Suns’ Markieff Morris returns to team

Suns forward Markieff Morris is officially back with the team. He rejoined the rest of the roster for practice on Tuesday after being away for a two-game suspension due to throwing a towel in the direction of head coach Jeff Hornacek.

Morris did meet with Hornacek, general manager Ryan McDonough and team president Lon Babby before the practice as Yahoo! Sports reported would happen.

“Talked with him,” said Hornacek. “We put it out there what we wanted from him, what we expected. He’s been good for us in the past, we want him to get to playing like he did last year. It’s been a struggle this year. We basically tried to get a feel if he was good for that and said he wanted to get back and help his teammates and help us win.”

Morris’ shooting and turnovers numbers have taken a turn for the worse this season creating a platoon at power forward between him, Jon Leuer and Mirza Teletovic.

“Kind of what we did those last four games before the suspension,” said Hornacek. “Where he gets in there if he plays well then we’ll continue to move up his minutes. If another guy is maybe struggling that night that’s an opportunity for him. It’s a different situation for him having to play like that, but he understands it and knows when goes out there he’ll lay it all out there.”

Hornacek told the media his relationship with Morris is the same as it has been in the past and he didn’t think the towel incident was malicious.

Morris was seen working out with assistant coach Mark West after practice concluded. In speaking with him briefly before he headed to the team bus as the Suns get ready to start a four-game road trip Wednesday against the Spurs.

Morris said the meeting between him, Hornacek and McDonough was “cool.”

“It’s really between me and the front office,” added Morris. “We definitely had a successful meeting and I’m just happy to be back.”

Morris also reiterated he was sorry for the comments from this summer because of how it impacted the fans specifically.