Phoenix Suns Media Day: Everyone Loves Markieff Morris

There are three things you can count on in life; death, taxes and media day niceties. The Phoenix Suns media day proceedings were no different (minus the death, luckily), despite the constant drama surrounding Markieff Morris and his desire to be traded. Turns out, everyone loves and supports Markieff.

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The Suns did the smart thing — sending Markieff out first — and most reporters got their recording devices set to go, as we hadn’t heard directly from Markieff about his situation all summer. Then, as if we expected anything else, any hopes of an in-depth explanation filled with juicy quotes were squashed with one Markieff quote.

“I don’t really want to talk about what happened this summer…I want to be here.”

Oh.

Any hope that the sizzling fuse from August would continue to burn have officially been put to rest. Not only did Markieff directly tell all of us that he wants to be here, but he acknowledged his role on the team and his excitement to play with his teammates. The team showed him some love too.

Eric Bledsoe on Markieff: “He’s a great teammate. He’s like my brother.

Tyson Chandler on Markieff: “This isn’t the first time a player had miscommunication with management.”

There was only one real uncomfortable moment during Markieff’s presser, when he was asked about his confidence level in coach Jeff Hornacek and general manager Ryan McDonough. For Hornacek, he replied “very confident.” For McDonough, he replied “you’ll have to ask him.”

When McDonough got his turn to speak, he acknowledged the tension by stating that “he’s certainly not the first and won’t be the last player to be upset with the front office.” McDonough also mentioned the greater goal (and really the reason all of this started) when he said that he’d continue going after the best players and if it ruffles some feathers, so be it.

To say that this beef is done would be naive, but I think it’s safe to move forward assuming that Morris will be in a Suns uniform for the forseeable future. It’s great news for the team, as they’d hate to lose Morris’ ability to produce in the clutch.

RANDOM NOTES

• When asked about what he’s worked on most during the summer, Markieff mentioned his 3-point shot.
• Eric Bledsoe appears to have added muscle to his already impressive frame.
• When asked if he’s a top-five point guard, Bledsoe didn’t hesitate to say yes.
• Coach Hornacek mentioned the best teams he’s around have done a great job of policing themselves.
• Tyson Chandler noted how excited he was to finally play next to a “real five” in Alex Len.
• According to Bledsoe, T.J. Warren won the most games during the Suns pickup games this summer.
• Strange Suns photos included Jon Leuer with a Superman cape, Len with the WWE Championship belt and Markieff with flowers.

We’ll leave you with this:

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