AUBURN HILLS -- Moving Marcus Morris was the most difficult decision Detroit Pistons coach and president of basketball operations Stan Van Gundy said he's had to do in his current job.

That's the price he had to pay to pry Avery Bradley, one of the top two-way guards in the NBA, from the Boston Celtics. The Pistons also received a 2019 second-round pick.

"Marcus was everything that we would want in a player here -- played hard, tough guy, team-oriented, total pro, involved in the community, one of my favorite guys that I've ever coached," Van Gundy said. "So it was very, very difficult."

The 6-9 power forward Morris started all 159 games he played for the Pistons the past two seasons. He averaged 14.1 points and 4.8 rebounds.

The team needed backcourt help, especially with the looming departure of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.

"Even at the beginning of the summer before other things happened, if you look at our roster, we were pretty deep, even overloaded at the forward spot and did not have very good depth at the guard spot," Van Gundy said. "So we knew at some point that were going to have to try to move the roster around to get another guard and one of our forwards would have to go.

"We didn't plan on it, but you go with the deal that you have, and for a chance to get a guard of Avery's caliber, it was a move we felt we had to make. But it was a tough one for me with Marcus and we will miss him greatly as a team and as an organization, and I will personally miss him."