No one should be surprised. After shocking the NBA and winning 48 games in 2013-14, the Phoenix Suns have a grand total of five players from that near playoff team remaining on the roster…and two of those players were rookies then. Even as general manager Ryan McDonough has brought young talent to the Valley, “stability” hasn’t been a word to associate with a team perpetually described as the “new-look” Suns.
At this point, one more new look might be best for the Suns.
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Just a few weeks ago, Suns fans felt excitement for the first time in a half-decade when LaMarcus Aldridge was seriously including Phoenix among his top free agency destinations. The San Antonio Spurs had their undeniable championship culture, but the young Suns were somehow in the running to land a new face of the franchise.
In their pursuit of the star this organization badly needs, McDonough made a justifiable gamble by trading Marcus Morris, Danny Granger and Reggie Bullock to the Detroit Pistons in order to clear cap room to make a serious play for Aldridge if he chose Phoenix as his new home.
A star like Aldridge was worth the risk, but now McDonough and the Suns are feeling the full force of the aftermath.
After missing out on Aldridge, John Gambadoro reports that Markieff Morris wants nothing to do with the organization that dumped his twin brother. This raises a whole slew of questions as to how the Suns should proceed from here.
According to @Gambo987's sources, Markieff wants out. He wants nothing to do with the #Suns. Won't talk to players or staff. #NBA
— The Burns & Gambo Show (@BurnsAndGambo) August 6, 2015
Normally, the standard procedure here would be to take the report with a grain of salt until something more concrete emerges. But Keef himself did nothing to counter the report, letting the world know that “Team FOE” was still in full force:
No love lost... #FOEinc
— Keef Morris (@Keefmorris) August 7, 2015
Essentially, this is the Phoenix Suns’ nightmare.
After McDonough spent the summer addressing areas of need by adding veteran experience, locker room leadership and three-point shooting, the Suns seemed poised to seriously compete for one of the final playoff spots in the West. Had Aldridge joined the party, Phoenix might have even been labeled as a contender.
But if this report that Keef wants out is true — and no one would be even remotely surprised if it was — then the one piece that could implode this team’s playoff hopes has just lit the fuse.
Exum injury really made the Suns making the playoffs over Utah more likely. This will not help.
— Scott Chasen (@ChasenScott) August 6, 2015
With a starting lineup of Eric Bledsoe, Brandon Knight, P.J. Tucker, Markieff Morris and Tyson Chandler, the Suns would have a strong starting five with decent depth behind them. Even in the West, that’s a team capable of making the playoffs. But without Keef’s offensive skills, the Suns will be in serious need of scoring ability. No offense to stretch-4 Mirza Teletovic, but trading the other Morris twin could very well sink the Suns’ playoff hopes.
Unfortunately for McDonough and the Suns, they might not have a choice now.
There are a few caveats, of course. Markieff Morris might be on the best non-rookie contract in the NBA, with four years and $32 million remaining on his deal. With the NBA’s salary cap set to leap by $40 million two years from now, you don’t give that kind of bargain value away without receiving something significant in return.
But the Suns may not have much leverage now that the world believes Keef wants out. Even with Morris on a steal of a contract, teams won’t be tripping over themselves to add a player who spent the last year building a bad reputation for himself.
From calling out the home fans to finishing with the second most technicals in the league to the felony aggravated assault charges, Keef really shouldn’t be feeling so high and mighty about the Suns trading away his bad influence of a brother.
That being said, you’d be fooling yourself to think teams aren’t interested in his services. They simply know they have the position of power and with Keef being only 25 years old, there’s zero chance interest would wane even if he spent the next season glued to the end of the bench.
Bearing that in mind, it’s easy to wonder if the Suns would be better off just keeping him. They could play him if he were amiable enough, or he could simply sit every game of the 2015-16 season if his attitude was not conducive to a winning environment.
I stay patient with any potential Markieff Morris trade. He's just starting a good value 4 year contract. Never bargain from desperation.
— Scott Howard (@ScottHoward42) August 6, 2015
But in that kind of worst-case scenario, what’s the point? Even accepting a trade below market value would be preferable to Markieff Morris sitting on the end of the bench, contributing nothing to a team that wants to avoid the longest playoff drought in franchise history.
In the coming days, examining possible Markieff Morris trades will be a helpful exercise for determining how deep in s**t’s creek the Suns are, but suffice it to say that Phoenix won’t be getting equal value in a trade now. With this report emerging, that ship has quickly sailed away, even going up s**t’s creek.
If the report is true, there’s really nothing Phoenix can do but trade him away and try to net something respectable in return.
We’ve been heading toward this inevitable conclusion for awhile now. The most patient fans have given Keef the benefit of the doubt, labeling his silence since the Marcus Morris trade as “professionalism” and “intelligence.” But that silence has been broken, and if Keef wants out, the Suns need to show him the door.
Sir Charles In Charge
By doing so, Phoenix could very well kiss its playoff hopes for 2015-16 goodbye. The Suns aren’t nabbing a player of Morris’ caliber in a trade at this point, and stapling him to the bench certainly won’t boost his trade value. You never want to deal out of desperation, but McDonough may have no choice at this point.
The Suns have been rebuilding since McDonough first took over the job. And while Markieff’s on-court progression has been impressive during that time, the Suns were as poised as ever to take the next step forward…provided Morris could get over the unceremonious trading away of his brother.
But if this report is to be believed, he can’t, which makes him the last remaining locker room problem on a team that needs to find some sort of stability and chemistry after discord became Phoenix’s undoing last year. Trading away a talented player like Markieff Morris will hurt, and the Suns won’t get equal compensation, but perhaps one more trade is what this organization needs.
We’ve given Markieff Morris the benefit of the doubt for too long. A sour locker room personality is the last thing this team needs and as much as it’s generally bad business to trade away talent on a bargain contract in this league, no one would be sorry to see him go at this point. Keef could very well come back to haunt the Suns based on his performance with his new team, but that might be preferable to keeping evil spirits in the locker room.
Next: Suns Column: Ryan McDonough's Plan Unorthodox, But Trustworthy