Marcus Morris' exit from the Detroit Pistons was unforeseen for all parties involved, but in the midst of Gordon Hayward's acquisition by the Boston Celtics, president and head coach Stan Van Gundy saw the chance to pounce at one of the league's premier three-and-D talents with the ongoing back-and-forth with then-restricted free agent Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.

The gritty forward recalled how it all took place early in the free agency period.

“Yeah, he called me at 6 o’clock in the morning. He could’ve at least let me sleep a little bit,” Morris told Mark Murphy of The Boston Herald. “You know if you get a call from Van Gundy at 6 in the morning, you know it’s something.”

“So when he called me, I was just hoping it wasn’t that, but it is what it is. It’s the NBA. I love the Celtics. I love the organization. I couldn’t have asked for a better situation.”

Morris landed in an All-Star studded situation with Kyrie Irving, Al Horford, and Hayward, and has now resumed his rightful spot at power forward after missing the early part of the season.

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Even after a Monday night loss to his former team, the veteran forward noted the difference between the Motor City and the Phoenix Suns in how he was treated.

“A lot different. Stan, everything he told me was the truth. He was always straight up and down with me,” Morris said. “We had conversations, we talked a lot, we had great conversations. In Phoenix, I mean you see the (expletive) going on out there. Nothing has changed. (But) I don’t really want to speak on that. Stan does a great job of just being himself all the time, so I couldn’t have asked for anything better than that.

“I had a lot of love for Detroit, still do. I felt like that was a home for me. They got Avery (Bradley). He’s playing (great) basketball over there. I don’t fault him for any of that. I’ve got nothing but love about that entire organization.”

The Celtics and Pistons are one and two in the Eastern Conference standings — clearly having made a swap that made sense for both parties in this frenzied offseason.