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Markieff Morris

Stein’s Latest: Morris, Hornets, Mitchell, Lakers

August 28th, 2022 at 1:46pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Veteran free agent power forward Markieff Morris is under consideration as a reserve acquisition for the Sixers in addition to the Nets, writes Marc Stein in a new article for Substack.

Stein notes that the 32-year-old was known to be a vocal locker room presence while on a star-studded 2019/20 championship-winning Lakers club, and could be a good fit for a Brooklyn team fielding several at-times angsty superstars.

Morris missed most of his 2021/22 season with the Heat due to a major neck injury after entering the season as a key reserve. In his 17 available regular season games with Miami, Morris averaged 7.6 PPG, 2.6 RPG, and 1.4 APG. The 6’9″ big man out of Kansas posted a shooting line of .474/.333/.889.

Here’s more from Stein:

  • As the Hornets consider reserve point guard options behind developing All-Star LaMelo Ball, the team has broadened its list of potential targets to include former Suns point guard Elfrid Payton, according to Stein. Isaiah Thomas, who fulfilled the role adequately last season, is still being looked at, as is Pistons point guard Kemba Walker, a three-time All-Star while with Charlotte whom Stein expects to be bought out of his current deal.
  • The Lakers‘ 2027 and 2029 first-round draft selections, along with the expiring contract of incumbent point guard Russell Westbrook, could be used to help complete a three-team Donovan Mitchell trade for the Jazz, either with the Knicks or even another suitor. Stein writes that the draft picks could hold significant appeal for Jazz team president Danny Ainge, who earlier this summer received quite a bounty in future draft equity as part of his blockbuster deal that shipped former Utah All-Star Rudy Gobert out to the Timberwolves.
  • Stein cautions that the Lakers, who leveraged a lot of future draft picks in their trade for Anthony Davis, remain fairly protective of the 2027 and 2029 picks. Given that L.A. is fielding a team with (currently) three maximum-salaried veterans all with at least 10 years of experience, one would expect the club to very much be in win-now mode, but the team only wants to make a move if it values the returning players as being worth the sacrifice. Stein defines that as players who can help the team return to its standing as a championship contender, following a disappointing 33-49 season that saw the Lakers on the outside of the play-in tournament looking in.
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Nets Eyeing Markieff Morris, Tristan Thompson

August 24th, 2022 at 12:12pm CST by Luke Adams

With the Kevin Durant saga resolved at least for the time being, the Nets can shift their focus to filling out their projected regular season roster, which currently has a couple openings. According to reports from Chris Milholen of NetsDaily (Twitter link) and Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, the Nets may use one of those spots to bolster their frontcourt with a free agent addition.

Milholen reports that there’s mutual interest between Markieff Morris and the Nets, with Scotto confirming that the team has expressed “exploratory” interest in the veteran forward.

Morris was limited to just 17 appearances last season in Miami due to a neck injury that sidelined him for much of the year, but he has a solid NBA résumé, having appeared in over 700 regular season games for six teams since entering the league in 2011. In his last full season, Morris averaged 6.7 PPG and 4.4 RPG in 61 games (19.7 MPG) for the Lakers in 2020/21. He’s known for his toughness and defensive versatility, and can also stretch the floor a little on offense (.341 career 3PT%).

Veteran center Tristan Thompson is another potential Nets target to watch, according to Scotto, who says the club would like to add a backup center after losing Andre Drummond in free agency.

Thompson, 31, played for three teams in 2021/22, starting the season with the Kings before being traded to the Pacers, who bought him out, clearing a path for him to sign with the Bulls. In total, Thompson averaged 6.0 PPG and 5.1 RPG in 57 games (15.7 MPG).

While there are a number of other intriguing frontcourt players on the free agent market, Scotto threw cold water on the idea that Brooklyn could sign Dwight Howard or Carmelo Anthony, reporting that the club doesn’t currently have interest in either player.

The Nets are carrying 12 players on fully guaranteed standard contracts. Edmond Sumner, who has a partial guarantee of $250K on his minimum-salary deal, has the inside track to be the 13th man. Even if we assume Sumner will make the regular season roster, that still leaves one or two open slots.

Brooklyn has its full taxpayer mid-level exception ($6.48MM) available, though it’s unclear if any of the players on the team’s radar will command more than the minimum.

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Southeast Notes: Heat, Martin, Hampton, Banchero

July 4th, 2022 at 10:00pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Heat lost P.J. Tucker to the Sixers and reached agreements with Victor Oladipo and Dewayne Dedmon but they still have some unfinished offseason business, Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel writes.

Restricted free agent Caleb Martin remains unsigned but since the Heat do not have his Bird Rights, they are unable to match offers above the $10.49MM mid-level exception. They are not likely to go above the $6.5MM taxpayer mid-level exception, since that would trigger a hard salary cap. They also have to decide whether to bring back Markieff Morris.

They have both the mid-level and bi-annual exceptions at their disposal to pursue other free agents, but using the bi-annual would also result in a hard cap.

We have more from the Southeast Division:

  • Martin’s restricted free agency buys the Heat a little more time to wait out the Kevin Durant saga while keeping Martin as an option, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald notes. Even if Martin receives an offer sheet in the first day of free agency on Wednesday, the Heat have two days to decide whether to match it.
  • R.J. Hampton has impressed the Magic brass by his willingness to play in the Summer League, according to Khobi Price of the Orlando Sentinel. Hampton wanted to play despite appearing in 64 games during his second NBA season. “I only got to play one summer league,” Hampton said. “It’s a great opportunity for me to get run and get extra reps.”
  • Top pick Paolo Banchero has been displaying his strength in summer league practices, Price tweets. “He’s a very strong individual. I don’t think he even understands how strong he really is,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said of the former Duke forward. “That’s the great part of his willingness to learn and ask questions, that he’s going to find out how he can use his body in different ways to obviously punish defenses but then defensively, how to guard multiple positions.”
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Heat Notes: Lowry, Yurtseven, Collins, Morris

June 19th, 2022 at 2:59pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The Heat made a massive gamble in signing-and-trading for 36-year-old former All-Star point guard Kyle Lowry during the 2021 offseason. Lowry’s leadership, passing ability and defensive moxie helped Miami knock on the door of its second NBA Finals appearance in three seasons this year, but the team’s 2022 draft will be negatively impacted by the signing, writes Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

The league penalized Miami for apparently reaching a deal with Lowry before free agency opened, taking away the Heat’s 2022 second-round draft pick. Miami will not have a second-round draft pick until the 2028 season, though the team has had plenty of recent success in signing undrafted free agent rookies.

“Of course it’s disappointing to lose an asset,” said Heat vice president of basketball operations Adam Simon. “You can acquire a player on the night of the draft, and then have him under contact, versus waiting on players that don’t get drafted and then hoping that you can talk the agent into delivering them to you. So certainly having a pick, a late pick, it helps.”

Winderman notes that Miami also has not had the benefit of a second-round selection in five of the last six drafts.

Across 63 contests with Miami during the regular season, Lowry averaged 13.4 PPG, 7.5 APG and 4.5 RPG. He posted shooting splits of .440/.377/.851. Injuries limited Lowry to appearing in just 10 of 18 playoff contests.

There’s more out of South Beach:

  • Due to obligations with the Turkish national basketball team, Heat reserve center Omer Yurtseven will most likely not play in Summer League games for Miami, per Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald. “I have to go to the national team. So if that takes me away from summer league, I might not be able to,” Yurtseven said. In 10 consecutive starts in December and January prior to Bam Adebayo‘s return from a thumb injury, Yurtseven averaged 13.6 PPG, 13.9 RPG and 2.9 APG. By the playoffs, however, he was out of the rotation. Yurtseven, 24, is optimistic about what he was able to show with the club when he did play. “I was given an opportunity and took full advantage of it for that six-week stretch,” he said. “Then afterwards, just stayed the course, stayed professional and did my job and stayed ready.”
  • Though the Heat enjoyed a relatively successful 2021/22 NBA season, they fell short of their ultimate goal: their first championship since 2013. Miami fell in seven games to the Celtics in a hotly-contested Eastern Conference Finals series. The club may look to make some significant personnel tweaks during the 2022 offseason. Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald wonders if athletic Hawks power forward John Collins could be a solid fit in the Miami frontcourt alongside Adebayo.
  • Heat reserve big man Markieff Morris lost his place in the team’s rotation following a major neck injury that kept him out for most of the 2021/22 season, his first with Miami. Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel speculates on whether or not Morris may ultimately decide to return to the Heat as an unrestricted free agent this summer.
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Heat’s Butler, Herro Available For Game 1

May 2nd, 2022 at 4:59pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Jimmy Butler, Tyler Herro and several other Heat players who were listed as questionable for Game 1 of the second-round series against the Sixers are available to play, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald tweets.

Butler missed the Game 5 clincher against the Hawks due to knee inflammation after averaging 30.5 PPG, 7.8 RPG and 5.3 APG in the first four games. Herro (illness), Max Strus (hamstring), P.J. Tucker (calf), Caleb Martin (ankle) and Markieff Morris (illness) were also listed as questionable on Sunday but are now expected to suit up.

Officially, these players are listed as “warming up with intention to play,” Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel tweets.

Starting point guard Kyle Lowry will miss his third straight game due to a hamstring strain.

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Markieff Morris Fined $25K For Violating League Rules

April 28th, 2022 at 6:44pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The NBA, which has doled out a number of fines during this postseason, added Markieff Morris to that list on Thursday.

The Heat forward has been docked $25K for interfering with live game play while on the bench, in violation of league rules, according to a press release. Morris’ infraction occurred during Game 5, when Miami closed out its series against Atlanta.

Morris, who was not in the game at the time, grabbed and held Hawks guard De’Andre Hunter out of bounds, which prevented Hunter from completely reestablishing himself inbounds as he caught a pass from a teammate. Morris received an unsportsmanlike technical foul for his actions, which occurred during the third quarter.

Earlier in the day, the league fined Jimmy Butler and the Heat organization $15K apiece. Butler made an obscene gesture, which the Heat posted on social media.

Morris was fined $50K for a dust-up with Denver’s Nikola Jokic in November.

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Heat Notes: Butler, Herro, Morris, Oladipo

April 22nd, 2022 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Jimmy Butler‘s 45-point outburst on Tuesday in Game 2 of the Heat‘s series vs. Atlanta was reminiscent of the big performances he turned in during Miami’s 2020 run to the NBA Finals in the Orlando bubble. However, Butler said after the game that he’s a different player now than he was then, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN.

“I’m not as ball-dominant as I was in the bubble,” Butler said. “We got a point guard, and that’s Kyle (Lowry), and I love him being a point guard. I just get to go out there and try to score. And if I can’t score, pass the ball. We’re a different team; I’m a different player.”

While Butler may feel as if he has changed as a player since two years ago, the Heat will welcome more playoff outings that resemble what he did in 2020, as opposed to a repeat of 2021, when he averaged 14.5 PPG on 29.7% shooting in a four-game sweep at the hands of Milwaukee.

As Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald writes, the more games Butler has like Tuesday’s, the better the Heat’s decision to sign him to a new long-term, maximum-salary contract extension last offseason will look. That deal is expected to pay Butler a salary exceeding $50MM in 2025/26, his age-36 season.

Here’s more on the Heat:

  • In an in-depth feature for ESPN, Israel Gutierrez details Tyler Herro‘s growth over the last two seasons, from his struggles in 2020/21 to his probable Sixth Man of the Year win in 2022. Within the story, the Heat guard dismissed the rumors that surfaced a year ago about the team being concerned by his so-called celebrity lifestyle. “There were so much rumors floating around my name,” Herro said. “The lifestyle stuff, the girls, and saying I’m getting caught up in that, which was never true.”
  • Markieff Morris has recovered from the neck injury he suffered when he was hit from behind by Nikola Jokic in November, but the way that situation played out still doesn’t sit well with head coach Erik Spoelstra, writes Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel. “Markieff’s story has been probably frustrating,” Spoelstra said, “Something that shouldn’t have happened, and it’s only a one-game suspension for that, and he had to miss months of time. It makes no sense, but he’s handled that with great grace and class.”
  • Joe Vardon of The Athletic takes a look at the Heat’s “high-class” problem of having a roster so loaded with contributors that they pulled Duncan Robinson from their starting five and removed Morris and Victor Oladipo from the rotation entirely. Spoelstra still expects to lean on Morris and Oladipo at some point in the postseason, per Winderman. “You see how quickly things can change,” Spoelstra said, pointing to Caleb Martin‘s emergence in Game 2 vs. Atlanta. “All of sudden Caleb played and had really significant and important minutes in that second half. I anticipate the same thing will happen for Vic and Markieff.”
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Heat Notes: Adebayo, Morris, UDFAs, Tucker

April 19th, 2022 at 2:34pm CST by Luke Adams

Having initially been listed as questionable for Tuesday’s game due to a left quad contusion, Heat big man Bam Adebayo said today that he’s playing, tweets Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald.

Adebayo, who expressed on Monday that his finish outside of the top three in Defensive Player of the Year voting was “disrespectful,” told reporters on Tuesday that he’s moving on from the perceived snub and is focused on Game 2, according to Jackson.

Here’s more on the Heat:

  • Viewed as one of the Heat’s most important reserves entering the season, Markieff Morris was limited to 17 games this season due to a neck injury and was a DNP-CD in the first game of the playoffs. He has discussed his situation with head coach Erik Spoelstra, but says he “has to accept it” and hasn’t complained, per Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. “Obviously, I’m one of the top guys on the team. But we’ve had success without me,” Morris said. “It happens to be one of those things – and I understand — if I’m needed, that’s when I’ll play. There’s nothing I can really do. It has nothing to do with my game or my career. … This situation now, it’s not broken, so no need to fix it.”
  • The Heat have had an inordinate amount of success with undrafted players, including Duncan Robinson, Kendrick Nunn, Gabe Vincent, and Omer Yurtseven in recent years, not to mention 19-year veteran Udonis Haslem. In a story for ESPN.com, Andrew Lopez takes a look at the impressive work the franchise has done developing players who have been overlooked on draft night. “It’s an organizational philosophy of ours,” Spoelstra told ESPN. “We’ve done it now for several years. We know what we’re looking for. We’re not for everybody, but we love to be dream makers.”
  • Veteran forward P.J. Tucker has embraced the idea of being a mentor for the Heat’s younger players, saying this week that he wishes a veteran had taken on that role with him earlier in his career. “I think so many times when I was younger, coming into the league, being a young player, I wish I had somebody to kind of help me, teach me little tricks of the trade, little things you got to do, how to stay focused,” Tucker said, per Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel.
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Eastern Notes: Porzingis, Jordan, Haslem, Morris

March 20th, 2022 at 8:13pm CST by JD Shaw

Wizards big man Kristaps Porzingis showed he can still be dominant in the team’s victory over the Lakers on Saturday, Josh Robbins of The Athletic writes. Porzingis finished with 27 points and five assists, helping his team win 127-119.

“Just down the stretch, we wanted to play through him,” teammate Kentavious Caldwell-Pope said. “No one could stop K.P. at the elbow. He was just turning around and shooting over everybody. It’s going to be great just to see if we can get him a full season. We already know what he can do.”

Porzingis was acquired by the Wizards in February. He has dealt with a variety of injuries over his career (and hasn’t played over 60 games since the 2016/17 season), but he can still be productive when healthy. In seven games with Washington, he’s averaging 20.6 points and 7.0 rebounds per contest.

There’s more out of the Eastern Conference:

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Heat Notes: Herro, Robinson, Morris, Tucker

March 19th, 2022 at 6:21pm CST by Arthur Hill

Tyler Herro has rebounded from a difficult season to become the NBA’s leading candidate for Sixth Man of the Year, and he said the trials of last season inspired him, writes Wes Goldberg of The Miami Herald. Herro made an immediate impact as a rookie in 2019/20, helping the Heat reach the NBA Finals. But that was followed by a short offseason and then a second season where nothing came as easily.

“If last year didn’t happen I probably wouldn’t be where I’m at right now,” Herro said. “I just took it as motivation to get myself better, mentally and physically.”

Miami made Herro its starting point guard at the beginning of last season, but he only held the job for 14 games before being sent back to the bench. A few months after being hailed as a rookie sensation, he was frequently mentioned as trade bait, with rumors lasting throughout the summer. With a more standard offseason to work on his game, Herro improved his play-making and now handles that role for the second unit.

“It’s a lot mentally to try to block the noise out,” Herro said. “I knew that I would eventually get to an offseason where I could relax and decompress and get myself back to where I wanted to be.”

There’s more from Miami:

  • Duncan Robinson credits former NBA guard J.J. Redick for helping him stay confident when his shot wasn’t falling earlier this season, according to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. Robinson was feeling pressure to deliver after signing a $90MM contract, but Redick told him to relax and keep shooting. “He’s seen it all in this league, offered me some words of encouragement,” Robinson said. “His advice stuck. I talked to Redick. I talked to a bunch of people. I’m fortunate to have a lot of people in my corner willing to lend a word and ear, whatever I need.”
  • On Friday, coach Erik Spoelstra used Markieff Morris as the backup center in place of Dewayne Dedmon for the second time this week, Jackson observes in the same piece. Caleb Martin understands that other players have to help on the glass when the team employs a small-ball lineup, saying they need to show “pride on the perimeter to get more rebounds. We’ve got to do more jobs as wings to try to help the bigs.”
  • Spoelstra would like to give P.J. Tucker some rest before the playoffs, but the veteran forward isn’t on board, Jackson adds. “Every time I’ve suggested it, he’ll just laugh in my face,” Spoelstra said. “Sometimes he’ll scowl at me. With the schedule right now, I don’t think we have to [rest him]. We’ll see when we get there.”
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