Morris on acclimation: Don't `force things'

DENVER – Thunder forward Markieff Morris was in the middle of answering a question about how he best absorbs a new team's system after joining in the middle of the season when point guard Dennis Schroder slid into the media scrum next him.

Does Morris prefer to ask his teammates questions or watch film?

“I don't really ask too many questions,” Morris said as Schroder poked his head in and started to put on a fuzzy multicolored pullover. “I've been around for a little while, so I just watch guys like him.”

Him, as in Schroder. Morris cracked a smile.

Standing at the edge of the court after the Thunder's shootaround at the Pepsi Center on Tuesday afternoon, Schroder twisted his face into mock curiosity as Morris continued.

“He's a floor general,” he said, “so he just puts me out in the right spots on offense.”

Morris' signing with the Thunder marked the second time in his career that he has changed teams in the middle of the season. He was also traded from the Suns to the Wizards in 2016. Morris played his first game in a Thunder uniform after just one team practice. Then OKC took on Western Conference opponents, Utah and Sacramento, in backto-back nights out of the All-Star break.

“For me personally,” Thunder coach Billy Donovan said, “for Markieff I'd like to see some days in between games. I think it was helpful coming out of the back-to-back. But … I thought he was a little more comfortable against Sacramento than maybe he was against Utah.”

Morris said he used the rare practice day (in the second half of the season, practice days are often limited) to focus on offense and learn plays.

“For me, you just want to be a help to the team,” he said. “You don't want to come in and force things. You want everything to go smooth, how they went before you got here. So for me just getting acclimated to the offense and defense, playing with the guys.”

Andre Roberson update

Andre Roberson sifted along the 3-point line, launching shots after shootaround Tuesday. He wore a black sleeve over his left leg, compressing the knee that he'd had multiple operations on since rupturing his patellar tendon 13 months ago.

Donovan reiterated Tuesday that he does not have a timetable for Roberson's return, but the team is optimistic that he could be able to return at some point this season.

“How that progresses, we'll have to wait and see,” Donovan said. “But to me it is encouraging to see that he's jogging around a little out there, shooting the ball a little bit.”

The effects of Roberson's latest setback, an avulsion fracture an MRI revealed at the end of November, were still obvious. As a ball rolled away from him, Roberson kept his pace to a brisk walk.