billy Donovan, change is once again in the air for Morrow. “I’ve played for so many coaches! I played for some pretty stern disciplinarian type guys—Don Nelson and Rick Carlisle and Monty Williams who’s an assistant here now. I usually operate a lot better under those kind of coaches. Billy definitely has that in him as well. We spent some time together in the off season at the summer league to watch some of the young guys and just to talk to him and be around him. I really like his philosophy and his offensive concepts, especially being a shooter and when it comes to spreading the floor to give guys like Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook and Dion Waiters the chance to do what they do individually.”  

But it’s also Morrow’s chance to do what he does best, namely draining threes. Heading into the 2015-16 NBA season, the NBA record book ranks Morrow ninth in career three-point percentage. “Three-point shooting is something I’ve always hung my hat on since high school. But it’s something I continue to work at and I continue to be a student of the game. The game has even expanded more in the eight years I’ve been here, especially the three point shot which has become more significant. With me, I continue to try to get better and better each year, making my release quicker, moving without the ball.”

Going back to that same NBA record book, you might be surprised to discover that Morrow has only competed in one Three-Point Shootout at the NBA All-Star Game. “I don’t know! It’s kind of political man. I figured that out my third or fourth year in the league. But then, I was able to play during my second season in New Jersey. I wore a Drazen Petrovic jersey, God bless him, and I got to meet his mother. I didn’t have a good showing, and got knocked out after the first round. But it was a cool experience. Hopefully I get another one!”

Morrow has some much bigger goals in mind for this year and for the future. The Thunder missed the playoffs last season after being a post-season fixture for years but a healthy roster and new coach they are putting the ever-dominant Western Conference on notice. Then further down the road the idea of coaching has been unexpectedly floated.

“In my first few years I said I would never, ever coach. I don’t think I’d ever have the patience for it. A couple of my coaches, including Monty and Scott Brooks, said that they could see me coaching some day. It would be great to stay around the game after basketball. All the knowledge you pickup over the years would be good to share and to continue to be a student of the game,” Morrow says.

But for a player that was undrafted looking too far ahead is an ability that no amount of practice can sharpen. “You keep that chip on your shoulder every single day and going into every single game you’re blessed to be able to step foot on that floor.”