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Markieff Morris (l) and Marcus Morris
Stan Van Gundy has made plenty of personnel moves during his year and a half as the man in charge of the Detroit Pistons.
He axed the dead weight that was Josh Smith, let Greg Monroe walk in free agency, and selected a strong-looking rookie in Stanley Johnson. But his best move might have been picking which Morris twin to trade for.
Over this past summer, the Pistons struck a deal with Phoenix that didn’t exactly grab newspaper (or Deadline Detroit) headlines. A future draft pick went to the Suns and the Pistons got back Marcus Morris, half of the “Morris twins” duo (with brother Markieff) that played together collegiately at Kansas.
The deal was talked about for a minute, then mostly forgotten, but once the season began, Pistons’ fans realized that Morris was a bit of a hidden gem. He shoots from deep, knocks down his free throws (76%), can create his own offense, and plays tough on the defensive end. After a couple years of the slogging Drummond-Monroe-Smith frontcourt, it was a nice departure watching the newly acquired Morris and Ersan Ilyasova (Milwaukee) add some versatility to the Stones’ offense.
Everything has been more or less peachy, at least on our end of the deal.
Back in Phoenix, where the other Morris twin (Markieff) remains, things are utterly miserable.
Apparently while neither brother was thrilled with the idea of being separated, Marcus better understood the professional responsibility that comes with being an NBA hooper and devoted full energy to his new Detroit mates. Markieff has done the complete opposite and it’s made national news this week.
Recently, Markieff was removed from a game by coach Jeff Hornacek. The young forward responded by tossing a towel in the face of Hornacek, a move that stunningly was not met with rave reviews by the organization.
Morris was sent to the bench for good. He hasn’t played a single second over the last four games, and it’s got nothing to do with there being better players in front of him. The Suns are one of the league’s worst teams and they need all the scoring punch they can find.
All of the hubbub is what led to Suns’ owner Robert Sarver coming out this week and blasting Markieff Morris, labeling him the symbol of an overly entitled generation.
Trashing The Millennials
“My whole view of the millennial culture is that they have a tough time dealing with setbacks, and Markieff Morris is the perfect example. He had a setback with his brother in the offseason, and he can't seem to recover from it.”
Stan Van Gundy
Markieff has also been fined this season by the NBA for making a public trade demand, a slip of the tongue that cost him a cool 10 G’s. Sarver continued to discuss the matter, wondering if the times we live in might be contributing to some of this immature behavior.
“I'm not sure if it's the technology or the instant gratification of being online. But the thing is, I'm not a fan of social media. I tell my kids it's like Fantasyland. The only thing people put online are good things that happen to them, or things they make up. And it creates unrealistic expectations. We’ve had a number of setbacks this year and we haven’t been resilient.”
Understandably, Markieff, the grumpy Suns’ starter-turned-benchwarmer was not enamored with his owner’s comments.
“Whatever he said is whatever he said. I don’t get into that stuff. I’m from Philly. I’ve been through adversity my whole life. That’s what I’ve got to say about that.”
The public response has more or less characterized Sarver as a codger thumbing his nose at the younger generation; but when you look at the situation, with Markieff playing on a four-year, $32-million-dollar contract and more or less refusing to be a good teammate because his best friend on the squad was traded -- that’s difficult behavior to justify. Right, Rip Hamilton?
So whether or not Marcus ever winds up being an All-Star with the Pistons, whether or not he shuts down LeBron James or Jimmy Butler in a potential playoff series this spring, we can all rest easy knowing Stan Van Gundy spun the wheel last summer and landed on the right Morris twin.
