Markieff Morris and Marcus Morris thought their close relationship with Suns owner Robert Sarver, which included invitations to Sarver’s home to work out on his basketball court, would ensure advance warning of the trade that sent Marcus to the Pistons, the twins told Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher. It’s not simply a matter of the trade having separated them, Marcus insists, saying to Bucher that he also would have pulled off the deal that sent him to the Pistons if he thought, as the Suns did, that it would give them a better shot at LaMarcus Aldridge.
“Everybody thinking that we’re upset because we don’t get to play with each other,” Marcus said. “Kieff can’t deal with adversity? We’re from north Philadelphia. This isn’t adversity. This is betrayal.”
The Magic offered Channing Frye for Markieff shortly after the deal that sent Marcus to the Pistons this summer, a league source told Bucher, and the Cavaliers and Bulls were interested in Markieff, too, Bucher hears, also confirming an earlier report that the Pistons held interest in reuniting the brothers. Bucher indicates that the twins were closer with former Suns president of basketball operations Lon Babby than with Suns GM Ryan McDonough, suggesting that that the reduction in Babby’s role played a part in the end of the run for the Morrises in Phoenix. See more from around the NBA:
- Gerald Green said to Bucher for the same piece that the Suns told him they would re-sign him this past summer but never called his agent back. The Kenton Edelin client instead signed with the Heat, telling Bucher that he holds the Heat organization in a much higher regard than the Suns.
- Some Knicks players thought the offseason trade that sent away Tim Hardaway Jr. came about because the organization wanted to avoid an odd dynamic in the locker room between Hardaway and then-coach Derek Fisher, who are rumored to have been involved with the same woman, writes Frank Isola of the New York Daily News.
- Shelvin Mack recorded season highs in minutes, points and assists Sunday in his debut for the Jazz, notes Jody Genessy of the Deseret News. Quin Snyder‘s familiarity with and endorsement of the point guard and a rave review from former Hawks GM Danny Ferry helped convince the Jazz to trade for Mack on Thursday, as Genessy details in a separate piece.