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Markieff Morris

Southeast Notes: Beal, Morris, Johnson, Hardaway

February 28th, 2016 at 6:48pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Wizards have been bringing Bradley Beal off the bench so he can be available for fourth quarters without exceeding his minutes restriction, writes J. Michael of CSN Mid-Atlantic. The shooting guard, who will be a restricted free agent this summer, has only topped 30 minutes in a game once since the All-Star break. Beal’s minutes are based on a sliding scale that takes into account how much he played in prior games. The restriction was imposed after doctors discovered “the beginnings of a stress reaction in his lower right fibula” in December. “It’s an adjustment still,” Beal said. “It’s kind of difficult knowing sometimes you have to be more aggressive especially when my minutes aren’t as high. … I don’t know what it is. Each night it’s different.”

There’s more from the Southeast Division:

  • Markieff Morris has adjusted quickly to the Wizards after Phoenix sent him to Washington in a deadline-day trade, writes Keely Diven of CSN Mid-Atlantic. Morris has become an important contributor on both offense and defense, and today registered a plus-22 in a win over the Cavaliers. “I just bring intensity,” he said. “I’m the type of guy, you put me out there and I’ll do anything for the team, whether it’s rebound, play defense, score. I’m just trying to lead by example. And on that second unit, be the guy that you can put on the forward and to stop him, and I think I’m that guy.”
  • Joe Johnson decided to sign with the Heat because he was familiar with several of the players, according to Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.com (ESPN Now link). Johnson cited a connection with Dwyane Wade, Amar’e Stoudemire and others as his reason for picking Miami over Cleveland.
  • After a disastrous first half of the season, Tim Hardaway Jr. is starting to show the Hawks what he can do, writes Ray Glier for USA Today. A broken wrist during summer league continued to bother Hardaway as the season started. He was inactive for the opener and barely played during the first half of the season, which included two D-League trips. It wasn’t what Atlanta expected when it traded its first-round pick to New York to acquire him last summer. “We’re happy with the way Tim has responded,” coach Mike Budenholzer said. “He had an injury that was a little bit understated. … I think he has the athleticism where he can be a good two-way guy. He’s on his way.”
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And-Ones: Morris Twins, Gerald Green, Hardaway

February 22nd, 2016 at 5:31pm CST by Chuck Myron

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:

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Eastern Notes: Morris, Teague, Middleton, ‘Melo

February 22nd, 2016 at 12:31pm CST by Chuck Myron

Ex-Suns coach Jeff Hornacek gave one of the most positive reviews about Markieff Morris that the Wizards encountered when they asked around the league about Markieff Morris prior to last week’s trade, sources told TNT’s David Aldridge, who writes in his Morning Tip for NBA.com. Wizards coach Randy Wittman said he only heard “rave reviews,” while Marcin Gortat and Jared Dudley, former teammates of Morris who are now on the Wizards, told the front office that Morris wouldn’t be a problem, as Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post details. See more from the Eastern Conference as the ramifications of the trade deadline continue:

  • The Bucks reportedly had at least passing interest in Jeff Teague, but they weren’t willing to part with Khris Middleton to get a deal done, league sources told Aldridge for the same piece. Milwaukee reportedly held tight to Middleton in talks about Ricky Rubio, too. The Hawks were trying to score both a starter and a first-round pick in would-be trades involving Teague, sources told USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt last week (Twitter link).
  • Meanwhile, the Pelicans were the team that clung to one of their players in their talks with the Bucks, as the conversation between those teams involving Greg Monroe fell apart when New Orleans refused to give up Jrue Holiday, according to Sean Deveney of The Sporting News.
  • Several teams think that if the Knicks don’t make much progress in their rebuilding by the middle of July, Carmelo Anthony would be willing to waive his no-trade clause, Deveney writes in the same piece. The Knicks spoke with the Rockets about Ty Lawson before the trade deadline, according to Marc Berman of the New York Post.
  • The retention of Dwyane Wade and Hassan Whiteside this summer would almost assuredly mean the end to Luol Deng‘s time with the Heat, observes Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel, who writes in his mailbag column. Front office executives around the league were led to believe that Deng was available on the trade market before last week’s deadline, as USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt noted (on Twitter).
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Eastern Notes: Morris, Magic, Pistons

February 21st, 2016 at 7:45pm CST by Will Joseph

The Magic could create $45MM in cap space for this summer if Orlando makes a series of moves that include waiving Ersan Ilyasova by July 1st and renouncing the free-agent cap holds on Dewayne Dedmon, Brandon Jennings, Andrew Nicholson and Jason Smith, Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel details. The Magic like Ilyasova and Jennings, however, according to Robbins, so it is not a certainty that the team won’t retain them beyond this season.

Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:

  • The Pistons have until 6pm Eastern on Monday to further evaluate Donatas Motiejunas’ back condition after the league granted their request for a 24-hour extension of the typical 72-hour post-trade window, Detroit coach/executive Stan Van Gundy confirmed to reporters, including Keith Langlois of NBA.com (Twitter link).
  • The Wizards acquired Markeiff Morris on Thursday because of his versatility and toughness, Washington president Ernie Grunfeld told J. Michael of CSN Mid-Atlantic. Grunfeld also confirmed an earlier report from Michael that by acquiring Morris, the amount the Wizards can offer under the Disabled Player Exception they still have from waiving Martell Webster has dropped, lest the Wizards pass the luxury tax threshold. After this deal with Morris, the most the Wizards can offer through the DPE to a free agent without going over the tax is just slightly more than $1MM, according to Michael. “We feel like we needed a jolt at this time,” Grunfeld told Michael in reference to the addition of Morris.
  • Jeff Teague and Al Horford are the only remaining Hawks from Kirk Hinrich’s first tenure with the team, and both players are glad to see Hinrich return, Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution relays.
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Southeast Notes: Magic, Jennings, Morris, Hinrich

February 20th, 2016 at 7:35pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Magic scored an impressive $8,193,029 trade exception, equivalent to Channing Frye‘s salary, from Thursday’s trade with the Cavs, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). Orlando is poised to have enough cap room to sign two players to maximum-salary contracts this summer, so it’s likely that the team renounces that exception in July, but the Frye exception could still come in handy for trades around draft time. The Magic could choose to remain technically over the cap by keeping the cap holds for their own free agents and using sign-and-trades to bring in outside free agent targets. That would allow them to keep the sizable Frye exception until it expires next February, but sign-and-trades are inherently more difficult to pull off than conventional signings.

There’s more from the Southeast Division:

  • Magic coach Scott Skiles has been monitoring the progress of Brandon Jennings for years, writes John Denton of NBA.com. Orlando added depth to its backcourt this week by picking up Jennings in a trade with the Pistons. Skiles has been keeping an eye on the seventh-year guard, whom he coached for three and a half years in Milwaukee, and said Jennings “was playing the best basketball of his career’’ before the Achilles injury in January of 2015 that kept him out of action for about a year.
  • New Wizard Markieff Morris already feels at home in Washington, relays Keely Diven of CSNMidAtlantic. The power forward was traded Thursday from the Suns after a rocky season in Phoenix. He said reuniting with Marcin Gortat and Jared Dudley, who were his teammates on the 2011/12 Suns, made the transition easy.
  • Kirk Hinrich was caught off guard by a trade right before Thursday’s deadline that sent him from the Bulls to the Hawks, according to Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. This is the second stint in Atlanta for Hinrich, who was also traded there by the Wizards in 2011. “I was shocked but after it settled in I’m excited for the opportunity, whatever it may be,” Hinrich said of his latest trade. “I just didn’t see it coming. I’m in Cleveland doing my game-day routine and I got the phone call. I was a little surprised.”

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

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Eastern Notes: Morris, Frye, Varejao

February 20th, 2016 at 1:10pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Pistons coach/executive Stan Van Gundy said he had no clue that Markieff Morris‘ situation in Phoenix would take the turn that it did when he acquired his twin Marcus Morris this past offseason, writes Ben Standig of CSNMidAtlantic.com. “I didn’t have any idea,” Van Gundy said. “We just knew that we liked Marcus. He was a good player, a professional guy, hard worker. We never had any problems from our end with it. I mean, Marcus was upset when it happened, upset at Phoenix, but it never had any effect on what we were doing in Detroit. He was a real professional.”

Markieff intends to approach his new situation with the Wizards the same way, Standing adds. He already has the support of Marcin Gortat and Jared Dudley, both of whom relayed positive things about Morris, the scribe notes. “You know, it’s just guys that actually know me, and not on the outside looking in,” Morris said. “Guys that I’ve actually played with and been in the locker room with. Things happen. It’s in my past. All I can do is move forward and learn from it. I’m happy to do it. And getting compliments from those guys means a lot. We’re good friends, we keep in touch. They know me as a person.”

Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

  • The Cavaliers were able to land Channing Frye on Thursday despite having less in the way of assets to offer Orlando than the Clippers, who were also interested in the stretch-four, Jason Lloyd of The Akron Beacon Journal notes. Los Angeles backed away from Frye because of the two years and approximately $15MM remaining on his deal, a contract that Cleveland instead views as an asset with the cap set to jump this offseason, Lloyd adds.
  • The Hawks would be wise to consider signing center Anderson Varejao, whom Portland waived after acquiring him from the Cavaliers, Lang Greene of Basketball Insiders opines. Atlanta needs a backup center with Tiago Splitter lost for the remainder of the season, and inking Varejao would carry little risk and wouldn’t impact the franchise’s cap flexibility heading into the offseason, Greene notes.
  • Despite a somewhat slow start to his NBA career, Hornets coach Steve Clifford believes Frank Kaminsky will become a solid starter in the league thanks to how hard he works off the court, Gary D’Amato of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel relays. “He has an NBA game right now,” said Clifford. “His biggest issue is he’s physically not strong enough to play every night against the starters. He’s worked hard in the weight room. I think in another year you’ll see him take off because of his work ethic.” The 2015 No. 9 overall pick has appeared in 53 games this season and is averaging 7.6 points and 4.1 rebounds in 21.5 minutes per night.
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Western Notes: Morris, Ayres, Stephenson

February 19th, 2016 at 8:46pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Suns GM Ryan McDonough believes the trade that sent Markieff Morris to the Wizards will allow both sides to have a new start, Bob Baum of The Associated Press relays. “I think Markieff will play well in Washington but I think for all parties involved it was time for a fresh start,” McDonough said. “I think this trade hopefully will bring a breath of fresh air into our organization.” The executive also noted that he was extremely pleased with the protected first rounder Phoenix acquired from Washington in the swap, Baum adds. “We feel good about it,” McDonough continued. “Anytime you’re able to acquire a draft pick that has a chance to be late lottery or mid-first round for a player that probably wasn’t fitting in as well as he could have, we view that as a positive outcome for the franchise.”

Here’s more from out West:

  • Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace is intrigued with deadline acquisition Lance Stephenson and believes the swingman is still growing as a player, Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal relays. “Lance is a guy who got a significant free agent contract from Charlotte based on how well he played in Indiana two years ago,” Wallace said. “He is a very tough, versatile player who can handle the ball and guard multiple positions. He’s got every reason to be very motivated and help us. He was one of the best shooters coming into the [2010] draft. He’s a young guy who the book hasn’t been written on.”
  • The Clippers acquired Jeff Green with the intention of using his Bird rights to re-sign him in the offseason, and Green, while saying that he’s still adjusting in the immediate wake of Thursday’s trade, can envision a long-term fit in L.A., observes Dan Woike of the Orange County Register (Twitter links).
  • The Rockets have assigned rookie combo forward Sam Dekker to their D-League affiliate, the team announced. This will be Dekker’s second trek to Rio Grande Valley, though he was injured during his first stint with the Vipers and he did not see any game action as a result.
  • The Thunder have assigned Mitch McGary to their D-League affiliate, the team announced. This will be the center’s sixth stint with the Blue on the season.
  • Center Jeff Ayres, whose second 10-day deal with the Clippers expired last week, has rejoined the the Idaho Stampede, the Jazz’s D-League affiliate, Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor tweets.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

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Wizards Acquire Markieff Morris

February 18th, 2016 at 11:56pm CST by Chuck Myron
Mark J. Rebilas / USA TODAY Sports Images

Mark J. Rebilas / USA TODAY Sports Images

7:20pm: The Suns have traded Markieff Morris to the Wizards for Kris Humphries, DeJuan Blair and Washington’s top-nine protected 2016 first-round pick, the teams announced. Phoenix is reportedly set to waive Blair. It’s a swap that ends a months-long saga involving Morris, who demanded a trade over the summer and recanted that stance, at least publicly, before the season, saying as late as Wednesday night that he wanted to stay in Phoenix.

Washington wasn’t prominent among the several teams linked to Morris since the summer, a group that included the Pelicans, Rockets, Pistons and Raptors. Instead, the Wizards were among the teams linked to Ryan Anderson and other, mostly reserve big man options, before coming away with one of the season’s most talked-about trade candidates.

“Markieff is a versatile, young power forward who brings athleticism and physicality along with a good shooting touch,” Wizards GM Ernie Grunfeld said in the team’s statement. “He will be a very good addition to our team as we make our playoff push and gives us a proven starter at that position for the next several years.”

Morris, who’s facing felony aggravated assault charges for his role in a January incident, is under contract for three more seasons after this one at an average of $8MM a year. Humphries is making $4.4MM this season with a non-guaranteed $4.63MM salary for next year. Blair has $2MM coming his way this season, but next year’s $2MM salary is non-guaranteed, just as with Humphries. So, this move compromises Washington’s cap flexibility for this summer, when D.C. native Kevin Durant will be a free agent. The Wizards nonetheless still project to have enough room to offer the max to Durant, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (on Twitter).

The $7.4MM on the books for Morris next season brings Washington’s guaranteed salary commitments to about $45MM, and that, plus a roughly $14MM cap hold for Bradley Beal and at least about $3.3MM in other cap holds, leaves room for Durant’s projected $24.9MM max beneath the projected $89MM cap. A higher cap of $95MM, which some forecast, would lift Durant’s projected max somewhat higher too, but not by as much, giving the Wizards even more breathing room.

The Wizards will hope for a return to form for Morris, the 13th overall pick from the 2011 draft whose numbers are off sharply this season. His 3-point shooting is a career-worst 28.9%. Humphries added a 3-point shot to his game this year and made 34.3%, but injuries have limited him to only 28 games this season, and his appearance against the Knicks last week was his first since January 3rd. Blair was out of the rotation for most of his year and a half with Washington, averaging only 6.9 minutes per game combined between this season and last.

Phoenix moves on from a tumultuous relationship that seemed to come to a head in the wake of the offseason trade that sent his brother to the Pistons. I chronicled the back-and-forth between Morris and the Suns when I examined his trade candidacy last month.

Today’s swap adds $1.56MM to Washington’s payroll, bringing the Wizards to only about $1MM shy of the tax line. It also allows the Suns to create a trade exception for that $1.56MM amount.

Shams Charania of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports first reported the deal. TNT’s David Aldridge relayed that a first-round pick would go to Phoenix (Twitter link) and Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic had news of the details of the pick (on Twitter). Marc J. Spears of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports reported that Humphries and Blair were Suns-bound, while Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post added that one of them would be waived (Twitter link). RealGM confirms that the pick going to Phoenix is Washington’s own.

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Bucks, Suns Talk Teletovic; Markieff Still On Block

February 18th, 2016 at 8:59am CST by Chuck Myron

The Bucks and Suns are in talks about a trade that would send Mirza Teletovic to Milwaukee, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (ESPN Now link). It’s among multiple conversations Phoenix is having, Stein notes. The Suns continue to shop Markieff Morris and receive interest from the Raptors and others in P.J. Tucker, Stein adds (on Twitter). The effort on the Morris front is in spite of Morris having said Wednesday night that he wants to stay in Phoenix, according to Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic.

“Happy where I am now and we’ll see what happens,” Morris said. “It’s a part of the game. I’ve learned that this past two years. A lot of stuff is going to happen that’s not in my control. All I can do is wait to see if I’m here. If I’m not, I had a couple great years here and I loved it. If I am, keep on moving forward and get better.”

Morris and Teletovic both play power forward. Jon Leuer is the only other natural four on the Phoenix roster. Teletovic’s $5.5MM salary is slightly too large for Milwaukee’s $5.2MM trade exception, as Stein points out, so the Bucks would have to send at least $3.6MM in salary to the Suns to faciliate a deal.

The Raptors had interest in Morris, but they’re apparently out of the mix on him. The Suns as of mid-January had reportedly been delaying talks about Teletovic, who’s on a one-year contract, and Tucker until they had a better idea of whether they could make the playoffs, but Phoenix hit the All-Star break 13 games out of a playoff spot.

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Atlantic Notes: Griffin, Morris, Johnson

February 16th, 2016 at 6:46pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge doesn’t merely want a short-term upgrade, as he told Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald, leaving Bulpett to surmise that the Celtics don’t have interest in trading for a soon-to-be free agent they’re not confident they can re-sign. The front office objective isn’t merely to help the team grab a better playoff seed in the spring, Ainge said. The Celtics were indeed one of the many teams to inquire about Blake Griffin, a Western Conference source told Bulpett, adding that the Clips have no serious interest in moving him. While the Thursday trade deadline looms ever closer, here’s what else is happening in the Atlantic Division:

  • Taking a patient approach and sitting out this trade deadline may be the Celtics’ best option despite their stash of draft picks, Chris Forsberg of ESPN.com argues. While Boston should explore the possibility of landing a star player, it might be prudent to hold on to that stockpile of assets and make a big move during the offseason, Forsberg adds.
  • With the Raptors reportedly seeking to upgrade their power forward position, the team is not interested in the Suns’ Markieff Morris, Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports relays (on Twitter). Toronto has reportedly expressed interest in Thaddeus Young, Kenneth Faried, Ryan Anderson and Morris, according to multiple reports.
  • Despite reportedly being miserable with the Nets, small forward Joe Johnson has yet to approach the team about a possible buyout arrangement, Marc Stein of ESPN.com tweets. Johnson said recently that he wouldn’t dismiss the idea of a buyout from his contract with the Nets, which expires at season’s end, and the Heat, Cavs and Mavs reportedly want to make a run at him if he is released by Brooklyn.
  • Former Knicks coach Derek Fisher‘s negative remarks regarding future unrestricted free agent Rajon Rondo may have contributed to his ouster in New York, Marc Berman of The New York Post writes. Fisher, responding to comments Rondo had made regarding the triangle offense not being a good fit or him, said, “That’s your decision on whether or not he’s elite or not. You can’t ask him, when he wasn’t very successful playing against it, whether or not he wants to play in it. That’s his opinion. That’s fine. He doesn’t play for us. We’re not concerned about his opinion about us at this point.’’ The former coach was said to be a fan of Memphis’ Mike Conley, who is also set to become a free agent this offseason, Berman notes.
  • Sixers small forward Robert Covington will likely have the most trade value among Philly’s bench players because of his team-friendly contract and ability to stretch defenses with his shooting, Bobby Marks of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports opines in his deadline primer for the team.

Chuck Myron and Dana Gauruder contributed to this post.

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