Phoenix Suns: The Markieff Morris Saga Gets Even Weirder

Keef’s Professionalism

Hornacek had been saying for days that the Suns needed to get Keef going, but offered little insight as to how he was supposed to do so without actually getting any minutes behind Leuer and Teletovic, who had admittedly been playing leagues better than the struggling Keef.

This season, Morris is averaging 11.5 points and 5.0 rebounds in 24.7 minutes per game on .386/.311/.714 shooting splits — a big step down from last year when he averaged 15.3 points and 6.2 boards per game on .465/.318/.763 shooting. Meanwhile, Teletovic (44.3 percent) and Leuer (40.4 percent) had been spreading the floor with their accurate three-point shooting.

Friday night against the Pelicans, Morris finished with 13 points on 5-of-13 shooting in 17 minutes off the bench. Most surprising, however, has been Morris’ ongoing display of a positive attitude throughout this ordeal — despite being a player of his caliber who was recently benched.

From celebrating big plays with teammates on the bench to staying ready, both Keef and Hornacek used the same buzzword to describe his demeanor and work ethic.

“Just being a professional, man,” Morris said. “Basically you’ve got to be ready when the time calls and that’s what I was tonight.”

"“Well, you’re a professional athlete,” Hornacek said of the situation. “To Markieff’s credit, he hasn’t had a bad attitude about anything. He kept working on his game, he was doing extra work. When we did have that practice the other day, I thought he was great in practice. You know, a lot of energy, he played physically. “And that’s what you’re looking at: when guys aren’t playing and they do get the opportunity in practice, all the coaches pick up on that stuff. Is the guy doing extra sprinting so he’s in great shape when he does get in there? Is he working on things that he needs to work on? Or is he just over there pouting? To his credit, he never did that.”"

That word “professional” kept coming up no matter which angle the media scrum attacked from with its questioning. While Keef should be commended for his undeniable maturity throughout this whole ordeal, many have understandably wondered how such a rapid turnaround from the summer when he vehemently wanted out could occur.

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