Markieff Morris Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Trade Candidate: Markieff Morris

January 19th, 2016 at 2:29pm CST by Chuck Myron

Mark J. Rebilas / USA TODAY Sports Images

When I first wrote a trade candidate piece on Markieff Morris in August, it didn’t seem as though the Suns could get fair value for a player who had made no secret of his desire to leave town, and after months of twists and turns in the saga, that still appears to be the case. It’s nonetheless worth checking in on the idea of a Morris trade once again, since much has changed for both player and team.

Morris came to training camp and essentially retracted his trade demand, though he’s played coy when asked specifically about whether he wants to be traded. He otherwise made a litany of team-friendly statements, but his twin brother, Marcus, caused a stir when he said Markieff “doesn’t look happy” playing with the Suns. Markieff dismissed his brother’s remark, but regardless, the problem the Suns had earlier this season appeared to be how he was playing, not where he was playing. Coach Jeff Hornacek took the struggling power forward out of the starting lineup and at times the rotation entirely, a situation that came to a head when Morris threw a towel that struck Hornacek after the two engaged in an argument on the bench during a late December game, leading the Suns to suspend Morris without pay for two games. Morris apologized, and after a 16-point, nine-rebound effort off the bench against the Pacers a week ago, Hornacek surprisingly gave him his starting job back.

A decent chance exists that Morris is starting again chiefly because the Suns want to showcase him for trades, but it’s not as if Phoenix is without reason to legitimately experiment with its lineups, having lost 13 of its last 14 games. The Suns have nonetheless made Morris “very available” to other teams, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com wrote last month, and reports over the past few months have indicated that Phoenix has spoken about potential Morris trades with the Pelicans and Rockets.

New Orleans has seemingly been reluctant to trade Ryan Anderson for Morris, but conversations with the Rockets reportedly reached an advanced stage, with the sides discussing the idea of swapping Morris for Terrence Jones and Corey Brewer. Friday was the first day such a trade could happen, since Brewer wasn’t eligible to be traded before January 15th, but it hasn’t happened yet. The Suns have reportedly eyed the Cavs as a potential faciliator in a three-team deal that would send Morris elsewhere, and the Pistons, who already traded for his brother this summer, also apparently hold interest.

The Suns have reportedly shifted focus away from veterans like Anderson and toward young players and draft picks as they consider what they could get in a Morris trade. That makes sense, since the team has plummeted to 13-29, but that only puts them five and a half games out of the playoffs in a Western Conference that’s much weaker than usual. GM Ryan McDonough said recently to Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe that the team isn’t quite ready to declare the postseason a lost cause yet.

Regardless, it doesn’t appear as though the Suns can be too picky about what they get for Morris at this point. McDonough said on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM last week that he felt no immediate pressure to trade him. Perhaps that’s because of an unyielding market. Zach Lowe of ESPN.com reported last month that teams were asking the Suns to attach another player to Morris in trade proposals, indicating an unwillingness to take Morris without receiving some additional compensation. I speculated in August that packaging either Archie Goodwin or T.J. Warren with Morris could net the Suns a starting-caliber power forward in return, but Warren and Goodwin are just the sort of developing players Phoenix reportedly wants to have. Goodwin is still struggling to find playing time in his third NBA season, however. It wouldn’t represent that much of a sacrifice for the Suns to move on from him if another team really likes the former 29th overall pick, but it’s unclear if McDonough and company are ready to make such a move.

The Suns no doubt understand better than anyone else how much the continued presence of Morris influences Goodwin, Warren and the rest of the locker room. Morris’ legal troubles and criticism of Suns fans in the past raise red flags, but it doesn’t necessarily mean he’s a poor teammate. It’s possible the Suns prefer to keep Morris around as a lightning rod for controversy to deflect blame from Hornacek and the rest of the roster as it underachieves.

Still, the back-and-forth surrounding Morris seems to signal that Phoenix will ultimately trade him. The Suns could do worse than Jones and Brewer from the Rockets, if that proposal remains in play. They could see what they could get from the Pistons, but Detroit is in strong contention for its first playoff berth since 2009 and doesn’t seem particularly eager for a major move. The Pelicans have traded their last three first-round picks and don’t have many intriguing young players other than Anthony Davis, who’s surely off the table.

It’s easy to say the Suns should have moved on from Morris a while ago, but for now, it doesn’t appear they have too many strong options. The chances of finding a taker improve as the deadline nears, and the Suns should have a better idea by then of whether they’ll have a reasonable chance to make a run at a playoff berth. All bets are off if Phoenix doesn’t win a game or two in the next couple of weeks or if another Morris controversy emerges, but barring an unforeseen change, expect the Suns to hang on to Morris until the deadline, if not longer.

What do you think the Suns should do with Morris? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.

Western Notes: Suns, Kings, Davis

January 15th, 2016 at 3:47pm CST by Will Joseph

Mirza Teletovic and P.J. Tucker have attracted interest on the trade market, but the Suns are delaying discussions about those two players until they believe they are out of the playoff picture, one league source told Sean Deveney of the Sporting News. That time might come soon, however, considering the Suns are 13-27 and four and a half games behind for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. Markieff Morris is also still viewed as a valuable stretch-power forward on the trade market, according to Deveney. That’s because Morris’ contract (he has three years and $24MM left after this season) is affordable and he still has plenty of upside, one source told Deveney.

Here’s more from around the Western Conference:

Kings vice president of basketball operations Vlade Divac does not make it a priority to return calls from other executives around the league, according to ESPN.com’s Brian Windhorst (link to podcast hosted by ESPN.com’s Zach Lowe; h/t Dan Feldman of NBCSports.com). What’s more, Divac was unaware that there was a trade call to the league office when Sacramento sent Jason Thompson, Carl Landry, and Nik Stauskas to the Sixers, according to Lowe.
Ed Davis, whom the Blazers signed to a three-year, $20MM deal in the summer, said Portland differs from his previous team, the Lakers, because the Blazers have a clear-cut rebuilding plan, Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders details. “Here, we’re trying to build something,” Davis told Kennedy. “I enjoyed my time with the Lakers. Coach [Byron] Scott, [GM] Mitch [Kupchak] and all those guys were good to me, so I don’t really have any complaints. But it’s just different [in Portland]. Obviously in L.A. they want those big stars and they’re not really trying to keep a core together. Now they’re starting to do it because they aren’t getting those top free agents in. Here, there’s just stability. You know that guys are going to be around for a while. You don’t have the feeling that you could get traded any minute or that they’re going to bring a superstar in [to replace you]. You can just focus on doing your job. You know [the plan] and that everything is going to be fine.”
The Grizzlies assigned James Ennis to their D-League affiliate, the team announced. This will be Ennis’ seventh assignment to the Iowa Energy.

Southwest Notes: Brewer, Barnes, Williams

January 15th, 2016 at 2:00pm CST by Chuck Myron

More than two dozen players became eligible to be traded today, and among them is Corey Brewer, about whom the Rockets and Suns reportedly had serious discussions as they entertained a swap that would also include Terrence Jones going to Phoenix for Markieff Morris. Still, Suns GM Ryan McDonough denied that any deal was prearranged or pending as he spoke Wednesday on the “Burns & Gambo” show on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM, as Kellan Olson of ArizonaSports.com transcribes. McDonough predicted lots of activity between now and the February 18th trade deadline and promised he’ll take an aggressive approach, though he said he can envision Morris remaining with Phoenix through the end of the season, adding that the Suns are “under no pressure to do anything immediately.” While we wait to see what happens on that front, there’s more on the Rockets and other Southwest Division teams:

Improved defense, better 3-point shooting and the presence of Patrick Beverley in the starting lineup instead of Ty Lawson have sparked the Rockets to improved play, as Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com details, but GM Daryl Morey isn’t satisfied. “I’m worried given our goals,” Morey said, according to Watkins. “We still have a lot of improvement to do and we’re working towards that.”
The performance Matt Barnes has put on for the Grizzlies lately makes it clear his controversial October encounter with Knicks coach Derek Fisher isn’t a distraction to the team and that he’s been one of the most valuable Grizzlies on the court, writes Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal. The 35-year-old has maintained his high level of defensive play all season, and more recently he’s begun to regain his usual shooting touch, Tillery notes. Barnes delivered pithy comments to Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News, saying, “I don’t talk to snakes” when asked if he’ll speak to Fisher while the Knicks are in Memphis for Saturday’s game. Barnes sent threatening text messages to Fisher in the weeks preceding Barnes’ alleged physical attack on Fisher at the home of Barnes’ estranged wife, a source told Marc Berman of the New York Post.
A pair of small trade exceptions expired for Southwest Division teams this week, vestiges of the three-team trade that sent Jeff Green to the Grizzlies. The Pelicans allowed their $507,336 Russ Smith trade exception to lapse, while the Grizzlies didn’t find a use for the $396,068 leftover scrap of the Quincy Pondexter trade exception. Memphis used most of that Pondexter exception, originally valued at $3,146,068, to take in Luke Ridnour, whom the Grizzlies promptly flipped for Barnes.
Chris Herrington of The Commericial Appeal doesn’t think the Grizzlies will issue a second 10-day contract to Elliot Williams, whose existing 10-day deal expires at the end of Sunday (Twitter link).

Cavs Seek Three-And-D Wing Player

January 15th, 2016 at 10:11am CST by Chuck Myron

Influential Cavs players are open to trading for Markieff Morris, but the front office is instead looking for a defensive-minded wing player who can effectively shoot spot-up jumpers from long range, as Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group and the Cleveland Plain Dealer hears. Cavs higher-ups want that three-and-D wing to back up Iman Shumpert, concerned that the way Shumpert plays will again leave him injured, just as he was to start the season with a wrist issue that cost him the team’s first 21 games, Haynes reports.

The Suns have made Morris “very available” for a trade, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com wrote last month, amid a losing season, a benching, and a back-and-forth that included a summer trade demand, a media day backtracking, and a suspension for throwing a towel at coach Jeff Hornacek. Cavs players nonetheless think he’d be solid if veteran voices LeBron James, Richard Jefferson and James Jones were in his ear, according to Haynes. However, the Cavs brass is worried Morris would upset team chemistry, Haynes hears. The players also like the idea of adding Morris as insurance behind Kevin Love, Haynes writes. Love, like Shumpert, has had trouble with injuries in the past.

The Cavs have an open roster spot after trading Joe Harris to the Magic this week, a move that helped reduce Cleveland’s massive projected tax bill. The team is nonetheless in line to shell out about $170MM between payroll and taxes, and trading for Morris and his $8MM salary using its $10,522,500 trade exception would send that figure about $25MM higher, putting the Cavs in position to break the record of the 2013/14 Nets, who laid out more than $193MM, for the most money spent in a single season. The alternative would be to send matching salary to Phoenix, but either way, the Suns would likely want assets the Cavs simply don’t have, Haynes posits. The Suns are reportedly looking for young players or draft picks in exchange for Morris, and the Cavs have unloaded many such assets since going into win-now mode upon LeBron’s 2014 return.

Three-and-D wing players are tough to find on the trade market. The Suns have rugged defender P.J. Tucker, a career 35.5% 3-point shooter, but they’ve given no indication that they’re prepared to deal him yet.

Which do you think the Cavs need more, a three-and-D wing or Morris? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.

Scotto’s Latest: Anderson, Gay, Morris, Motiejunas

January 14th, 2016 at 12:21pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Pelicans rejected a trade proposal from the Kings of Ryan Anderson for Rudy Gay, league sources told Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops, a signal that Sacramento is making Gay available. New Orleans has reportedly been listening to offers about Anderson but not shopping him, and coach Alvin Gentry has said it’s unlikely the Pelicans trade him this season. A straight-up exchange of Anderson for Gay trade would move the Pelicans to within $1MM of the luxury tax threshold, so it’s not surprising New Orleans said no. Scotto heard more about Anderson and several other trade candidates, as we’ll summarize here:

The Pistons are expected to pursue Anderson in free agency, league sources told Scotto. Stan Van Gundy said in October that Anderson, incumbent Pistons power forward Ersan Ilyasova and Kevin Love are in a class by themselves among those who combine effective rebounding and 3-point shooting.
The Suns, who reportedly engaged in talks with the Pelicans about a swap of Markieff Morris for Anderson, now prefer young players or draft picks in exchange for Morris, Scotto’s league sources say.
The Clippers are making Josh Smith available for a trade, according to Scotto, essentially a reprise of earlier this season, when Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports reported the Clips had gauged interest in him. Clippers coach/executive Doc Rivers denied that earlier report, however.
The Rockets have taken Donatas Motiejunas off the trade market, but Terrence Jones remains available, Scotto reports. Houston earlier had talks with Phoenix about a swap of Jones and Corey Brewer for Morris, as Scotto revealed, and those discussions were serious, Marc Stein of ESPN.com later added. Brewer becomes eligible to be traded Friday.
Scotto adds the Mavericks to list of teams with interest in trading for Timberwolves shooting guard Kevin Martin.

Central Notes: Dudley, Morris, Baynes

January 14th, 2016 at 11:34am CST by Chuck Myron

Jared Dudley believes the Bucks made the right move for themselves when they traded him to the Wizards and Zaza Pachulia to the Mavericks this past summer, even though they did so for virtually nothing in return other than cap space, observes Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Dudley thinks he came out well, too, lauding the Bucks for placing Pachulia and him in “great situations,” Gardner relays.

“Even if me and Za were there, you have to incorporate Jabari [Parker] back in,” Dudley said. “He still would have been playing 28, 29 minutes. For the long-term approach for them, they’re doing it the right way. You have to see if Giannis [Antetokounmpo] and Jabari can coexist.”

See more from the Central Division:

Marcus Morris is fond of Pistons coach/executive Stan Van Gundy, whom he believes has given him a more clearly defined role than Jeff Hornacek did with the Suns, as Morris told Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. Morris responded harshly when Washburn asked him about Suns owner Robert Sarver’s criticism of “millennial culture” and Morris’ twin brother, Markieff, saying the owner “doesn’t even know basketball.” Marcus also hinted that the Suns will indeed trade his brother. “He’s in good spirits,” Marcus said to Washburn about Markieff. “Whatever team he ends up going to, he’s still going to be that same player. He’s just excited to see what’s next and where he’s going. Some things were said about him in the press and I know that’s totally wrong. People talk about adversity; coming from where we come from [Philadelphia] is adversity. This is small stuff. He’ll get over it fast.”
Van Gundy was quick to point to Aron Baynes‘ strong free-throw shooting as one of the reasons the Pistons signed him to a three-year, $19.5MM deal this summer, and that’s indeed been paying dividends to offset Andre Drummond‘s struggles at the line, as Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press notes.
The Bulls don’t have enough to put a scare into the league’s true title contenders, so it’s imperative for the team to make a trade, posits Vincent Goodwill of CSNChicago.com. No NBA team has gone longer without making a trade than the Bulls, who haven’t pulled off a swap since July 14th, 2014, though they’re reportedly gauging interest in Pau Gasol and others.

Western Notes: Barnes, Stotts, Scott

January 13th, 2016 at 9:29pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak is pleased with coach Byron Scott‘s tough-love approach with the team’s younger players and takes offense at the notion that Scott is stifling their development, writes Mike Bresnahan of The Los Angeles Times. “If you asked our young players, I think there would be a mutual respect, as you might expect maybe between a parent and a child,” Kupchak said. “In other words, I’m going to love you, I’m going to bring you along, but every now and then, I’ve got to teach you the right way to do things.”

Kupchak also told Bresnahan that Kobe Bryant‘s retirement tour is actually a benefit to the team’s young roster since the attention paid to the veteran deflects much of the spotlight away from the other players. “I guess there was some backlash to the comment that we can’t move on until Kobe retires,” Kupchak said. “There’s no doubt this season is in great part a tribute to him and what he’s meant for this organization. It’s what he deserves, it’s what we want to give him, it’s what the fans want and it’s a justifiable tribute to his career. Having said all that, to think that we’re not developing our young players? I mean, who’s starting? Larry Nance. Anthony Brown. And Jordan Clarkson. Who’s playing 20 to 30 minutes a game? Julius Randle. D’Angelo Russell. In fact, Kobe gives the younger guys a chance to fly under the radar a little bit. They can make mistakes. Maybe they don’t get the attention they normally get under a normal season. On top of that, they get to learn by being around Kobe.”

Here’s more news out of the Western Conference:

The NBPA has filed a grievance on behalf of Grizzlies small forward Matt Barnes that appeals his two-game unpaid suspension for the off-court altercation he had in October with Knicks coach Derek Fisher, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports reports. Barnes will lose $64,409 in salary because of the suspension if it is upheld. This appeal will ensure that Barnes is able to take the court this Saturday when the Grizzlies square off against the Knicks in Memphis.
Portland GM Neil Olshey raved about the performance of Terry Stotts and cited the coach’s improvement over his time with the Trail Blazers in an appearance on “The Vertical” hosted by Wojnarowski (audio link). Stotts has a team option on his contract for next season.
Suns power forward Markieff Morris is excited about his expanded role in the team’s rotation that’s come about because Alex Len is sidelined with a sprained right hand, though Morris is not sure if he will remain in the regular lineup regardless of how long Len is out, Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic relays.

Western Notes: Anderson, Gentry, Morris, Butler

January 7th, 2016 at 10:30am CST by Chuck Myron

The Pelicans are unlikely to trade Ryan Anderson this season, according to coach Alvin Gentry, as John Reid of The Times Picayune writes. Reid reiterates his earlier report that Anderson’s name was involved in preliminary talks with the Suns about a Markieff Morris trade, though nothing has materialized on that front, Reid says.

”Everyone knows that Ryan’s name is going to be out there,” Gentry said. ”We have made not one call about trading Ryan, nor will we. So those are the kind of things that’s going to happen that people are going to inquire about. Once you’ve been in the league for a couple of years, everyone knows that’s part of it.”

New Orleans has listened to teams that have inquired about Anderson, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported last month, so while the Pelicans might not be making calls, it seems they’ve at least taken them. In any case, see more from New Orleans amid the latest from the Western Conference:

Any trade the Pelicans make will come via mutual consent between Gentry and GM Dell Demps, Gentry also said, as Reid notes in the same post.
Suns GM Ryan McDonough thinks the talent on his roster is better than the team’s record indicates, though he feels some change is necessary, as he said Wednesday on the “Burns and Gambo” show on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM and as Adam Green of ArizonaSports.com transcribes. McDonough said a Morris trade wasn’t necessarily close but otherwise gave few hints in that regard. “Look, we’re not going to sit here and put our head in the sand and act like everything’s OK and we’re doing everything fine,” McDonough said. “We obviously need to make some changes and we’ll explore those things as aggressively as we usually do.”
Doc Rivers confirmed Wednesday that the Clippers will keep Luc Mbah a Moute and his non-guaranteed contract on the roster past the close of business today, the last day NBA teams have to waive players without guaranteed salary for this season before it becomes guaranteed, notes Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link). Rivers said a few weeks ago that it was “probably safe” to assume the team would keep Mbah a Moute for the rest of the season. The 29-year-old, who’s making the minimum salary, has been in the Clippers starting lineup since late November.
Jabari Young of the San Antonio News-Express gets the feeling that the Spurs will keep Rasual Butler‘s non-guaranteed contract past today, thus guaranteeing his minimum salary (Twitter link).

Suns Notes: Sarver, Morris, Hornacek

January 4th, 2016 at 10:00am CST by Chuck Myron

Suns owner Robert Sarver takes at least partial responsibility for failing to establish a championship culture on the team, but the owner nonetheless believes that larger generational issues are at play as the Suns continue to falter, as he tells Dan Bickley of The Arizona Republic.

“I’m not sure it’s just the NBA,” Sarver said to Bickley. “My whole view of the millennial culture is that they have a tough time dealing with setbacks, and Markieff Morris is the perfect example. He had a setback with his brother in the offseason and he can’t seem to recover from it. I’m not sure if it’s the technology or the instant gratification of being online. But the other thing is, I’m not a fan of social media. I tell my kids it’s like Fantasy Land. The only thing people put online are good things that happen to them, or things they make up. And it creates unrealistic expectations. We’ve had a number of setbacks this year that have taken their toll on us, and we haven’t been resilient. Therefore, it’s up to our entire organization to step up their game.”

The Suns, who’ve dropped nine games in a row, scored a franchise-low 22 points in the first half of last night’s loss to the Lakers, who are the least efficient defensive team in the NBA. See more from the Western Conference:

Morris isn’t upset about the owner’s remark about him, but he doesn’t agree that he has difficulty fighting through adversity, notes Ben Golliver of SI.com. “Whatever [Sarver] said is whatever he said. I don’t get into that stuff. It didn’t bother me at all,” Morris said. “I’m from Philly. I’ve been through adversity my whole life. That’s what I’ve got to say about that. … He’s the owner. It’s his team. He can say what he wants.”
Sarver himself shows an inability to properly tackle challenges with his ill-timed comment, Golliver argues in the same piece, and coach Jeff Hornacek is being forced to deal with a roster that doesn’t fit, the SI scribe contends.
The team’s refusal to pick up its option for next season on Hornacek’s contract and GM Ryan McDonough‘s failure at times to recognize the need for communication and veteran leadership are some of the problems at hand, Bickley believes, as he writes in the piece linked above. Bickley also thinks the team wants Hornacek to improve his ability to handle the team’s psyche.
We passed along news on Phoenix’s reported interest in Mike D’Antoni right here.

Pacific Notes: Cousins, Chandler, Walton

January 2nd, 2016 at 3:16pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Kings are at a critical point in relation to the direction of the franchise, and the question must be asked if center DeMarcus Cousins is the player the team should be building around, Sam Amick of USA Today writes. Cousins is on his fifth coach since entering the league and Sacramento has yet to eclipse the 30 win mark with the big man as the focal point, which isn’t a glowing endorsement of his ability to be the franchise’s anchor going forward, Amick notes.

Coach George Karl is also questioning the team’s demeanor and the roster’s lack of defensive-minded players, Amick adds. “My thought, and I told the team my thought, is inconsistent intensity, inconsistent focus, inconsistent toughness and mental discipline,” Karl said. “Too many times we’ve come out on this court and we’ve been the quiet team, or the soft team, or the cool team, and not the man team. My feeling is we have too many offensive players. We don’t have enough guts to make stops.”

Here’s more from the Pacific Division:

The Suns find themselves in a difficult spot regarding rebuilding the roster, and with approximately $110MM committed to the backcourt duo of Eric Bledsoe and Brandon Knight through 2018/19, the team’s best course of action would be to attempt to deal Tyson Chandler and Markieff Morris in order to clear cap space, writes Lang Greene of Basketball Insiders. Phoenix should also consider waiving small forward P.J. Tucker and his partially guaranteed pact this offseason, which would free up an additional $3.7MM in cap room, Greene adds.
Warriors interim coach Luke Walton was the perfect choice for the franchise to fill in for Steve Kerr while he recovers from back surgery, Diamond Leung of The Bay Area News Group writes. Leung cites Walton’s humble demeanor and excellent preparedness as reasons why he was able to find immediate success, though Golden State’s talented roster certainly was a major benefit for the young coach as well.