Veteran forward Markieff Morris was a nice pickup for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Let’s look at three key ways he can help the squad as it gears up for the second half of the season.
The Oklahoma City Thunder pride themselves on defense, but after stretch forward Markieff Morris agreed to sign with the team on Feb. 14, it added a key component OKC desperately needed: more depth and scoring power off the bench.
Morris spent the previous four seasons with the Washington Wizards, but was traded to the New Orleans Pelicans at the deadline before he was eventually bought out by the team. He’s been sidelined with a neck injury since December. When healthy, he was averaging 11.5 points and 5.1 rebounds per game in 34 appearances.
The buyout market was on fire for Morris. Many teams throughout the league wanted his services.
Shams Charania of The Athletic first reported that Morris was going to sign with the Thunder. He also reported the Houston Rockets, Brooklyn Nets and Toronto Raptors were all interested in him:
Markieff Morris had an aggressive market over the past week — with pursuits from the Thunder, Rockets, Nets, Raptors and several others. OKC received the commitment from Morris on Thursday. https://t.co/nTKdlSJSKX
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 14, 2019
None of this is surprising. Morris is extremely versatile and can do a lot of important things for a playoff team. With the way the league is going, the 6’10” Morris has the type of skills a big needs to be effective in almost any system.
With that being said, let’s look at three ways Keef can help improve OKC moving forward.