GM Ryan McDonough, Suns Teammates Speak On Markieff Morris Situation
Following an uncomfortable couple of weeks, it appears that Phoenix Suns power forward Markieff Morris has changed his mind. After publicly declaring that his future would not be in Phoenix over the summer (multiple times), Keef took to the podium Monday at Suns Media Day with a completely new stance: “I want to be here.”
When the Suns traded Morris’ twin brother and best friend Marcus Morris over the summer, they were trying to free up enough cap space to sign star free agent LaMarcus Aldridge to a deal. But when the Suns missed out on Aldridge, they were left with one pissed off power forward who was suddenly vital to the team’s playoff hopes in 2015-16.
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Following the trade of his twin brother, Keef eventually opened up to his hometown newspaper and vented about the deal, saying that while he’d show up to training camp if he were still on the roster, he didn’t see it coming to that.
The Suns never caved, and Keef showed up as promised. Though he wouldn’t elaborate on his conversations with general manager Ryan McDonough, head coach Jeff Hornacek or new teammate Tyson Chandler, Morris acknowledged that those conversations did take place and that both parties were on the same page now.
“That’s between us, and we’re going to deal with it,” he said.
But Morris wasn’t the only member of the Suns organization to talk about this offseason’s uncomfortable situation. While Keef deflected follow-up questions to his opening statements, McDonough tackled the subject head on.
“He’s certainly not the first and probably won’t be the last player to be upset with the front office,” he said. “It happens. I do my job first and foremost to put the most talent on the floor we can, to give coach and his staff players that work hard and play hard and have a chance to win a lot of games. If that ruffles some feathers along the way, so be it.”
McDonough said the team didn’t do anything different in the trade that sent Marcus Morris, Danny Granger and Reggie Bullock to the Detroit Pistons. He said the team called the representatives of the players being traded to notify them, as per usual, and that was that.
“Maybe less than five percent of the trades that are discussed actually get completed,” he explained. “We don’t pre-flight this with any of our players, we don’t run it by them to get their opinion, that’s not something we have done and that’s not something we’re going to do going forward.”
That lack of a courtesy phone call may have made the situation worse, especially since the twins were on vacation when they were first notified. But McDonough echoed Keef’s sentiments about moving past this summer and getting back to focusing on basketball.
McDonough when asked if the Suns discussed trading Markieff: "I'm not gonna talk about what we discussed internally."
— Valley of the Suns (@ValleyoftheSuns) September 28, 2015
“That’s my frustration with this whole thing, and I understand why his comments and behavior have overshadowed a lot of it, but with respect he played pretty darn well last year,” McDonough said. “That’s the unfortunate part about it, we should be talking about his game and how he’s improved as a player and how much better he’s gotten, especially over the past few years, but we’re not. I’m not closing the door on that possibility, and hopefully that’s what we’re talking about sometime soon.”
But can it really be that simple to bury a hatchet that large? Most Suns fans have been asking that question since it was reported that Phoenix wasn’t going to give in to his trade demands. McDonough didn’t offer many details about the conversation he had with Morris, but he did acknowledge that his relationship with Keef isn’t the main issue here:
"“I was standing in the back when Markieff did his media availability and I thought he did great. It’s not easy to get up here and answer questions, and you guys asked him some tough ones, and I thought he handled it well. That’s what we’ve seen from him so far. I haven’t interacted with him a whole lot, we did speak yesterday, but I’ve spoken to coach and his teammates more than he’s spoken to me, and if that’s the way it is, that’s fine.“What he said, I think, is accurate, that he’s improved every year. So as long as he comes out and is a good teammate and is coachable and plays hard, then we’ll have no issues.”"
McDonough, who strongly defended his actions over the summer, is completely right. He and the team’s starting power forward have plenty of time to work on their relationship with Morris locked into a four-year, $32 million contract extension. Even if they never fully reconcile the Marcus Morris trade, it doesn’t matter.
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At this point, Morris is either playing for his teammates and for himself, or he’s playing for his trade value. Either way, it involves him playing at a high level, and according to his Suns teammates, that’s never been an issue.
“Keef is a terrific guy; I guess people got misled by that [situation],” Eric Bledsoe said. “As a teammate, I’ve been playing with him for two years, going on three now, he’s a team guy. He’s like my brother. I can go to Keef and pretty much say anything to him and he’s not going to take offense to it, he’s still going to play his game. To me, he’s one of the best power forwards in this league.”
Tyson Chandler, the Suns’ big offseason acquisition who reached out to Morris, has some experience in having to rejoin an uncomfortable environment. When the New Orleans Hornets tried to trade Chandler to the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2009, the deal was rescinded because Chandler had turf toe.
It could have been a potentially awkward situation for Chandler, but as he told the Arizona Republic’s Paul Coro, he had a face-to-face meeting with the front office to let them know he was playing for himself, for his family and for his teammates in the locker room.
“I think all this stuff will be behind him,” Chandler said. “This isn’t the first time that a player has had miscommunications with management or anything like that, and it’s not going to be the last time it happens. In our league, it seems to always work itself out and I feel like this won’t be any different.”
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Head coach Jeff Hornacek said he doesn’t think there will be any hard feelings in the locker room about what Morris said over the summer.
“If you’re ever in a locker room with a group of players, guys will give each other crap for about a day or two, and then it’s not even thought about again, so I don’t think there’s any problem there whatsoever.”
For the time being, it appears the Suns have smoothed things over with their embattled power forward. Keef declined one-on-one interview requests at Media Day and seemed withdrawn, but for now, he’s committed to being the Suns’ starting power forward and helping the team in games.
However, even after narrowly averting disaster, that doesn’t mean McDonough has any regrets about the way the offseason went.
“Are we going to stop chasing elite players and trying to win a championship? No,” he said. “We’re not going to stop that and I don’t apologize for that. If you study NBA history, especially recent NBA history, it takes multiple elite players to win.”
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