Markieff Morris is not a championship player
Mar 2, 2015, 8:29 PM | Updated: Jul 25, 2024, 12:05 pm
Markieff Morris is not a championship player. Every day Morris is on the Suns roster, the Suns move further away from being a championship team.
As a Suns fan, I am not offended in the least by Morris’ comments. As a matter of fact, I think he’s right about a lack of home court advantage at Suns games. He’s right that fans provide a huge boost to a home team or can affect certain players or situations by adding to the pressure felt by athletes. Zero teams in the NBA fear coming to Phoenix.
The issue isn’t the negative comments about the fans; the issue is the pattern of behavior from Markieff Morris.
He doesn’t get the calls from the refs. To him, his lack of consistent aggression taking it to the hole or his incessant whining on every shot has nothing to do with the lack of calls, it’s the refs’ fault.
Morris ranks second in the NBA in technical fouls. To him, his head coach doesn’t stick up for him and earn a technical himself to protect the players. It’s Jeff Hornacek’s fault.
Morris ends up with five fouls and as many rebounds as turnovers in a game against the defending World Champions. To him, the fans didn’t bring the energy that he could feed off of to do his job. It’s your fault.
The three biggest weaknesses of Markieff Morris are inconsistent effort, not getting to the free throw line and technical fouls. To Markieff Morris, that’s the fans’ fault, the refs’ fault and his coach’s fault.
To label Markieff Morris as a non-championship player is not a slam on his character. Morris’ comments about us does not make him a bad guy. However, if any player thinks fans owe him something, he can’t muster the focus it takes to defeat their enemy. If Markeiff can’t get fired up on his own against the defending World Champions — who also have the player (Kawhi Leonard) you were drafted ahead of that has completely outplayed you throughout your career — he’s not someone that can be counted on going forward.
The Suns have won three of their last 12 with two of the wins coming against teams that are 12 games and 19 games below .500, respectively. Consistent losing, his paycheck, competition, the defending World Champions in the building, Kawhi Leonard, pride as a man, or the playoff push weren’t enough motivation. Morris needed you to bring the energy for him.
Morris said it’s not fair that he has to wave his arms 15 times to get the crowd up. In the offseason, the Suns only need to wave once.
