Consistent energy sought from F Markieff Morris
During last week’s preseason game against the Los Angeles Clippers, Suns power forward Markieff Morris dived to the floor and corralled a loose ball.
He came out on the next dead ball. Some coaches will pull a player after a made shot for them to leave on a high note. With Morris, that is the kind of effort they want consistently out of him, and he knows it after hearing it from different staffs for two years in Phoenix.
“The most important thing is staying consistent,” Morris said. “The last two years, my rookie year, I fell off after the All-Star break, and last year I really couldn’t stay consistent. We were losing, and there was a lot of mix-up going on. That’s why I’m focusing on playing hard and competing hard every night.”
Morris is coming off what he called his most complete preseason game. He made seven of eight shots for 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds in 23 minutes Thursday night at Sacramento. The Suns coaching staff would differ with him about how solid his defense was, but it still was a positive game, especially for how he is settling for perimeter shots less often.
Morris ran the floor for fast-break finishes, scored on a follow dunk and got into the lane against Sacramento and was the high scorer in a brief public scrimmage Saturday.
“We’re trying to get him to do that more often,” Suns coach Jeff Hornacek said. “He’s done a pretty good job offensively of getting the ball inside a little more and crashing boards. Defensively, there are still things that he needs to work on. He continues to get better offensively at getting in spots for better shots instead of floating around on the outside waiting for a 3-point shot. He can make those, but we’d rather have him dominate inside if we can.”
Post-up scores are not Morris’ strength, but they can be if he runs the floor and gets an early seal before defenses can get set and offer help. That is where the constant effort in necessary. It is easy to pop off a screen and wait at the 3-point line. It takes energy to outrun someone else for 80 feet to get position on the block.
“That’s a part of the game,” Morris said of playing with consistent high effort. “If I just play hard, on some days when I’m not making shots, I’m on the defensive end getting stops or on the offensive end getting rebounds. That’s where it starts. If we get stops, we can get out in transition and play to our strengths.”
Only Marcin Gortat (three) has played more continuous seasons in Phoe- nix than Morris (two) and Shannon Brown (two). Channing Frye played three consecutive Suns seasons before missing last year and Goran Dragic has 31⁄ Suns seasons but in two stints.
Dragic ankle update
Dragic said he walked normally on his sprained left ankle Saturday and Sunday. “That’s a good sign,” Dragic said. But it is not necessarily a sign that he will play in Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s final preseason games. Dragic would like to play, but Hornacek said the rest might be well-timed after Dragic’s busy summer with the Slovenian national team.
“They (the Suns’ athletic trainers) said he’s going to be fine,” Hornacek said.
“I don’t want to rush him back. When you have a sprained ankle and you come back too early, it just continues to aggravate it. I’d rather it just clear up.”