Houston Rockets reportedly mull Markieff Morris trade
Markieff Morris might be getting closer to what he wanted all along in the summer.
After a healthy Morris was benched Monday night in Memphis, ESPN.com's Marc Stein reported that the Houston Rockets are considering acquiring the slumping Suns power forward to help turn around their season.
There is no Suns deal imminent but the likelihood of a Morris trade will increase after Dec. 15, when players acquired in the offseason become eligible to be traded. The preseason notion that Morris would get over his brother's trade to Marcus and would prove essential to a playoff chase is falling apart as Morris continues to play below his standards after improving over each of his first four seasons since the Suns drafted him.
Jeff Hornacek sits Markieff Morris for entire Suns loss
Morris declined comment on his benching Sunday night, when Suns coach Jeff Hornacek attributed his decision to not play Morris to wanting Jon Leuer's and Mirza Teletovic's shooting against Memphis' Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph.
Obviously, much more is at play with Morris, who is shooting a career-low 39 percent from the field. There have been curious moments lately, from when he sat out the Suns' Wednesday game against his twin's team, Detroit, with a knee bruise. When he returned to action, Hornacek moved him to a reserve role for the first time since 2013-14 but played Morris for the entire fourth quarter, when the Suns were assessed a technical foul for his strange delay-of-game violation after he ignored officials' orders to stop switching sides on a free-throw attempt. Also, late in the game, he cost the Suns a key possession when he tried to save a ball that would have been out of bounds off the Wizards.
Morris asked to be traded during the summer after the Suns traded his twin, Marcus, to Detroit in a cap-clearing move for their pursuit of free agent LaMarcus Aldridge, who would have supplanted Morris as the starting power forward. In the past, the Suns had thought the Morris twins could be future leaders of the team and gave each of them affordable four-year contract extensions that started this year.
Morris was considered the Suns' only true power forward coming into the season, after the Suns added Jon Leuer and Mirza Teletovic to the position in large part for their shooting. But Leuer has rebounded at a higher rate (10.0 per 36 minutes vs. Morris' 7.3 per 36 minutes) and defended better.
Morris has continued to be a good teammate, agreed to interviews until Sunday and got along with Hornacek, whose bobblehead is in Morris' home locker. Hornacek was spotted having a Sunday pregame conversation with Morris that ended amicably.
Lawmaker asks education secretary to step down
The Morris situation became more awkward when Marcus told mlive.com that Suns guard Brandon Knight, his former teammate for a short time, made a victory-costing turnover at Detroit because he is "soft." Marcus said earlier in the season that Markieff did not look "happy" or "comfortable" during Suns games. Markieff dismissed the comment as opinion but nobody knows him better than Marcus and his mother.
The Suns (8-13) have lost eight of their past nine games and end a six-game road trip Monday night in Chicago, where they will try to snap a four-game losing streak.
