Morris not happy with Suns but excited to be a Piston

Marcus Morris comes to the Detroit Pistons with a chip on his shoulder.

Blindsided by his trade from Phoenix, the 25-year-old small forward said he will use it as motivation to help the Pistons get back in the playoff hunt.

"I wouldn't say stunning, but in Phoenix, I would say I didn't have a great opportunity,'' Morris said at an introductory news conference today at the Palace of Auburn Hills. "I kind of wanted to play with my brother (twin Markieff Morris) so much that I kind of took away from myself. I didn't think I had an opportunity to get better. I don't think I had the chance to grow as a player over there. I think the opportunity is here for me.

"This gives me a chance to branch out. In my opinion, God works in mysterious ways, and He has plans for certain people. Everybody knew how bad I wanted to play with my brother. Phoenix knew. For them to trade me without consent or telling me was like a slap in the face, because of the contract I took from those guys and the money I took from them. I'm happy to be here. I'm a Piston. I'm a Bad Boy. I'm ready to get started.''

Morris, veteran Danny Granger and 24-year-old Reggie Bullock were traded to Detroit in exchange for a 2020 second-round draft selection last week.

Phoenix was attempting to dump salaries to lure LaMarcus Aldridge to Arizona. The move didn’t work, but the Pistons hoped that, with Morris and rookie Stanley Johnson, they’ve gotten tougher on defense and more versatile.

Morris donned a Bad Boys hat today. The organization hopes he brings the kind of toughness that was lacking last season.

Morris started 35 games for the Suns last season, averaging career highs of 10.4 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 25.2 minutes per game.

He's expected to battle Stanley Johnson for the starting spot at small forward.

"I'm a versatile player, and people are going to see that here,'' he said. "I can shoot and stretch the floor.''

On Feb. 6, Morris recorded his first double-double in a 34-point, 12-rebound performance against Utah. He became the first Suns player since Danny Manning (1997-98) to record at least 30 points and 10 rebounds off of the bench.

He finished the season with five double-doubles and led the team in scoring six times, in rebounding nine times and in steals 12 times.

He’s out to prove that he’s not the weaker player of the Morris twins, who played in high school together in Philadelphia, and then at Kansas.

“I’m a tough player. I’m from Philadelphia and I’m not going to back down,’’ said Morris.

President/coach Stan Van Gundy didn’t see Morris as a consolation prize after the team missed out on free agents Danny Green (San Antonio) and DeMarre Carroll (Toronto).

“He has great toughness,’’ Van Gundy said. “He’s a guy who never takes a step back from anybody. Second of all, the versatility to play both at the three (small forward) and the four (power forward). You see the league, the way it’s going, we can swing him over to play the four. He actually played a little bit of two (shooting guard) in Phoenix. He rebounds his position. He can guard the bigger guys, the post-up guys who we haven’t been able to guard at the three spot: Carmelo (Anthony), LeBron (James), Paul George, if he goes into the post. He can shoot the three and shoots it without hesitation, which is something that I like.

“We can take him down into the post and isolate him.’’

Van Gundy said Morris is an efficient player in the post, but he didn’t get a lot of opportunities with Phoenix's style of play.

“We would put him in pick-and-rolls and create problems,’’ Van Gundy said. “He’s one of the rare guys, I think, that can play in the pick-and-roll as a screener and ballhandler.’’

Contact Perry A. Farrell: 313-222-2555 or pafarrell@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @farrellperry.