Chief Kieff's Very Good Season: Report Card

[jonathanlambert33]

This time last year, Phoenix Suns second-year forward Markieff Morris had just finished up a really frustrating, disappointing second season in the NBA.

Two years after being drafted onto a playoff regular to fill a needed role, Morris found himself on an island of misfit toys. The only saving grace was that his brother had joined him, yet Marcus' presence didn't spark any magic in their first three months together. In fact, Marcus' game resembled Markieff's so much that former coach Lindsey Hunter appeared have trouble putting them in the same lineups. At the same time, Marcus did something to get himself into the doghouse and off the playing court.

But then summer began. The GM who drafted Markieff was fired, replaced by a GM who wanted to upgrade the team's talent top to bottom. His two NBA coaches were long gone, along with their coaching staffs, replaced by a rookie coach known best for helping people learn how to shoot the ball.

Yet the Morris brothers were determined to succeed. They stayed in Phoenix most of the summer, helped work out draft prospects, willingly signed up for Summer League and found themselves on a good track by mid-July.

While nearly all of their 2012-13 rotation disappeared around them by the time training camp started, Markieff and Marcus Morris were two of only four returnees from the previous squad (with Goran Dragic and P.J. Tucker).

All summer and preseason, Markieff was a starter. He expected to remain a starter, while his brother would come off the bench as the first SF sub.

But then Morris was suspended for game one, giving Hornacek the chance to put Channing Frye in the starting lineup. The Suns went on to win that game, shocking the Trail Blazers. Literally. Blazers guard Damian Lillard said the Suns shocked them with their effort and solid play.

Morris never started another game. Being demoted like that could have been a killer to Morris' attitude, but on the contrary Morris and his brother found solace with each other.

Markieff and Marcus would become a great pairing on the second unit, now that Markieff had transformed his game to get scores closer to the basket.

"He's my twin brother," Markieff Morris says of how they play so well when paired on the court. "We're a team within a team."

Where they had both competed for mid-range shots in February and March, now their games didn't resemble each others at all. Marcus spent more time behind the three-point line, while Markieff stayed inside 15 feet of the basket.

"We don't want those guys floating around the free throw line," Hornacek said of the Morris brothers. "We have two guards - Goran and Eric - who want to penetrate. So if you sit in that area, you're basically just clogging it up."

"Those guys will penetrate, they'll dish it off to you," Hornacek said of the message to Markieff. "You'll get just as many shots on the baseline as you would standing around the free throw line. And then they will be higher percentage shots, dunks, takes to the basket where you get fouled. I think he's trying to do what we ask. Sometimes he forgets and he floats back up there, but that's a process with all these guys."

And they both flourished.

"I love it," Tucker said of how the Morris twins played. "The twins have accepted coming off the bench, playing together. With Ish coming off the bench with them, the way he pushes the ball you're going to get looks. The team scores, he gets it right back on them and they don't even know the ball is coming. That whole [bench] lineup is tough."

Markieff won the NBA's Player of the Week in November, putting up 22.8 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals per game in a 3-1 stretch for the upstart Suns. Morris closed the week with three straight outings in which he connected on .750 or better from the field (11-of-13, .846 on Nov. 6; 10-of-13, .769 on Nov. 8; 9-of-12, .750 on Nov. 10).

That week was just the start for Markieff. He spent most of the season in discussion for Most Improved Player and Sixth Man of the Year (not yet announced). Morris' best month was March - where he scored 16 points, nabbed 7 rebounds and threw 2 assists in only 28 minutes a night.

http://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2014/4/28/5627708/phoenix-suns-2013-14-report-cards-markieff-morris-has-a-really-great

 

[jonathanlambert33]

Afternoon bump.