Markieff Morris

Markieff Morris
PF, 6’10, 245lbs, 27 years old, 6 years of experience

Had a decent season, his best since his third season, rebounding after a slow start and providing something in every facet of the game. Morris is an excellent role player on an excellent role player contract, reasonably consistent and disciplined save for some fouls, and a useful piece on any team, this one included.

Player Plan: Two years and a combined $16.6 million remaining. Very fair price and hope he’s willing to extend within that range.

Pick 13: Phoenix makes what is maybe the second surprising pick of the night when they drafted Markieff Morris, and not Marcus. Despite it being universally agreed and demonstrably true that Marcus has been the better player in their lives to date, Markieff is taken first. And it is likely because he is slightly bigger. Markieff may be the Jason to Marcus's Jarron, the Brook to Marcus's Robin, the Scarlett to Marcus's Hunter. And all because of a one inch height advantage.

(I earlier claimed in their draft snippets that there's a chance Markieff will have the better pro career. Phoenix clearly agrees.)

Markieff takes about 14 minutes to make his way to the stage, stopping for more and more hugs, resisting the ushering of the draft's utility man, the guy whose job it is to give out the hats and get the players to the church on time. Kieff is stoic if fragile, but the same is not true of Marcus, who breaks down crying. Immediately, Heather Cox is dispatched to interrogate him, and asks him to elucidate on the painful reality of being separated from the man he has been inseparable from for the previous 21 years. Marcus responds sombrely with "it's not the end of the world. I'll send him some flowers and some fruit," without a hint of irony. He meant it. The idea of any two NBA players sending each other flowers and fruit would be funny, were it not for how sad Marcus looks. It must be a beautiful thing to have that kind of a bond with another human being. And yet it must be the most heartbreaking thing to have that bond tested, particularly in so public a forum as this.


Pick 14: Things quickly brighten up for Marcus, as he was made the very next pick by Phoenix. The sombre tone surrounding Markieff's selection is replaced with man hugs and chest pounds, Marcus completing a journey through the entire emotional spectrum in a span of less than seven minutes.

What Phoenix intends to do with both Marcus Morris and Patrick Patterson is not immediately obvious, but you can never have too much quality. This marks the first occasion that brothers have ever been drafted back to back, let alone twins being drafted back to back - the previous closest that it has come, as Stu Scott points out, were the Grant twins Horace (#10) and Harvey (#12) in 1987.

(Does it not seem as though there's a disproportionate number of identical twins in basketball?)

Marcus Morris and Markieff Morris - The Morris twins are listed together because they've always been together, and they always want to be together, even in the NBA. Because of this, they play highly complimentary styles.

Marcus is, and has always been the better player. He is more versatile, the do-everything type, the guy whose style of play somewhat resembles David Lee or an early years Antawn Jamison, the one with the mid range game and the better shot creation skills, who can play inside and out, and who operates in between. Meanwhile, Markieff is the bigger of the two - his size advantage is the only way to physically tell the difference between the two, as they even have matching tattoos - the Raef LaFrentz-type with not-quite-centre size, who finishes around the basket and hits straight-in threes, and otherwise disinclined to leave the paint too much on either end.

It is not out of the realms of possibility that because of this, Markieff will have the better NBA career. But if he was 7 foot tall, it would be a certainty.

[...] This is mainly because of the Morris twins. Quite simply the most facially identical pair of twins that have ever walked the Earth, the Morris's have slightly different games that have become extremely complimentary towards each other. Markieff, slightly bigger, is the better rebounder and post defender with a better trailer three; Marcus, slightly better, does more creating on offense, defends the perimeter better, and has the better mid-range game. Both are good sized, decently athletic shot makers, with high IQ's, good court vision, spin moves, good hands, and versatility on both defense and offense. Both are future NBA players, too. And not just future NBA players like the Collins twins; the Morrises can play.