Apr 8, 2016; Auburn Hills, MI, USA; Washington Wizards forward Markieff Morris (5) adjusts his finger during the fourth quarter against the Detroit Pistons at The Palace of Auburn Hills. Pistons win 112-99. Mandatory Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports

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Washington Wizards Fan, Artist Paperboy Prince Hopes To Raise $20 Million For Kevin Durant To Come Home by Ben Mehic

Despite his off-court issues, the Washington Wizards have found a power forward that fits into the modern system in Markieff Morris

Markieff Morris is the first potential knucklehead the Washington Wizards have added to the roster since they exiled Andray Blatche, JaVale McGee, Nick Young, and Jordan Crawford early into the John Wall era.

At the time the trade was seen as either a sign of desperation, or as a smart investment in a player whose value was at its nadir.

It is easy to see where the “sign-of-desperation” crowd was coming from.

On the surface Morris is an inefficient, mid-range shooting power forward who doesn’t rebound. He quit on the Phoenix Suns, insulted their fans, threw a towel at head coach Jeff Hornacek, and shoved his teammate, Archie Goodwin, on the bench.

Last week “Chief Keef,” was detained at the Philadelphia airport because someone in his party had weed in their bag.

Morris, who has felony charges in his past, certainly seems to take a lot of risks for someone who makes eight million dollars a year. And the Wizards gave up a lottery pick for this guy.

All that said, I’m 100 percent in on Morris.

He won me over in the two months after the trade deadline, one alley-oop at a time. He brings an edge back to the team, which Paul Pierce and Nene used to provide, but was lacking this year. He’s young, athletic, has a beard, and fits nicely with the Washington Wizards’ core pieces.

What went down in Phoenix:

Everyone knows the story by now so I’ll try and keep it brief.

Morris emerged as sixth-man for the 2013-14 Suns team that started the season as an assumed tank-job and finished as a 48-win team just one spot away from the playoffs.

He finished that year with a PER of 18.4 and as third on the team in total points scored, eventually finishing fourth in Sixth Man of the Year voting.

That summer he and his twin brother, Marcus Morris, told the Suns to make them an offer for their combined services and then they would split the money up themselves.

The Suns paid $52-million/4-years to extend the Morrii, with Markieff making $32 million and Marcus $20 million.

In 2014-15, Morris moved to the starting lineup.

His efficiency (15.8 PER) and free throw rate dropped, but Morris remained effective in an expanded role.

He became their crunch time scorer and a stabilizing force on defense.

On the season the Suns gave up six less points per 100 possessions with Morris in the game than on the bench (per nbawowy). Ultimately he helped the Suns be more competitive than they should have during their triple-headed point guard experiment.

Then this season happened.

The bottom dropped out in Phoenix and Morris could not handle his brother getting traded. The collapse seemed top-down to me (someone with no knowledge of the situation), but Morris certainly didn’t make things better.

Washington was the right team to take the risk:

And that bring us to the Washington Wizards.

Ernie Grunfeld and Ted Leonsis took a calculated risk in trading what became the 13th pick for Morris, and they were right to do it.

Before the trade the Wizards only had four players under contract for the 2016-17 season. With all hell set to break loose when free agency starts on July 1st, it was huge to get a player locked up in advance.

The Wizards had the absolute worst power forward rotation in the league to start last season.

Kris Humphries was asked to run and gun and Jared Dudley faced a perpetual mismatch on defense and the glass. If Morris is even average, he is an upgrade.

His small contract allows the Wizards to still have room for a max free agent this summer.

Cutting into that cap space was a deal-breaker for any trades. Morris is an impact player and his deal lasts through 2019. I’m not sure Grunfeld could have found another player who fit those criteria.

The Wizards are also hoping that the institutional stability they’ve built up the past few years will help keep Morris’ antics in check (did I really just write that?). They have a leader in John Wall, a winning coach in Scott Brooks, and they expect success.

Finally, Wall is entering his 7th season and, quite frankly, the Washington Wizards don’t have any more time to be patient.

Morris is a power forward for the new NBA:

Versatility is Morris’ biggest strength. Zach Lowe, in his September Grantland column, “The Curious Case of Markieff Morris,” said,

“Lots of power forwards can do two of these three things on offense: post up (particularly against switches and small-ball mismatches), shoot 3s, and make productive passes off the dribble. Very few can do all three.”

Lowe has long been fascinated by the place of the “play-making four” in the new NBA. That is a player who can play against traditional lineups and small-ball lineups on both offense and defense. Draymond Green is the proto-type.

This year’s playoffs have shown the importance of a player who can fill this role.

After both LeBron James and Kevin Durant spent chunks of minutes at the four during the conference finals, I’m not sure you can win a championship without the ability to defend small-ball lineups.

No one is going to stop James and Durant, but Morris, in-theory at least, could stay on the floor against the Thunder’s Kanter-Adams monster lineup or against the Cavs’ LeBron and four shooters small-ball lineup.

Morris can score in the post, he can pass the ball, and there is hope in Washington that he can be a threat from deep.

He shot 31.2 percent from 3-point range over the past three seasons, but the John Wall effect is tried and true.

Wall led the league in assists per game that led to a three this past season (LeBron was second), and has helped players like Martell Webster, Trevor Ariza, and Jared Dudley have career shooting years from deep.

Morris averaged a would-be career-high four 3PA’s/36 minutes while with the Washington Wizards and shot 35.7 percent (25/70) from deep in his 21 starts.

That is a small sample size, but it is also par for the course playing with Wall. If Morris can scare defenses from deep his value skyrockets.

Fit with the roster:

Now that he’s in D.C., Morris joins a playoff-tested roster that can cover for some of his weaknesses while also accentuating his strengths.

He should improve his scoring efficiency as the Wizards’ third or fourth option after usually being the second or third (or first) option in Phoenix.

Morris went from scoring 58.5 percent of his field goals off of assists this year in Phoenix to 76.1 percent in Washington. Wall will keep getting him looks.

Morris’ low rebounding numbers are more of a concern than his efficiency.

Morris is listed at 6’10″ but has a career average of just over five rebounds per game (career high 6.2 in ’14-15). But the Washington Wizards are kinda used to it after years of Nene averaging five rebounds a game, and the hope is that Otto Porter’s long wingspan can compensate for Markieff Morris’ short one (that’s how it works, right?).

On offense, Kieff hasn’t played with a roll man like Marcin Gortat since he played with…. Marcin Gortat in Phoenix.

Gortat’s rolls to the rim will create open jumpers for Morris while the threat of Morris as a shooter will make defenses hesitant to help on Gortat’s rolls.

In a big development, young Bradley Beal started taking more off the dribble threes this year. If he can continue improving that part of his game, a Beal/Morris pick-and-roll will be interesting.

If Beal’s defender can’t go under the pick, Beal can slip a pass to Morris on a short role to create a pseudo 4-on-3 situation where Morris can make a play.

Morris’ ability to create his own offense is also critical for a team that stretched John Wall’s scoring ability to its breaking point. He is at least is the type of player who can catch the ball with the shot clock winding down and get off a decent look.

Defense:

Morris has been lambasted for his defense in the past but won Washington Wizards fans over with his defense on Carmelo Anthony in a March matchup with the Knicks.

Morris held Melo – who has always seemed to take a special joy in bullying Otto Porter, his usual cover – to 20 points on 21 shots in a win.

A month before that Knicks game, Morris was part of a team-wide defensive effort that held Anthony Davis to nine points the game after scoring 59.

I give Dudley a lot of the credit that night, but Morris took turns on AD and finished with two steals and a block in 21 minutes.

Morris often looks like he is conserving his motions on defense – the opposite of the hyper-frantic Kevin Garnett style of D.

But despite his reputation, I’ve been impressed by his ability to get to the right spots and not back down from tough matchups.

Still, Morris has limitations on that end.

He’s not a good enough rim protector to play center on a consistent basis, and his switch-ability is unproven. He is not going to be the heart of the defense the way Nene was.

But Morris’ speed and toughness are welcome to the Wizards. It showed as they allowed opponents to shoot 44.7 percent from the field after the All-Star break after a gross 47 percent before it.

Even if the Washingotn Wizards strike out in free agency they will still go into next season with five two-way starters who can get out and run. The team’s identity should be that they’re young, long, and fast, and Morris fits with that.

A concluding thought: Markieff, please, don’t bring your weed to any more airports!