We’re at the All-Star break and while Sam Presti didn’t make a trade at the deadline he has however acquired Markieff Morris of the Morris Twins fame. Morris was with Scott Brooks and the Washington Wizards before being traded to New Orleans where he was bought out and waived. He hasn’t played in over six weeks and is in recovery from a neck injury, but has been cleared to play.
I’ve watched both of the Morris Twins play ever since their college days at Kansas with Bill Self. Potentially–Markieff Morris could help OKC as the eighth or ninth man in the rotation if he can prove to be healthy and work himself into game shape. Marcus, the twin in Boston, is the player you’d covet, but Markieff could conceivably help the Thunder in a limited role. Kind of like would you’d want Brook over Robin Lopez. I’d covet Brook Lopez, but Robin Lopez has some value given the right set of circumstances.
You would think he’d have a shot of being the No. 8 or 9 guy in the rotation given the first seven players in the rotation are set in stone with Paul George, Westbrook, Adams, Grant, Schroder, Ferguson, and Noel. Eight and nine on Billy Donovan’s current rotation are Pat Patterson and Abdel Nadar. Ten and eleven are Deonte Burton and Hamidou Diallo. Andre Roberson is No. 12 and has a roster spot in the event he ever plays this season. Markieff Morris would be No. 13, but in reality would be No. 8 if he’s in physical condition to play.
In the past two seasons with Washington, in post season play, Morris has played 19 games with numbers of 11.4 pts, 6.7 rbs, and 1.7 asts per game in around 19 minutes a game. He’s a career 33% three point shooter at 6’10”. He’s been a bit of a ‘free spirit’ at times in his career so I’m not sure you’d get the same locker room calmness you’d get from Pat Patterson.
If I’m Donovan my No. 8 guy is getting at best 12 minutes of game because I’m loading up on my first seven guys and finding every way possible to get Nerlens Noel up to 20-22 minutes a game as the season hits the goal achieving portion of play. There’s only 240 minutes a game to be handed out a game–so minutes are going to be earned beyond my first seven players.
So while I don’t see this move as a game changer type of move…it certainly shouldn’t hurt the Thunder in any way and they needed to fill a spot with a player with playoff experience.
To me, this would be like the Red Sox adding a nice middle reliever to bolster the bullpen. And if you watched the last World Series you know you can never get enough arms in your bullpen.
Nice pickup. What could it hurt?