Markieff Morris

bigfoot · Post #1 » by **bigfoot** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 12:58 pm

Has he finally arrived? He has been very consistent as of late averaging nearly 17pts and 7 rebounds per game in March. Quality shooting percentages too in only 28 minutes per game. He's clearly the third man behind Dragic and Bledsoe. Is he at his peak or do we expect even more from him next year?

ImNotMcDiSwear · Post #2 » by **ImNotMcDiSwear** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 1:54 pm

I have been blown away by Markieff. Effective one-on-one scorer: you give him the ball, and you got a great shot at a bucket. Not easy to find in the NBA.

The real question is, how much will he (they) cost in FA? You can consider trading them, but not at any discount. The Morrises are for real. We continue to underrate them.

Puff · Post #3 » by **Puff** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 2:31 pm

cosmofizzo wrote:I have been blown away by Markieff. Effective one-on-one scorer: you give him the ball, and you got a great shot at a bucket. Not easy to find in the NBA.

The real question is, how much will he (they) cost in FA? You can consider trading them, but not at any discount. The Morrises are for real. We continue to underrate them.

They also appear to be well liked by their teammates. Markieff appears to becoming a leader of sorts as well.

and they are both still only 24 years old.

Saberestar · Post #4 » by **Saberestar** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 3:49 pm

I thought that he could not be more than a decent bench player but this year he has made great progress and he seems to improve every day in the season. He is a force in the paint, but he is versatile enough to play around the perimeter and be very efficient too. He is a hard worker and good teammate, so I hope that he and Marcus will stay here for many years.

This summer we can offer him 25M/4 years and for Marcus 15M/4 years.....probably they will want more, but they have to think about stay together too.

Ring_Wanted · Post #5 » by **Ring_Wanted** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 3:52 pm

The Morrii always are quick to high five teammates and cheer them up, and also the first ones to get involved when somebody tries to intimidate one of our players.

Beyond their improved efficiency, they contribute big time in the chemistry department.

But I don't know about underrating them. They are good at a number of things, but also have evident flaws, particularly defense, athleticism and a tendency to pass too much each other, and they are not plus rebounders either.

If they took a home-package discount to stay, it would be much easier to forget those issues (and would attenuate the impact of a possible contract year syndrome of sorts), but the thing is that they are forwards, and S-PF are the easiest positions to replace, especially on the cheap via draft.

In my opinion they are prime candidates for a 'consolidation' type of move, but worrying about that is basically useless at this point, until the playoffs issue is solved and the draft order is set.

In the meantime, we have found a 6th man of the year candidate and a nice role player, and that's way more than anyone could have expected before the season.

Post #6 » by **bwgood77** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 4:12 pm

Saberestar wrote:I thought that he could not be more than a decent bench player but this year he has made great progress and he seems to improve every day in the season. He is a force in the paint, but he is versatile enough to play around the perimeter and be very efficient too. He is a hard worker and good teammate, so I hope that he and Marcus will stay here for many years.

This summer we can offer him 25M/4 years and for Marcus 15M/4 years.....probably they will want more, but they have to think about stay together too.

We don't have to offer them a contract this summer. Their rookie contract runs through next year. The following summer maybe we can get them on those kind of deals. Markieff might get a bigger offer elsewher, but I don't think another team will offer them both a contract, so he may take less to stay if we also give his brother a deal.

But this will be the summer of 2015, when we could also go after Love, Millsap, etc.

Saberestar · Post #7 » by **Saberestar** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 4:30 pm

bwgood77 wrote:
We don't have to offer them a contract this summer. Their rookie contract runs through next year. The following summer maybe we can get them on those kind of deals. Markieff might get a bigger offer elsewher, but I don't think another team will offer them both a contract, so he may take less to stay if we also give his brother a deal.

But this will be the summer of 2015, when we could also go after Love, Millsap, etc.

We have to offer them a contract THIS summer if we want to extend them. It is like the situation we had with Bledsoe this past summer. It will be better if we extend them at a good price because like RFA we will have to match more expensive offers.

RaisingArizona · Post #8 » by **RaisingArizona** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 4:46 pm

He should be starting over Charmin. I love his game; like a refined Rodney Rogers.

Post #9 » by **bwgood77** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 5:15 pm

Saberestar wrote:
bwgood77 wrote:
We don't have to offer them a contract this summer. Their rookie contract runs through next year. The following summer maybe we can get them on those kind of deals. Markieff might get a bigger offer elsewher, but I don't think another team will offer them both a contract, so he may take less to stay if we also give his brother a deal.

But this will be the summer of 2015, when we could also go after Love, Millsap, etc.

We have to offer them a contract THIS summer if we want to extend them. It is like the situation we had with Bledsoe this past summer. It will be better if we extend them at a good price because like RFA we will have to match more expensive offers.

I guess that's true, but I was thinking more of when the new contract would kick in. But again, we don't have to, depending on what the views are for potential trades over the next year.

Revived · Post #10 » by **Revived** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 5:26 pm

We can't have him test FA. He has to be and will be resigned along with brother this summer to an extension I think.

His brother should obviously make a whole lot less than Kieff.

JDLAW · Post #11 » by **JDLAW** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 6:21 pm

I believe the Suns will work to extend them both at a friendly price. I also do not think there would be much, if any, difference between the salaries and there might be clauses in their contracts designed to try keep them together.

The Suns will extend them is because they are the core of the bench and both have become solid rotation players. Another reason is that, if the Suns were to entertain trades for them, having them signed for 4 add'l years at a cap friendly price will make them much more valuable.

gaspar · Post #12 » by **gaspar** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 6:35 pm

My favorite player on the team right now. Hopefully Keef will be a Sun for a looong time. Great job by Hornacek of putting him in a position to succeed this year. Our Mini-LMA with a 3-point range

To think that at the trade deadline some people on this board wanted to trade the twins for a mid-first round pick... or the twins AND a first round pick for Thad Young... smh.

RaisingArizona · Post #13 » by **RaisingArizona** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 6:52 pm

You don't trade the Bash Bros. I've said it all along.

Bogyo · Post #14 » by **Bogyo** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 7:05 pm

I've also grown to like Kief a lot, he seems to be a legit 6th man. However if we can pick up Payne with our IND pick I dont think we would be missing him a lot (or his twin). And if he can be replaced so easily he might not be all that valuable to us or anyone else - although it might show you how good this draft will be.

JDLAW · Post #15 » by **JDLAW** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 7:36 pm

Bogyo wrote:I've also grown to like Kief a lot, he seems to be a legit 6th man. However if we can pick up Payne with our IND pick I dont think we would be missing him a lot (or his twin). And if he can be replaced so easily he might not be all that valuable to us or anyone else - although it might show you how good this draft will be.

Who the He!! is Payne and why would a rookie picked with the 2nd to last pick be able to replace two veterans, one of whom it candidate for 6th man of the year, who have just had breakout years in their third seasons.

Your comment demonstrates the draft insanity that overtakes people around this time of the year. The truth is that no one in this "draft of all drafts" will be talented and mature enough to have an impact next year that is equivalent to the Morris' impact this year. There are no Lebrons, Wades or even Melos in this year's draft are all going to take time.

JDLAW · Post #16 » by **JDLAW** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 7:38 pm

gaspar wrote:My favorite player on the team right now. Hopefully Keef will be a Sun for a looong time. Great job by Hornacek of putting him in a position to succeed this year. Our Mini-LMA with a 3-point range

To think that at the trade deadline some people on this board wanted to trade the twins for a mid-first round pick... or the twins AND a first round pick for Thad Young... smh.

A big and one to you!! Those suggestions were insane.

SunZel · Post #17 » by **SunZel** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 7:42 pm

Pretty much just the Morris bros have made the suns bench one of the best in the league.

bigfoot · Post #18 » by **bigfoot** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 8:33 pm

Kief has certainly shown improved confidence and a better post-up game. Props to Horny for providing that opportunity via Mark West. Props to Kief because he could have folded when Frye took the starting spot at the beginning of the season. Each month Kief has progressively increased his numbers (scoring and rebounding). His FG percentage now at least resembles that of a power forward. If he takes over for Frye I would like to see more double/doubles. Could he handle the PF spot since he seems to be spending a lot of his time playing the five in Horny's small ball system. That creates mismatches on offense but lately we've been abused on the offensive boards. Again what is his ceiling? Could he be a 20-10 kind of guy playing 36-38 minutes per game at the PF spot?

Sunsdeuce · Post #19 » by **Sunsdeuce** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 10:12 pm

ginobiliflops wrote:You don't trade the Bash Bros. I've said it all along.

Even if you could get Kevin love?

One and only good pick by lance was keiff.

Sunsdeuce · Post #20 » by **Sunsdeuce** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 10:15 pm

Good read:
http://arizonasports.com/41/1716368/Sun ... me-stretch

Just a little piece:
His stellar scoring output Sunday marked the 19th time in the last 20 games he's scored in double-figures off the bench -- including the last nine in a row. In the only game in that span where he failed to reach double-digits in scoring, Morris finished with nine on March 4 against the Los Angeles Clippers.

Three of Morris' nine double-doubles on the year have come in the last 20 games. During this stretch, he has put up numbers of 16.9 points and 6.3 rebounds in 29.3 minutes per contest. The third-year forward hasn't always been able to will Phoenix to victory during his recent run, however, as the Suns have gone 11-9 over the last 20.

Morris' overall season averages are 13.8 points and 5.9 rebounds in 26.1 minutes per game -- all career highs. He is also shooting 48.6 percent from the field on the year -- a dramatic improvement over his first two seasons in the league, in which he shot 39.9 and 40.7 percent from the floor, respectively.